Congratulations Neumann

[rowan coach]

Congrats to Neumann for a great tournament and their victory in d11

Rowan Coach
John Jones

[DUHockey9]

Perhaps they are the mercy of their school? Maybe the school would rather they stay where they have been succesful. The fact of the matter is, these sort of decisions don't always come down to the players. The school gives these clubs funding...so the clubs have to please the school.

[Dangl*]

At the risk of beating a dead horse...

I have a question for Neumann players: are you even excited when you win DII? Do you even feel that it is an accomplishment? Even if you had some good games here and there, you're two years (if not more) late in moving up to D1.

Personally, I was a proponent of moving up much sooner than we did. D2 wasn't even remotely exciting anymore. I don't see how Neumann players can feel any differently.

I think Neumann will have a run for their money at Nationals this year... UC San Diego looks unbeatable. Last year they were really good, but this year they reloaded with some good talent and I think it will be really interesting to see these two teams meet. And hopefully the officiating wont be a decider in who wins D2 this year.

[jscotto]

You are right...you are beating a dead horse. Why do people still insist that D1 is about talent level, it is not. You really need to read what the league deceided as to what constitutes a D1 team, a D2 team and so on...it has nothing to do with talent level. Why can't people just congratulate them and stop trying to lessen the fact that they won, it is an accomplisment and they are proud, and they are excited about winning. They have played some very good teams. If they did "move up" according to you, I am sure the results would be the same. What team do you represent?

Also, officiating was never a favorable factor in any Neumann win, they won because they were the best team on the rink in those games.

Thank you to John Jones, the Rowan Coach. Your team played extremely well this year. Good luck to you guys at Nationals.

[GoRangrHky]

Then what is it about? Organization, no? Not a department Neumann seems to be lacking in.

I remember Neumann claiming that if they didn't win, the school wouldn't give them money. They said that they were losing people and a coach and that they might not even be able to compete in DII. That was at an ACC meeting in front of every team rep. Cleary they had a rough go this year, winning regionals and all. But if DI and DII are all the same talent wise, then what's holding them back?

I'm sure that they're excited about winning. I'm excited for Scranton, Penn St B, and a bit for URI.

[HockCity21]

Lets be realistic here your right that the D1 to D2 differential is not based on talent but you can just ignore the fact that the D1 league is more talented and deeper. Now I do congratulate Neumann for their win and i'm not ready to say that they should move up because I don't know the details of the relationship they have with their school. But claiming that they would win the D1 is a little strong. For example pretty much all the games in the D1 regionals were competitive while Neumann goes 6 - 0 at regionals with 55 goals for and 11 agianst. Now I didn't watch the games so this comes with a grain of salt but looking at the scores of these games it looks like the they played one competitive game which was the finals against West Chester. I see them as a top 5 team in D1 somewhere in the group of URI, Rutgers, Buffalo, and Towson. If you are so sure that they would win it then perhaps they should "move up" and prove it.

[betteronice]

I think Neumann will have a run for their money at Nationals this year... UC San Diego looks unbeatable. Last year they were really good, but this year they reloaded with some good talent and I think it will be really interesting to see these two teams meet. And hopefully the officiating wont be a decider in who wins D2 this year.

FAU will probably be a factor as well

[RustyPipes27]

If they did "move up" according to you, I am sure the results would be the same.

It's a lot easier to make bold statements like that when you don't actually have to back them up on the rink.

Congrats on the win, nonetheless.

[William Bourque]

Why do people still insist that D1 is about talent level, it is not. You really need to read what the league deceided as to what constitutes a D1 team, a D2 team and so on...it has nothing to do with talent level.

Fair Enough, The Divisions are not based on talent level. However, they are based on organization structure. There were requirements set forth that would put teams with the higher level of structure/organization/school support into the top division. Neumann has met every level of those standards for 2 years now when the majority of the teams in the Division I level have not. Remember, talent/expected talent has nothing to do with it.

