Opponent and other news and results 2025-2026

[adamw]

CC did (does?) have that ridiculous ultra modern barn.  When we drove by it I figured it was just another of Colorado Springs' pathetic McJesusHut monstrosities but nope.  Anyway, it didn't cost chicken feed.  Maybe they have their own Nazi-sympathizing Engelstad douche to be a (very) white knight.

In what way, dare I ask, is it ridiculous or ultra-modern. I've been there a bunch of times - and it's quite nice actually, but not ridiculous. No better or worse than any other arena built of that size in the last 20 years. Replaced a 400-year old arena, so it's not like they weren't due. Only thing wrong with it is, they built the press box assuming the only person who would go in it is Flat Stanley.

In an era of Fat Stanley. At least you have the goods to get in.

Have you kept track of those you have yet to visit?

Sadly, I haven't been to most places in the Midwest. I may have to wait until I retire. I specifically want to go to Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Duluth. I've been to Kalamazoo (broadcasting a Cornell game) but they're building a new arena, and I want to see that. I've peaked in Notre Dame's and Omaha's "ridiculous, ultra-modern barns" (TM), but haven't seen a game there. Have been to Arizona State's "ridiculous, ultra-modern barn" (TM) a few times - very nice.

[stereax]

After everything shook out last night, we're at 10th in the NPI, 55.94.
UMD is 9th, 55.98.
Denver 8th, 56.06.
Q 7th, 56.13.
[7-10 clump.]

We probably won't catch Providence in 6th with 56.67.

Below us:
Dart 11th, 55.38.
BC 12th, 55.05.
Wisconsin 13th, 54.99.
Connecticut 14th, 54.63.
St Thomas 15th, 54.60.
Minn State 16th, 54.09.

This makes our "minimum buffer" .56, our "maximum buffer" 1.34 (AHA autobid), and our "safe buffer" probably .95.

Simming:

Go 0-3 and we tumble to 53.69, 16th and out.
Win:
Only SLU - 54.71, 13th.
Only Princeton - 54.48, 15th.
Only Clarkson - 54.65, 13th.
Lose:
Only SLU - 55.43, 10th.
Only Princeton - 55.69, 10th.
Only Clarkson - 55.49, 10th.
Go 3-0 - 56.46, up to 7th.

None of this sims other teams. I'm going to look at future schedules in a minute and post again with that info.

But if we go 2-1, we have an at large basically in the bag, so long as we don't choke massively in the ECAC playoffs.

[stereax]

Future schedules. Interesting games bolded.

Q: Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard. Should win Colgate. Dartmouth winning, simmed solo, would tumble Q to 11th in the NPI, 55.79. That can be offset by winning Gate and especially Harvard, though. Either way, they're probably not dropping out of autobid territory entirely.
Denver: Arizona State 2x. Would not expect help there.
UMD: Miami, Colorado College 2x. Miami is sneaky. Simming only a loss tonight drops UMD to 55.60. Win the CC games, despite a Miami loss, and they stay at 55.98. Full losses, 54.55, 15th. CC could maybe rally, too, but eh. I want Kyler Kovich to have nice things. Don't we all?
Us: Princeton, SLU, Clarkson. None ranked above 30 in the NPI. Should be able to sweep. Calculations already done.
Dart: Union, Quinnipiac, Princeton. All watchable. Union is looking sneaky, Q is Good, Dartmouth coughed up the Princeton game too a few weeks ago. Simming 0-3 drops them to 53.69, 16th and out of autobid range. Only P, 54.59, 15th. 54.53 with only Union. Win both P and U, 55.42. TL;DR - Dartmouth losing Q and one other game puts them in the danger zone of not getting an autobid. Pop the bottles.
BC: Connecticut, BU 2x, Mass, Northeastern. Hockey East is a mess. In a world where Cloutier, Hagens, and Letourneau all come down with typhoid fever and BC drops all 5 of these, they slide to 53.07, 19th and out. Not going to sim every permutation here, because the teams are so clumped together in the high teens/low twenties, but BC probably needs 3 of 5 wins to stay safe.
Wisconsin: Michigan, Penn State, Penn State. All HUGE games. Lose out, 54.06 and 15th. Win one, 54.80s and 13th. Win two, 55.60s and 11th. Win all three, 56.37 and 6th.
Connecticut: BC, Mass 2x, UNH, Providence. Again, Hockey East is a clumped-up nightmare. Again, probably 3 of 5 to stay afloat. Only difference is that Conn has Providence on the docket, which can help them like Q helped us, but also has UNH, which is a trap game that BC doesn't quite have.
St Thomas: Augustana, Bemidji State 2x.
Minn State: Bowling Green, Northern Michigan 2x.
Lumping the CCHA teams together to talk about. BG winning is really good for St Thomas independent of its effect on Minn State. Simming away:
BG-AU - ST 54.60, MS 53.76.
BG-ST - ST 54.87 (and up to 14th), MS 53.75.
MS-AU - ST 54.10, MS 54.08. [Yikes for ST.]
MS-ST - ST 54.86 (14th), MS 54.44.
All of this is still in the 14-16 range, though, so it doesn't matter as much.

