B1G first round dominance

Minnesota 9-2 Canisius
Ohio State 8-1 Harvard
Penn State 8-0 Michigan Tech
Michigan 11-1 Colgate (edit: final)

What does it mean? Does it say anything about conference strength? If it does, how to explain it? I am flabbergasted.

shafer
Minnesota 9-2 Canisius
Ohio State 8-1 Harvard
Penn State 8-0 Michigan Tech
Michigan 8-0 Colgate (after 2nd period)

What does it mean? Does it say anything about conference strength? If it does, how to explain it? I am flabbergasted.

Let’s wait to see if Colgate scores 8 times in the third period before drawing any conclusions.

While 8-0 is an asskicking, I believe 8-1 is a "Gentleman's asskicking", and it appears Michigan has agreed to those terms. About 10 min left in the 3rd

BearLover

shafer
Minnesota 9-2 Canisius
Ohio State 8-1 Harvard
Penn State 8-0 Michigan Tech
Michigan 8-0 Colgate (after 2nd period)

What does it mean? Does it say anything about conference strength? If it does, how to explain it? I am flabbergasted.

Let’s wait to see if Colgate Michigan scores 8 more times in the third period before drawing any conclusions.

suggested an edit for your post.

omg. here's hoping michigan has a goal allotment and they use them all up tonight.


putting on squeakball to root for princeton.

Michigan showed what you can do when you have a roster full of early round picks. Quality + quantity.

Those guys are at an absolutely different level.

Interesting that in hoops, no B1G got to the Elite Eight and only one got to the Sweet Sixteen. Too bad Princeton wasn't just a little better shooting.

TimV
Interesting that in hoops, no B1G got to the Elite Eight and only one got to the Sweet Sixteen. Too bad Princeton wasn't just a little better shooting.

I don’t find that interesting at all, and unrelated. Aren’t there hundreds of teams in that other tournament by now?

The interesting bit is the fragmentation/personalization of news sources can finally allow me to completely ignore something I’ve always found to be overhyped and not entertaining. The last thing about that sport I remember hearing is that Cornell lost to Yale.

RichH

TimV
Interesting that in hoops, no B1G got to the Elite Eight and only one got to the Sweet Sixteen. Too bad Princeton wasn't just a little better shooting.

I don’t find that interesting at all, and unrelated. Aren’t there hundreds of teams in that other tournament by now?

The interesting bit is the fragmentation/personalization of news sources can finally allow me to completely ignore something I’ve always found to be overhyped and not entertaining. The last thing about that sport I remember hearing is that Cornell lost to Yale.

Well stated!!

RichH

TimV
Interesting that in hoops, no B1G got to the Elite Eight and only one got to the Sweet Sixteen. Too bad Princeton wasn't just a little better shooting.

I don’t find that interesting at all, and unrelated. Aren’t there hundreds of teams in that other tournament by now?

The interesting bit is the fragmentation/personalization of news sources can finally allow me to completely ignore something I’ve always found to be overhyped and not entertaining. The last thing about that sport I remember hearing is that Cornell lost to Yale.

Indeed, there's a whole thread or two on a completely different subforum of this forum that's dedicated to discussing that other sport. IMNSHO, that's still too much.

abmarks
Michigan showed what you can do when you have a roster full of early round picks. Quality + quantity.

Those guys are at an absolutely different level.

The wild thing is they were even more stacked with high draft picks / stars last year and still didn’t bring home the flat trophy. Coaching and teamwork/strategy also matters.

This season, Michigan finished with a conference record only 2 games over .500, and a goal differential of +3 vs other B1G teams. The #3 team in the country!!

Strong conferences produce stronger teams after seeing that level of competition week after week. 4 of them (including the #6 seed in their conference tournament) just wiped the floor with tournament-level teams.

It’s another data point in the long-standing debate on whether we want to have strong competition in-conference (rising tide theory), or we want to be the one whale stomping through Conference Cupcake.

This doesn’t win the argument, but it counts.

