D1 rankings (2/15)

[sid21]

for some d1 talk....

1. Lindenwood (13-0-0)
Proved they're #1, they lose Gouge and still beat Buffalo, Michigan State, and Central Michigan. 2 challenges from UMSL and UL Lafayette this coming weekend to finish the season.

2. UMSL (13-3-0)
Proved they do belong comfortably in the #2 spot by beating the 3 teams below them: Buffalo, Michigan State, and Central Michigan. This coming weekend they get 1 more shot at Lindenwood and a challenge from UL Lafayette.

3. Buffalo (16-2-2)
A shaky tournament in Chicago: losses to Lindenwood and UMSL were close as expected but a tie against North Texas was not expected. Still proved they belong at #3 with win over Central Michigan.

4. Michigan State (15-4-0)
Like most teams in Chicago, proved they belong where they are. Beat North Texas as expected, had a close 4-3 game against Lindenwood, but lost 4-0 to UMSL.

5. Central Michigan (12-6-1)
Proved they belong right here: beat a team below them (North Texas) and had 3 reasonably close losses to 3 teams above them (Lindenwood, UMSL, and Buffalo).

6. Rhode Island (13-4-1)
In a trip to the southeast, URI beat Central Florida, split 2 games with Florida Atlantic, and lost to North Carolina State. A shaky weekend but they beat the top southeast team so they’ll stay above UCF and FAU.

7. Arizona State (19-1-0)
Finished the regular season with 19 straight wins, clearly the best team in the west. Question remains if they can be 1st west team since UC Irvine in 2008 to go deep at nationals.

8. Central Florida (12-5-3)
Narrow loss to Rhode Island shows they have the ability to play with some of the top teams. They need to win the southeast though and seem to be having more trouble with NC State lately.

9. Florida Atlantic (9-4-3)
A split of 2 games against Rhode Island shows they can also play with top teams but it was also FAU’s only quality win of the year so far. They need to get over the hump against Central Florida.

10. North Texas (14-3-3)
Respectable 7-4 losses against Michigan State and Central Michigan as well as a surprising 4-4 tie against Buffalo proves UNT isn’t a pushover and gets them a spot on the top 10.

On The Outside
Mizzou (6-10-0)
Games against UL Lafayette and St. Charles this weekend with a chance to prove they are a top team that just plays a brutal schedule.

UL Lafayette (14-1-2)
They’ve tied and beat North Texas but don’t make top 10 because they haven’t proven anything outside their region like UNT has. A chance to do so this weekend against Lindenwood, UMSL, and Mizzou.

North Carolina State (15-5-0)
A team with some contradictory outcomes: won 2 of 3 against highly-ranked Central Florida and beat Rhode Island as well. But they also got handled by Florida Atlantic. We’ll see how they do at regionals.

[CSteamer]

Looks about right.

[FAUplayer]

Not to knock NC State, but UCF dominated NC State first semester when both teams had full teams. The two losses this semester for UCF to NC State was where there top player and heart/ heart backbone of the team was missing. Again, when both teams had full teams UCF beat NC State in Ft Myers two weeks ago by one goal.

Having URI come down to SECRHL and having all three SECRHL playing was a great eye opener to see how the SECRHL will fare nationally.

How does FAU only have one quality win where they have beaten NC State twice (that makes no sense, given the wins NC State has come up with over UCF and URI and GMU)? It is also praised where UCF has gone 1-0-3 against FAU, but its really bad for FAU going 0-1-3 against UCF. Once again, having been present at the games you would see how the outcomes came about (who was missing players for example). I would say FAU and UCF is a coin flip situation everytime (two teams that are very close with each other on and off the rink that seem to reach the next level each time they play).

[letsgoisles89]

i dont understand why mizzou is always listed by this guy as one of the top unranked teams. yes, theyre in the same division as UMSL and Lindenwood, but Have been shutout in 4 of the 5 matchups vs those teams this season with a combined score of 51 to 4.

4 of their 6 wins have come against d-2 teams with a combined record of 14-44-0, and they've beaten St. Louis CC twice who have a record of 6-7-1, which is the best record of any team theyve beaten.

how about a more deserving team like West Point? theyre 9-4-5 and play toe to toe with anyone.

or Colorado State..11-2-1 and just went 2-1-1 against out of region teams (all with records above .500) in las vegas.

you are entitled to your opinion but i'm just trying to figure out the logic behind why theyre always listed in your posts, other than because of the division theyre in because they dont even have one impressive victory.

