Times Union Article, January 8th, 1992, Pg D-3, bottom left corner.
COMPUTER RANKINGS RANK LOW WITH RPI'S PLAYERS
Tony Hejna, former RPI hockey player, current raconteur and personal
computer addict, caused a fury-filled discussion Monday at Houston Field House.
It began by the team's bulletin board, spread to the equipment, training, and
dressing rooms and down the hall to the coaches' offices.
And now, Keith Instone is about as popular with RPI's players as George
Bush is to someone who just got laid off.
Keith Instone?
A man of infamy to the Engineers, and as I explain further, surely to the
Union College players.
Well, maybe his name wasn't causing ire Monday. But certainly the computer
printout Hejna, who has hung around all season recovering from back injury
while deciding whether he will ever rejoin the St. Louis Blues organization,
hung was a problem.
Or as this guy from Bowling Green refers to them: The College Hockey
Computer Rating. "TCHCR for short," says Hejna, who found the ratings on a
PC message service to which he subscribes.
What caused so much discussion was the fact that RPI was down two spots
this week to 36th in the nation, rated behind such national titans as No. 34
Alaska-Fairbanks (6-8), the University of Denver (5-14-1) at No. 29, and even
No. 30 Boston College (7-9-1), a team RPI beat on the road.
What's worse, according to TCHCR, there are only 11 teams in the nation
worse than the Engineers, who entered Tuesday night's game against New
Hampshire with a 7-8 record.
But his system thinks more of RPI than it does of Union. The Skating
Dutchmen, who haven't won a Division game yet in 10 attempts, were 45th out
of 45 teams.
"That's (fill in the blank with your own nasty noun)," was the most
common comment as RPI players reviewed the Engineers' rating Monday.
Even is these things do get some people angry, you can't blame Instone
for attempting to come up with a system maybe more accurate than a bunch of
people giving their opinions in one national poll or another.
Of course, Instone's system, which takes into account strength of
schedule, strength of conference and margin of victory among other things,
also comes in direct conflict with our own Times Union Top 10.
This week, for example, Instone's Top 10 was Michigan, Lake Superior,
Minnesota, Northern Michigan, Michigan State, Maine, Wisconsin, Western
Michigan, Alaska-Anchorage and North Dakota.
Michigan State, Western Michigan, Anchorage and North Dakota didn't even
make the TU Top 10. Meanwhile, Maine (14-2) has been ranked No. 1 in our poll
the past seven weeks.
There are obviously some flaws in Instone's system when you figure Maine,
his No. 1 team last week, hammered Army 15-4 and beat UMass-Lowell 4-2 to win
the Dexter Shoe Tournament last weekend yet fell five spots.
What hurts RPI and Union, and more noticeable Clarkson (No. 13 TCHCR, No. 7
TU) and St. Lawrence (No. 11 TCHCR, No. 6 TU), is Instone's system deems the
Eastern College Athletic Conference the weakest of the four leagues.
The ECAC's winning percentage against all the rest is .402, while the
CCHA is .667, Hockey East .694 and WCHA .620.
Instone's system is far from perfect, but his scientific approach to
college hockey has, if nothing else, caused some trouble.
BOB CROCE
Typist's note - Bob Croce is also the writer who prepares the Times Union
Top 10 poll.
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