ECRHA D1 Regionals

[danglsauce]

During the roundtable discussion, the question was asked "what 8 teams will be going to regionals?"
Does that mean that only 8 are going this year? I don't remember voting on the matter like we did last year.
Also, Brockport was 10th last year and almost made it to the finals and went to Nationals.
Anyone have any info on the matter?

[RhodyDlenz]

how many teams went to regionals last year?

[danglsauce]

10 last year

[hockeyguy18]

Personally i think 10 is too many teams, i believe the top 8 should be involved in the regional tournament

[GoRangrHky]

I'll disagree with that, because in my years in this league, I've seen plenty of #10 seeds that can make it very far in the tournament, and at nationals as well. That may not be the case this year (Rowan, at 3-6-1, is the 10th place team). But last year I believe it was Brockport and Neumann who were 9 and 10. Both of those teams made it to Sunday before Neumann ran into a hot Rowan team, and Brockport made the semis before losing a close game to Buffalo (a game they were winning 5-0 at one point). 10 is a lot, but with the parity that this league shows sometimes, I think it's appropriate.

[William Bourque]

During the roundtable discussion, the question was asked "what 8 teams will be going to regionals?"
Does that mean that only 8 are going this year? I don't remember voting on the matter like we did last year.
Also, Brockport was 10th last year and almost made it to the finals and went to Nationals.
Anyone have any info on the matter?

8 Teams will be a DI regionals.

Voted on at the ACC Meeting.

[Mustangs]

I think taking the top 8 is pretty reasonable. Remember Regionals aren't just another tournament, it's playoffs. You have to earn a spot to be in playoffs, otherwise the regular season is pretty much meaningless. I know a lot of people are talking about Brockport doing really well as the #10 team, but the fact is they lost in the semis. Also, the drop off from the 1st/2nd place teams to the 8th team is most likely going to be pretty big.

Out West, we only have 6 D1 teams, so usually everyone gets to play at regionals (except the teams that struggle all year, like San Jose State last year). Even though this is nearly the entire division, I think it's the only good way to go about it when the entire division can be competitive at the national level. It doesn't seem like that's the case in the ECRHA.

[coastalrang]

What about in the SECRHL...there are only 7 teams...top 6? All 7?...does anyone know?

[hockeyguy18]

I think taking the top 8 is pretty reasonable. Remember Regionals aren't just another tournament, it's playoffs. You have to earn a spot to be in playoffs, otherwise the regular season is pretty much meaningless. I know a lot of people are talking about Brockport doing really well as the #10 team, but the fact is they lost in the semis. Also, the drop off from the 1st/2nd place teams to the 8th team is most likely going to be pretty big.

Out West, we only have 6 D1 teams, so usually everyone gets to play at regionals (except the teams that struggle all year, like San Jose State last year). Even though this is nearly the entire division, I think it's the only good way to go about it when the entire division can be competitive at the national level. It doesn't seem like that's the case in the ECRHA.

Im sorry but I dont see how you can say that West every team can compete nationally but ECRHA teams cannot. To be perfectly honest I dont see anyone outside the top 3 competing with any of the out of region power houses especially from the ECRHA. I dnt see UNLV, Arizona State or Arizona beating teams like West Chester, Neumann, Stony Brook or Hofstra. But thats my opinion. I wouldnt get too cocky about the WCRHL just yet the east has some power houses at the top along with some depth.

[Mustangs]

I'm not questioning the talent of the ECRHA, I know there are several solid teams, but with so many teams out there, not all of them are solid nationals teams. I think at this point in the season I would say that the top 5 teams in the West would compete well at nationals. That's not to say that the top 5 out East won't do the same. UNLV is a really dangerous team with a lot of talent and if they stay out of the box they are really tough to beat. ASU is still a solid team as well and will improve in the second half with the addition of some ice players.

[hockeykid12]

The east has so many teams and many of the teams are very good, so when u see the top teams pulling away from the pack like west chest,neumann,sb have it shows more of a body of work for those teams and shows how good they are, as opposed to the west who as u say have 6 teams thats doesn't give you much to work with it and show how good those teams are, i would put the top 3 teams from the east against any team out there and would say east walks away winners, with the notable exception of linden wood whom we all know takes a monumental effort to beat. just because the west had a dream showing last nationals doesn't hold much merit to this year when clearly the east as in many years is the top region.

[Mustangs]

I'm not really sure how you can say that last years showing at nationals has no merit this year. Almost every team in the West has their same rosters and have added more talent. WCRHL teams went 5-0-1 against ECRHA teams at nationals and outscored them 49-16. That includes my team over the Eastern regional champs, Rowan (6-2). Besides losing the first game of the tournament to Michigan State the only teams my team struggled against were WCRHL teams. I understand the East is very good, but like always everyone on these boards seems to overlook the West.

That being said, we'll have to just wait and see at nationals!

[alex]

Rowan, ECRHA's top team last year, got beat by Cal Poly 6-2 and by ASU 8-3. The year before, the east's top 2 teams were Buffalo and Rhode Island. They got beat 9-1 and 10-1 by ASU.

In the last 2 years, WCRHL has sent 3 different teams to the national championship game. The last 4 years, the championship game has only had teams from the Great Plains or the West.

Great Plains region has the best team, Lindenwood, and the WCRHL is the deepest region.