[sid21]

FAUplayer: When I said quality win I was only referring to top 10 teams that's why I didn't count FAU's wins over NC State as "quality," only their win over Rhode Island. But it's not like I'm not showing FAU any respect, they are still top 10 team.

Also, yes I speak more favorably of Central Florida going 1-0-3 against FAU than of FAU going 0-1-3 but I ranked them #8 and #9 so not much of a difference, but that 1 win is slight enough to put them ahead.

letsgoisles: Valid points about Mizzou. I'd say it's a combination of several things that keeps them around these lists. I mean it's just 1 guy saying what he thinks so I don't expect these to be adopted by everyone, just throwing out an opinion to spark debate. With that said, I think I take into account how well I think a particular team will do at nationals as much as what they've done this season. So, despite their unimpressive scores like you pointed out, I still seem them as a team that can play a good team close (like they did Michigan State in sweet 16 last year) even though they can't touch Lindenwood/UMSL. This year, I could see something similar, probably not making elite 8 but giving a team like Central Florida or Rhode Island a real close game in the round of 16).

Lastly, I'd say it's also a lack of other quality teams. Although I do think I've overlooked West Point now that you mention them, I haven't seen them play but their scores look pretty solid (ties against Buffalo and Rhode Island, stuff like that).

[BEEZERAL]

you really did not give enough credit to the SECRHL. URI was very lucky to leave Ft. Myers with a 2-2 record.

FAU and UCF's records are not spectacular because every weekend they play they have to play each other as well as a very strong DII team.

UCF lost to #4 DII Tampa and #10 UM and FAU lost to Tampa and #12 GMU.

Without going through every other teams schedules. how many teams have played 6 games against teams in the Top 10 as well as a few games against top ten DII teams.

[theshow]

Someone explain to me why buffalo is ahead of Michigan State? They tied two teams this season that are far below them and lost to both teams ahead of them. Michigan State lost one game before going into the chicago tournament to a top team and came much closer to Lindenwood than Buffalo. Sounds like more East Coast bias.

[JLambertUMSL]

Michigan State was pretty banged up when we played them. Fenkell and Pomish both got hurt the day before against Lindenwood.

Buffalo outshot us 42-24. Don't underestimate them. We were very fortunate to win that game.

[theshow]

I feel like Michigan State exhausted themselves against Lindenwood and didn't really have much left for UNT or UMSL. UNT is getting credited for close games with MSU and CMU but for those who watched both were situations with unprepared goalies on a new rink. Regardless, I don't understand how a team with two ties against okay teams is ranked number 3.

[William Bourque]

West Point is the best kept secret in the NCRHA.

[kevinsmithAZ]

gotta love how nobody respects the west.

[socalhockey]

I agree with you Kevin. No respect considering the West is the one of the strongest divisions in the Nation. Arizona State will give any team in college hockey a run for their money. They are stacked with talent and have great goaltending as well.

[Meade]

I'm not sure it's a matter of respect or not, the top teams all traveled outside of their region or are doing so soon to prove themselves and to face off against the other elites, we took a chance going up to Chicago and it worked out for us in our favor, I would of been happy going 2-1 up there.

Buffalo and Michigan State are to close to compare, they're both equally talented and will once again go far at Nationals and could easily win the whole thing

I have no doubt that ASU will at least be in the quarter finals, they have a solid team, good luck.

[UmmaDoMe23]

gotta love how nobody respects the west.

No one respects the west because the west has done nothing to earn national respect. Besides UC Irvine 2 years ago at nationals, there hasn't been a team that has come close to a national title since I have been in college roller hockey. Last year I sat on forums and listened to this same discussion...only to watch UNLV get pounded by Michigan State 10-3 in round Robin, Arizona state get killed in the playoffs 12-2 by Mizzou, and Long Beach State provide Lindenwood with no contest, losing 8-1 in the quarterfinals.

[teamcarramrod]

i dont understand why mizzou is always listed by this guy as one of the top unranked teams. yes, theyre in the same division as UMSL and Lindenwood, but Have been shutout in 4 of the 5 matchups vs those teams this season with a combined score of 51 to 4.

4 of their 6 wins have come against d-2 teams with a combined record of 14-44-0, and they've beaten St. Louis CC twice who have a record of 6-7-1, which is the best record of any team theyve beaten.

how about a more deserving team like West Point? theyre 9-4-5 and play toe to toe with anyone.

or Colorado State..11-2-1 and just went 2-1-1 against out of region teams (all with records above .500) in las vegas.

you are entitled to your opinion but i'm just trying to figure out the logic behind why theyre always listed in your posts, other than because of the division theyre in because they dont even have one impressive victory.

hey guy, Just play them.

