The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#18 – New Hampshire Wildcats
Points: 88.7218 Points
Points Earned in 2016-2017: 0.5833 (Rank: 20)
Points Earned in Past Five Seasons: 8.9391 (Rank: 16)
Last Season Ranking: #18

The University of New Hampshire Wildcats are just waiting out the tenure of coach Dick Umile. The last few years have proven to be a definitive step back for the program, as they continue to move away from their former glory. Entering 2016-17 UNH was expected to be a somewhat middling program, but their incredibly weak OOC schedule promised Wildcat fans a few wins at home before they hit the brunt of their schedule. Home losses to Bentley, Colorado College, and Arizona State, along with a tie at the hands of Sacred Heart effectively tanked UNH’s OOC performance. Early in conference play they had some success beating up on the bottom feeders of UMaine and UMass, but their schedule was back loaded with the class of Hockey East, leading to a second half record of 3-10-3 leading into postseason play. Relegated to the ten seed after being swept on the final weekend by UConn, UNH traveled to Merrimack for the first weekend of Hockey East play. There they lost the first, but a pair of heroic performances by Danny Tirone carried them out of North Andover with an upset. They then travelled up the river to Lowell, where they took game 1 from a sleepy Lowell team, lost game 2 close, then were run out of the building in game 3 ending their 16-17 campaign. Looking at next season UNH looks stable if unspectacular in net, but the losses of Tyler Kelleher and Matias Cleland will test the depth of the Wildcats. They do return an excellent freshman line, and most of their goal scoring for what is expected to be Dick Umile’s last hurrah in Durham. – UML Puck Hawk

[purpleinnebraska]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#18 – New Hampshire Wildcats
Points: 88.7218 Points
Points Earned in 2016-2017: 0.5833 (Rank: 20)
Points Earned in Past Five Seasons: 8.9391 (Rank: 16)
Last Season Ranking: #18

The University of New Hampshire Wildcats are just waiting out the tenure of coach Dick Umile. The last few years have proven to be a definitive step back for the program, as they continue to move away from their former glory. – UML Puck Hawk

I would agree with Puck Hawk's assessment, but according to the numbers, UNH was in the top third of all programs both last year and in the last 5 years. What am I missing?

[UML Puck Hawk]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

I would agree with Puck Hawk's assessment, but according to the numbers, UNH was in the top third of all programs both last year and in the last 5 years. What am I missing?

Probably some credit for Kelleher and Cleland?

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

I would agree with Puck Hawk's assessment, but according to the numbers, UNH was in the top third of all programs both last year and in the last 5 years. What am I missing?

Well, one could argue that New Hampshire was a Top 10 program from the mid-to-late 1990s through 2013, and their recent trend back towards the average seems like a steeper decline.

As for their points, UNH did make a Regional Final appearance in 2013, and, to a lesser extent, were aided by Providence winning the title in 2015.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

Probably some credit for Kelleher and Cleland?

Yeah, having All-Americans and Hobey finalists will also help increase a team's points to a limited extent.

[purpleinnebraska]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

Yeah, having All-Americans and Hobey finalists will also help increase a team's points to a limited extent.

Thanks! Your explanations were helpful. I was just wondering about a bootstrapping effect, where the "Big Conference" teams would always stay ahead, no matter how mediocre their play, but you addressed that well.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#17 – Rensselaer Engineers
Points: 100.723 Points
Points Earned in 2016-2017: -0.6296 (Rank: 57)
Points Earned in Past Five Seasons: 2.1623 (Rank: 37)
Last Season Ranking: #17

The Engineers suffered through a historically poor season in 2016-17, winning only 8 games; the last RPI team with 8 wins was the 1969-1970 team. RPI finished 11th in the ECAC, then was swept by Clarkson in the first round of the playoffs. Coach Seth Appert was fired at the conclusion of the season, and Dave Smith was hired away from Canisius to take over.

The Engineers lose their top scorer to graduation, but the following 9 scorers all return. Rensselaer also returns both sophomore goaltenders from last year. RPI will be hoping to move up the ECAC standings, at least to get home ice in the first round. They haven't made the ECAC Final Four since 2002, and will hope to end that streak as well. – drshoen

[Ralph Baer]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#17 – Rensselaer Engineers
Points: 100.723 Points
Points Earned in 2016-2017: -0.6296 (Rank: 57)
Points Earned in Past Five Seasons: 2.1623 (Rank: 37)
Last Season Ranking: #17

The Engineers suffered through a historically poor season in 2016-17, winning only 8 games; the last RPI team with 8 wins was the 1969-1970 team. RPI finished 11th in the ECAC, then was swept by Clarkson in the first round of the playoffs. Coach Seth Appert was fired at the conclusion of the season, and Dave Smith was hired away from Canisius to take over.

