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Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Spydey629 said:
Ummm... this was pretty much tried. The proposal worked that Mercyhurst and Canisius would join the CHA... they just wanted the assurance that if a CHA that included them failed, they could come back to AHA.
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"I will dump my girlfriend to be with you, but only if you can guarantee she'll take me back when you and I break up."
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Does anyone think the Penn St. announcement/BTHC possibility makes UConn a more attractive expansion member for a 16-team Big-10? Is UConn ready for that big of a step up?

It's no secret the conference wants to expand past 12, and adding a school with a northeastern footprint wouldn't hurt. Evidently they have decent bouncyball teams there, too.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

AFHockeyFan said:
Does anyone think the Penn St. announcement/BTHC possibility makes UConn a more attractive expansion member for a 16-team Big-10? Is UConn ready for that big of a step up?
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I see no connection whatsoever. The Big 10 is not going to approach any programs to join based on anything related to hockey. Even if they did, UConn would not exactly jump to the top of their wish list. Forming the BTHC is just another small potential revenue stream to them. It's all about football and basketball.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

AFHockeyFan said:
Does anyone think the Penn St. announcement/BTHC possibility makes UConn a more attractive expansion member for a 16-team Big-10? Is UConn ready for that big of a step up?

It's no secret the conference wants to expand past 12, and adding a school with a northeastern footprint wouldn't hurt. Evidently they have decent bouncyball teams there, too.
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If UConn is invited to the Big Whatever, hockey will not have been even of the remotest concern. If UConn had spent the last fifty or so years developing a program that's remotely competitive, perhaps, but that's clearly counterfactual. The only value the current program brings is as a warm body to fill the schedule.

If UConn is invited to the Big Whatever it is because the league wants a presence in the Northeast, and for the good football and elite basketball product that it can put on the television sets.

That being said, I'm not putting much stock in the idea that the Big Whatever is considering going to 16, at least not yet. The math doesn't quite work out.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

kingdobbs said:
If UConn is invited to the Big Whatever, hockey will not have been even of the remotest concern. If UConn had spent the last fifty or so years developing a program that's remotely competitive, perhaps, but that's clearly counterfactual. The only value the current program brings is as a warm body to fill the schedule.

If UConn is invited to the Big Whatever it is because the league wants a presence in the Northeast, and for the good football and elite basketball product that it can put on the television sets.

That being said, I'm not putting much stock in the idea that the Big Whatever is considering going to 16, at least not yet. The math doesn't quite work out.
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Lets make this clear... adding a UConn will have NOTHING to do with Ice Hockey. I'm not sure why this has to be said EVERY TWO WEEKS.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Not that you'd know it from the USCHO front page, but Atlantic Hockey held its media day today at the Blue Cross Arena.

RIT is the top vote-getter in the coach's poll, to no one's surprise. 8/12 first-place votes for RIT, two for Mercyhurst, and two for Bobby Mo. The top five are RIT, 'Hurst, Air Force, Niagara, and Robert Morris.

Thoughts?


Powers &8^]


P.S. - I note that the poll splits strictly along divisional lines; the Western teams are the top six, and the Eastern teams are the bottom six.
 
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Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

LtPowers said:
The top five are RIT, 'Hurst, Air Force, Niagara, and Robert Morris.

Thoughts?


Powers &8^]


P.S. - I note that the poll splits strictly along divisional lines; the Western teams are the top six, and the Eastern teams are the bottom six.
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Canisius #6 ahead of Sacred Heart?
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

The conference split will probably guarantee that the predicted order won't happen. The western half of the league is the stronger half, but the eastern half powers will have the adavntage of playing the weaker teams more.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

One thing I just noticied, according to Lerch's story, the AHA WILL give byes to the top 2 teams in each "pod", and the teams in the pods will play each other in the playoffs. That does not bode well for the best Western teams.

EDIT - read it again. The top two in the pods will get byes to the quarterfinals. The pods play each other in the first round. THEN the teams are reseeded. Still makes it tougher for the best Wetern teams.
 
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Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

komey1 said:
One thing I just noticied, according to Lerch's story, the AHA WILL give byes to the top 2 teams in each "pod", and the teams in the pods will play each other in the playoffs. That does not bode well for the best Western teams.

EDIT - read it again. The top two in the pods will get byes to the quarterfinals. The pods play each other in the first round. THEN the teams are reseeded. Still makes it tougher for the best Wetern teams.
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That is quite different from the AHA website's tournament information: http://www.atlantichockeyonline.com/ahatournament

They have it as 5/12, 6/11, 7/10, 8/9 not by pods and then the top 4 seeds hosting a 3 game series. Also the way the USCHO article reads a team could get a bye and then have to play on the road in the quarterfinals. Can anyone say for sure which is correct?
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

komey1 said:
One thing I just noticied, according to Lerch's story, the AHA WILL give byes to the top 2 teams in each "pod", and the teams in the pods will play each other in the playoffs. That does not bode well for the best Western teams.