[sid21]

Well, at least we got some d1 talk going.

Michigan State-Buffalo argument is a good one. Tough call. A lot of people want respect. I think southeast was shown enough respect having all 3 of their d1 teams either on the top 10 or mentioned as just on the outside. As for the west, we know ASU is a different team this year but them going 0-4 at nationals last year was the 1st impression for a lot of people. Haven't seen any of their players post on here asking for respect, I'm sure they understand they've gotta earn it. And Mizzou...guarantee they'll be top 16 at nationals and won't be an easy out in playoffs. They are good...

[Ben Lambert]

Mizzou is a good squad. I haven't seen enough of the rest of the country to say whether or not they belong in the top 10 but they are certainly a good team. They have a couple of gifted scorers but are definitely not on the Level of the top 5 in this list, who are the top 5 for a reason.

Regarding the west, yeah they have good players, but they are spread out among a lot of schools, nobody really comes in and makes a statement at nationals, except select few. Don't forget about Corey Jones and the Anchorage syndicate in 2005 that had an undefeated season all the way through.

I sure wish they'd have played D1 (like a lot of d2 schools should be... Neumann, Mo St., West Chester among others...)

[catch]

I cannot speak for schools in other conferences, but there are simple reasons why Mo. State and schools like Illinois don't play division one. We are repeatedly at the mercy of making a team out of who shows up for tryouts. We have no preseason games (as we are 200 miles away from every other school) to gauge what we have. Then we have to convince guys that 400 mile round trips 6 times are in their interest. Additionally, the fact that Lindenwood gives out scholarships puts us at a major disadvantage. In the course of my time there have been 5 players from Springfield who play in the Great Plains. Travis Fudge (Lindenwood) Tom Frederick (Mo. State) Fritz Vasquez (Mo State) Kallen Grim (Lindenwood) Cory Harris (freshman next year Lindenwood) Without scholarships I would gander everyone of those guys would have played at Mo. State or perhaps Mizzou. With the afore problems of time and distance you cannot expect to convince guys to travel get mercied by Lindenwood and keep playing. Frankly, there are things I would rather do on weekends than watch Lindenwood beat my team where we to be in Division I and I don't i would partake. I have no qualm with the scholarships and wish every school had that opportunity, but we, for example are kind of hung up on Division I basketball. However, as long as that distinction exists so will our distinction from Division I. UMSL is better than us, probably 2-3 goals, but we certainly could compete with UMSL and if that were the only distinction we would play Division I.

[Ben Lambert]

The solution is to make one easy move: merge Division I and Division II and be done with it.

[catch]

conceptually that would resolve things short term. However, it would result in my point above, i.e., in the Great Plains I think you would find teams not in close proximity to St. Louis would dwindle. I would guess this is Why Mo. S & T, Illinois and Illinois state all left Division I.

[kevinsmithAZ]

No one respects the west because the west has done nothing to earn national respect. Besides UC Irvine 2 years ago at nationals, there hasn't been a team that has come close to a national title since I have been in college roller hockey. Last year I sat on forums and listened to this same discussion...only to watch UNLV get pounded by Michigan State 10-3 in round Robin, Arizona state get killed in the playoffs 12-2 by Mizzou, and Long Beach State provide Lindenwood with no contest, losing 8-1 in the quarterfinals.

ASU isn't the same team that they were a year ago. Last year they were missing 4 guys at nationals, including 2 of top scorers (VanBuskirk to name one.) A couple of their D1 players from last year are playing B this season, because the talent at ASU has gotten that much stronger.

ASU has a lot to prove in San Jose but I think they'll step up to the challenge, should be fun to watch and see.

[InlineMBA]

No Long Duong this season? Good grief, if Arizona State had him this season they'd be even better!

Steve Inge - ROXBURY 8

[kevinsmithAZ]

No Long Duong this season? Good grief, if Arizona State had him this season they'd be even better!

Steve Inge - ROXBURY 8

completely agree, Long's a fun kid to watch.

[teamcarramrod]

The solution is to make one easy move: merge Division I and Division II and be done with it.

That wouldn't necessarily work. But, maybe if they merge them in the regular season and then when regionals comes around the top whatever plays D1 and the lower group plays DII. I just came up with that, hmmmm.

[kevinsmithAZ]

That wouldn't necessarily work. But, maybe if they merge them in the regular season and then when regionals comes around the top whatever plays D1 and the lower group plays DII. I just came up with that, hmmmm.

but then teams would potentially throw games at the end of the season to go DII, and how would the rules work out since the NCRHA changed a ton of specifications/requirements for teams/uniforms/etc.?

