polls 11/8

[chris \'06]

November 8, 2004

   Team        (First Place)    Record  Pts   Last Week
 1 Boston College       (38)     4-1-0  598     1
 2 Michigan              (1)     7-2-1  539     2
 3 Minnesota                     7-2-0  527     4
 4 Colorado College              5-1-0  457     7
 5 North Dakota                  5-3-2  402     6
 6 Wisconsin                     5-3-0  318     5
 7 New Hampshire                 4-2-1  309     8
 8 Cornell               (1)     4-0-0  299    12
 9 Minnesota-Duluth              5-3-2  254     3
10 Maine                         6-5-0  230     9
11 Denver                        4-3-0  228    10
12 Northern Michigan             5-1-2  225    11
13 Ohio State                    7-3-0  167    14
14 Colgate                       7-2-0   85    NR
15 Alaska-Anchorage              5-2-1   51    NR

Others Receiving Votes: St. Lawrence 50, 
Mass.-Lowell 17, Michigan State 15, Bowling Green 9,
Nebraska-Omaha 6, Dartmouth 4, Boston University 2,
Miami 2, Rensselaer 2, Alabama-Huntsville 1,
Alaska-Fairbanks 1, St. Cloud State 1, Vermont 1

[Greg Berge]

12th to 8th?!  Yikes! :-D

[nyc94]

I'm sure the first place vote is annoying more than a few fans of the other conferences.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

::wow::

I guess our GPG and GAA are worth something to the voters, even if it was against three cupcakes and a wannabee.  We'll see this weekend whether we deserve it or not.

[Robb]

So which is most surprising?

1.  Our jump to 8th place.   :-D
2.  Our first place vote.  :-}
3.  Vermont's 15th place vote.   ::twitch::

[KeithK]

I too am very surprised at the high ranking this week.  But to play devil's advocate here, take a look at the three teams we're immediately in front of.  UMD has 1 point in it's last four games against UVM (2) and UAA (2).  Maine is 6-5 and Denver is 4-3.  My take: an undefeated record carries some weight, but a recent Frozen Four appearance carries more.
Hopefully we'll still be earning respect next week!

[RedAR]

It's kind of odd...

During the 2001-02 season, the pollsters didn't give Cornell the respect it deserved, and consistently ranked them lower than where they belonged. This year, it seems as if the pllosters are giving us more credit than we deserve.

I wonder, though, how far and fast we'll drop once we suffer a loss or two.

Not that I'm complaining about a #8 ranking, but I think we are a #10 team at best.

[Al DeFlorio]

[Q]nyc94 Wrote:

 I'm sure the first place vote is annoying more than a few fans of the other conferences.[/q]
Worth it for that alone.  ::nut::

[calgARI '07]

I wonder why BC has played so few games.

[Will]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 I wonder why BC has played so few games.[/q]

My guess is that it's just scheduling to balance out the Beanpot in February.  BU has played six games, Northeastern seven games, and Harvard hasn't even started its nonconference losses yet. :-D

[Avash]

USA Today:

November 8, 2004

   Team                               Pts (1st) Last Record
 1 Boston College                     509 (33)   1    4-1-0
 2 University of Michigan             459        3    7-2-1
 3 University of Minnesota            457 (1)    4    7-2-0
 4 University of North Dakota         384        6    5-3-2
 5 Colorado College                   381        8    5-1-0
 6 University of Wisconsin            314        5    5-3-0
 7 University of New Hampshire        283        7    4-2-1
 8 Cornell University                 248       12    4-0-0
 9 University of Maine                207        9    6-5-0
10 University of Minnesota-Duluth     204        2    5-3-2
11 Northern Michigan University       191       11    5-1-2
12 University of Denver               190       10    4-3-0
13 The Ohio State University          112       14    7-3-0
14 Colgate University                  69       NR    7-2-0
15 St. Lawrence University             25       13    5-4-1

Others receiving votes: University of Alaska-Anchorage 12, 
Michigan State University 7, Boston University 6, 
University of Massachusetts 6, University of Massachusetts-Lowell 6, 
University of Nebraska-Omaha 3, Mercyhurst College 2,
Miami (Ohio) University 2, University of Alaska-Fairbanks 1, 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 1, St. Cloud State University 1.

[KenP]

The pollsters always inflate the "name" teams -- Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, etc.  In light of the 2002-2003 season, when Cornell was a legitimate top tier team, I think they're receiving some of that brand recognition in this week's polls.

I'm still surprised that tUMD dropped so quickly.  Then again, they don't have the same name equity, so maybe this supports my theory above.

[KeithK]

UMD is winless in four games against not-so-spectacular opponents.  Or maybe not - UAA is already ranked in the USCHO poll by virtue of their UMD sweep.  Then again, UAA is a WCHA team so they must be good...

[Josh '99]

[Q]KeithK Wrote:
Then again, UAA is a WCHA team so they must be good...[/q]To be fair, UAA does also have a win over Minnesota under their belts this year.  The tie against Canisius isn't pretty, though.   ::screwy::

[billhoward]

So much for our snap judgments of only a couple hours ago that with the teams just ahead of Cornell (as of last week) either winning outright or else losing to even more highly ranked teams, that it would be tough for the Big Red to move up. There is some novelty value to being X-0-0 on the season.