At 03:51 PM 1/24/98 -0500, Steve Jukes wrote:
 
>  When will someone else besides be finally take notice of the Miami
>Redhawks?
 
Betcha St. Cloud, Yale and Northeastern are saying the same thing.
 
 
>I am still baffled at Michigan's national
>rankings.. as it was clearly pointed out last night that they are NOT the
>4th best team in the nation. Another sound defeat at the hands of the
>Redhawks tonight should be a wake up call to everyone around division I
>that Michigan so far have been somewhat of a fluke, and they will not be
>atop the CCHA for much longer.
 
Given that:
o The Wolverines outshot the Redhawks by a ratio of two to one (34-17)
o The Wolverines limited the Redhawks to *3* third-period shots
o Everybody -- including Red -- credited the superior goaltending of Prior
as the key to Miami's victory
 
It's not like Miami crushed Michigan. They were beaten, yes -- but that's a
pretty respectable performance given the game was in Oxford. Exactly what
do you consider a "sound defeat" -- if they won in a good game, then yes,
it was a "sound" victory. However, most people tend to use the term to
imply an "absolute."
 
OTOH, given the Redhawk victory on Saturday night, you could definitely
give credit to the argument that Michigan is ranked to high and Miami too
low. But that's what happens with weekend series, and why there is a weekly
poll.
 
I'm sure come tuesday you'll get your wish.
 
 
>If Miami takes both games this weekend and
>then comes out of next weekend with a split while visiting MSU, someone
>had better take note of that little team from Oxford. What do they have to
>do to prove to all of the east-coast hockey people (because of the large
>east-coast bias in division I hockey...) that they are a serious
>contender?
 
First of all, this whole east- and west-bias thing is a little silly. Most
fans from the East will tell you that the polls (and tournament seedings)
are strongly biased towards western teams, while most of the western folks
feel the same about the east.
 
Secondly, why aren't the Redhawks being given more credit -- even by the
Eastern fans? How about losses to Ohio State, Ferris State, and Lake
Superior, ties to Notre Dame and Lake State, and a 1-2 performance against
Northern Michigan?
 
Additionally, Miami has accrued 6 losses, while all teams ranked ahead of
them have fewer. Boston college has 5, BU, Michigan, and UNH have 4, and
MSU and UND have 3.
 
I've been fortunate enough to see Miami play this year, and think they are
a very strong, talented team. However, it's clear that they don't perform
this way consistently. Assuming that most "easterners" haven't even seen
Miami play, given their uneven results, how do you think they'd vote?
 
Look at a lot of the teams in the polls -- EASTERN teams -- and you'll see
quite a few getting a "bum rap"
 
Boston U has lonly lost 4 games -- 3 to top 15 teams (BC, UNH, NU) and 1 to
Princeton. Yet they've been relegated to 5th, and their weekend sweep
against Maine probably won't do much for them.
 
New Hampshire has also lost only 4 games -- ALL of them to top 10 teams (2
BC, BU, and Miami). Throw in another tie against BU and they still can't
manage to wind up in first place in the polls.
 
Yale has only 4 losses. Granted, their schedule isn't too tough, but I'm
sure the Bulldogs feel that a record of 13-4 should net them better than
9th in the polls.
 
 
The simple fact is that these things are polls, plain and simple. Trust me,
you'll bleed out of your ears if you think they will ever make total sense
to everyone. If anything, I'd say last week's poll was pretty fair, given
the performance of all the teams. I'd also expect next week's polls to
remain similarly fair.
 
 
And, for what it's worth, with this weekend's results:
 
Michigan State now has the fewest losses and is tied for the most wins (19).
 
Yale has the best percentage of games won, at .777 (followed by UND .772,
UNH .761, and MSU .760)
 
 
Interesting that these two teams are at opposite ends of the poll, eh?
 
 
 
greenie
S P O O N  ! !
(go BU)
 
Since BU dropped football, does that mean Silber fumbled?
Real grass at Nickerson for the *real* football! Yippee!
 
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