I don't think anyone below 16 can challenge up to where they're a threat to us, provided we go at least 2-1.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Future schedules. Interesting games bolded.

Q: Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard. Should win Colgate. Dartmouth winning, simmed solo, would tumble Q to 11th in the NPI, 55.79. That can be offset by winning Gate and especially Harvard, though. Either way, they're probably not dropping out of autobid territory entirely.
Denver: Arizona State 2x. Would not expect help there.
UMD: Miami, Colorado College 2x. Miami is sneaky. Simming only a loss tonight drops UMD to 55.60. Win the CC games, despite a Miami loss, and they stay at 55.98. Full losses, 54.55, 15th. CC could maybe rally, too, but eh. I want Kyler Kovich to have nice things. Don't we all?
Us: Princeton, SLU, Clarkson. None ranked above 30 in the NPI. Should be able to sweep. Calculations already done.
Dart: Union, Quinnipiac, Princeton. All watchable. Union is looking sneaky, Q is Good, Dartmouth coughed up the Princeton game too a few weeks ago. Simming 0-3 drops them to 53.69, 16th and out of autobid range. Only P, 54.59, 15th. 54.53 with only Union. Win both P and U, 55.42. TL;DR - Dartmouth losing Q and one other game puts them in the danger zone of not getting an autobid. Pop the bottles.
BC: Connecticut, BU 2x, Mass, Northeastern. Hockey East is a mess. In a world where Cloutier, Hagens, and Letourneau all come down with typhoid fever and BC drops all 5 of these, they slide to 53.07, 19th and out. Not going to sim every permutation here, because the teams are so clumped together in the high teens/low twenties, but BC probably needs 3 of 5 wins to stay safe.
Wisconsin: Michigan, Penn State, Penn State. All HUGE games. Lose out, 54.06 and 15th. Win one, 54.80s and 13th. Win two, 55.60s and 11th. Win all three, 56.37 and 6th.
Connecticut: BC, Mass 2x, UNH, Providence. Again, Hockey East is a clumped-up nightmare. Again, probably 3 of 5 to stay afloat. Only difference is that Conn has Providence on the docket, which can help them like Q helped us, but also has UNH, which is a trap game that BC doesn't quite have.
St Thomas: Augustana, Bemidji State 2x.
Minn State: Bowling Green, Northern Michigan 2x.
Lumping the CCHA teams together to talk about. BG winning is really good for St Thomas independent of its effect on Minn State. Simming away:
BG-AU - ST 54.60, MS 53.76.
BG-ST - ST 54.87 (and up to 14th), MS 53.75.
MS-AU - ST 54.10, MS 54.08. [Yikes for ST.]
MS-ST - ST 54.86 (14th), MS 54.44.
All of this is still in the 14-16 range, though, so it doesn't matter as much.

I don't think anyone below 16 can challenge up to where they're a threat to us, provided we go at least 2-1.

Just remember that there are still playoffs.  Playing teams with high NPIs can reinforce existing positions.

[stereax]

Future schedules. Interesting games bolded.