EDIT - read it again. The top two in the pods will get byes to the quarterfinals. The pods play each other in the first round. THEN the teams are reseeded. Still makes it tougher for the best Wetern teams.
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I really like the playoff format (as announced on the USCHO front page).
I would like the 12-team ECAC to adopt the same setup. While it's fun to see the underdog do well (2010 Brown), I'd rather see the teams earn their way into the tournament through consistant regular season play.
The ECAC brackets/pods could be Ivies vs. non-Ivies. I like it alot!
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

komey1 said:
One thing I just noticied, according to Lerch's story, the AHA WILL give byes to the top 2 teams in each "pod", and the teams in the pods will play each other in the playoffs. That does not bode well for the best Western teams.

EDIT - read it again. The top two in the pods will get byes to the quarterfinals. The pods play each other in the first round. THEN the teams are reseeded. Still makes it tougher for the best Wetern teams.
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The AHA website has byes going to #1, #2, #3, & #4 in the overall standings, with 5-12, 6-11, 7-10, & 8-9 in single game elimination in the first round.

Second round reseeded, with 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, & 4-5 in best 2/3 series. Winners to the BCA.

This makes more sense than scheduling based on E-W pods. Keeping a single set of standings for the regular season. Then moving back to pods for the playoffs.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2010/09/22_rittabbed.php

The "other" college hockey website has the same information about the scheduling pods for the playoffs, my guess is that it was in a press release, however the league website isn't updated yet.

The playoffs using scheduling pods for match ups only apply to the play-in round. The top 2 teams from the pod gets a bye, the 3rd and 4th place teams in the pod host a single play-in game, and the 5th and 6th place teams travel for the play-in game. This system limits travel for the single game play-ins. The quarter finals reseeds 1-8 so the quarterfinals will be the same as the past.
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

lance10jl said:
http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2010/09/22_rittabbed.php

The "other" college hockey website has the same information about the scheduling pods for the playoffs, my guess is that it was in a press release, however the league website isn't updated yet.

The playoffs using scheduling pods for match ups only apply to the play-in round. The top 2 teams from the pod gets a bye, the 3rd and 4th place teams in the pod host a single play-in game, and the 5th and 6th place teams travel for the play-in game. This system limits travel for the single game play-ins. The quarter finals reseeds 1-8 so the quarterfinals will be the same as the past.
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So if the pods are as competitively un-balanced as predicted, you could have teams that have to play on the road for the play-in round actually play at home in the quarterfinals.
Similarly, as was mentioned earlier, you could also have teams with a bye have to go on the road in the quarterfinals.
I don't care what they say, that system is ridiculous.
The un-balanced pod scheduling isn't all that un-balanced that overall seeding would be unfair in any way.
And aside from Air Force, the travel between western and eastern pod teams isn't really all that bad and can't be all that burdensome over staying in your pod for a game (except in the case where a team can bus to and from the game without having to stay overnight, i.e. NU-CC, UConn-SHU).
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

LtPowers said:
So long as Air Force finishes first or second in the west, at least...


Powers &8^]
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I think that it's pretty much assumed that there's an asterisk for each mention of travel within Atlantic Hockey that reads: "Except for Air Force". :)
 
Re: Atlantic Hockey Summer News

Somebody tell me if I am understanding this correctly. Trying to figure out the tournament situation, I did a hypothetical based on the assumption that the coaches poll is dead-on:
1. RIT (8) 118
2. Mercyhurst (2) 101
3. Air Force 98
4.(tie). Niagara 82
4.(tie). Robert Morris (2) 82
6. Canisius 63
7. Sacred Heart 61
8. Holy Cross 60
9. Army 48
10. Bentley 47
11. Connecticut 21
12. American International 11

The tournament would start out with byes to RIT and Mercyhurst from the West, SHU and Holy Cross from the East. In the first round (play-in), teams would stay within their scheduling pods, therefore the match-ups would then be:
West 3- AFA v West 6- Canisius
West 4- NU/RoMo v. West 5- NU/RoMo
East 3- Army v East 6- Amer Int
East 4- Bentley v East 5- UConn
This would be single-game elimination. Home ice to the higher seeds, of course (NU and RoMo would need the tie-breaker). I believe this is intended to save on travel costs. Anyway, teams moving on would be RIT, Mercyhurst, Sacred Heart, Holy Cross, AFA, NU/RoMo winner, Army,and Bentley.

Teams would then re-seed after the first round based on final RS standings and go to a best of three series on the home ice of the higher seed. Again- based on the poll standings and assuming all the higher seeds won their play-in games- then the match-ups would be:
1 v 8: Bentley at RIT
2 v 7: Army at Mercyhurst
3 v 6: HC at AFA
4 v 5: SHU at NU/RMU winner

So not only do the better teams in the east definitely get the regular season scheduling advantage but it would appear (based on the coaches poll predictions) that the tournament schedule works to help the teams in the east as well because it guarantees that there is equal number of teams represented out of each scheduling pod, regardless of relative strength. At least the better teams (based on RS) would get home ice advantage here. However, it seems terribly wrong that a team that is tied for 4th best in the league gets to play one tough game and is gone (NU or RoMo) while a team that ends the RS in 10th place (Bentley) plays the 11th place team for the right to go on to play in the best of three series.

I know the above is hypothetical ... I find it really hard to believe that the six teams in the West would actually end up in the top six spots in the league in RS points, given the scheduling advantage during the RS for the better East teams. While the six West teams may in fact be the best six in the league, it probably will not be reflected in the point standings.
 
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