2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Hoping to see some discussion on this one so I figured I'd toss it out there and see what happens.

I think it can be argued that the 2013-14 edition of the Plattsburgh State Cardinals might be the best team in the 13-year history of NCAA Division III women's ice hockey.

Plattsburgh finished with a 28-1-1 record, outscoring its opponents 149-19. Plattsburgh led the country goals per game (4.97) and goals against (0.63). Their penalty kill was 95.8 percent, giving up just four goals all season on 95 attempts. They even scored three shorthanded goals. Senior goalie Sydney Aveson had possibly the finest season ever for a goaltender with video-game like numbers of .971 save percentage and 0.57 goals against average.

Balanced offense with seven players having 27 or more points and 11 total over 20. The Cards even lost arguably one of their top forwards on paper in Emma Rutherford and still managed to dominate. Perhaps Plattsburgh's most impressive achievement was their complete domination of the No. 2 team in the country Norwich, outscoring the runner-ups 9-2 in the national championship game and 21-2 in their three meetings on the season. Aveson's save percentage smashed the previous best of .959 by RIT's Nikki Werner in 2007. Plattsburgh also set the new record for fewest goals against in a season with its 19 topping Gustavus' mark of 21 in 2009.

So who are the other candidates?

Plattsburgh 2006-07 team
The Cardinals' first national championship team is the only team to go unbeaten for a whole season, finishing with a 27-0-2 record and outscoring its opponents 146-34. While they finished unbeaten, their last three games were all one goal victories and they tied Utica and Elmira during the season. They beat Manhattanville 3-2 in the finals on home ice. Danielle Blanchard (24-27-51) and Laurie Bowler (22-16-38) lead a star-studded team along with Breanne Doyle between the pipes.

RIT 2011-12 team
The Tigers won the national championship that escaped them the year prior, very similiar to Plattsburgh's 2013-14 season. RIT finished with the same 28-1-1 record with their only blemishes coming to Plattsburgh in a tie and a loss. RIT beat Norwich 4-1 in the national championship one year after falling to Norwich. RIT outscored its opponents 147-30. Five players with 30 or more points led by sophomores Kourtney Kunichika (20-25-45) and Kolbee McCrea (24-14-38).

Middlebury 2005-06 team
Middlebury went 27-2-0, outscoring its opponents 127-39. They beat Manhattanville, Gustavus Adolphus and Plattsburgh on their way to winning their third straight national championship. Emily Quizon won the Laura Hurd Award with 40 points and fantastic freshman AnnMarie Cellino burst onto the scene with 26 goals and 21 assists for 47 points in one of the most impressive rookie seasons in D-III women's hockey history.

Elmira 2002-03 team
Elmira went 23-4-2 but its four losses were all to D1 institutions in Findlay and Wayne State. They were the first and only team to go unbeaten against D-III competition in the USCHO-era until Plattsburgh's run in 2007. Elmira outscored its opponents 170-31, giving up just one goal in conference play the entire season. Future National Player of the Year and all-time NCAA D-III career scoring record holder Laura Hurd led the team with 33 goals and 22 assists for 55 points. Freshman Jackie O'Neil provided an instant impact as a rookie with 14 goals and 24 assists for 38 points to help lead Elmira to a dominant 5-1 victory over Manhattanville to clinch back to back titles for the Soaring Eagles. Edith Racine and Kristin Lillie combined for 14 shutouts.

Elmira 2001-02 team
First national championship team going 26-1-1 with its only loss coming to Plattsburgh 2-0 early in the season. Laura Hurd scored a single-season record 77 points and helped pace Elmira's offense to 178 goals and surrendering just 40. Elmira beat Manhattanville 2-1 in the national championship game. This team nearly didn't even get to play in the NCAA Tournament because the ECAC West didn't have an automatic bid yet and it was between Stevens Point and Elmira for the Pool B slot. Elmira ended up winning out and a 26-1-0 Pointers squad was left out of the tournament.

I still say Plattsburgh's 2013-14 team takes the cake as the best ever...those be my thoughts. What are yours?

 

[WIrinkrat]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Hoping to see some discussion on this one so I figured I'd toss it out there and see what happens.

I think it can be argued that the 2013-14 edition of the Plattsburgh State Cardinals might be the best team in the 13-year history of NCAA Division III women's ice hockey.

Plattsburgh finished with a 28-1-1 record, outscoring its opponents 149-19. Plattsburgh led the country goals per game (4.97) and goals against (0.63). Their penalty kill was 95.8 percent, giving up just four goals all season on 95 attempts. They even scored three shorthanded goals. Senior goalie Sydney Aveson had possibly the finest season ever for a goaltender with video-game like numbers of .971 save percentage and 0.57 goals against average.

Balanced offense with seven players having 27 or more points and 11 total over 20. The Cards even lost arguably one of their top forwards on paper in Emma Rutherford and still managed to dominate. Perhaps Plattsburgh's most impressive achievement was their complete domination of the No. 2 team in the country Norwich, outscoring the runner-ups 9-2 in the national championship game and 21-2 in their three meetings on the season. Aveson's save percentage smashed the previous best of .959 by RIT's Nikki Werner in 2007. Plattsburgh also set the new record for fewest goals against in a season with its 19 topping Gustavus' mark of 21 in 2009.

