Lets be REAL. 2012-2013 Season Preview

Here is the early slate of October weekends for the start of the season:

6th Columbus Day Event Feasterville, PA
12th RMCRHA Regular Season Event #1 Lakewood, CO
13th Regular Season Event Broomall, PA
13th SECRHL Kickoff Weekend Snellville, GA
19th GPCIHL event Ballwin, MO
20th Great Plains Collegiate Inline Hockey League (GPCIHL) Wright City, mo
20th Great Plains Collegiate Inline Hockey League (GPCIHL) St. Peters, MO
20th Regular Season Event Glastonbury, CT
27th Great Plains Collegiate Inline Hockey League (GPCIHL) Ballwin, MO
27th MCRHL Regular Season Event #1 Shelby Township, MI

Early thoughts start with the defending CHAMPS, Bethel University. They seemed like they took care of business this weekend at the SECRHL Kickoff, besides that first bout with FGCU. The GulF Coast looks solid with their addition of Ex-Lindenwood University lion Vinny Cafone, (who is also my early season favorite for the 2012-13 MVP.) He posted solid numbers this weekend already banking 8 goals in his first 4 games, including a hat trick to polish off the victory against the defending champs.

The Great Plains kicks off this weekend with a good early season challenge For the fighting Illini. They had a good showing in Chi town, beating Bethel, but are sure to face a much tougher test against Lindenwood. LU hasn't seen the finals in the last 2 nationals now, and are sure to be loaded with talent as in years past.

Out in the west I really like the roster down there at Arizona State. They sound like they might be able to make another great appearance at Nationals. (They stand as my prediction to be the runner-up to LU in the finals this year). It remains in question who will really come out strong from the WCRHL though, new roster additions in Long Beach could have them back on top again, and I'm sure UNLV will be another strong team with Barendt in net.

The East coast is the division i know least about and always seems like a toss up, but West Chester with Grossman and Lucente leading the charge, are most likely going to handle the division.

Let's get the predictions and thoughts going around here though, good luck to all the teams across the nation, College Roller has officially began.

Most of my knowledge is with the Ecrha. Unforuntately i heard Grossman will not be playing this 1st semester, Lucente will have to take charge. But Neumann is a very solid team this year for the East

Two weeks of ECRHA down, you would have to say Neumann is the top team in the east, granted they tied WCU in a very tight game. WCU seems to be getting by by the skin of their teeth close games for them. That kind of grit thou could take them places. Rowan seems like a good team that will beat teams they should but might not stack up against the better east teams. Towson could be a dark horse in the east the way Stoneybrook was last year. But from a national view of the east, it seems like the skill is very down once u move past the top 3 teams out there. Pittsburgh is a solid team but 2 players can only take you so far in D1. Army always has a strong team luckily they are still in the league.
Neumann-Towson-WCU-Hofstra is how i predict the east to turn out with only those 4 teams getting national bids.

This could all change if second semester brings
I.E. Grossman to WCU and Youmans to Neumann.

We can all agree on that anything related to the ECRHA just like every year hockeykid12 will direct how good HIS neumann knights are and how they are left without Youmans. If you review everyone of his post it talks how highly of HIS neumann knights. So other than his "Real Talk", I'd like to hear from others on what they think about the ECRHA other than HIS neumann knights.

Yet from the past two weeks of play is my assessment wrong about the teams i mention if u look at games that have been played?

Any thoughts on DII/B in the ECRHA? The scores seem inconsistent in places in both divisions. Is the talent level the same as last year or less strong?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hockey71

Any thoughts on DII/B in the ECRHA? The scores seem inconsistent in places in both divisions. Is the talent level the same as last year or less strong?

---

I only know about the east personally but there is still a ton of talent combined with a little more parity this year in DII. Slippery Rock, Cortland, Northeastern and likely either UDel or SUNY Binghamton are the cream of the crop. Rutgers, Oswego and Drexel will likely round out the bottom of the playoff contenders. BU, Albany, and Niagara are likely on the outside looking in while Vermont, and Cornell will bottom feed.

I think the strongest B teams are clearly Slippery Rock, Hofstra, Temple and Northeastern. West Chester is also strong but they're significantly weaker than last year. Stony Brook, Towson, and Rowan likely will be on the bubble all year.

I'm excited to see how the DI looks in the WCRHL, MCRHL and the SECRHL. I think the ECRHA is easily going to be the weakest come Nationals in DI with WCRHL being the strongest. Whereas they'll likely be the best in DII alongside the SECRHL. B division is ASU and Lindenwood's to lose at this point

I know a decent amount about the WCRHL teams out here.

UCSB lost their top 2 scorers including easily the best player in the league Travis Noe. That'll be hard to replace but Paul Linder and Parker Eliot are both sick players who will keep UCSB competitive with anyone.

UNLV lost their top guy Nick Robone but they still have a pretty strong team, mostly because goalie Travis Barendt keeps them in any game. They also added Austin Shannon from Lindenwood who will help. They'll be as good as anyone.

ASU's roster looks like it's back to where it was before last year when they struggled. They still have Will Heinze who is a top guy in the league. They seem to depend on ice guys a lot so not sure how that will affect them this year. I think they'll be competitive with everyone though.

Cal Poly lost 2 of their top scorers Brian Costello and Kevin Middlekauff. But they still have their best player Ryan Newens and a good core group. They'll still be able to beat anyone in the WCRHL.

Long Beach lost Paul Anderson who was 1 of their best. They have a lot of guys from their ice team on their roster, not sure how often they'll show up or how good they'll be. The team is still good either way. Not sure if Skyler Hoar is playing or not? With Travis Noe gone, Skyler is best player in the NCRHA this year for sure. I heard he's going to play in Europe though. Not sure. Without him, they're still good. With him, they might be tops in WCRHL.

It's gonna be a weird year in the west. Everyone lost top guys. I think it'll be ridiculously close with all 5 teams again. Any of them could go far at nationals too

I think so and so is the best player ever and is going to have a big year. sincerely, so and so

Will the ECRHA be doing the Stars of the weekend this year ? For us in other regions use that as a scouting tool.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ducks9758

Will the ECRHA be doing the Stars of the weekend this year ? For us in other regions use that as a scouting tool.

---

Yes.

http://ecrha.net/article.php?article_id=55179