The CCHA Schedule is as balanced as it will get. Who cares if you play
27 or 30 games in your league? Just follow the NCAA regulations. At
least, we do play the same number of LEAGUE games against one another.
The WCHA Schedule based on what John H said seems to not only be balanced
but biased. A team that only gets to play twice against Minnesota and/or
CC (the top teams in that league) would clearly have an advantage in
winning their league. However; they are more concerned about having 32
games probably because it is a nice number to work with. Yes, they follow
the NCAA regulation but my example shows where the bias is. This bias could
easily cause controversy if a team wins the league without having to play
the best teams four times each.
I do raise a concern about the CCHA Schedule. I feel it is balanced but
IS IT biased?
It seems to me that we should also be considering difficulty of schedule
here. I strongly feel that the best teams in the league are handed the
toughest schedules each season and the weakest teams get the easiest
schedules. Michigan clearly had the CCHA's toughest schedule of anybody
and yet they did not play in Alaska. LSSU, MSU, BGSU, Ferris, Miami, ND,
and WMU all played Michigan at Yost only once while UIC, OSU, and UAF all
played two or three times at Yost. Every team except OSU that made the
playoffs played one game at Yost. I have no idea if this logic holds
true for the other 10 teams but based on Michigan's schedule, you should
clearly see where I am coming from.
My question is this:
Is this just coincedential or is the schedule created to give all CCHA
teams an equal chance at winning the championship or created to give good
teams tough schedules and weak teams easy schedules?
Also, how are other schedules (WCHA, Hockey East, ECAC) on balance and
possible bias with 10, 9, and 12 teams respectively in each of these leagues?
==========================
Kenneth M. Baker
University of Michigan '96
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
==========================
**********************************************
Michigan Wolverines - 1996 National Champions
8 Time National Champions
1948, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1964, 1996
**********************************************
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
