2008 All American Selections Presented by YouSuckRef.com

[HockeyRefGuy]

YouSuckRef.com is proud to present our 2008 All American selections. Please visit the News page on our site for all the selections. Congratulations to all those selected.

[train]

not that these mean anything, but how does the great plains only get 5 players selected?

[catch]

Mr You Suck your all-star selections are so bad I can only assume you were at Paddy's Pub playing russian roulette with Danny Devito when you chose.

[feedmetherock]

yea those are some pretty interesting selections and by interesting i mean bad

[train]

i think it's pretty obvious he based the selections on stats only.

[csdahlberg]

yea those are some pretty interesting selections and by interesting i mean bad

I know, I'm not even on the list!

[alex]

I thought I'd give this a shot. 20 minutes of NCRHA.org research combined with previous knowledge of players, and here's a different take on an All-American team.

Keep in mind, I have not seen a single NCRHA game this season. I live in f'n Arizona. I'm not biased towards anyone. OBVIOUSLY, this must be based at least in part on stats. Although it was based on stats, I avoided just picking the top 2 scoring forwards, top 2 scoring defensemen, and goalie with best save percentage. I tried taking into account teams actually winning, etc. Defense was particularly hard to pick since there's no stat tracking of plus/minus, odd man rushes stopped, blocked shots, or anything relevant to good defensive play but I did my best. And, this includes performances at regionals.

So, here it is. DI only because I only have so much time to kill. Reasons/justifications included for each player.

Feel free to pick it apart. But offer up something constructive not just "this sucks!"


1st Team All-Americans

Forward: Charlie Middleton (UC Irvine)
-astronomical numbers: 75 goals and 107 points (both 1st in the nation and the most in NCRHA regular season history)
-led UC Irvine to a 1 loss season and their first regional championship)

Forward: Kyle Gouge (Lindenwood)
-led Lindenwood in assists and was 2nd in scoring
-although 2nd in scoring for the team, he had most points (12) in 4 games against rivals UMSL

Defense: Adam Clarke (UMSL)
-2nd on team in scoring
-top defenseman on team that ended "the streak"

Defense: Jim Tamburino (Stony Brook)
-top 10 in the nation in assists, led his team in scoring
-led Stony Brook to 17-2-1 regular season record & birth to nationals

Goalie: Dustin Brown (Lindenwood)
-Won all 13 games he played, including 3 wins over UMSL
-.897 save percentage (2nd in the nation for goalies with 10 GP)
-0.98 GAA and 5 SO (both 1st in the nation)



Honorable Mentions:
Robbie Fulton (Rutgers) - led the nation in assists, led Rutgers to first nationals birth
PJ Tallo (UMSL) - 2nd in the nation in assists, helped lead UMSL to regional title
Brandon Barnette (Lindenwood) - led the best team in the nation in scoring
Ryan Burrows (Long Beach State) - gaudy numbers but could never beat UCI and came up short
Richie Latona (Buffalo) - 15-1 record, top 5 in save percentage, led Buffalo to regional title
Eric Lubanski (Michigan State) - led Midwest in scoring and helped MSU to regional title
Mike Tasch (UC Irvine) - 3rd in the nation in scoring, only UCI loss came without him playing
Connor Cafferty (Central Florida) - led team in scoring and helped them to regional title

[DGlass]

Hey Brian...

Even though you put Luttrell on the team, does your PSU bias have to be so evident by calling it "Pittsburgh University"?

That's like calling it Penn State College, as far as I'm concerned.

[RustyPipes27]

Why do you Pitt guys care so much about PSU anyways? You're not even a blip on our radar.

[HockeyRefGuy]

Yes I did mainly use stats. I grew up playing and officiating in the ECRHA. I don't pretend to personally know, or have seen play everyone in this league. I wish that was the case. All I can go on is the stats the league reports on their site. I personally have been an official on the floor twice with Lindenwood. I have also played against them back before the streak started. I know how good they are. If someone doesn't then they just came out of a cave. I agreed with Alex on the point that all of the players he has mentioned are top class of college roller hockey players across this entire country and deserve to be in this discussion. As for Alex's picks:

Forward: Charlie Middleton (UC Irvine)
We both agree about Mr. Middleton. He has had the best individual season this league has ever seen.

Forward: Kyle Gouge (Lindenwood)
With an unbelievable season for the #1 ranked team. Statically Kyle is not even the best player on his team. With 50 points (22 goals and 28 asst) Kyle is 6 points behind teammate Brandon Barnette (31 goals and 25 asst). Kyle is also 13th in the country in points, 17th in goals and 10th in assists. I agree Kyle in a premier player in this great league but I don't not believe the stats prove he is on of the top four forwards in the country.