So who are the other candidates?

Plattsburgh 2006-07 team
The Cardinals' first national championship team is the only team to go unbeaten for a whole season, finishing with a 27-0-2 record and outscoring its opponents 146-34. While they finished unbeaten, their last three games were all one goal victories and they tied Utica and Elmira during the season. They beat Manhattanville 3-2 in the finals on home ice. Danielle Blanchard (24-27-51) and Laurie Bowler (22-16-38) lead a star-studded team along with Breanne Doyle between the pipes.

RIT 2011-12 team
The Tigers won the national championship that escaped them the year prior, very similiar to Plattsburgh's 2013-14 season. RIT finished with the same 28-1-1 record with their only blemishes coming to Plattsburgh in a tie and a loss. RIT beat Norwich 4-1 in the national championship one year after falling to Norwich. RIT outscored its opponents 147-30. Five players with 30 or more points led by sophomores Kourtney Kunichika (20-25-45) and Kolbee McCrea (24-14-38).

Middlebury 2005-06 team
Middlebury went 27-2-0, outscoring its opponents 127-39. They beat Manhattanville, Gustavus Adolphus and Plattsburgh on their way to winning their third straight national championship. Emily Quizon won the Laura Hurd Award with 40 points and fantastic freshman AnnMarie Cellino burst onto the scene with 26 goals and 21 assists for 47 points in one of the most impressive rookie seasons in D-III women's hockey history.

Elmira 2002-03 team
Elmira went 23-4-2 but its four losses were all to D1 institutions in Findlay and Wayne State. They were the first and only team to go unbeaten against D-III competition in the USCHO-era until Plattsburgh's run in 2007. Elmira outscored its opponents 170-31, giving up just one goal in conference play the entire season. Future National Player of the Year and all-time NCAA D-III career scoring record holder Laura Hurd led the team with 33 goals and 22 assists for 55 points. Freshman Jackie O'Neil provided an instant impact as a rookie with 14 goals and 24 assists for 38 points to help lead Elmira to a dominant 5-1 victory over Manhattanville to clinch back to back titles for the Soaring Eagles. Edith Racine and Kristin Lillie combined for 14 shutouts.

Elmira 2001-02 team
First national championship team going 26-1-1 with its only loss coming to Plattsburgh 2-0 early in the season. Laura Hurd scored a single-season record 77 points and helped pace Elmira's offense to 178 goals and surrendering just 40. Elmira beat Manhattanville 2-1 in the national championship game. This team nearly didn't even get to play in the NCAA Tournament because the ECAC West didn't have an automatic bid yet and it was between Stevens Point and Elmira for the Pool B slot. Elmira ended up winning out and a 26-1-0 Pointers squad was left out of the tournament.

I still say Plattsburgh's 2013-14 team takes the cake as the best ever...those be my thoughts. What are yours?

Define what you mean by "Best". Are we talking about the best team relative to their peers at the time, or the best team in terms of ability, period?

Because with the growth of women's hockey I strongly believe that the best team in 2013-14 would handily beat the best teams from 12-13 years ago.

 

[SeymoreHockey]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

I'm biased, but I'd simply reverse your first two selections. I believe a team that goes undefeated for one season and half of the next is simply unequalled. No other NCAA hockey team has matched Plattsburgh's undefeated streak. Elmira's and RIT's teams during this reign are close and gave Platty fits, but in the end, undefeated is the hallmark of any championship team.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Define what you mean by "Best". Are we talking about the best team relative to their peers at the time, or the best team in terms of ability, period?

Because with the growth of women's hockey I strongly believe that the best team in 2013-14 would handily beat the best teams from 12-13 years ago.

I think best in terms of relative to the time. I agree with your growth statement completely.

 

[spwood]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

I'll weigh in and say that I believe this team is the best of all time - even better than the unbeaten team of 2007. As Prez mentioned, the distance between them and the #2 team makes a strong statement. (That said and arguing against my own point, I thought Norwich's biggest weakness was I didn't believe they had a game changing goaltender and thought Plattsburgh was a nightmare matchup for them). I always felt the 2007 team, while great, could be beaten. I felt this year's team would only be beaten by a goaltender absolutely playing out of her mind (which almost happened against St. Thomas). The only loss was a tough one goal loss at Elmira where they outshot the Eagles by a wide margin. I can't speak to some of the other teams on Prez's list because I just didn't see them enough. I saw the two Plattsburgh teams night in and night out and I thought this year's team was a close to an unbeatable team as I've ever seen.

 

[obserbear]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

I thought this year's team was a close to an unbeatable team as I've ever seen.

