DIII Rankings

[Tweedle Dee]

Re: DIII Rankings

Loss and a tie (1 of 4 points). Also, there is no way a Scott McDonald team is not going to not try to score, especially with only a 3 or 4 goal lead. Any coach would want a few more goals before doing that. When they should have done that would have been with Chatham (15-0 and 14-1), that would have shown some class. In fairness, when you lose a Dagg, Stack and Galbraith (over 100 points) you have tough shoes to fill. They still have Elmira and Oswego to play and it would not be a big surprise if they went 2 and 2 or 3 and 1 in those 4 games. They are good, but I do not think they are the team they were last year, that was a special team that had a tough last game.

The team will rebound. Kunichika and McCrea have filled the gap left by Dagg and Stack nicely with 26pts and 25pts respectively and they are both Sophmores and on the same line. Add in Yokoyama with 19pts and that's probably one of the more devasating lines in DIII. I'd split them up for next season, but thats only my opinion.

 

[DedicatedFan]

Re: DIII Rankings

Not every year. They have been to 5 of the 10 Frozen Fours. They are the only team out of the MIAC to make it...would be nice if another MIAC team could step up and take that away from them....Let's go Concordia! Where Stevens Point, River Falls and Superior have all gone from the NCHA.

Gustavus will continue to be the MIAC representative team simply because they get some of the best freshman recruits from Minnesota. Until new recruits start doing their homework about how the coach treats his players, this will not change. I noticed four or five GAC players sitting in the stands during one series and a couple others dressed but not seeing much ice time. If those players had chosen a different program in either the MIAC or the NCHA, they would probably be playing regular shifts. There are a number of teams in both the MIAC and the NCHA that, with the addition of two or three quality players, could give Gustavus (and River Falls) a run for their money.

 

[spike]

Re: DIII Rankings

Gustavus will continue to be the MIAC representative team simply because they get some of the best freshman recruits from Minnesota. Until new recruits start doing their homework about how the coach treats his players, this will not change. I noticed four or five GAC players sitting in the stands during one series and a couple others dressed but not seeing much ice time. If those players had chosen a different program in either the MIAC or the NCHA, they would probably be playing regular shifts. There are a number of teams in both the MIAC and the NCHA that, with the addition of two or three quality players, could give Gustavus (and River Falls) a run for their money.

I would quarrel with your hypothesis. Yes, adding 2-3 quality players to any number of teams can mean quite a bit. However, your suggestion is that the 4-5 GAC players that are not dressing are "quality" players. If this is true, then GAC surely will win NCAA this year because of their incredible depth. What is more likely is that the girls who don't dress are at best interchangeable with current 3rd and 4th line players. If so, their impact on other teams would never approach the levels that you suggest. IMHO.

 

[webbyboy]

Re: DIII Rankings

Gustavus will continue to be the MIAC representative team simply because they get some of the best freshman recruits from Minnesota. Until new recruits start doing their homework about how the coach treats his players, this will not change. I noticed four or five GAC players sitting in the stands during one series and a couple others dressed but not seeing much ice time. If those players had chosen a different program in either the MIAC or the NCHA, they would probably be playing regular shifts. There are a number of teams in both the MIAC and the NCHA that, with the addition of two or three quality players, could give Gustavus (and River Falls) a run for their money.

So how does the coach treat the players? Seems like a pretty bold statement. Last time I time I checked, most kids pick the school, and hockey is second. Did you talk to the kids and they told you they are treated bad? Or perhaps a little bitter your little Susie was not recrutied by GAC? Maybe Point should advertise the features of the parents room at the rink to get better players?

 

[123kidd]

Re: DIII Rankings

"Most kids pick the school first, and hockey is second."
Last time I checked, most kids wouldn't get the chance to pick the school without hockey. No one on the GAC roster said, "I love the school and think I'll give hockey a try while I'm here."
Why do they go there? Location, Location, Tradition. Coach Carroll has everything to do with the last. He can do, say, yell, scream at every player all he wants. But when it comes down to wins and loses, it's pretty one sided.

