Congrats Amherst

[gojackets]

Sounds like you were by far the best team on the ice in St. Peter this weekend. Congrations to the players and coaches on a great season and another National Title!

[MNChamp]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Amherst truly was in a league of it's own this weekend. Nobody could touch them. A well deserved championship.

[OnMAA]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Amherst truly was in a league of it's own this weekend. Nobody could touch them. A well deserved championship.

Yes congrats to them. Never seen them play, but those scores are impressive sounding.

[SeymoreHockey]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Sounds like Norwich emptied their tank on Plattsburgh and Elmira. They had without a doubt the toughest road to the final. Amherst was able to sit back and watch them expend themselves on two tough opponents.

Also, going with a short bench (two lines and four D) in three straight games will not win championships. You need four strong lines to win it all...and that's what Amherst showed. Congrats to a strong Amherst team. The creme rose to the top...as expected.

As for the West, they still aren't competitive enough to host a final four. Sorry, but it's true.

[toots]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Let me add my congrats to Amherst (players, coaches, parents, fans)

As for the West, they still aren't competitive enough to host a final four. Sorry, but it's true.

by your "theory", should the D1 championship never be hosted out east?

[imafan]

Re: Congrats Amherst

As for the West, they still aren't competitive enough to host a final four. Sorry, but it's true.

It was a great experience for the West to host the Final Four. I think Gustavus did a great job making everyone feel welcome, the facility was great! It was good for the west to see the talent of the eastern schools.

Amherst is an amazing team, congrats to the ladies and the college for putting out a very talented product!

The NCAA held up their end of the bargain and had the Final Four out west, I think it would be a nice tradition to have it out west, once every four years, until the west can claim top honors.

Congrats again to the eastern schools, they represented the east, like everyone said they would, successfully.

[gojackets]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Sounds like Norwich emptied their tank on Plattsburgh and Elmira. They had without a doubt the toughest road to the final. Amherst was able to sit back and watch them expend themselves on two tough opponents.

Also, going with a short bench (two lines and four D) in three straight games will not win championships. You need four strong lines to win it all...and that's what Amherst showed. Congrats to a strong Amherst team. The creme rose to the top...as expected.

As for the West, they still aren't competitive enough to host a final four. Sorry, but it's true.

Can't you just let it go? Give Amherst the credit they deserve for being the best team in the country and let it be done at that. I don't see the need to put the other 3 teams down in the process. What did Plattsburgh have to do with? I'm sure a game that happened a week before affected them.

[SeymoreHockey]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Can't you just let it go? Give Amherst the credit they deserve for being the best team in the country and let it be done at that. I don't see the need to put the other 3 teams down in the process. What did Plattsburgh have to do with? I'm sure a game that happened a week before affected them.

Like I said (if you READ)....the cream rose to the top...the best team won...congrats to Amherst!! (The rest is just my opinion...nothing more )

[dogwatcher]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Well done Amherst you have a talented team that works hard and is very disaplined. It was fun to watch such highly skilled players that were coached so well play. Enjoy every minute of this championship you worked so hard to earn.

[spike]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Can't you just let it go? Give Amherst the credit they deserve for being the best team in the country and let it be done at that. I don't see the need to put the other 3 teams down in the process. What did Plattsburgh have to do with? I'm sure a game that happened a week before affected them.

Perhaps while giving Amherst the credit they deserve you might rethink some earlier comments about certain Eastern teams that were ranked despite never beating Amherst or Elmira. I think Trinity and Middlebury were far more competitive with Amherst and Elmira than GAC was.

[gojackets]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Perhaps while giving Amherst the credit they deserve you might rethink some earlier comments about certain Eastern teams that were ranked despite never beating Amherst or Elmira. I think Trinity and Middlebury were far more competitive with Amherst and Elmira than GAC was.

I love how I'm the villian. I'm sure if GAC played Amherst 3-5 times a year for the past 3-4 years, they would have been more competitive just due to familiarity.

Its not about me people...its about Amherst and the other 3 quality teams that played in St. Peter this weekend.

[Plugger]

Re: Congrats Amherst

I love how I'm the villian. I'm sure if GAC played Amherst 3-5 times a year for the past 3-4 years, they would have been more competitive just due to familiarity.