In that regards, Neumann is a DI team playing in DII.

[warwick]

It's a lot easier to make bold statements like that when you don't actually have to back them up on the rink.

Congrats on the win, nonetheless.

if i remember correctly neumann has only 1 loss to a d1 school a 4-3 loss to towson since the 2004-2005 season. then the league decided that if a d2 school wanted to play a d1 school u had to pay the league to play.oh and by the way 2 of the wins were against towson. so maybe the commisioner didn't like losing to d2 schools.

[TUcoach]

Not sure how I got dragged into this and not sure were you came up with the idea that the league was 'charging' DII teams to play DI teams, never the case, get your facts straight...However, I do remember the commissioner calling Neumann out to move up to DI at the last 2 ACC Meetings...And if my recollection is right, I wasn't very politically correct when calling them out, pretty sure I used the 'kitty word' a few times and I'll be calling out Neumann at the next ACC meeting to move up;). Congrats on your championship this weekend.

[William Bourque]

I am pretty sure the "you had to pay to play comment" was made in reference to the fact that if you wanted to schedule a non-league game between say Neumann & Buffalo, the two schools would have to split the costs associated with the games, since those types of games wouldn't be in the ECRHA budget. Each team pays for ___ exh games, ____ regular season games & regionals. If you would want to play additional games, it would only make sense to cost more money.

[MARIOTTI]

I would first like to start by thanking Mr. Jones for the congratulations and by returning the congrats to Rowan and an amazing first season. I know that alot of players, coaches, officials, etc. love to come at Neumann and challenge them to come up to D1. I can understand why the challenge would be issued to us, but what some of you fail to realize is that Neumann is a relatively small school. The last few years we have been blessed with attracting some talented hockey players, but also have missed out on alot of talent do to larger and more popular schools in the area (which are D1). Which leads me to the next point in that with 7 seniors on our team this year, we do not know what is in store for our team in the future, we do not know if Neumann College has an extended future in the NCHRA. I know i speak for the rest of my team when I say we are proud of our victory this past weekend, and the past 2 years. Everyone can continue to bash us as usual..... but we will continue to play to the best of our abilities.. as usual:)

[topshelf]

Organization structure shouldn't have anything to do with what level a team plays at. Look at the west, there are quite a few teams in DI that are in their first year in the NCRHA and because of talent they are playing in DI and at a very high level. Until this becomes a NCAA sport, which will probably be a long tome from now, what level a team plays at should be based on talent period! Winning a championship in a division that you should not be in, means nothing in my opinion. If teams don't move themselves up like , Stony Brook, UMSL and Long Beach State did after successful D2 seasons then the league needs to step in and do it. I'm sure that Neumann is not the only team that is playing down, as it looks like the San Diego team out west has the talent to be playing DI also. And I'm sure there are others!

[HockCity21]

The simple fact is that the system has failed. The main priority for this team is winning regionals and nationals and not playing against competition that is suitable for their talent level. Now if this is because the school only supports them because they win well then im not sure what can be done because you have a Catch 22. It is true that you cannot force teams to move up because every team has a different relationship with their school. However, you should not have to force teams to move up, they should want to play against the best players in order challenge themselves. The same team shouldn't be winning championships every year (Lindenwood excluded). Teams who don't offer scholarships are going to see rebuilding years and if your playing up to your talent level this should result in a harder season. But that is what makes the good years even better. For example, I play for Rutgers we are very much in the same spot. We are losing 5 of our 9 skaters next year to graduation on the D1 team and realistically they are probably our 5 best players. As it stands right now we look to have one or two seniors on the team next year. Does this mean that even though we meet the requirements for D1 we should petition the league to move down to D2 so we have an easier time making regionals? No, this is not how you create parity and grow the league it simply creates problems.

[GoRangrHky]

Yeah, the extra cost thing comes from ANY schools that want to play each other outside of their normal schedule. If for whatever reason Neumann felt like playing Drexel (just being used as an example) in an exhibition game as part of any weekend, they also would have to pay an extra game fee.

