D3 Women?

[spwood]

Good point. I forgot Elmira had switched into Norwich's league meaning at least one of them would not be getting an automatic bid...

[Scott_TG]

If the season ended today, Norwich, Eau Claire and Adrian would all be out. That said, I think Adrian will overtake SNC in the NCHA and Wesleyan and Colby will fall down the PWR.

If the season ended today the field, based on conference standings and PWR, would be:

CCC: Endicott
MIAC: GAC
NCHA: St. Norbert
NEHC: Elmira
NESCAC: Middlebury
NEWHL: Plattsburgh
UCHC: Nazareth/Utica (not sure who wins tiebreakers)
Pool C: Wesleyan
Pool C: Colby
Pool C: UW-River Falls

[tjoneslo]

Middlebury has postponed all athletics until further notice. The Panther women were due to take on UMass-Boston yesterday in non-conference action. They have announced Jan 3 as a makeup date for that game.

Barring further postponement, the current USCHO number 1 will resume play with 6 games in 12 days, including ranked opponents Endicott and Plattsburgh. All but one game is at home, but the road trip is the next day after hosting Endicott at home.

Well, the Umass-Boston game is complete (8-0 win, Maddie Leight with the hat trick) and the Utica game is postponed. So Endicott and Plattsburgh games are up next.

[Scott_TG]

Unless it gets postponed I'm looking forward to Adrian vs GAC on Thursday. A win for either team would help their chances if they get upset in their conference tournament.

[Scott_TG]

#6 GAC with a dominant victory over #9 Adrian, 3-0 score and outshooting the Bulldogs 38-9.

[spwood]

The Stafford Ice Arena announced new attendance rules for men's games in 2022 (see below).... I wonder what the rules are for the Plattsburgh's women's games?

• Masks must be worn at all times and will be strictly enforced
• Consumption of food or drink is prohibited
• In an effort to reduce density, admittance into the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena is limited to the following groups: season ticket holders; family of competing student-athletes; SUNY Plattsburgh students, faculty and staff; game personnel; and credentialed members of the media
• Vaccination against COVID-19, including a booster shot, is encouraged

[Scott_TG]

Augsburg upsets #9 Adrian by a 5-2 score. Rematch today.

I'd be surprised if Adrian stays ranked come Monday given two losses this week.

[AC Bulldog]

Just an FYI. Adrian was hit hard with Covid protocol before they headed out for their 3 game road trip. I believe they had to leave behind 13 players and have only 13 skaters available for each of their games. Hopefully they will regroup as league play resumes next weekend.

[tjoneslo]

Middlebury (#1) manages to pull out a overtime win over Endicott (#10) 2 to 1.Endicott scores on a scrum early in the third period after two scoreless periods. Middlebury pulls the goaltendter with 1:30 to go, and ties the game with 1:11 left. The Endicott goaltender Michaela O'Brienwas brilliant stopping 38 of 40 shots.

[Scott_TG]

Augsburg defeats a shorthanded Adrian again, this time 3-2
St. Norbert upsets UW-Eau Claire with a 2-1 score. Eau Claire didn't give up, scoring their lone goal with 10 seconds left in the game.
Elmira with a big win over Norwich to take firm control over the NEHC.

This is what the tournament would look like if the season ended today (assuming Nazareth over Utica as they are still tied):

Bid	School	PWR
CCC	Endicott	12
MIAC	GAC	7
NEHC	Elmira	15
NCHA	SNC	25
NESCAC	Middlebury	5
NEWHL	Plattsburgh	8
UCHC	Nazareth	1
Pool C	Colby	2
Pool C	Wesleyan	3
Pool C	UW-River Falls	4

I will be shocked if Colby and Wesleyan hang around in the PWR to the end, but stranger things have happened. There are still not enough games to flesh out geneuine Pool C candidates from schools bolstered by a lack of data. The PWR has 5-4 Hamilton and 5-5 Bowdoin over 11-2-1 Elmira.

[tjoneslo]

I will be shocked if Colby and Wesleyan hang around in the PWR to the end, but stranger things have happened

This is a weird artifact of how the PWR is computed and the way the NESCAC teams end up playing. All of them, even the bottom ranked Conn College, maintain a >0.500 out of conference win record. And this is pretty consistent year after year. I'd have to pull apart the numbers again, but if your team wins a game against an OOC opponent, it brings up the whole league by a fraction. And every team in the league is doing that it will pull up the whole league higher into the rankings than you might expect.

I would put this down as evidence of your assertion there isn't enough data in the games to get good results from the PWR.

[Scott_TG]

The NESCAC non-conference schedules are kind of middling this season. We get some good ones we normally get like Midd vs Norwich, Williams vs Endicott but there are also games against bad teams like Colby vs UNE or Trinity vs Plymouth State.

Some of these are already postponed, and if enough non-conference never plays maybe the NESCAC really can steal the Pool Cs this way...River Falls and Eau Claire definitely should be rooting on Endicott when they take on Hamilton twice and then Williams as well as the Plattsburgh Cardinals against Williams.

[PrezdeJohnson09]

The NESCAC non-conference schedules are kind of middling this season. We get some good ones we normally get like Midd vs Norwich, Williams vs Endicott but there are also games against bad teams like Colby vs UNE or Trinity vs Plymouth State.

Some of these are already postponed, and if enough non-conference never plays maybe the NESCAC really can steal the Pool Cs this way...River Falls and Eau Claire definitely should be rooting on Endicott when they take on Hamilton twice and then Williams as well as the Plattsburgh Cardinals against Williams.

Trinity has also beaten Norwich this year, so that's another feather in the cap of the NESCAC.

Not sure what the rest of the NESCAC has for non-conference left, but Norwich still has meetings with Conn. College, Amherst and Middlebury. There is still time to bring their ridiculous out of conference record down a bit, but still these other leagues need to get stronger.

Norwich's best win is against a 7-5-1 Adrian team....

[tjoneslo]

Other side of this: Looking at the RPI seven of the top 8 teams by Strength of Schedule are all NESCAC teams. Only UW-River Falls interrupts a perfect sweep. They're a tough league to play in and against.

Or the OOC records at 25-4-3.

Sorry, I'm finding all the new-to-me stats on the site. Ignore me.

[Scott_TG]

River Falls and Stevens Point are moving their game today to Sunday due to Covid protocols. For some reason, WIAC covid protocols will have this re-scheduled game not count as a conference game, it will be considered non-conference instead.

Saturday's game will take place as scheduled and will count towards the WIAC standings.

St. Scholastica's games against St. Mary's have also been canceled for this weekend. There was a replacement home-and-home with non-conference UW-Superior scheduled instead but that has now also been canceled. Per MIAC policy, the CSS-St. Mary's games will not be rescheduled.