The Engineers lose their top scorer to graduation, but the following 9 scorers all return. Rensselaer also returns both sophomore goaltenders from last year. RPI will be hoping to move up the ECAC standings, at least to get home ice in the first round. They haven't made the ECAC Final Four since 2002, and will hope to end that streak as well. – drshoen

Of the 9 scorers following Riley Bourbonnais, Drew Melanson has graduated in 3 years and left school. He will play for BU as a graduate student this season. Also one of the goalies whom you described, Cam Hackett, is no longer in school, but his replacement should be fine.

[drshoen]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

Of the 9 scorers following Riley Bourbonnais, Drew Melanson has graduated in 3 years and left school. He will play for BU as a graduate student this season. Also one of the goalies whom you described, Cam Hackett, is no longer in school, but his replacement should be fine.

Sorry, those changes (I think) happened after I wrote the original, and forgot to update it.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

Sorry, those changes (I think) happened after I wrote the original, and forgot to update it.

Probably. You had your write-ups in nice and early. It also didn't help that the release has been delayed slightly by various factors.

Either way, thanks to Ralph for the update.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#16 – Clarkson Golden Knights
Points: 129.2151 Points
Points Earned in 2016-2017: -0.0752 (Rank: 51)*
Points Earned in Past Five Seasons: 5.4741 (Rank: 22)
Last Season Ranking: #15

The Golden Knights had a second consecutive winning season for the first time since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 years. Clarkson finished 6th in the ECAC, swept RPI at home, and won the first game at Cornell before losing the final two game of the second round. Clarkson had some good non-conference results as well, including wins at Massachusetts-Lowell, and at Notre Dame in the Shillelagh Tournament Championship.

Clarkson lost three of their top four scorers to graduation; the fourth, Sam Vigneault, left school with a year remaining. But the next four scorers, and the starting goaltender, were all freshmen in 2016-17. The Golden Knights are hoping to get home ice in the second round, and advance to the ECAC Final Four for the first time since 2007. – drshoen

*FS23 Note: I had incorrectly input Clarkson's number of program losses in the previous ranking, which I caught doing my triple-double check this offseason. As a result of that correction, Clarkson "lost" points this season. Had I correctly input the numbers last season, Clarkson would have earned approximately 0.05-0.20 points based on their results in 2016-2017.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#15 – Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs
Points: 130.5415 Points
Points Earned in 2016-2017: 13.8243 (Rank: 2)
Points Earned in Past Five Seasons: 19.9991 (Rank: 11)
Last Season Ranking: #16

The Bulldogs had a great season, winning the NCHC Frozen Faceoff and getting to the NCAA championship game before falling to Denver in a nail biter. UMD finished with the program's 2nd best winning percentage, a record of 28-7-7, and were ranked the #1 team in the USCHO poll for 14 weeks. Early departures, including freshman Hunter Miska (.910 SV, 2.20 GAA), and graduation of seven seniors will make it difficult for Minnesota Duluth to repeat their 2016-2017 success. – Siouxfaninseattle

[FreshFish]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

Really appreciate all the time, research and detail that goes into these rankings....

earlier, you offered also to provide a ranking where you take FS23 point total and divide by total number of games over which rankings stretch (you said you couldn't do it per season because your data wasn't organized that way).

It will be really interesting (if you are able to follow through) to see how that changes things, as the top gross point totals also seem to be associated with programs that have been long-established, with successful results in several decades as well.

No need to spread that "reveal" over time, from my perspective at least.

Thanks again.

[UML Puck Hawk]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

Really appreciate all the time, research and detail that goes into these rankings....

earlier, you offered also to provide a ranking where you take FS23 point total and divide by total number of games over which rankings stretch (you said you couldn't do it per season because your data wasn't organized that way).

It will be really interesting (if you are able to follow through) to see how that changes things, as the top gross point totals also seem to be associated with programs that have been long-established, with successful results in several decades as well.

No need to spread that "reveal" over time, from my perspective at least.

Thanks again.

Its interesting, but I think if you were to plot number of points accumulated vs ranking you will find 3 or 4 different groups of teams. The analysis of those different groups would be especially interesting.

[ticapnews]

Re: The Greatest Programs of All-Time: #1 - #60

#26 – Union Dutchmen

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