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.