[jscotto]

Once again...D1 - D2 - D3 is NOT based on the talent level.
The team this year, and over the past three seasons has lost many key players. Combine with that the fact that they lost two coaches and a practice coach this season, it would not have been a good decision to "move up". These positions were taken over by two alums who did not have the kind of experience that was lost. I think they did a great job.
Next season the team will lose seven more players and right now it does not look like they will be able to replace either the number or talent.
As far as playing against D1 teams... We (I) requested that the league schedule us to play D1 teams instead of playing D2 teams in exhibition games, after all it is silly to play say Millersville four times in a season or West Chester three times in a season. It would have been easy for the league to schedule an exhibition game against a D1 team at an event that we only played two games.
We were told that if we wanted to play D1 teams we should "move up" or it would cost US $200.00 to play.

HockCity21: We were classified as a D2 team several years ago and that is where we stayed, we did not move "down" so we could win. We played Rutgers two seasons ago at Center Circle in Rahway and we were very competitive, you can check the score.

[socalhockey]

Once again...D1 - D2 - D3 is NOT based on the talent level.

Maybe in your region, but in most regions the best teams with the best players play in the highest level division and that is DI. With the exception of Community colleges like Saddleback who could beat many of the DI schools across the nation. Any D2 teams that are winning by the margins that Neumann is winning by is definitely in the wrong division. Coaches, and how many players you may or may not lose is also irrelevant. UCI went to the final four last year with 5 players and no coach and got absolutely no support from the school and they lost the best player in college last year in Charlie Middleton, and they are still playing in DI. Every team loses players every year, so that excuse doesn't hold water either.If any team has a decent goalie and two or more platinum level players they should be playing in DI. Playing down which is absolutely what Neumann is doing and has done for quite a few years, serves no purpose whatsoever, and only hurts the sport of roller hockey.

[jsp047]

Coaches, and how many players you may or may not lose is also irrelevant.

...but they also lost a "practice coach"

[betteronice]

Once again...D1 - D2 - D3 is NOT based on the talent level.
The team this year, and over the past three seasons has lost many key players. Combine with that the fact that they lost two coaches and a practice coach this season, it would not have been a good decision to "move up". These positions were taken over by two alums who did not have the kind of experience that was lost. I think they did a great job.
Next season the team will lose seven more players and right now it does not look like they will be able to replace either the number or talent.
As far as playing against D1 teams... We (I) requested that the league schedule us to play D1 teams instead of playing D2 teams in exhibition games, after all it is silly to play say Millersville four times in a season or West Chester three times in a season. It would have been easy for the league to schedule an exhibition game against a D1 team at an event that we only played two games.
We were told that if we wanted to play D1 teams we should "move up" or it would cost US $200.00 to play.

HockCity21: We were classified as a D2 team several years ago and that is where we stayed, we did not move "down" so we could win. We played Rutgers two seasons ago at Center Circle in Rahway and we were very competitive, you can check the score.

even after losing your coaches and such, Neumann still would have been atleast an above average D1 team, it sounds like if you can be hands down the best team, then there is no reason in moving . .

[hockey1]

I personally enjoy having Neumann in D2, playing them are my favorite games each year.

But your arguement is that what division that you are in should not be based off of talent but rather organization. Then the reason you give for not moving is you are losing a lot of talent in these next few years. That kind of sounds like a contradiction. Neumann is an extrememly well run club that meets all of the D1 requirements...easily. Even if you are gradutaing 7 players your matching helmets, gloves, uniforms, and school support is not going to graduate with them. Your still going to be one of the best run teams around, even if you are not as talented as you were in the past. And i thought that that was what the division were supposed to be based off of...

