It was an interesting week of games ...
 
> U.S. College Hockey Online Division I Men's Poll
> November 29, 1999
>
>    Team (First Place Votes)   Record  Pts   Last
>  1 Maine (39)                  9-0-2  399     1
>  2 North Dakota (1)        9-2-1  336     2
>  3 Wisconsin                 11-3-0  297     3
>  4 New Hampshire        10-2-1  254     8
>  5 Michigan State          11-4-0  231     4
>  6 Michigan                   11-4-0  179     6
>  7 Colgate                       9-2-0  146     9
>  8 Rensselaer                  9-3-0  142     5
>  9 Northern Michigan    12-3-1   76     -
> 10 Boston University       9-3-2   74     -
>
> Others receiving votes: Niagara 17, St. Lawrence 15,
> Colorado College 14, Boston College 12, Ferris State 3,
> Cornell 2, Minnesota 2, Providence 1
 
o   RPI (aka Rensselaer), with earlier blasts of BU & UNH, loses to
    Niagara. RPI who started the season with 6 straight wins, is 2-3-0
    in   most recent D-I games.
 
o   St Lawrence, who spun 7 D-I wins to start the season, has lost 3
    straight.
 
o   Except for month-ago loses to RPI and Yale, UNH has run the table
    (well, a tie w/BU) while playing a strong schedule. This week UNH
    squeaked past Notre Dame before demolishing North Dakota.
 
o   BC continues to get votes despite a 5-5 record against mediocre
    competition.  Middle of the pack Northeastern comes to Conte Forum
    tonight.
 
o   The College Hockey Showcase featured a great lineup with Minnesota
    and Wisconsin from the WCHA against Michigan and Michigan State of
    the CCHA. The first night "proved" the WCHA the better conference
    as Minnesota killed Michigan and Wisconsin killed Michigan State.
    JUST A MINUTE!  The second night "killed" that premise as Michigan
    State blasted Minnesota and Michigan blasted Wisconsin.  All these
    teams stayed the same or gained in the computed ratings I have
    seen and calculated.
 
o   Did I mention all the above teams?  Oops, forgot N. Michigan with
    a 12-3-1 record. The only "ranked" team they've beaten has been
    Ferris State.  Call me when they've played the big guys.
 
o   Speaking of ratings, Maine made considerable gains in most all
    systems.  No, you didn't miss anything, Maine had the week off. :-)
    Maybe I'll dust off HEAL in another week or three.  Until then, one
    of my favorites,  KRACH,  by Ken Butler,  is recently available on
    Hockey-L. It's top four teams are Maine, Colgate, UNH and NoDak,
    with BU #7,  PC #13, MC #18, BC #19, NE #22, UML #31, UMA #40 of
    54. KRACH bested all other rating systems last season in picking
    winners (by some measures).   KRACH's web address is
 
        http://www.mscs.dal.ca/~butler/krach.htm
 
    Another rating system, one of few using scores, is CHODR.  It's OK
    at picking winners, but does well at predicting scores.  CHODR's
    web site is
 
       http://it.stlawu.edu/~chodr/
 
o   Much of the "my league is better than yours" drivel is just that,
    but last week HEA was impressive in out-of-league play with a
    12-1-1 record, by my count.
 
o   Maine travels to NU this weekend for a pair. NU played Maine tough
    earlier this season. Will Crowder's Huskies do more than bark at
    the Black Bears?  Depends on 'da Bears and 'da bounces.  Look for
    a good Maine contingent at Mathews Arena.
 
Hope this has been interesting ...
 
 
Wayne Smith -- [log in to unmask] -- Old Town Landing, ME