 

[5 4 Fighting]

Re: DIII Rankings

Loss and a tie (1 of 4 points). Also, there is no way a Scott McDonald team is not going to not try to score, especially with only a 3 or 4 goal lead. Any coach would want a few more goals before doing that. When they should have done that would have been with Chatham (15-0 and 14-1), that would have shown some class. In fairness, when you lose a Dagg, Stack and Galbraith (over 100 points) you have tough shoes to fill. They still have Elmira and Oswego to play and it would not be a big surprise if they went 2 and 2 or 3 and 1 in those 4 games. They are good, but I do not think they are the team they were last year, that was a special team that had a tough last game.

Lets cut Scottie (sic) some slack here..one of those nights that they beat the bejesus out of Chatham he wasn't behind the bench...

Edited: under duress

 

[DedicatedFan]

Re: DIII Rankings

Spike: Gustavus carries 26 players on its roster. That means on any given night, 2 forwards, 2-3 defensemen, and 1 goalie sit out. I don’t know if they are the same players or if he rotates them. Either way, 5-6 girls are not playing each game. If they were on another team in the MIAC or NCHA, I believe they would stand a good chance of playing regular shifts because they are good players and because most teams do not carry such a large roster. This is also true for the players that are seeing only 3 to 4 shifts per game on the 3rd or 4th lines -- they also likely would be seeing regular shifts on another team.

Webbyboy: While we all want to think our kids picked their college first because of the education and second because of hockey, I think if we are all honest with ourselves, hockey was probably the deciding factor for most of our girls in choosing a college, even at the D3 level.

You asked how the coach treats the players. I know that Coach Carroll cut a sophomore player this year after tryouts who was a pretty good player last year. She had 15 points and was the 7th leading scorer on the team as a freshman. I am glad to see she has stepped right into the St. Olaf program and has 2 points in 3 games. I also know Coach Carroll recruited a freshman defenseman this year and cut her after tryouts. I am also glad to see that she will get a chance to play at St. Thomas. These are just two examples of players who initially chose Gustavus [I would bet for the hockey since they did not stick around to finish their education at Gustavus], and will probably be regular players at another school.

I agree with 123kidd that Gustavus has a tradition of winning and Coach Carroll plays a large part in that tradition, even with his yelling and screaming. Players want to be part of a winning team – I get that. I think some players don’t realize that winning at all costs sometimes means not much consideration is given to the individual player. While this is fine for some players, I would venture a guess that at the D3 level, most players would think it more important to get consistent playing time.

On a final note, the parent room at Point is a good selling point [no pun intended] to the parents, but it has no effect on the players, except to keep their parents happy …

 

[LadyFalconsFan]

Re: DIII Rankings

can we just not say Coach Carroll's name? haha.

but seriously, the lack of respect he shows those girls is ridiculous. i know GAC is my rival, being an RF fan and all... but i honestly feel bad for those girls. word gets around and people have friends that play for other teams. it's no secret among the girls in the MIAC and NCHA that Carroll is super disrespectful towards his team. running a team with fear is just not how you should run a women's hockey team. it's psychologically damaging.

sorry if this offends you, but it's not my fault that you're blind. just go talk to the girls on any MIAC or NCHA team and, as long as they're being honest, they'll tell you what's up

 

[webbyboy]

Re: DIII Rankings

can we just not say Coach Carroll's name? haha.

but seriously, the lack of respect he shows those girls is ridiculous. i know GAC is my rival, being an RF fan and all... but i honestly feel bad for those girls. word gets around and people have friends that play for other teams. it's no secret among the girls in the MIAC and NCHA that Carroll is super disrespectful towards his team. running a team with fear is just not how you should run a women's hockey team. it's psychologically damaging.

sorry if this offends you, but it's not my fault that you're blind. just go talk to the girls on any MIAC or NCHA team and, as long as they're being honest, they'll tell you what's up

Wow, those in glass houses should not throw stones. What type of house does Cranny run? Did he give all the girls "Atta Girls" last weekend when your club lost to LF? I doubt it. Seems everybody wants to pick on teams that are constantly on the top. Explain what happened to your Falcons last year? While I am above going into detail, and since you are tied into Cranny, I will let you air the end of the season dirty laundry.

