a top 25 for D-I college hockey seems rather obsurd, since there are only
44 schools competing.  the college football and basketball polls can rank the
top 20 or 25 because there are an infinite number of competing schools (ok,
that's a slight exaggeration, but you can see my point).  i've seen top ten
rankings for baseball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, and many other non-major
sports (i'm sure i'll be corrected if i'm wrong).
 
besides, the list of other vote-getters that follows the top ten is usually
pretty exhaustive of teams receiving any points:
 
the Troy Record Poll contains all teams with at least one point, and
the WMEB poll goes all the way down to 16 points.
 
we could vote for 25 teams, each, but once we pass 22, we start getting
into the bottom 22.  even in the top 20 we might begin to see some
of the less successful schools.
 
while i agree that exposure of more schools would be a great idea for
college hockey in general, i don't think it would truly be representative
of the best teams in college hockey.
 
as for promotion of the sport nationally, i think tournaments in hockey-
starved areas, like the great western freezeout in l.a. over thanksgiving,
are a great idea.  of course, in addition to having these tournaments, the
powers that be should also put a significant effort into advertising the
events.  i haven't heard a bit about the freezeout except through the list
here.  (speaking of this, is it even on tv out here?)
 
i know lots of schools have club teams, and in my limited experience, i've
had to search hard to find any trace of even those teams (i.e. georgia tech
and ucla).  when i was at michigan, it was really tough to find any coverage
of the wolverines anywhere.  i don't know how much it's changed in the last
year, but i was lucky if i could find scores for UM and MSU in the Detroit
Free Press on sunday or monday morning.
 
to summarize:  i think a top ten poll is adequate, especially since other
vote-getters are also listed.  a top 25 poll would give exposure to some
lesser recognized programs, but would include mediocre teams, at best.
perhaps a better way to build college hockey awareness would be to include
scores and standings in newspapers and magazines nationwide.  of course,
we don't run these periodicals, but if we keep plugging away, at some point
the editors and decisionmakers might begin to see that there is a legitimate
market out there for this wonderful sport.
 
scott quakkelaar
[log in to unmask]
 
bse(ee), michigan 1993
msee, ucla 1995
 
>
> Seeing all the polls out there for college hockey it would make much
> more sense and of course more discussion if all polls in cluding the
> HL poll if there they weer top 25 not Top 10/15. All college polls
> that are currently published have at least 20.
>
> Many out there have no idea what scholls play D-1 hockey and having
> all of our lists and polls list the top 25 really helps the promotion
> of the sport nationally.
>
> Just a thought
>
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> Jack McDonald, Athletic Director
> University of Denver
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> fax 303-871-4950
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