This season's Cardinals were awesome. Aveson had a season that statistically was amazingly better than the norm for great goaltending. Just want to point out that on 11/30/13 Amherst came within :09 of a 1-0 win against Plattsburgh backed by a 33 save effort by Stuart. Would the '13-'14 Cardinals handily beat teams sporting Kogut or Racine in goal? A question for the ages, eh?
PS: One other thought on unbeatable and greatest: the Middlebury teams of the ECAC era (late 20th and early 21st century) went 136 games unbeaten against DIII opponents over 7 seasons. I know it was a different era, but impressive.

 

[chippy]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

I'll weigh in and say that I believe this team is the best of all time - even better than the unbeaten team of 2007. As Prez mentioned, the distance between them and the #2 team makes a strong statement. (That said and arguing against my own point, I thought Norwich's biggest weakness was I didn't believe they had a game changing goaltender and thought Plattsburgh was a nightmare matchup for them). I always felt the 2007 team, while great, could be beaten. I felt this year's team would only be beaten by a goaltender absolutely playing out of her mind (which almost happened against St. Thomas). The only loss was a tough one goal loss at Elmira where they outshot the Eagles by a wide margin. I can't speak to some of the other teams on Prez's list because I just didn't see them enough. I saw the two Plattsburgh teams night in and night out and I thought this year's team was a close to an unbeatable team as I've ever seen.

That being said, they'd still probably get clobbered by a "Run of The Mill" D-1 team. So, congrat's but don't lose too much perspective.

Chip

 

[ARM]

That being said, they'd still probably get clobbered by a "Run of The Mill" D-1 team. So, congrat's but don't lose too much perspective.

Chip

That's irrelevant. The two divisions compete under a different set of rules so it doesn't matter how one would hypothetically perform versus another.

Congratulations to Plattsburgh State on a great season, in any division or era.

 

[Cali]

That being said, they'd still probably get clobbered by a "Run of The Mill" D-1 team. So, congrat's but don't lose too much perspective.

Chip

Disagree completely. RIT is the relevant comparison. They competed well with "run of the mill" D1 teams in their first year of D1 after a very comparable year to Platty.

They did get "clobbered" by MU who at the time were ranked but soon after that, they defeated Yale and narrowly lost to Princeton, both of whom would qualify as run of the mill.

IMO they would compete quite well at this level.

 

[webbyboy]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Folks, I think we need to calm down a bit. Enjoy the Platty victory! They were the best in 2014 at the end. I enjoy the Prez's breakdown,and agree with a lot of it.. But let's not carry it too far. It is what it is, but a lot of good teams never won at the end, and could have taken the 2013-2014 Platty team to school.. Nuff said. Runts Rule!

 

[SeymoreHockey]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Hey Webby...name me one team that could have "taken the 2013-14 Platty team to school"....I don't get your thinking.

Folks, I think we need to calm down a bit. Enjoy the Platty victory! They were the best in 2014 at the end. I enjoy the Prez's breakdown,and agree with a lot of it.. But let's not carry it too far. It is what it is, but a lot of good teams never won at the end, and could have taken the 2013-2014 Platty team to school.. Nuff said. Runts Rule!

 

[webbyboy]

Hey Webby...name me one team that could have "taken the 2013-14 Platty team to school"....I don't get your thinking.

The idea is, enjoy it. You can't compare Era's. The game has totally involved? Kinda like telling me the Bambino would would the same numbers today as of yesterday! No chance. Runts Rule

 

[Call It]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Could this team beat a D1 team?

 

[123kidd]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Of course, many DIII teams could. Some DI teams that come to mind that could be beat, basically are the lower level teams like:
SCSU
Brown
Union
Linedwood
Penn State

Now would PSU go 5-0 against the above teams? Doubtful, but they could get a win in a 5 game series. So a 25 game schedule against these teams, maybe they produce 8-10 wins?

 

[WIrinkrat]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Of course, many DIII teams could. Some DI teams that come to mind that could be beat, basically are the lower level teams like:
SCSU
Brown
Union
Linedwood
Penn State

Now would PSU go 5-0 against the above teams? Doubtful, but they could get a win in a 5 game series. So a 25 game schedule against these teams, maybe they produce 8-10 wins?

My personal belief is that they'd be no worse than .500 against those teams over 25 games.

 

[spwood]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

My contributions to this discussion was totally Plattsburgh State as a Div III school playing Div III schools. I never said or implied that this team could compete with Minnesota, er, I mean Clarkson in Div I this year. My response was to Prez's initial post, which also only referenced Div III teams. He asked whether this was the greatest NCAA Div III team of all time. A discussion that asks for people's opinion. Therefore, none of the responses are right and wrong, but some seem offended by the discussion. It's something to do now that the season is over and, I think, a legitimate question worthy of discussion...

 

[Birdwatcher]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

My thoughts are that with the evolution of D3 women's hockey the whole game has gotten better, faster and skills are overall better developed each year. So with this in mind I would say this is the best team for women's D3 hockey so far!

 

[OnMAA]

Re: 2013-14 Plattsburgh State Cardinals -- Best D3 team ever?

Linedwood

"Lined Wood"