[NUHockey72]

The Great Plains has the best team, WCRHL has the highest echelon, the SECRHL the best parity, and the ECRHA the biggest numbers and therefore best depth. I think while the ASU team from 09-10 who spanked that U-Buffalo team had one of the most cohesive teams I've ever seen. However keep in mind that Buffalo team only had 6ish players, much like the UCI team from with the Tasch brothers and Middleton beat had maybe the hardest route to the semis. Which seemed to have really seemed to have grinded them down by the time they ran into the proverbial brick wall with a deeper bench (Lindenwood v. UCI and ASU v. Buffalo).

[alex]

The Great Plains has the best team, WCRHL has the highest echelon, the SECRHL the best parity, and the ECRHA the biggest numbers and therefore best depth. I think while the ASU team from 09-10 who spanked that U-Buffalo team had one of the most cohesive teams I've ever seen. However keep in mind that Buffalo team only had 6ish players, much like the UCI team from with the Tasch brothers and Middleton beat had maybe the hardest route to the semis. Which seemed to have really seemed to have grinded them down by the time they ran into the proverbial brick wall with a deeper bench (Lindenwood v. UCI and ASU v. Buffalo).

They had 6 skaters that game, we had 7 as we did all year.

[hockeykid12]

basically if your from the west, the west is the best, east then east is the best and so on, but this year whoever comes from the east will have one of the better teams that also has a solid goalie in net as well, previous years that hasn't been the case, rowan was the best team last year but not even they would deny that their goaltending held them back, which those of us in the east were even more impressed with their performance last year, if they had a good goalie they would have been hard to beat. But if you look at the teams like WCU/NU/Hofstra what they have going for them is they have really good goaltending.
Which we all know in any form of hockey is the equalizer. But as far as the region debate, it is what it is, whatever region your from is the strongest. Regardless of the reality of the regions.

[WC player]

Hockeykid, the statistics don't like. Alex and Eric make valid points to why our league is has grown in depth and talent the last few years. All you talk about is "guarantees" on how the top east coast teams would beat anyone besides Lindenwood. When in reality, over the last few years the ECRHA has been pretty irrelevant come nationals. Maybe it will be different this year and only nationals will tell however, right now I'd probably stop talking. The points you are trying to make have no validity and do not make a whole lot of sense.

[hockeykid12]

Lol. Think what you want. Westchester will probably be in the d1 championship, but well see what happens. That wild wild west is tough I guess.

[NUHockey72]

They had 6 skaters that game, we had 7 as we did all year.

You might of missed my point about them having the toughest route in round robin to get to the semifinal. Not disrespecting what you did that year which was a huge accomplishment in of itself. but also keep in mind three or four of the higher echelon ECRHA teams were knocked off by other ECRHA teams in the early rounds, which prevents them from placing more than one team in final four/national championship game.

However the ECRHA has also placed 3 teams in the final four in since 2008, The SECRHL has placed 1, the MCRHL has placed 1, the Great plains has placed 7 and the WCRHL has placed 4 since 2008. Which basically means every region is relevant when it comes to nationals, no one region is substantially better than any other aside from maybe the Rocky Mountain or the Southwest and maybe instead of constantly denigrating one another on here we should be talking about who actually has the best chance of keeping the championship out of Lindenwood's hands for two years in a row which is something that has never been done in NCRHA history; which is probably UCSB, LB ST., MSU, WCU, NU or Illinois.

[alex]

I get it. Just referring to you referring to Buffalo playing us as running into the "proverbial brick wall with a deeper bench." Tougher road to get there, yeah, but not sure deeper bench was the case...

This usually just turns into a pissing match but...this is an ECRHA dominated board, obviously WCRHL guys are gonna want to get on here if they feel the region doesn't get enough recognition. And the best of the WCRHL has beaten the best of the ECRHA the past 2 years so it's understandable to wanna do that.

[hockeyguy18]

I am from the ECRHA and I give the WCRHL a lot of praise if you look at my top 10 in the country i wrote on another thread I def give credit where credit is due. I dont know if the ECRHA is better than WCRHL or WCRHL is better than the ECRHA but all i know is regardless The West and the East are the top 2. Both are deep and both send a lot of teams to the Nationals. West is a faster flashy style of play where its a lot of transition and the East is a hard nosed grinding traditional hockey, you cant compare the two the teams are too different but both have some of the top teams and top players in the nation. No doubt about it.

[danglsauce]

I think that 10 should go. Every year there is a run by a low ranked team. Teams often miss guys during the year, and I know it's a team sport and everyone should always be there but sometimes kids in this league have "college" things going on and cant make a weekend or two. But, everyone is usually there for regionals so you get to see teams at their fullest and best.

[LBHOCKEY]

The East may have some strong teams but the West is much stronger from top to bottom. There are no weak teams, period. Any of the 5 teams (LB, ASU, CSULB, Cal Poly or UNLV) can beat one another or any other team in the nation on any given day. It has been that way for the last three years or so, and I'm sure it will probably be the same again this year. ASU was in the final three years ago, Long Beach won Nationals two years ago and UNLV was in the finals last year. I think that record speaks for itself. I know from a Long Beach State point of view, the majority of the toughest games we play each and every year are against our rivals (and good friends, I might add) in the WEST.

Good luck to all the D1 teams in the West again this year!

What do I know, I'm just an old retired roller hockey coach!