[DUHockey9]

In Neumann's defense...it is a very small school. If they can't replace those 7 guys, move to D1, and do poorly, the school could cut their funding. The burden then falls on the players to make up the difference...and before you know it you might have players saying they'd rather not play. It's not like Neumann has the enrollment of some other schools to hope to find bodies. You could very well altogether lose one of the best run organizations from the NCRHA/ECRHA in a couple of years. Personally, I can't fault an organization for doing what is best for their existence...we all love to play hockey and must do what we can to ensure we, and the future players of our schools, have the ability to play it. That said, I understand the arguments for saying a Neumann should move up. There just is NOT a right answer here.

[bauernike98]

Enrollment size has little to do with team success. Pitt and Hofstra combined have about 40,000 students and had 4 wins combined this year. Location, and prior success has a lot to do with team success. The south jersey and philly area has a lot of solid hockey players and i don't think Neumann will ever run short of talent.

[DUHockey90]

Having played Neumann no less than 10 times over my career at Drexel, I've never felt that Neumann was "too good" to be playing d2. We've never beaten them, but we've played them really close on all of those occasions and I'm sure there are more than a few ECRHA teams that can say that.

There are alot of ECRHA teams that could be playing D1 based on organization but none of them moved up either.

Congrats on your championship, wish we coulda played you in regionals this year.

[RowanPhil]

Maybe neumann is a team that DII should follow, maybe they are helping better structure the division. most will agree that they have the talent for DI, but i have never heard anyone say anything about west chester also. they havent been AS successful as neumann, but are VERY organized and well coached. Im not saying that these two teams should be moving up, maybe they are a good example for DII to get more organized. Playing in our first year, this may sound cheesy but i would like to develop our team to be like either neumann or wcu. but i would also love to see the team that i created move up into DI sometime in the near future. maybe once DIII is developed more they can add a nationals for them and there will be 3 solid divisions playing. Congrats to Neumann and good luck at nationals, hopefully see you there.


President of Rowan Roller Hockey

Phil DaSilva

[dan sangiorgio]

i think its intersting to see that the people neumann played against this weekend saying congrats, and the two people doing the whinning are ex alumni not playing anymore....... just let it go "old timer" theres no need to start another flame war like u did on the last board. take the trash talk over to the pro section there are plenty of knuckleheads who will argue with u over there....

[HockCity21]

I was not suggesting that you moved down to win I remember that game as well and it was very competitive. I was was simply using that as a point to say that this league should be trying to move teams up to D1 not have them play where they are much stronger than their competition.

The good thing I like about this league is that the stats are very good.

Neumann is 119 - 8 - 4 in the last 4 years by my count (regular season + regionals + nationals)
2 national Championships (possibly 3 if they win this year and they have to be favored)
3 regional Championships

This is not a competitive team it is a dominant one.

[Pat]

Congrats to Neumann for another fine showing at regionals. If your school would cut funding for having a down year that is pretty crappy. Club sports shouldn't just be about winning and losing. I think a team should be allowed to have a rebuilding year/down year once a decade.

I played six years (4 undergrad, 2 grad) and I believe the worst finish Neumann had at nationals was losing in the semi-finals. Every year usually someone from Neumann says they don't want to move up because they are losing seniors. Seems like things have been going okay with replacing players the last six years or so, I'd imagine that trend will continue.

Regardless, good luck to everyone at nationals this year.

[Leaferguy]

As a player, I liked having my ass handed to me by Neumann three times a year (at least). So what if they were far and away better than we were? It was usually entertaining to play in. West Chester was kind of ridiculous, too, and it was worth playing them. The challenge is part of the game and sometimes it's better to be in over your head. That said, I was usually in over my head at practice, so games were just a chance to work on digging the puck out of the net.

As a spectator, I can't tell the difference between a lot of the DI and DII teams just by looking at them (uniforms, coaches, etc). In other words, the organization is there. While the split between DI and DII isn't defined by talent in the league operations manual, it does look to me like DI is a higher talent division. Most teams that can (financially and organizationally) move up and make the choice not to generally don't do so because of a lack of matching gloves.