Its not about me people...its about Amherst and the other 3 quality teams that played in St. Peter this weekend.

GoJackets - You are not a villain, but now that we have been able to watch GAC, they do have talent, but not the depth that some of the eastern teams you referenced in your emails this year on ranking teams.

Look at all of the games between Platts, Elmira, Amherst, Middlebury and Trinity they were all close games, several ties, many one goal games (a few overtimes in that category) and a couple of 2 goal games (with a couple of empty netters in that category).

Familiarity does not play into this, what does play into this is the competitive nature of the teams that play out east.

You can easily justify that the top 3 maybe 4 teams in NESCAC, top 3 teams in the ECAC West and the top 2 teams in the ECAC East should be ranked above any of the West teams.

This year you got what you wanted, a Final 4 out west, and you were outscored 8-1. Looks to me like the West still has a ways to go. They are getting there (just like the east teams are doing at the DI level), it simply is not quite there yet.

Saying that, it does appear that there are some teams out west whose programs are growing and getting stronger and will have more depth. There is no reason to think they the top teams won't catch up to the east, they just are not there yet. That is all. I hope they do, as it will be great for women's hockey on a national basis.

[notfromaroundhere]

Re: Congrats Amherst

GoJackets - You are not a villain, but now that we have been able to watch GAC, they do have talent, but not the depth that some of the eastern teams you referenced in your emails this year on ranking teams.

Look at all of the games between Platts, Elmira, Amherst, Middlebury and Trinity they were all close games, several ties, many one goal games (a few overtimes in that category) and a couple of 2 goal games (with a couple of empty netters in that category).

Familiarity does not play into this, what does play into this is the competitive nature of the teams that play out east.

You can easily justify that the top 3 maybe 4 teams in NESCAC, top 3 teams in the ECAC West and the top 2 teams in the ECAC East should be ranked above any of the West teams.

This year you got what you wanted, a Final 4 out west, and you were outscored 8-1. Looks to me like the West still has a ways to go. They are getting there (just like the east teams are doing at the DI level), it simply is not quite there yet.

Saying that, it does appear that there are some teams out west whose programs are growing and getting stronger and will have more depth. There is no reason to think they the top teams won't catch up to the east, they just are not there yet. That is all. I hope they do, as it will be great for women's hockey on a national basis.

I'm going to agree with you on the lack of depth on the western teams being the major difference, as I have spelled out why that is the case over in that "why the west isn't as good as the east" thread.

However, I watched the all of the weekend's games and I can say that there isn't a significant difference between GAC and Norwich. 75% of the offense on Norwich goes through 2 players. Norwich's goaltending didn't look spectacular either. What Norwich did was adapt their game to their personnel - they trapped, forechecked hard and took advantage of their opponents mistakes.

GAC on the other hand is used to being able to dominate the puck against their western opponents and hasn't had to adapt to teams with 3 solid lines that can control the puck.

Norwich was able to defeat a number of more talented teams (Platty, Elmira) before running into an Amherst team disciplined enough not to turn over the puck and having a goalie who could make up for the few mistakes they made. It helps that they also had a enough playmakers on offense when Norwich turned over the puck.

You can win championships without overwhelming talent as long as you make the most of what you have and match up well against your opponent. GAC just didn't do this. Amherst did and deserves the championship.

[dogwatcher]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Perhaps while giving Amherst the credit they deserve you might rethink some earlier comments about certain Eastern teams that were ranked despite never beating Amherst or Elmira. I think Trinity and Middlebury were far more competitive with Amherst and Elmira than GAC was.

Nice tribute to the champs. I guess your point of view is certainly more important then showing respect to a national champion. I again say job well done to Amherst players, coaches,parents and fans you had a great year again and good luck in the future.

[goaliecoach]

Re: Congrats Amherst

Amherst certainly seemed to have all engines firing at the right time. Congatulations are certainly in order. Would dearly loved to have seen an Amherst-Elmira rematch from last year. Maybe next year..... Til then, I can't believe another season has come and gone already. It really is amazing how quickly it passes.