RichH

abmarks
Michigan showed what you can do when you have a roster full of early round picks. Quality + quantity.

Those guys are at an absolutely different level.

The wild thing is they were even more stacked with high draft picks / stars last year and still didn’t bring home the flat trophy. Coaching and teamwork/strategy also matters.

This season, Michigan finished with a conference record only 2 games over .500, and a goal differential of +3 vs other B1G teams. The #3 team in the country!!

Strong conferences produce stronger teams after seeing that level of competition week after week. 4 of them (including the #6 seed in their conference tournament) just wiped the floor with tournament-level teams.

It’s another data point in the long-standing debate on whether we want to have strong competition in-conference (rising tide theory), or we want to be the one whale stomping through Conference Cupcake.

This doesn’t win the argument, but it counts.

I’m not really sure this says anything about the benefits of being in a strong conference. Rather, it speaks to the benefits of being a massive state school with a ton of money to devote to athletics, and the facilities and recruits that come along with that.

BearLover

RichH

abmarks
Michigan showed what you can do when you have a roster full of early round picks. Quality + quantity.

Those guys are at an absolutely different level.

The wild thing is they were even more stacked with high draft picks / stars last year and still didn’t bring home the flat trophy. Coaching and teamwork/strategy also matters.

This season, Michigan finished with a conference record only 2 games over .500, and a goal differential of +3 vs other B1G teams. The #3 team in the country!!

Strong conferences produce stronger teams after seeing that level of competition week after week. 4 of them (including the #6 seed in their conference tournament) just wiped the floor with tournament-level teams.

It’s another data point in the long-standing debate on whether we want to have strong competition in-conference (rising tide theory), or we want to be the one whale stomping through Conference Cupcake.

This doesn’t win the argument, but it counts.

I’m not really sure this says anything about the benefits of being in a strong conference. Rather, it speaks to the benefits of being a massive state school with a ton of money to devote to athletics, and the facilities and recruits that come along with that.

Not to mention the benefit of being 10 minutes from the USNTDP; 6 NTDP players are on the current Michigan roster

BearLover

RichH

abmarks
Michigan showed what you can do when you have a roster full of early round picks. Quality + quantity.

Those guys are at an absolutely different level.

The wild thing is they were even more stacked with high draft picks / stars last year and still didn’t bring home the flat trophy. Coaching and teamwork/strategy also matters.

This season, Michigan finished with a conference record only 2 games over .500, and a goal differential of +3 vs other B1G teams. The #3 team in the country!!

Strong conferences produce stronger teams after seeing that level of competition week after week. 4 of them (including the #6 seed in their conference tournament) just wiped the floor with tournament-level teams.

It’s another data point in the long-standing debate on whether we want to have strong competition in-conference (rising tide theory), or we want to be the one whale stomping through Conference Cupcake.

This doesn’t win the argument, but it counts.

I’m not really sure this says anything about the benefits of being in a strong conference. Rather, it speaks to the benefits of being a massive state school with a ton of money to devote to athletics, and the facilities and recruits that come along with that.

I’m looking through the last 10 years of NCAA Finalists, and I’m not seeing many names that regular folks would identify as athletic behemoths. Only 1 appearance each by Notre Dame and Minn. maybe UMass fits that category too? Lots of regional schools: Denver, UMD, BU, etc. Not many massive state schools. That’s one of the fan-draws to this level. Your small regional schools have a shot against Midwestern State U, and that continues in the face of the immense budgets of the Athletic Powerhouses.

This B1G performance this year is scary. Could it be a turning point for the future? Who knows, but I’m betting no. Recruiting pipelines are firmly established and it will take a lot to permanently turn the tide. As long as football & basketball programs continue to draw the spending (and drive the revenues), hockey will be seen by them as a mere side dish. The schools that rely on hockey as a marquee sport will still be able to compete well.

And then I just saw this article, which touches on a lot of this thread:

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

I neglected to consider the impact of NIL and transfer portal changes. So we’ll see.