Until/unless the league starts selecting DI and DII teams based on its own system and removes the right to choose, it's hard for me to believe that currently successful teams will be moving up. I don't know how else to put it.


All that crap done with, I would like to congratulate Neumann on their victory at Regionals.

[GoRangrHky]

The "ex alumni" (how does one become an ex alumni, aside from becoming a student again, I wonder..) are the ones saying this because they are the ones that have been around to hear Neumann claim that they are losing players and coaches and all that garbage year after year after year. What, players graduate from college? This is news to all of us. We never had that happen to us. We didn't lose 3 coaches. We didn't lose All-American levels of talent. And yet the team is still in DI, regardless, because you are right Dan, it is NOT about playing ability.

And Phil, I, in another thread, definitely said that there were more teams that needed to move up, and have had the resources to do so.

[tsuG0alie]

Coming from a school that gives out inconsistent and often limited amounts of funding to club sports, I understand the financial aspect. My freshman year, we reeived $6k (3k for A, 3k for B), which dwindled to 1k for both teams (combined) last year. All of this while our team got better and better. This year, we were very fortunate to receive close to 5k, which is the maximum that any club sport could be allotted this year. We did not receive this funding until the end of October, and have set it aside for nationals. (Last year, we had to pay for the trip to Colorado completely out of pocket - about $600 per player.)

I understand the fear of graduating players as well. This year will be the final season for 5 of our best players and myself. We have a very small program to begin with, and without a strong freshmen class next year, the club will hardly be competitive. Again, we have just been very fortunate to field the team that we currently have, all things considered. No one comes to Truman to play hockey. We just happen to have a program.

Yet, it seems to me that Neumann meets the qualifications for Division I based on organization (which is the standard) - they have the coaches, the matching gear/uniforms, and appear to be very well organized (and have been for the past few years). The fact that they have the talent for D1 is indisputable, but this matter is irrelevant. They meet the organizational standards, and have for the past few years. Whether they will graduate star players is also irrelevant (although I am empathetic to this). I think that the Division classification should include the organizational level of a club historically, so that teams (like Neumann) who have consistently proven that they are a highly organized club should move up. (For example, UMSL made the move after years of being an organizationally sound club - coach, matching everything, etc.)

On a side note, I'm curious as to the average financial awards that teams receive each year. Is there that much of a discrepancy between D1 and D2 that effects the ability of a club to be more/less organized?

[Rebel48]

It is correct that a team should play D1 only if they feel that they are organized structured enough to do so. Truth is, anyone can play D1 so long as they are willing to commit to it. We at UNLV receive nothing from our school and we still play D1. The divisions are separated by how organized a team is, but we all know that the best teams are in DI.

If there are teams out there not willing to play D1 b/c they feel that they do not have enough support or structure, that's fine, but just know that there are other teams willing to push it to the limit to play the best and not sit scared that their school won't help them. If we played lower, we wouldn't feel any pride in winning when we knew the best was elswhere and that we could compete. Other teams know what I'm talking about.

Let's face facts... DI and DII may not be different in skill level by some opinion, but Lindenwood, UMSL, Mich. St, Buffalo, Central Fla, URI, Long Beach State, UCI and a ton of other equally great teams don't play in DII. And saying that you won DII will never compare to saying you won DI. And if a team like CSU Northridge is willing to play DI and follow the guidelines set out for all teams, (and they should based on their organization and structure, not skill level, not taking ANYTHING from them, as they gained respect for always showing up and skating hard) then I believe that the team/s in questions should also step up. Not to mention the fact that it will expand our sport further. We all want our sport to grow, what better a way than to have the BEST teams all play each other?

[Myk13]

It is correct that a team should play D1 only if they feel that they are organized structured enough to do so. Truth is, anyone can play D1 so long as they are willing to commit to it. We at UNLV receive nothing from our school and we still play D1. The divisions are separated by how organized a team is, but we all know that the best teams are in DI. ?

