D1 Nationals

[Bthumme]

•Arizona State University
•Bethel University
•Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
•University of Central Florida
•Colorado State University
•University of Connecticut
•Eastern Michigan University
•George Mason University
•Grand Valley State University
•University of Illinois
•Lindenwood University
•Long Beach State
•Metro State University - Denver
•Michigan State Unviversity
•Missouri State University
•University of Missouri - St. Louis
•Neumann University
•The Ohio State University
•Stony Brook University
•Towson University
•UC Santa Barbara
•University of Nevada Las Vegas
•University of North Texas
•West Chester University
•Alternate #1: Hofstra University
•Alternate #2: East Carolina
•Alternate #3: North Carolina State University
•Alternate #4: Sam Houston State University

[Kevin Smith]

•Arizona State University
•Bethel University
•Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
•University of Central Florida
•Colorado State University
•University of Connecticut
•Eastern Michigan University
•George Mason University
•Grand Valley State University
•University of Illinois
•Lindenwood University
•Long Beach State
•Metro State University - Denver
•Michigan State Unviversity
•Missouri State University
•University of Missouri - St. Louis
•Neumann University
•The Ohio State University
•Stony Brook University
•Towson University
•UC Santa Barbara
•University of Nevada Las Vegas
•University of North Texas
•West Chester University
•Alternate #1: Hofstra University
•Alternate #2: East Carolina
•Alternate #3: North Carolina State University
•Alternate #4: Sam Houston State University

Coast to Coast predicted 23 of the 24 teams correctly. Not bad. Congrats to ASU for getting in, they, along with UConn and EMU will surprise some people.

[joshbaily22]

First off Id like to congratulate all teams for a great season and also like to congratulate all teams on a natty bid. That being said I understand Im going to catch heat for saying this. I dont like teams with an OVERALL record thats right around or below 500% getting a bid to nationals. It drives me crazy. And I know the arguments are there but regardless I cant stand it. For example ASU, Missouri ST and EMU. And i know what people are going to say that these teams have one or two keys wins. But so does everyone, every team has good wins and bad loses except for Lindenwood there the only exception. Oh and I know people might say Im just a angry player on a team who didnt get into regionals but Im part of a team who is in nationals, I just look at other teams who all year played better than some teams who got a bid.

[Kevin Smith]

First off Id like to congratulate all teams for a great season and also like to congratulate all teams on a natty bid. That being said I understand Im going to catch heat for saying this. I dont like teams with an OVERALL record thats right around or below 500% getting a bid to nationals. It drives me crazy. And I know the arguments are there but regardless I cant stand it. For example ASU, Missouri ST and EMU. And i know what people are going to say that these teams have one or two keys wins. But so does everyone, every team has good wins and bad loses except for Lindenwood there the only exception. Oh and I know people might say Im just a angry player on a team who didnt get into regionals but Im part of a team who is in nationals, I just look at other teams who all year played better than some teams who got a bid.

I know what you're saying, and I argued your side for getting Colorado State in. Who else would you have taken instead of ASU, Missouri St. and EMU? Those teams all play in strong regions, so their competition is a lot harder than teams in, say, the SCHL and Rocky Mountain regions. Strength of Schedule has to mean something when they do this.

[GoRangrHky]

Need to look at strength of wins though. Arizona St. beat 0-24 Arizona for literally half of their wins. I'd love to play an 0-24 team four times a season. Two wins came against a below .500 JC team. They had two wins against teams with a .500 or better record, both of which were by one goal. One was their first game of the season in a region that doesn't play preseason games. EMU beat 3-13 Michigan for literally half of their regular season wins and their only two regional wins. They seemed to have a good February, but that's about it.

[Mustangs]

I expect ASU to surprise a lot people at nationals. They struggled all year with some of their better players playing ice. Also, those two 1-goal wins your talking about were against UCSB (WCRHL Champs and probably the #2 seed at nationals) and last years national champs, Long Beach. They also tied my team (Cal Poly) and UNLV and lost by 1 goal to my team, UCSB, and Long Beach.

They also have several players with lots of nationals experience.

[joshbaily22]

I know what you're saying, and I argued your side for getting Colorado State in. Who else would you have taken instead of ASU, Missouri St. and EMU? Those teams all play in strong regions, so their competition is a lot harder than teams in, say, the SCHL and Rocky Mountain regions. Strength of Schedule has to mean something when they do this.