 

[LadyFalconsFan]

Re: DIII Rankings

Wow, those in glass houses should not throw stones. What type of house does Cranny run? Did he give all the girls "Atta Girls" last weekend when your club lost to LF? I doubt it. Seems everybody wants to pick on teams that are constantly on the top. Explain what happened to your Falcons last year? While I am above going into detail, and since you are tied into Cranny, I will let you air the end of the season dirty laundry.

to put is simple, there were hard feelings on all ends of the spectrum. having an almost perfect record is a lot of pressure. i'm not saying that Coach Cranston, or any other coach, is perfect. i'm just saying that from what i gather from MANY people around both conferences, Carroll just lacks the ability to be coy. you may think i'm sounding biased, but this is me speaking from what i've heard from girls on many teams in the area... RF, EC, Concordia-WI, Augsburg, Superior, Bethel just off the top of my head. i also have contacts, not that play, that go/went to GAC and know of his rep as well.

but back on topic, i feel that the coaches that vote are sometimes limited in who they vote for. they simply vote for the next best team down the list in their opinion. at least they aren't placing votes for teams with no wins whatsoever

 

[gopher25]

Re: DIII Rankings

AS a former player from GAC, I agree with some of the statements about CC and he is a very demanding coach, he has expectations. He teaches his players how to set goals and to not be afriad to go for them. However, along with those goals comes hard work. He might be tough and he might yell and scream at his players but he is the same coach to all 26 of or how ever many of his players. He treats his best players the same as the treats his worst. Also he builds teams that seem to get along very well, at least the teams I played on did, and we all had a common enemy during the season...CC. If CC was such a horrible coach he wouldn't get great players every year and he wouldn't win the conference almost every year. I don't care how great the players are if he were that horrible you would see the team crumble, college has too much to offer that if hockey were miserable for the players they would find different interests. What people don't realize about him is off the rink he is a lot of fun, he cares about his players more than he lets on. He sends us alumni newsletters with hand written notes.
One thing that I always admired in him is he had an open door policy, he allowed his players to come talk to them if they had a beef with playing time, linemates, ect. However, once you walked in that office you better be prepared to hear to brutal truth as to why he was doing what he was doing. Honestly, I think he what he did for me has played really well in to my professional career. I know that I will never probably have a boss as demanding as he was and I know that if i ever need to ask a question of a supervisor that is ok as long as I do it in respectful manner and I am ready to hear the brutal truth. I kind of think that is missing in today's society.

As far as being "recruited"...at the D3 level no player should EVER pick a school for the hockey. If they do and they get cut from the hockey team and leave the school to me that says they picked the wrong school. That is not Coach Carroll's fault. All of the schools in the MIAC have a ton to offer. You should pick your school for the school and if you aren't I think that is a parenting issue. Parents should be realistic enough to look at their roster every year and figure out if your player will make the team and help your player be realistic enough to make sure they are picking Gustavus for the great school it is, not the hockey program. It's d3 hockey- every coach will try to fill their roster with the best players possible. Also they don't know when the players are coming until the last minute sometimes May and June, and some years they get D1 transfers. So yes, some players get cut from year to year, but at the college level your job is to win. I know that is harsh but it is just the reality of the situation. I have been asked this a few times, would I send my child to play for him? Yes and no, if my child with thick skinned and could take a little heat and wanted to work hard to get what they wanted, YES. If my child was a little fragile and needs positive reinforcement all of the time and can't take the heat....probably not. Hockey should be a bi-product of the college experience, not the be all end all.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: DIII Rankings

AS a former player from GAC, I agree with some of the statements about CC and he is a very demanding coach, he has expectations. He teaches his players how to set goals and to not be afriad to go for them. However, along with those goals comes hard work. He might be tough and he might yell and scream at his players but he is the same coach to all 26 of or how ever many of his players. He treats his best players the same as the treats his worst. Also he builds teams that seem to get along very well, at least the teams I played on did, and we all had a common enemy during the season...CC. If CC was such a horrible coach he wouldn't get great players every year and he wouldn't win the conference almost every year. I don't care how great the players are if he were that horrible you would see the team crumble, college has too much to offer that if hockey were miserable for the players they would find different interests. What people don't realize about him is off the rink he is a lot of fun, he cares about his players more than he lets on. He sends us alumni newsletters with hand written notes.
One thing that I always admired in him is he had an open door policy, he allowed his players to come talk to them if they had a beef with playing time, linemates, ect. However, once you walked in that office you better be prepared to hear to brutal truth as to why he was doing what he was doing. Honestly, I think he what he did for me has played really well in to my professional career. I know that I will never probably have a boss as demanding as he was and I know that if i ever need to ask a question of a supervisor that is ok as long as I do it in respectful manner and I am ready to hear the brutal truth. I kind of think that is missing in today's society.