Same here with my school, and i agree

[MARIOTTI]

It is correct that a team should play D1 only if they feel that they are organized structured enough to do so. Truth is, anyone can play D1 so long as they are willing to commit to it. We at UNLV receive nothing from our school and we still play D1. The divisions are separated by how organized a team is, but we all know that the best teams are in DI.

If there are teams out there not willing to play D1 b/c they feel that they do not have enough support or structure, that's fine, but just know that there are other teams willing to push it to the limit to play the best and not sit scared that their school won't help them. If we played lower, we wouldn't feel any pride in winning when we knew the best was elswhere and that we could compete. Other teams know what I'm talking about.

Let's face facts... DI and DII may not be different in skill level by some opinion, but Lindenwood, UMSL, Mich. St, Buffalo, Central Fla, URI, Long Beach State, UCI and a ton of other equally great teams don't play in DII. And saying that you won DII will never compare to saying you won DI. And if a team like CSU Northridge is willing to play DI and follow the guidelines set out for all teams, (and they should based on their organization and structure, not skill level, not taking ANYTHING from them, as they gained respect for always showing up and skating hard) then I believe that the team/s in questions should also step up. Not to mention the fact that it will expand our sport further. We all want our sport to grow, what better a way than to have the BEST teams all play each other?


I don't like even talking about hockey off the rink so im gonna try and end this. Thing is that we never said anything about winning D2 compared to D1. If you guys have a problem with us doing well is d2, put up the money and we would be glad to play you. Whether vitorious or not, atleast it would shut up the people that only go on these forums to bring negativity to a post that was ment for a positive thing. Didn't your mother ever teach you if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

[Pat]

I don't like even talking about hockey off the rink so im gonna try and end this. Thing is that we never said anything about winning D2 compared to D1. If you guys have a problem with us doing well is d2, put up the money and we would be glad to play you. Whether vitorious or not, atleast it would shut up the people that only go on these forums to bring negativity to a post that was ment for a positive thing. Didn't your mother ever teach you if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

I don't think people have a problem with Neumann being successful. The conversation is about whether or not Neumann should move up to D1. If you read through the thread a lot of people, including myself, congratulated Neumann for their success this year in regionals.

However, there are always going to be a few turds on every forum that are negative about everything.

[NHouser]

I agree with Mariotti. Enough. Congratulations Neumann! It was also great to see other DII teams this season that provided some great games and some strong competition for you guys. Good Luck at Nationals!

[GoRangrHky]

Put up the money? You guys are the ones that have to go play against the DI schools now. They don't need to prove anything to you.

[jscotto]

WOW AJ. That is a pretty deep-seeded resentment you have towards Neumann. I never expected that from you... I am disappointed. We at Neumann had never said anything against you guys; in fact I believe that once we were past the disappointment of losing Regionals to you we were very complimentary of your team, heck we even rooted for you guys at Nationals.

I think the only solution here is that the governing body for ECRHA restructures the divisions by whatever criteria they deem it to be and enforce it. If a team meets the criteria set forth then they MUST comply and play in the division that they are a fit. No team should have a choice or be given the option. Simply put... What the league says goes.

Perhaps if the league did this several seasons ago we would not be bickering about this now. Hopefully this is the last of it.

Once again congats to Neumann and all Regional Winners. Also congrats to all teams that participated this season, good luck to those that get selected for Nationals abd looking forward to more hockey next season.

[train]

On a side note, I'm curious as to the average financial awards that teams receive each year. Is there that much of a discrepancy between D1 and D2 that effects the ability of a club to be more/less organized?
we (mo state) get a little over $5k, which is the most the school will give to any club sport. it covers league costs and practice, everything else is out of our pockets.

[RustyPipes27]

Penn State gets next to nothing, and that's been the case for the past decade. They've still managed to be pretty competitive. Just saying.

