I hate me-too posts, but since Deron called me an expert on HEAL, I'll add ... Ralph Baer's analysis is perfect. Furthermore, I will confirm his conjecture that the developers of HEAL wanted to reward playing a strong schedule. Many years ago, before HEAL, a few schools in Maine would pad their schedules with games from weaker, often much smaller, schools (this was basketball, if anyone wonders). The Heal Point System was developed to address this. A component of HEAL, not used in my college hockey ranking, also categorizes teams. Again in Maine, a win over large schools ("LL" then "A" now) received 40 points (toward the preliminary index); a win over a smaller school only 30, 20 or 10. Ralph Baer called himself "still a proponent of a 0.50, 0.25, 0.25 RPI-type rating)". So am I. If someone reminds me later in the season, I'll be happy to generate/compare RPI/HEAL/BAER rankings. cheers, wayne Wayne T. Smith Systems Group -- CAPS internet: [log in to unmask] University of Maine System BITNET/CREN: WTS@MAINE HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.