Defense: Adam Clarke (UMSL)
Adam is an incredible defenseman from everyone I have talked to into the Great Plains region. Adam again had a great season. With 39 points (17 goals and 22 assists) I will say that it is tough to see defense on a stats sheet. There are many great defenseman in this country. I just believe there were other who had just as good defensive year and better offensive years.

Defense: Jim Tamburino (Stony Brook)
Jim is always a pleasure to watch play and be on the same floor with. I know about Jim's leadership and talent. I do believe he is in the same category as Adam Clarke, fantastic defensive year with a very decent offensive year, 52 points (21 goals and 31 assists).

Goalie: Dustin Brown (Lindenwood)
I believe Dustin is the toughest argument of the 5. Dustin is obviously one of the best goalies in the country. Unfortunately I did not chose him for two reasons. first he plays on the best team in the country. What? In my mind , as twisted as it may be, this is actually a slight against Dustin. Also he only played in 13 of his team's 18 games.

I created these All American teams because I believe these kids, who play this game at the highest level, need to be recognized andneed to be talked about. I know everyone isn't going to agree with my list and thats fine. They didn't agree with my rankings at the beginning of the season either. I would like to hear from everyone as to what they think their first team All Americans should be in Division I, II, III and B. Let the discussions begin.

[train]

the only problem i have is that you based the picks purely on stats. the great plains is therefore at a disadvantage since they have a mercy rule.

[socalhockey]

the only problem i have is that you based the picks purely on stats. the great plains is therefore at a disadvantage since they have a mercy rule.

The WCRHL also has a mercy rule. Once there is a 10 goal differential and the game is into the second period it ends.

UC Irvine had 6 wins by mercy in the regular season and Long Beach had 5. Most of those games ended in the second period.

[TourFLA98]

you suck at life .. are these selections serious?

[alex]

Yes I did mainly use stats. I grew up playing and officiating in the ECRHA. I don't pretend to personally know, or have seen play everyone in this league. I wish that was the case. All I can go on is the stats the league reports on their site. I personally have been an official on the floor twice with Lindenwood. I have also played against them back before the streak started. I know how good they are. If someone doesn't then they just came out of a cave. I agreed with Alex on the point that all of the players he has mentioned are top class of college roller hockey players across this entire country and deserve to be in this discussion. As for Alex's picks:

Forward: Charlie Middleton (UC Irvine)
We both agree about Mr. Middleton. He has had the best individual season this league has ever seen.

Forward: Kyle Gouge (Lindenwood)
With an unbelievable season for the #1 ranked team. Statically Kyle is not even the best player on his team. With 50 points (22 goals and 28 asst) Kyle is 6 points behind teammate Brandon Barnette (31 goals and 25 asst). Kyle is also 13th in the country in points, 17th in goals and 10th in assists. I agree Kyle in a premier player in this great league but I don't not believe the stats prove he is on of the top four forwards in the country.

Defense: Adam Clarke (UMSL)
Adam is an incredible defenseman from everyone I have talked to into the Great Plains region. Adam again had a great season. With 39 points (17 goals and 22 assists) I will say that it is tough to see defense on a stats sheet. There are many great defenseman in this country. I just believe there were other who had just as good defensive year and better offensive years.

Defense: Jim Tamburino (Stony Brook)
Jim is always a pleasure to watch play and be on the same floor with. I know about Jim's leadership and talent. I do believe he is in the same category as Adam Clarke, fantastic defensive year with a very decent offensive year, 52 points (21 goals and 31 assists).

Goalie: Dustin Brown (Lindenwood)
I believe Dustin is the toughest argument of the 5. Dustin is obviously one of the best goalies in the country. Unfortunately I did not chose him for two reasons. first he plays on the best team in the country. What? In my mind , as twisted as it may be, this is actually a slight against Dustin. Also he only played in 13 of his team's 18 games.

I created these All American teams because I believe these kids, who play this game at the highest level, need to be recognized andneed to be talked about. I know everyone isn't going to agree with my list and thats fine. They didn't agree with my rankings at the beginning of the season either. I would like to hear from everyone as to what they think their first team All Americans should be in Division I, II, III and B. Let the discussions begin.

Yeah man I think it's awesome what you do. Even if people disagree, you're getting conversation started. I didn't post my own to try to one-up you or anything. Just figured I'd get it on the fun instead of doing boring work, haha.

[DGlass]

Eh...we mostly just hate that stupid jackass Paterno because he is afraid to play Pitt. Yes, afraid in that he bought out the final three years of the Pitt-PSU contract after Pitt beat them to knock them out of a bowl.

If Pitt and PSU still played, I guarantee it would be the most talked about rivalry in the country. There is no good reason for PSU to not agree to a contract with Pitt.

That is all. Otherwise, I love PSU. The girls are ridiculously easy.