10/25/04 poll

October 25, 2004

   Team        (First Place)    Record  Pts   Last Week
 1 Minnesota-Duluth     (31)     5-0-1  570     3
 2 Boston College        (4)     2-1-0  518     1
 3 Michigan              (1)     4-1-1  508     4
 4 North Dakota          (3)     4-1-1  494     2
 5 Wisconsin             (1)     4-0-0  434     8
 6 Minnesota                     3-2-0  343     7
 7 Maine                         4-3-0  314     5
 8 Colorado College              4-0-0  303    11
 9 New Hampshire                 3-1-1  299    10
10 Miami                         4-2-0  186     6
11 Denver                        3-2-0  186    13
12 Dartmouth                     0-0-0  143    12
13 Ohio State                    4-2-0  142    NR
14 Cornell                       0-0-0   86    15
15 Northern Michigan             3-1-0   81    NR

Others Receiving Votes: Colgate 66,
Michigan State 55, St. Lawrence 31, Mass.-Lowell 14,
Rensselaer 6, Boston University 4, Nebraska-Omaha 4,
Notre Dame 3, Providence 3, Holy Cross 2,
Massachusetts 2, Alaska-Anchorage 1, Bowling Green 1,
Robert Morris 1

Someone thinks Robert Morris is the 15th best team in the country.

[Q]Avash '05 Wrote:
Someone thinks Robert Morris is the 15th best team in the country.[/q]Well... not REALLY. Seems like more of an "attaboy" vote for getting their first D-I win.

Sweet. 14 more exhibition victories, and we're #1!!!

I'm just glad we reversed the trend of falling with no explanation besides the fact we hadn't been in a game yet.

[Q]puff Wrote:

I'm just glad we reversed the trend of falling with no explanation besides the fact we hadn't been in a game yet.[/q]

Assuming the voters looked at all the games in some depth, maybe they're reading tea leaf-type signs such as two goals by a moderately not highly heralded rookie (Topher Scott).

Anyone else surprised that SLU(t) hasn't gotten more respect after such a respectable start to their season? Yeah, it's still very early on, but their early results seem to show that they're a very dangerous team.

Bah ... polls.

Wow. How 'bout those Black Bears. Sitting at 4-3 with losses to St. Lawrence and 2 to North Dakota. Well I guess they did beat Niagara two times, UVM, and St. Lawrence. They are definitely the 7th best team in the NCAA. What a joke.

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

Wow. How 'bout those Black Bears. Sitting at 4-3 with losses to St. Lawrence and 2 to North Dakota. Well I guess they did beat Niagara two times, UVM, and St. Lawrence. They are definitely the 7th best team in the NCAA. What a joke.[/q]
My reaction as well, Ari.

North Dakota is a very good team. Maine is also a very good team. I'm not sure they're that much better than UNH, but then, they're not all that many poll points ahead of UNH. One loss to St. Lawrence in a game where, by all accounts, Mike McKenna stood on his head, doesn't seem to be that strong a case to knock them. Let's not forget that Maine was in the finals last year and didn't graduate too many players. So they lost two games in one weekend to North Dakota. A lot of other teams are going to do that this year too. But then, #8 Colorado College beat Union twice, Quinnipiac, and Air Force. Ooh, quality wins there too. You honestly believe Maine won't be up there when the dust settles? Come on.

Maine will be there but not necessarily because of their skill. More so because the rest of Hockey East - other than BC and possibly UHN - isn't going to give them much competition. HEA just seems weaker from th emiddle down this year than in the past.

[Q]jmh30 Wrote:

North Dakota is a very good team. Maine is also a very good team. I'm not sure they're that much better than UNH, but then, they're not all that many poll points ahead of UNH. One loss to St. Lawrence in a game where, by all accounts, Mike McKenna stood on his head, doesn't seem to be that strong a case to knock them. Let's not forget that Maine was in the finals last year and didn't graduate too many players. So they lost two games in one weekend to North Dakota. A lot of other teams are going to do that this year too. But then, #8 Colorado College beat Union twice, Quinnipiac, and Air Force. Ooh, quality wins there too. You honestly believe Maine won't be up there when the dust settles? Come on.[/q]
If a poll is supposed to be a ranking of teams according to what they've done to date, then Ari's right. If it's a prediction of how the season will turn out come April, then it's unnecessary to publish it every week.

USA today had UNH above Maine.
And yes, i think polls are a reflection on how a team is currently doing, but you can't count out thier skill/long term potential. Otherwise, Wisconsin and CC should be at the top right now.




USA TODAY/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 men's hockey poll#


The USA TODAY/USA Hockey Magazine Top 15 men's
college hockey poll with first-place votes
in parentheses, 2004-05 record and rank:

(as of Monday, October 25)

TEAM PTS Record Last week
---- --- ------ ----------
1. Minnesota-Duluth (26) 491 5-0-1 3
2. Boston College (3) 444 2-1-0 1
3. North Dakota (2) 439 4-1-1 2
4. Michigan (1) 410 4-1-1 4
5. Wisconsin 391 4-0-0 6
6. Minnesota 333 3-2-0 7
7. New Hampshire 278 3-1-1 10
8. Colorado 276 4-0-0 11
9. Maine 231 4-3-0 5
10. Miami (Ohio) 168 4-2-0 8
11. Denver 161 3-2-0 13
12. Dartmouth 158 0-0-0 12
13. Ohio State 111 4-2-0 NR
14. Michigan State 42 1-3-0 9
15. Northern Michigan 40 3-1-0 NR


Others receiving votes: Colgate 38, Cornell 37, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 9,
St. Lawrence 9, University of Nebraska-Omaha 5, Sacred Heart 4, Boston University 2,
Notre Dame 2, University of Massachusetts 1.

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:
If a poll is supposed to be a ranking of teams according to what they've done to date, then Ari's right. If it's a prediction of how the season will turn out come April, then it's unnecessary to publish it every week.[/q]If a poll was just a ranking of what teams have done to date, then I'd rather just look at KRACH or the like, and there would be no conceivable reason (or even a way) to publish a preseason poll.

[q]If a poll is supposed to be a ranking of teams according to what they've done to date, then Ari's right. If it's a prediction of how the season will turn out come April, then it's unnecessary to publish it every week. [/q]The polls are both results to date and expectation. Which makes sense at this point in the season because there really isn't enough data to rank teams meaningfully based on results to date. Most of all polls are usually about reputation, which means a team like Maine is going to get a lot of credit for being Maine.

And yes, it is unnecessary to publish them every week.