Our own Hockey-l Poll is a good indication of the differences between a
poll and a rating.  In attempting to vote in our poll, I look at how well
a team does in its league and then at the non-league games.  This requires
looking at all of the non-league game scores and coming up with a way of
comparing the teams.  The information to go through is prohibitive,
making it extremely difficult to do this in an unbiased
manner without any type of mathematical expression. This is especially
true for teams I haven't seen play and weakly assumes that those teams
I saw play, played up to their potential.  So, in order to objectively
rank the teams on past performances, I feel that one really needs a rating
system: TCHCR.  Going by gut feeling, hear-say, reputation and some scores
gives a poll for a result.  In a poll, it is kind of easy to pick the top
four or five teams and rank them, however, as one goes farther down, the
difficulties increase.  Therefore, in the search for a more objective
ranking system, mathematical ways of comparing teams need to be used.
 
Does anyone have a ceramic dalmation for us to send to Mr. Broce? :-)
 
Mike Zak
Clarkson