Q: Colgate, Dartmouth, Harvard. Should win Colgate. Dartmouth winning, simmed solo, would tumble Q to 11th in the NPI, 55.79. That can be offset by winning Gate and especially Harvard, though. Either way, they're probably not dropping out of autobid territory entirely.
Denver: Arizona State 2x. Would not expect help there.
UMD: Miami, Colorado College 2x. Miami is sneaky. Simming only a loss tonight drops UMD to 55.60. Win the CC games, despite a Miami loss, and they stay at 55.98. Full losses, 54.55, 15th. CC could maybe rally, too, but eh. I want Kyler Kovich to have nice things. Don't we all?
Us: Princeton, SLU, Clarkson. None ranked above 30 in the NPI. Should be able to sweep. Calculations already done.
Dart: Union, Quinnipiac, Princeton. All watchable. Union is looking sneaky, Q is Good, Dartmouth coughed up the Princeton game too a few weeks ago. Simming 0-3 drops them to 53.69, 16th and out of autobid range. Only P, 54.59, 15th. 54.53 with only Union. Win both P and U, 55.42. TL;DR - Dartmouth losing Q and one other game puts them in the danger zone of not getting an autobid. Pop the bottles.
BC: Connecticut, BU 2x, Mass, Northeastern. Hockey East is a mess. In a world where Cloutier, Hagens, and Letourneau all come down with typhoid fever and BC drops all 5 of these, they slide to 53.07, 19th and out. Not going to sim every permutation here, because the teams are so clumped together in the high teens/low twenties, but BC probably needs 3 of 5 wins to stay safe.
Wisconsin: Michigan, Penn State, Penn State. All HUGE games. Lose out, 54.06 and 15th. Win one, 54.80s and 13th. Win two, 55.60s and 11th. Win all three, 56.37 and 6th.
Connecticut: BC, Mass 2x, UNH, Providence. Again, Hockey East is a clumped-up nightmare. Again, probably 3 of 5 to stay afloat. Only difference is that Conn has Providence on the docket, which can help them like Q helped us, but also has UNH, which is a trap game that BC doesn't quite have.
St Thomas: Augustana, Bemidji State 2x.
Minn State: Bowling Green, Northern Michigan 2x.
Lumping the CCHA teams together to talk about. BG winning is really good for St Thomas independent of its effect on Minn State. Simming away:
BG-AU - ST 54.60, MS 53.76.
BG-ST - ST 54.87 (and up to 14th), MS 53.75.
MS-AU - ST 54.10, MS 54.08. [Yikes for ST.]
MS-ST - ST 54.86 (14th), MS 54.44.
All of this is still in the 14-16 range, though, so it doesn't matter as much.

I don't think anyone below 16 can challenge up to where they're a threat to us, provided we go at least 2-1.

Just remember that there are still playoffs.  Playing teams with high NPIs can reinforce existing positions.

Absolutely. Just saying what I can see going forward. Playoffs still obviously throw a wrench in the works.

[stereax]

24 combined penalty minutes in 20 minutes of play between BC and UConn. BC's Minnetian and UConn's Richard hate each other. 3 coinciding penalties - so far! Game tied 1-1.

[stereax]

24 combined penalty minutes in 20 minutes of play between BC and UConn. BC's Minnetian and UConn's Richard hate each other. 3 coinciding penalties - so far! Game tied 1-1.

BC-UConn with a QUICK OT. Gustafsson, 2-1 BC.

[stereax]

Clarkson beat Brown in OT. Dartmouth up 3-1 on Union rn.

[marty]

Shoot out in Schenectady after Union scores 2 in the 3rd to tie it.

[stereax]

Union and Dartmouth in SO! Looks like Dart won it, but still, good for us.

[marty]

RPI wins a Freakout vs Harvard on 2 PPG and and empty net goal.  Harvard has a goal reversed on review that would have made the score 2-0 in the 2nd. Very gutsy challenge. The Fridge doing the cookie commentary didn't have an opinion regarding whether it was a good goal.

It was a sell out crowd too. All their games should be Freakouts.

[stereax]

Scoreboard -

RPI beats Harvard. SLU over Yale, Q over Colgate. Dart again wins over Union but in SO. Clarkson over Brown in OT.

Our NPI is 55.36. A 2 seed is basically out of the question as far forward as I can see. Not that that's super important, but. Win the next two and then make it to Placid.

Biggest games next weekend -

Q v Dartmouth (I think Q winning is better for us because it sinks Dartmouth, but I'm on Team Meteor anyway.)
BC-BU derby
Conn-Mass derby
(pretty sure BU and Mass winning can help our NPI independently of sinking BC and Conn, but only a little bit)

[stereax]

24 combined penalty minutes in 20 minutes of play between BC and UConn. BC's Minnetian and UConn's Richard hate each other. 3 coinciding penalties - so far! Game tied 1-1.

please watch this it is hysterical

[RichH]

24 combined penalty minutes in 20 minutes of play between BC and UConn. BC's Minnetian and UConn's Richard hate each other. 3 coinciding penalties - so far! Game tied 1-1.

please watch this it is hysterical

I'm pretty sure that's dialogue from season 4 of "Letterkenny."

[stereax]

For poops and giggles, I just added another column to this page:

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/almanac/funfacts-ageavg.php

It's the age for each player as of today, weighted by the amount of games played. And each column is sortable.

Was just thinking about this - is there any way to like, assign each freshman a 1, sophomore 2, junior 3, senior 4, grad student 5, and then take the average of those numbers? To have kind of a... "runway meter", so to speak, where high numbers mean you're probably looking at significant changes the next year, vs low numbers meaning you probably have a "core" that's going to stick around for a few years yet.

(Didn't want to revive the Yale thread, lol.)

Interestingly, looks like most of the really good teams this year are super young. I suppose that tracks a bit, considering that your high-drafted prospects tend to start college at 18 or 19 and tend to cluster on the really good teams.