After reading Chris's comments re the Contest voting, I realized that I hadn'r (make that a "t") gone back and added my own commentary on the "consensus." So, here we go: HOCKEY EAST Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Ave. Points Points ____________________________________________________________________________ BU 53 5 1 1 - 1 - - - 76 1.246 N'eastern - 30 15 9 4 - 1 - 2 186 3.049 UNH 2 15 22 12 1 5 2 2 - 211 3.459 Maine 4 8 14 17 10 7 1 - - 229 3.754 UML - 3 3 10 15 12 14 1 3 335 5.492 BC 2 - 3 4 9 14 19 9 1 370 6.066 Merrimack - - 2 6 10 12 14 15 2 388 6.361 PC - - 1 2 12 8 7 29 2 418 6.852 UMA - - - - - 2 3 5 51 532 8.721 The two extremes were pretty clear cut, as I expected they would be. Most people seemed pretty sure about where they wanted NU and UNH. When you get further down the list, though, it starts to get a bit hairier. Maine's seemingly-unending off-ice problems led to them slipping behind UNH for third, even though UNH is among the "homeless" this season. Further down, Lowell enjoyed a pretty large "bell curve" of support, stretching from 4th down to 7th, and was able to edge out BC for 5th primarily due to the larger number od (fat finger again) 4th place votes. Merrimack was dragged down to 7th due to a fairly sizable percentage who thought the only team they'd beat out was the new kid on the block, but still garnered enough 4th and 6th place votes to avoid falling behind PC (our HE tiebreaker team) down into 8th. ECAC Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ave. Total Points Points ___________________________________________________________________________ Harvard 44 13 4 - - - - - - - - - 82 1.344 Clarkson 9 22 17 4 3 3 1 1 - - 1 - 179 2.934 RPI 1 9 20 21 3 2 2 2 1 - - - 229 3.754 Vermont 5 11 9 19 2 5 3 4 2 1 - - 251 4.115 Brown - 2 6 5 14 11 12 2 2 3 3 1 371 6.082 Cornell 1 2 5 3 8 4 12 9 8 5 2 2 420 6.885 Union - 1 - 3 12 16 7 7 5 4 2 4 430 7.049 Colgate - - - 3 11 8 8 12 9 6 4 - 452 7.410 St. Law. - 1 - 3 6 8 4 11 15 8 4 1 479 7.852 Princeton - - - - - 1 8 6 11 18 11 6 582 9.541 Yale - - - - 1 1 3 6 3 9 19 19 634 10.393 Dartmouth 1 - - - 1 2 1 1 5 7 15 28 649 10.639 This league was the biggest mess of all, despite the Crimson being the clear- cut favorite. Clarkson is a pretty solid second, followed by RPI, who edged Vermont for third based primarily on outpolling the Catamounts for third place by over 2-to-1. Then comes the mad scramble. Brown enjoys a fairly decent lead over Cornell (the only team to get votes in EVERY position) due to fewer people thinking that Brown would end up in the lower division. Cornell barely holds off Union for the 6 spot, based on 9 first-through-third votes vs. 1 for Union and two fewer 12th place votes. Colgate and St. Lawrence follow these two up in 8th and 9th. It seemed that nearly all entrys had Colgate one place above St. Lawrence, so it shouldn't be surprising that's where they ended up. Princeton's a pretty solid 10th, and the remaining two Ivies fight it out for the cellar. Yale wins, but not by much. CCHA Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Ave. Points Points ___________________________________________________________________________ LSSU 24 19 16 2 - - - - - - 118 1.934 MSU 23 18 16 2 1 - 1 - - - 127 2.082 Michigan 13 22 19 4 1 1 - 1 - - 149 2.443 BGSU - - 5 21 25 8 1 - 1 - 288 4.721 WMU - 1 4 24 12 12 6 1 1 - 301 4.934 Miami 1 - 1 5 15 25 6 6 1 1 358 5.869 FSU - - - 1 5 6 34 6 7 2 434 7.115 UIC - - - 2 1 3 4 23 21 7 502 8.230 ND - - - - 1 3 8 18 18 13 515 8.443 OSU - 1 - - - 3 1 6 12 38 563 9.230 The most clearly defined league also provided the tightest race. LSSU edges out MSU for the top spot, primarily due to the fact that nobody thought the Lakers would finish worse than fourth, while the Spartans picked up a 5th and a 7th place vote. Michigan follows in a close third. In the second tier, BG edges out WMU for 4th, mainly because of the 10% who thought WMU could finish 7th. Miami and Ferris are solid 6th and 7th, respectively. At the bottom, UIC squeaks by ND for 8th, due to 6 fewer 10th place votes. And, last but not least, very few thought the Buckeyes could escape the cellar. WCHA Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total Ave. Points Points ___________________________________________________________________________ Minnesota 39 10 10 2 - - - - - - 97 1.590 Colorado C.11 23 12 9 2 1 - - 1 2 174 2.852 St. Cloud 2 14 22 9 4 3 4 1 2 - 224 3.672 Wisconsin 6 6 6 15 13 6 5 4 - - 264 4.328 N. Michigan 2 7 6 13 17 10 4 2 - - 275 4.508 Minn-Duluth 1 - - 5 11 12 13 5 8 6 339 5.557 Denver - - 2 5 7 11 9 11 7 9 434 7.115 Alaska-Anc. - - 1 2 2 10 16 19 8 3 447 7.328 Mich. Tech - - 1 - 2 6 8 8 17 19 512 8.393 N. Dakota - 1 1 1 3 2 2 11 18 22 520 8.525 The Gophers are the favorite in the WCHA by a wide margin. People obviously voted for the team that finished the '93-'94 campaign in the Phinal Phour, as opposed to the one that looked horrid in October and November (up until the victory over, you guessed it, Michigan State in the Challenge). Last year's regular season champions, Colorado College, gets a strong second nod from our contestants, followed by our tiebreaker team, Saint Cloud. Wisconsin holds off a strong NMU team for fourth, while UMD checks in at 6th. Denver under new head coach George Gwozdecky (sp?), late of Redskin fame, edges out the Seawolves for 7th. At the bottom, MTU (sans Ram) staves off North Dakota for 9th. [Analysis mode off.] Since it didn't seemed to be posted here (or maybe I missed it) ex-Spartan goaltender Mike Gilmore (or is it Gilmour, I can nver remember) has rejoined the team as a volunteer goaltender coach. Should be interesting to see what effect this has on Mike's one-time understudy, Mike Buzak. The Spartans host the Flames of Illinois-Chicago for a pair of games this Friday and Saturday at Munn, before taking the first road trip of the year next weekend to Kalamazoo for WMU and then to Chicago to finish out the season series with UIC. (Who the hell does this schedule anyway? We play UIC three times before Halloween and we don't get Miami until February? Oh well...) G. M. Finniss Michigan State University 0-0-0, 1-0-0 WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when? Still the leader (even after a rather dismal 2-2 performance this weekend) in the rec.sport.football.college SWC contest (I made absolutely horrid picks except for TCU-Tulane and I widened my lead, go figure....)