[nickstur]

Here at Albany, we got absolutely nothing this year which really hurt our competitiveness because we couldn't retain talent or look for new talent because of expenses

But I am personally working on getting full funding for next season, maybe around 10 grand or whatever it works out to be and we're hoping to get it. Just a piece of advice: The money from your school is always there, it is just a matter of getting it, so keep being persistent

and watch out for albany next year because we're gonna be back!

[dan sangiorgio]

tommy tommy i have to wonder if prehaps the reason you feel the need to grill neumann is because you are still sour about losing to them in north carolina, causing the league run a conspiracy that kept you from winning mvg or atleast i think thats why you thad such a fit causing the boards to get shut down, i could be wrong but it was something along those lines. you make good points in some of your post(not just this topic but others regarding the RHA thing ect..) but you come off like such a jackass constantly calling people out to the point that it comes personal...
and it might just be me but umsl has become such a more likable and classy team and i think its because that you have nothing to do with the team anymore


Embarrassing is what that is.

whats more in embarrsing is how mad you get about college club roller hockey and u don't even play anymore....


Simply put, they should be embarrassed that they don't have the pride or sense of competition to move up and play with the big boys..

when i played for neumann i didn't have a say where we played nor did i care i just enjoyed being able to play a sport at my school, like mariotti said we just liked to play. if it was my choice- last year i would have liked to play d1 at nationals just because it was the first time d1 seemed stronger overall, just as i thought in north carolina d2 was much stronger and was glad we played d2 and not d1 (neumann umsl brockport specifcally).
i think the club leaders thought bringing our team to d1 when pretty much the whole team was leaving over a 2 year period could lead to the club folding from lack of organization and talent and the fact the school is smaller then some of the junior colleges.

[Mtour71]

[QUOTE
when i played for neumann i didn't have a say where we played nor did i care i just enjoyed being able to play a sport at my school, like mariotti said we just liked to play. if it was my choice- last year i would have liked to play d1 at nationals just because it was the first time d1 seemed stronger overall, just as i thought in north carolina d2 was much stronger and was glad we played d2 and not d1 (neumann umsl brockport specifcally).
i think the club leaders thought bringing our team to d1 when pretty much the whole team was leaving over a 2 year period could lead to the club folding from lack of organization and talent and the fact the school is smaller then some of the junior colleges.[/QUOTE]

I respect your opinion Dan. However here is mine! D2 was never stronger overall? Maybe D3 was close in talent pool but never D2 teams. Sure, they are awlays one or two solid D2 teams but please don't say that D2 was overall stronger.

[Pat]

I respect your opinion Dan. However here is mine! D2 was never stronger overall? Maybe D3 was close in talent pool but never D2 teams. Sure, they are awlays one or two solid D2 teams but please don't say that D2 was overall stronger.

That particular season, d2 in ECRHA was incredibly strong and d1 had a down year. In terms of the NCRHA in general the d1 teams are better, and eventually the d1/d2 thing in ecrha evened itself out.

[Mtour71]

A down year? Stronger and competitive are two different things. D2 might have been more COMPETITIVE. Definitely not Stronger. Again, Sure some of the D2 teams could have competed in D1 but I still wouldn't say D2 was stronger that yr.

[GoRangrHky]

WOW AJ. That is a pretty deep-seeded resentment you have towards Neumann. I never expected that from you... I am disappointed. We at Neumann had never said anything against you guys; in fact I believe that once we were past the disappointment of losing Regionals to you we were very complimentary of your team, heck we even rooted for you guys at Nationals.

At that time, I'd say we were two very evenly matched teams. You guys were ahead of us by a bit in terms of organization, but talent wise, very close. Since then, Hofstra has upped it's level of organization, and I'd be hard pressed to say Neumann hasn't done the same. Hofstra made the jump to DI despite it's losses in talent, because that's what it's supposed to be about. My resentment is not just towards Neumann- there's a handful of teams that should be doing it- but that's the direction this thread has taken.

