Who's going to win it all?

[Saints17]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

I'm still trying to figure out whom to root against this weekend. There are no usual suspects to find dislike with.

[EastCoastBias]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

I am pulling for an all NESCAC final between Trinity and Amherst. Trinity has a very nice team. Amherst is nice, but not as nice as Trinity. The key to the Bantams winning is being afforded an opportunity to be outshot, out-chanced, and generally outplayed relying solely on lucky bounces and the right zodiac alignments to scrape out a win by a few goals. Amherst is secretly a group of cockroaches that can't be killed off.

C'mon guys.....let the NESCAC's their day in the sun. They are not regulars to the final four these days. Trinity and Amherst are nice teams alright led by highly skilled players with mean streaks a mile long. Their respective coaching staffs have done a tremendous job getting them to this point in the season. The Lord Jeffs are doing it with a back-up goal-tender who so sat around for 3+ years on the bench! I know it's hard to swallow with no SUNYAC team or a Norwich in the mix, but this too shall pass. Next year will be here soon enough. In the meantime, let's see if a couple of nice teams from the smart guy conference can pull off a national championship.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

I'm still trying to figure out whom to root against this weekend. There are no usual suspects to find dislike with.

I'm pulling for the Eastern teams. We gotta get that trophy back out here at some point...

[norm1909]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

I'm still trying to figure out whom to root against this weekend. There are no usual suspects to find dislike with.

I've got to go with Adrian, who started off their climb against Potsdam, their effort and commitment to the sport - despite some incredible FNG treatment has earned them kudos in my book. But once they get their first Championship Banner - my Eastern, Homer Bias will prevail.

Also some legacy credit (and to appease my homer bias) for Adrian with former start up coach Ron Fogarty's, Potsdam roots.

[joecct]

I've got to go with Adrian, who started off their climb against Potsdam, their effort and commitment to the sport - despite some incredible FNG treatment has earned them kudos in my book. But once they get their first Championship Banner - my Eastern, Homer Bias will prevail.

Also some legacy credit (and to appease my homer bias) for Adrian with former start up coach Ron Fogarty's, Potsdam roots.

That's Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial College of Technology (A Workman that Needeth Not to Be Ashamed), thank you.

[norm1909]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

That's Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial College of Technology (A Workman that Needeth Not to Be Ashamed), thank you.

True, but located in College Town, USA.

[westscout]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

For all the eastern folks, I think you will be impressed by the skill and speed of Adrian and Point. The west is loaded with teams like this. St. Thomas, UWEC, Norbert and River as well as Hamline, Concordia and St. Marys. Lake Forest was also a great team this year. The west has progressed. Basically out West, there are no easy outs!

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

For all the eastern folks, I think you will be impressed by the skill and speed of Adrian and Point. The west is loaded with teams like this. St. Thomas, UWEC, Norbert and River as well as Hamline, Concordia and St. Marys. Lake Forest was also a great team this year. The west has progressed. Basically out West, there are no easy outs!

We've learned since 2011 that the West is clearly ahead of the East. Look at the national championships.

Any Eastern fan that thinks differently at this point is sadly misguided.

[OSU2010]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

We've learned since 2011 that the West is clearly ahead of the East. Look at the national championships.

Any Eastern fan that thinks differently at this point is sadly misguided.

I wouldn't say clearly ahead, They've won 4 in a row(SNC winning 3 of those), but there haven't been any blowouts. For instance the recent Oswego-Adrian game could have gone either way, it was very close. Neither team downright dominated the other, both had stretches where they outplayed the other but overall it was an exciting edge of your seat game.

I know it will never happen, but I'd love to see the frozen four turn into a best of three series.

[norm1909]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

I wouldn't say clearly ahead, They've won 4 in a row(SNC winning 3 of those), but there haven't been any blowouts. For instance the recent Oswego-Adrian game could have gone either way, it was very close. Neither team downright dominated the other, both had stretches where they outplayed the other but overall it was an exciting edge of your seat game.

I know it will never happen, but I'd love to see the frozen four turn into a best of three series.

I agree with you - clearly and significantly IMPROVED - IMO with Adrian fueling the western fire - but I think the east knows to prepare (think pre-1995).

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

I wouldn't say clearly ahead, They've won 4 in a row(SNC winning 3 of those), but there haven't been any blowouts. For instance the recent Oswego-Adrian game could have gone either way, it was very close. Neither team downright dominated the other, both had stretches where they outplayed the other but overall it was an exciting edge of your seat game.

I know it will never happen, but I'd love to see the frozen four turn into a best of three series.

I guess I came off a little brash with that. Obviously there are Eastern teams that can still compete with the cream of the crop in the West. I think Oswego is probably the best "suited" team in the East to do so. We'll see how Trinity and Amherst fare this weekend. I know Amherst does a tremendous job adapting to their opponents game and sticking around. I'm curious how they do vs. Stevens Point.

The last time Norwich played St. Norbert, they were completely over matched in 2012.

[Fishman'81]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

See, you'll do fine here. Keeps things interesting. Skip the Jameson tho....



Rankings really are not that hard to understand. Mostly all stuff you can look up yourself. Just as Webb said on the other site, people try reading too much into the criteria when its pretty simple. Was their some "tweaking" in regards to the travel? Maybe moving Hobart above/below Plattsburgh, that's about it. Amherst won the criteria over everyone else, like Nate said. Some people would like to eliminate teams that lose in your Conference quarterfinals because you weren't the even the best top 2 team in your conference. But if we're ranking on what teams did in the conference tournament I guess Trinity wouldn't even have been a thought a couple weeks ago. But guess what, this isn't DI.

PS...Williams already got sent home a couple weeks ago now....

There exists exactly *one* decent statistical model for ranking D-3 hockey... (Yes, Virginia, the KRACH; every other ranking out there is essentially baseless.)

And the KRACH has Trinity and Amherst #1 and #2 in the East. Good enough for me, but I will admit that it doesn't account for "shots attempted".

...And BTW, Champs, the other two teams in the KRACH top-four are Point and Adrian, so please don't even start trying to re-invent the wheel yet again via another round of your hopelessly convoluted rationalizations.

[Birds]

All the home teams won. There is something to be said about home ice advantage, especially in one and done tournaments.

. Amen!

[joecct]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

Looking at the NCAA site and collegehockeystats, both show that the Western teams are the "home" teams on Friday. Interesting....

Which means that both the West 1 & 2 seeds were nationally ranked above their Eastern counterparts??

[LakerEagleLover]

Re: Who's going to win it all?

One could draw that conclusion - or the intern at ncaa.com thinks they are home since the games are in the west? (50/50 on that). Good luck everybody!