I understand strength of schedule and Im not saying making these choices are easy because theres a lot that goes into it. But to be honest I would rather shorten the list of teams that get in. Make it a lot harder to make it to nationals. Teams shouldnt be able to back into nationals with below average records just bc they had an extra win or two. But thats just my opinion. I do appreciate what the board does in taking the time to decide the bids and i know its impossible to make a perfect system so dont take what im saying in the wrong way I have great respect for the league and its decision making.

[PMoyer3]

The whole idea is to get all of the BEST teams at nationals. If you transplant ASU to another region you would see them with a much better record. I completely agree with the decision to give ASU a bid. Even Arizona with their 0-24 record would surprise some teams. They could have definitely been one of the better D2 teams. I'm not sure why they didn't go D2 but I would guess that it doesn't make a lot of sense geographically for them to be D2 in WCRHL with ASU and UNLV being the closest schools to them.

Look at NCAA Basketball for example, There are teams with pretty mediocre records from very competitive leagues that get bids over teams with great records in lesser leagues. It's all just very difficult to see clearly and the best way to help your cause is to travel out of your region to give the board a better feel for how you stack up nationally.

Given the information the board has, I think they did a pretty solid job with the bids this year. It's always tough for those teams that are right on the bubble but it happens every year and there is no way to make everyone happy. I don't think that reducing the number of bids will do anything to help. If anything it will make it worse with even more deserving teams missing out. University of Miami is also a perfect example of a .500 "bubble" team that obviously deserved to be at nationals last year. Bottom line is that you can't exclude a team just because they have a below average record in a competitive league.

[GMU18]

•Arizona State University
•Bethel University
•Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
•University of Central Florida
•Colorado State University
•University of Connecticut
•Eastern Michigan University
•George Mason University
•Grand Valley State University
•University of Illinois
•Lindenwood University
•Long Beach State
•Metro State University - Denver
•Michigan State Unviversity
•Missouri State University
•University of Missouri - St. Louis
•Neumann University
•The Ohio State University
•Stony Brook University
•Towson University
•UC Santa Barbara
•University of Nevada Las Vegas
•University of North Texas
•West Chester University
•Alternate #1: Hofstra University
•Alternate #2: East Carolina
•Alternate #3: North Carolina State University
•Alternate #4: Sam Houston State University

Pool A
1. Lindenwood
2. UC Santa Barbara
3. Michigan State
4. West Chester
Pool B
5. Bethel
6. Cal poly
7. Grand Valley State
8. Towson
Pool C
9. UNLV
10. Ohio State
11. Central Florida
12. Stony Brook
Pool D
13. Long Beach State
14. George Mason
15. UMSL
16. Uconn
Pool E
17. North Texas
18. Illinois
19. Missouri State
20. Metro State
Pool F
21. ASU
22. Neumann
23. Colorado State
24. Eastern Michigan

If everyone goes.. I think the pools will look like this.
* The NCRHA makes an effort to keep teams from the same region out of the same pools. And so do I

[hockeykid12]

Pool A
1. Lindenwood
2. UC Santa Barbara
3. Michigan State
4. West Chester
Pool B
5. Bethel
6. Cal poly
7. ohio state
8. stony brook
Pool C
9. UNLV
10. GVS
11. towson
12. neumann
Pool D
13. Long Beach State
14. UCF
15. UMSL
16. GMU
Pool E
17. North Texas
18. Uconn
19. Missouri State
20. Metro State
Pool F
21. ASU
22. Illinous
23. Colorado State
24. Eastern Michigan


does anyone know when the pools actually come out? couple wks?

[Bthumme]

Being as MSU and Lindenwood played each other, do you think MSU gets put in pool B?

[housley]

It'll depend on how the league does pools because if I remember right in 2010 they did pools in complete order. Top 4 teams in pool A. Next best 4 teams in pool B. etc etc

Last year it was something different where the top 8 teams were still in pools A and B but they were more mixed up between the pools. Not sure if the league is going to change it up or what.

[RealTalk19]

So what's everyone's pick, WHO is taking it all? Who's gunna be the runner-up? and WHO might be the sleeper sneaking into the final?

[hockeyguy18]

Lindenwood is going to win it all I think. Runner up is going to be UCSB. A surprise team i think will be GVS. I dont see any East teams making the final four. And I see 3 West teams making the elite 8. Final 4 I can see MSU, UCSB, Lindenwood and I have about 4 or 5 teams I can put in that 4th spot I dont know who yet.

[hockeykid12]

I think WCU from the east makes it to the final four. If lucente plays i think they are even more of a lock.