As far as being "recruited"...at the D3 level no player should EVER pick a school for the hockey. If they do and they get cut from the hockey team and leave the school to me that says they picked the wrong school. That is not Coach Carroll's fault. All of the schools in the MIAC have a ton to offer. You should pick your school for the school and if you aren't I think that is a parenting issue. Parents should be realistic enough to look at their roster every year and figure out if your player will make the team and help your player be realistic enough to make sure they are picking Gustavus for the great school it is, not the hockey program. It's d3 hockey- every coach will try to fill their roster with the best players possible. Also they don't know when the players are coming until the last minute sometimes May and June, and some years they get D1 transfers. So yes, some players get cut from year to year, but at the college level your job is to win. I know that is harsh but it is just the reality of the situation. I have been asked this a few times, would I send my child to play for him? Yes and no, if my child with thick skinned and could take a little heat and wanted to work hard to get what they wanted, YES. If my child was a little fragile and needs positive reinforcement all of the time and can't take the heat....probably not. Hockey should be a bi-product of the college experience, not the be all end all.

Great post.

Thansk for your first hand insight!

 

[OnMAA]

Re: DIII Rankings

Loss and a tie (1 of 4 points). Also, there is no way a Scott McDonald team is not going to not try to score, especially with only a 3 or 4 goal lead. Any coach would want a few more goals before doing that. When they should have done that would have been with Chatham (15-0 and 14-1), that would have shown some class. In fairness, when you lose a Dagg, Stack and Galbraith (over 100 points) you have tough shoes to fill. They still have Elmira and Oswego to play and it would not be a big surprise if they went 2 and 2 or 3 and 1 in those 4 games. They are good, but I do not think they are the team they were last year, that was a special team that had a tough last game.

Look at it this way if you are a RIT fan. Would you rather lose a game midseason, or the Last game of the season like they did last year. My point is, that it is sometimes good to lose a game along the way to keep you honest.

Don't have the exact numbers, but in the years that the ECAC West sent teams to the NCAA tournament, have there not been several instances where the team that won the ECAC West was not the last ECAC West team left standing in the NCAA tournament. I'm sure some Platty or Eagle fan will have that data.

 

[gojackets]

Re: DIII Rankings

Wow, those in glass houses should not throw stones. What type of house does Cranny run? Did he give all the girls "Atta Girls" last weekend when your club lost to LF? I doubt it. Seems everybody wants to pick on teams that are constantly on the top. Explain what happened to your Falcons last year? While I am above going into detail, and since you are tied into Cranny, I will let you air the end of the season dirty laundry.

or that cranston has recruiting classes of 10+ the last few years...doeant foster much security in your position on the team

 

[LadyFalconsFan]

or that cranston has recruiting classes of 10+ the last few years...doeant foster much security in your position on the team

Which, as just like GAC, makes for a more competitive try-outs.

 

[123kidd]

Re: DIII Rankings

RF's lists 22 on their roster and GAC has 26. How many did Falls have on the first day of on ice (Oct. 15)

I "heard" GAC had over 35. My point is that if RF's only had 25 show up, thats not very competitive three hours or whatever Joe gave them.

 

[4and20]

Re: DIII Rankings

Spike: Gustavus carries 26 players on its roster. That means on any given night, 2 forwards, 2-3 defensemen, and 1 goalie sit out. I don’t know if they are the same players or if he rotates them. Either way, 5-6 girls are not playing each game. If they were on another team in the MIAC or NCHA, I believe they would stand a good chance of playing regular shifts because they are good players and because most teams do not carry such a large roster. This is also true for the players that are seeing only 3 to 4 shifts per game on the 3rd or 4th lines -- they also likely would be seeing regular shifts on another team.

