13/30 Polls

1 North Dakota (24) 18-1-1 576 1
2 Maine (15) 15-1-2 575 2
3 Colorado College ( 1) 16-2-2 515 4
4 Minnesota 11-4-4 424 7
5 Cornell 10-3-0 403 3
6 New Hampshire 11-4-2 387 5
7 Boston College 10-4-3 377 6
8 Denver 14-5-3 354 9
9 Ohio State 13-4-2 257 11
10 Michigan 12-5-1 228 10
11 Ferris State 12-5-0 206 8
12 Boston University 11-6-2 181 14
13 Harvard 9-5-1 109 12
14 Miami 13-6-1 72 13
-- Northern Michigan 10-6-1 72 15

Others receiving votes: Dartmouth 31,
St. Cloud State 15, Massachusetts 8, Yale 7,
Minn.-Duluth 3

12/30 Polls, Sorry

13/30, huh? Does this mean I'll have to push my new years plans back a month?

Not a bad drop considering the two losses, albeit to ranked teams.

So I guess Maine beat UMass. I was so despondent after the consy that I never even looked.

Apparently an easy win for Maine. Consolation games have not been good to us since...God knows when.

The OSU loss will probably hurt rankings and PWR much more than the loss to Maine.

I'm surprised we didn't drop further.

Anyway, whassa behind us is not important. Here's hoping they play great in the North Country.

That we did not drop further means that the voters now regard Conrell as a good team and not simply a good ECAC team.

I agree.

I find this #5 placement to be very good news heading into the all-ECAC remaining portion of the year. This could also help to improve how other ECAC teams are regarded as they play us and Havhad(sucks!).

I also think that this gives us a good chance to slip back into the top three as we watch NoDak, CC, and Minnesota beat up on each other.

What I believe this sets the Big Red up for is a top four placement in the NCAA tournament, provided we play our kind of hockey through the rest of the season.

Happy New Year, everyone!

In the rankings that matter, Cornell is #2 in RPI and #3 in PWR. Cornell's strength of schedule will worsen throughout the course of the season as the team plays the ECAC schools having bad seasons. On the other hand, the team may finish the conference playoffs with one of the best winning percentages in the country. (Right now, Cornell has the 4th best winning percentage. North Dakota, Maine, and Colorado College are 1, 2, and 3, respectively, in that category.)

Last year at tourny selection time Cornell was:

17-3-2 ECAC RS
4-3-0 NC RS
3-1-0 ECAC PS
------------------
24-7-2 TOTAL

Currently they are

5-1-0 ECAC RS
5-2-0 NC RS
------------------
10-3-0 TOTAL


In what amounts to a 20 game ECAC stretch, they need to go 15-5 to equal last year's record at selection time, and 15-4-1 or better to improve on it. A tall order.

Realistically speaking, there's not much chance of them doing better in the ECAC RS category. The only way for them to improve in the ECAC PS category is to win that elusive 10th championship. (OTOH, they are 1 game better in NC RS with that part of the season complete.)

I'm expecting very tough games at Harvard, Yale, Clarkson, and likely SLU. Dartmouth at Lynah will be no pushover either. Long way to go. Not time to start counting any chickens, IMHO.

Greg said:[Q]they need to go 15-5 to equal last year's record at selection time,
Realistically speaking, there's not much chance of them doing better in the ECAC RS category. [/Q]
Al said:[Q]I'm expecting very tough games at Harvard, Yale, Clarkson, and likely SLU. Dartmouth at Lynah will be no pushover either.[/Q]
Hey losing all 5 games equals last year, so, we've got a reasonable chance. Let's go for it.

Nobody's enumerating poultry. After all, they still haven't won without Lenny, and an 0-2 North Country weekend would make them a nondescript 5-3 in conference. Granting that Clarkson and SLU are both in down years, they're always a bitch in the frozen tundra.

Someone above is already anticipating a "top four placement in the NCAA tournament."

Unless he's "nobody," somebody is counting chickens.

I expect a top four placement myself. But where is the harm in letting everyone know what I think the chicken situation will be somewhere down the line? It isn't like I am speculating in poultry futures.

IIRC, the last time this happened the sky wasn't falling.

Sorry Al!

Maybe it was the holiday chear getting the best of me. Sugar plums dancing in my head give me some crazy optimistic thoughts. But, aren't we due? I mean don't we deserve to dream, it seems so close.