[William Bourque]

A down year? Stronger and competitive are two different things. D2 might have been more COMPETITIVE. Definitely not Stronger. Again, Sure some of the D2 teams could have competed in D1 but I still wouldn't say D2 was stronger that yr.

The year of the national tournament, DII in the ECRHA was better and had better teams that DI. With the exception of maybe Towson, the DII teams like Brockport, Hofstra, Neumann, Shippensburg, could have beaten most of the DI teams in the ECRHA. I know that ship played Pittsburgh that year and beat them 11-5. And Pittsburgh went to nationals in DI and beat Missouri. That is not that case now as DI is vastly superior than DII.

[Mtour71]

Maybe that was true in the ECRHA...I am saying as a whole. Maybe I misread something but I am talking the entire NCRHA.

[MARIOTTI]

awww Oldtimer its ok. Ill buy you a little trophy, sharpie in PlayMaker, and mail it to you. Really? Grow up big guy. You graduated. Why are you even on here? Shouldn't you be out yelling at some kids in a middleschool game or something. And Dan is welcome to say what he wants defending Neumann, because he was part of the club. He knows what we are capable to do and what we are not. But youuuuuuuuu? Who are you to pass judgement on anyteam? "Your not even a has been, your a never was" <Always loved that movie :)

[BLowe7]

When I played in ECRHA, I always enjoyed playing against Neumann and I have no problem with them staying in D-II. Sure last year they were undefeated, but the year before and this year they have a few losses. They've won regionals the past two years but the two years before that? Stony Brook and Hofstra, I realize they're a powerhouse in D-II and they could obviously compete in D-I but who are you guys to tell them that they need to move up?

Congrats Neumann for your Regional Championship and Good Luck at Nationals.

[snip3r 22]

haha seriously this is a joke. All that shouldve been said in this thread was congrats to neuman and thats the end of it. Why do you have to have these clowns come on here starting problems about them being an embarrassment to the league, if theyre in DII theyre in DII. Then you have Mariotti a guy from their team come on here trying to solve the problem and you have guys who are 35 who dont play anymore coming on here talking more ish, just let it go old timer and move on.

Congrats on the big win over west cheter guys.

[jscotto]

Thank you Bryan. We also enjoyed playing Ship because we knew it would be a clean and highly competitive game between two teams that respected each other.
On the topic of the undefeated season: there were many games that we struggled in and were fortunate to come away with the victory. The margins of victory were 2 or 3 goals, and/or were decided late in the game.

[GSJaguars11]

I really dont care about this but one point of your arguement doesnt make sense, you guys pretty much keep saying;

"The difference between d1 and d2 is organization, not talent level... we are losing too much talent to move up to d1"

[MARIOTTI]

thanks bry atleast someone understadn where im coming from lol

[Leaferguy]

Might as well lock this. A couple guys arguing the same thing with different words and it's just going to get increasingly personal. We know AJ thinks everyone that can be should be in DI. We know that a lot of the guys that actually played against Neumann didn't care that they didn't move up. We know that Tomy is a very, very well-liked board member.

Just lock it and let it go before this gets worse...

[MAmato]

I don't get how a team that gets funding out the wazoo, recruits, has coaches, a buttload of practice time, and what have you can't look beyond their own nose and recruit guys ahead of time so that you don't have a situation where "7 of our seniors are graduating!" and it is used as a crutch. I'm aware that it's a small school. It's really not a great excuse when you compare it to other schools that are tiny, are far from a rink, get no funding, or are talent-limited to a greater extent by admissions standards.

Ironically, I suppose that the inability of said club to see past their own nose reinforces their larger point that they should be in DII due to organizational issues.




I had kicked around a flat-tiered league which simply threw each and every team that was in the league for more than two consecutive years into DI regardless of standings, but nobody bought it. I wonder if that might get more legs as time goes by...

[Leaferguy]

and then there's Maude :p