You asked how the coach treats the players. I know that Coach cut a sophomore player this year after tryouts who was a pretty good player last year. I also know Coach recruited a freshman defenseman this year and cut her after tryouts.

Middlebury has 25 players on the roster and I don't hear anyone gripping about Mandigo. Were you at the try outs, in the lock room, have experience evaluating talent? Do you personnelly know how all these kids get along? Do you manage people in the real world, every fired anyone that was not performing?

 

[bobbunnell]

Re: DIII Rankings

February 8, 2012
Cardinals get rematch with Norwich

JOHN CORYER Press-Republican

PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State women's hockey team gave defending Division III national champion Norwich University all it wanted back on Dec. 7 in Northfield, Vt. before losing in overtime.

The Cardinals get another shot at the No. 2-ranked Cadets at 7 p.m. tonight at the Stafford Ice Arena in nonconference action.

It will be the final home regular season game for No. 5-ranked Plattsburgh State, which is 15-4-2 overall and 13-1-2 in ECAC West play. Norwich comes to town 18-2-1 overall and 15-0-1 in ECAC East contests.

"It's important to take care of our league games and we did this past weekend," Plattsburgh State coach Kevin Houle said. "Now, our focus is on Norwich.

"It's a big game for us and could be important in the NCAA picture at the end of the year. We want to continue to play the way we have been of late."

In the first meeting of the season between the two teams, the Cardinals held a 2-1 lead in the third period. The Cadets, however, forced overtime and Kaycie Anderson's goal with 2:27 gone in the extra session won it for Norwich.

The Cadets held a 33-11 advantage in shots on goal, but some of that can be attributed to Plattsburgh State being whistled for seven penalties and Norwich just one.

"We had the lead and it was a game we had a chance to win," Houle said. "But they had us on our heels a little. We feel we still have something to prove."

And while it's an important out-of-conference game for both teams, Houle doesn't want his players to think it's too big.

"We need to be prepared and play our style of hockey," he said. "That said, I don't want our girls to feel it's such a big game that they get tight out there."

The Cadets, who trail only RIT in the Division III poll, aren't getting tested very often in their ECAC East games.

Norwich was on the road last weekend for a 7-3 victory over Southern Maine and a 14-0 rout at Plymouth State. The Cadets have won their last four games following a 2-0 loss at Amherst College on Jan. 24.

Norwich has four players with 30 points or more and eight with 24 or more. The two top guns are senior forward Julie Fortier (23-16-39) and freshman forward Anderson (17-19-36). The Cadets have scored 133 goals in 23 games and have allowed just 18. The three goals the Cadets allowed against Southern Maine were the most they have surrendered in a game this season.

The loss at Norwich put Plattsburgh State's overall record at 7-3-1. Since then, however, the Cardinals have gone 8-1-1 including a combined 2-1-1 record in ECAC West games against RIT and Elmira.

"Those games with RIT and Elmira were high-intensity games," Houle said. "They helped prepare us to play a team like Norwich."

Since the return from the break, the Cardinals have outscored their opponents by a 38-8 margin, with four of those 10 games played against teams ranked in the top 3 in Division III. No team has scored more than two goals in a game against Plattsburgh State during that time.

Plattsburgh State tuned up for tonight's game with a 3-1 and 10-0 sweep of Cortland State this past weekend at the Stafford Ice Arena where the Cardinals took a combined 118 shots in the two games.

The contest will also feature the Gove sisters with Teal, a junior forward, the leading scorer for the Cardinals with 13 goals, 16 assists and 29 points and Tyne, a freshman forward, one of the leading scorers for the Cadets with 12 goals, 12 assists and 24 points.

Tonight will be "Stuff Stafford for Camp Ta-Kum-Ta" night, with all proceeds benefiting the summer camp for children with cancer. All fans attending the game will be eligible to win prizes and there will also be a raffle for additional prizes.

After tonight, the Cardinals have three regular season games remaining on the road before taking part in the ECAC West Tournament. Plattsburgh State finishes ECAC West play at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Utica College. The following weekend, the Cardinals have a 4 p.m. nonconference game at Middlebury College to close out the regular season.