[FAUplayer]

Why do you want to play D2? Is it not more fun having to play a tough game every game. FAU was D2 last year because it was our first year in the league. Wether our team was better or worse than last year, we already predetermined before the season ended we were playing D1 the next season. I like to win, but I do not like or care to play games where you win by 10 goals; it is just a waste of everyone's time until nationals, and then you are hit by having to play tough games each game and you are not up to the challenge. What I really hate are the good D2 teams that beat a lot of the D1 teams, but sandbag and stay in D2; it makes your team look bad and it brings down the league. The league directors should have a final say in what division you play in.

[GoRangrHky]

I agree. If you want to say you're that great, step it up and play DI full time. Sure you can win a single game against a DI team, but try and do it over a full season, 4 games in a weekend, and see how you fare.

[Mr Hockey]

From what I've seen, Mizzou IS a contender. Barring the weekend at the end of Jan, since they had a different goalie, they play every team close. They beat SLCC twice, and SLCC beat UMSL just this past weekend. Not to say they are nearly as good as Lindenwood or UMSL, but Mizzou is losing so badly to Lindenwood and UMSL for the same reason MO. State never moves to D1: Mizzou is driving 2 hours to get beat every game. This means that they probably are beat before they hit the rink, and just don't care.
That said, Mizzou better find a way to stop allowing so many goals. 10-9 against Illinois? 10 goals for says a great thing. 9 goals against says a horrible thing. Look back at past scores, and your probably agree. 11-8 aganst SCCC? Same deal. If you score 8 plus goals, you shouldn't be losing games. Period.

[Ben Lambert]

From what I've seen, Mizzou IS a contender. Barring the weekend at the end of Jan, since they had a different goalie, they play every team close. They beat SLCC twice, and SLCC beat UMSL just this past weekend. Not to say they are nearly as good as Lindenwood or UMSL, but Mizzou is losing so badly to Lindenwood and UMSL for the same reason MO. State never moves to D1: Mizzou is driving 2 hours to get beat every game. This means that they probably are beat before they hit the rink, and just don't care.
That said, Mizzou better find a way to stop allowing so many goals. 10-9 against Illinois? 10 goals for says a great thing. 9 goals against says a horrible thing. Look back at past scores, and your probably agree. 11-8 aganst SCCC? Same deal. If you score 8 plus goals, you shouldn't be losing games. Period.

We only beat UMSL because they were 3 guys down and my boys were pissed about losing to SCC. UMSL was in a weakened state having just lost a hard fought game to LU the night before and were the unfortunate opponent of a team who was hungry coming off a loss...

We still got BURIED by LU later that day, the boys were spent after the UMSL game. Harder to bounce back after a big win than a big loss I guess.

Mizzou belongs at nationals. Bottom line.

[Mr Hockey]

Ben,

I know you have a lot to do with hockey in the Great Plains region. What is your take on Mizzou this year?

Also, the website lists ULL losing 10-0 to Mizzou, but I heard they didn't actually come up. What's the deal with that? Those games were scheduled a long time ago, and friday morning, as far as I know, the games were still on.

[JLambertUMSL]

We only beat UMSL because they were 3 guys down and my boys were pissed about losing to SCC. UMSL was in a weakened state having just lost a hard fought game to LU the night before and were the unfortunate opponent of a team who was hungry coming off a loss...


There's no excuse for it. At all.

[Ben Lambert]

Ben,

I know you have a lot to do with hockey in the Great Plains region. What is your take on Mizzou this year?

Also, the website lists ULL losing 10-0 to Mizzou, but I heard they didn't actually come up. What's the deal with that? Those games were scheduled a long time ago, and friday morning, as far as I know, the games were still on.

Mizzou is a good team. They are about on par with where they have been in years past, maybe slightly weaker. Good goaltender, and a solid team with one or two guys who can REALLY bury. Rey is an exceptional player, probably one of the top talents in GP. Philbin and Amlong are right behind him, although not quite on that level.

My squad lost to them twice and I feel like we are on the top half of the Great Plains overall, for what it's worth. A lot of teams are right around the same talent level in our region creating a monstrous logjam in the d2 rankings, and there is a great sleeper in there, too: Missouri S & T (who if they are returning most of the guys on their roster, should re-enter D1).

As far as ULL is concerned, I think they were unable to make the trip, but I'm not positive.

[mustachemarty5]

West Point is the best kept secret in the NCRHA.

i completely agree...they are big, fast, strong and they never get tired...they are the army after all...look out for them come nationals