Here are my computer rankings of the teams in the Olympic Hockey
tournament after Wednesday, February 20th.  Medal round games have
been weighted twice as heavy as round-robin or consolation games.
 
After one complete round of cross-over play, it is evident that the
Pool A teams are suffering in the rankings.  Note that Pool A is a
combined 1-5 against Pool B and thus the rankings show that they have
the easier schedules.  Also, it took Czechoslovakia beating Sweden
for the United States team to rise above Sweden in the rankings
despite having the better record.  This may provide some argument
that this sort of ranking system tends to favor offensively minded
teams.
 
 
Rankings for Olympic Hockey Tournament
 
  Rank   Team Name            Record         Rating         Schedule
  ----   ---------            ------         ------         --------
    1    Unified Team  (B)    5 - 1 - 0       85.09          51.66
    2    Czechoslovakia(B)    5 - 1 - 0       83.39          56.81
    3    Canada        (B)    5 - 1 - 0       78.09          49.80
    4    United States (A)    5 - 0 - 1       65.41          34.56
    5    Sweeden       (A)    3 - 1 - 2       61.61          46.19
    6    France        (B)    2 - 4 - 0       44.59          63.44
    7    Finland       (A)    3 - 2 - 1       44.41          49.13
    8    Switzerland   (B)    2 - 4 - 0       39.67          52.67
    9    Germany       (A)    2 - 4 - 0       34.41          48.56
   10    Norway        (B)    1 - 5 - 0       27.04          57.54
   11    Italy         (A)    1 - 5 - 0       14.46          38.46
   12    Poland        (A)    0 - 6 - 0       -2.17          43.33
 
Based on  36 games.
 
 
As an alternative to the TCHCR (by Keith Instone) ranking criteria, i
am providing one other set of numbers.  This ranking is based on goal
differential only.  Thus, one can predict the outcome of unplayed
games by taking a difference in the rankings.  The Unified Team
would thus be favored to beat Team USA by 3 goals.  Again, the coment
can be made that the goal differential of a deffense oriented team
will be lower than that of an offensive oriented team.  Also, as
above, Team USA suffers in the rankings due to the poor performance
of the other five Pool A teams head-to-head with Pool B teams.
 
 
Rankings for Olympic Hockey Tournament
 
  Rank   Team Name            Record         Rating         Schedule
  ----   ---------            ------         ------         --------
    1    Unified Team  (B)    5 - 1 - 0       14.74          10.17
    2    Canada        (B)    5 - 1 - 0       12.94          10.22
    3    Czechoslovakia(B)    5 - 1 - 0       12.54          10.54
    4    United States (A)    5 - 0 - 1       11.36           8.93
    5    Sweeden       (A)    3 - 1 - 2       10.96           9.96
    6    Finland       (A)    3 - 2 - 1       10.76          10.62
    7    Germany       (A)    2 - 4 - 0       10.06          10.20
    8    France        (B)    2 - 4 - 0        9.14          11.14
    9    Switzerland   (B)    2 - 4 - 0        8.88          10.05
   10    Italy         (A)    1 - 5 - 0        7.68           9.01
   11    Norway        (B)    1 - 5 - 0        6.15          10.99
   12    Poland        (A)    0 - 6 - 0        4.78           9.95
 
Based on  36 games.
 
     - Pat
.
 
- Patrick E. Fleming ---------------------------------------------------
- Department of Chemistry ------------ Pour un instant je suis content -
- The Ohio State University ---------- En l'air de la Liousianne -------
- [log in to unmask] -----------------------------------