What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

B

BKrosky

New member
So Stevens Point goes undefeated which begs the question... What's the best team we've ever seen? I thought Geneseo had the most dominant regular season we've seen in a long time (and the stats show that) but couldn't get it done. I think that roster could've gone down as one of the best ever.

So, is UWSP the best team from recent memory?? My vote goes to 27-1-4 Norwich from the 16/17 season. Was the fastest d3 team i've ever seen on skates and had TWO ELITE goaltenders in Reichenbach and Ostepchuk.

Love to hear everyone's opinion on the best team they've witnessed...
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

I agree about Geneseo's regular season dominance. It was a special team, which makes it sting so much more than their season ended in the semifinals. Regardless of what the outcome would have been, I would have really loved to see the Stevens Point-Geneseo showdown that was teased the whole season.

I've followed the D3 hockey landscape off and on over the years, but the first team I thought of for this prompt was the 2008 SNC team with Kyle Jones that went into the Frozen Four and pitched two shutouts against excellent competition. I was there at Lake Placid to witness it and it's something I won't forget.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

For me, the “top tier” has to include the Middlebury teams from the ‘90s, the RIT team from ‘01, Plattsburgh’s ‘09 team (before they choked against Neumann), and both Geneseo and UWSP this year.

Where team rank within that list is less clear to me.

EDIT: the 2015-2016 Plattsburgh women’s team that nearly ran the table if not for a late-RS upset at Utica would probably top this list for me if we include women’s teams.
 
Last edited:
CARDS_rule_the_Burgh said:
For me, the “top tier” has to include the Middlebury teams from the ‘90s, the RIT team from ‘01, Plattsburgh’s ‘09 team (before they choked against Neumann), and both Geneseo and UWSP this year.

Where team rank within that list is less clear to me.

EDIT: the 2015-2016 Plattsburgh women’s team that nearly ran the table if not for a late-RS upset at Utica would probably top this list for me if we include women’s teams.
Click to expand...

Norwich’s 2010 team was one of the best I’ve ever seen. I would say the 2010 beat the 2017 team for Norwich. Not sure how it ranked against the 2000 and 2003 teams.

UW-Stevens Point was every bit as good as advertised. Big, strong, physical, great speed and skill. I can’t believe how it seemed it didn’t matter if the first or the fourth line was out there it didn’t matter. There was no drop off. I was also impressed by the skating and speed of the defense. Kiraly was unreal last night. He jumped into the rush so much I thought he was a forward but he was still back on defense and not missing a beat. A defenseman ripping that kind of wrist shot for the game winner? Incredible.

1-19 UW-Stevens Point skaters were **** impressive with hardly any drop off. Ryckman was steady and good enough, but I think Aubrun got robbed of a spot on the All-Tournament team. 60 saves vs. the #1 and another top 10 offense on the weekend, including 42 vs. the Pointers? Incredible performance by a vastly underrated goalie on the national scene.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Norwich’s 2010 team was one of the best I’ve ever seen. I would say the 2010 beat the 2017 team for Norwich. Not sure how it ranked against the 2000 and 2003 teams.

UW-Stevens Point was every bit as good as advertised. Big, strong, physical, great speed and skill. I can’t believe how it seemed it didn’t matter if the first or the fourth line was out there it didn’t matter. There was no drop off. I was also impressed by the skating and speed of the defense. Kiraly was unreal last night. He jumped into the rush so much I thought he was a forward but he was still back on defense and not missing a beat. A defenseman ripping that kind of wrist shot for the game winner? Incredible.

1-19 UW-Stevens Point skaters were **** impressive with hardly any drop off. Ryckman was steady and good enough, but I think Aubrun got robbed of a spot on the All-Tournament team. 60 saves vs. the #1 and another top 10 offense on the weekend, including 42 vs. the Pointers? Incredible performance by a vastly underrated goalie on the national scene.
Click to expand...

That 2010 team was the first DIII team I ever saw, so I had no point of comparison. However, I vividly remember being a Rook, hating life and hating Norwich, and watching them blow people out. Most of those games from that season, home games anyways, were not even close.

With that said, this UWSP team was **** impressive. They definitely deserved to win the title last night. As a Norwich fan, what was particularly frustrating to watch was UWSP's forecheck. They seemed to win every board battle while the Cadets struggled to get the puck out of their own zone. Then, once established, the Pointers would cycle the puck while 5-on-5 as if they were on the powerplay.

In any sport, comparing teams across eras is difficult. As we see increased parity and depth in the sport, one could argue that it is even more impressive to go undefeated today since there are more good teams. On the flip side, one could also argue that there was more talent concentrated on the great teams of the past. But like Prez says, certainly seemed to be a lot of talent from top to bottom on the Pointers.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

Norwich's 2000 team with Keith Aucoin and a bunch of other really talented players.
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Norwich’s 2010 team was one of the best I’ve ever seen. I would say the 2010 beat the 2017 team for Norwich. Not sure how it ranked against the 2000 and 2003 teams.
Click to expand...

I give 2017 a tiny edge for the reason someone touched on earlier: TWO #1 goalies. I don’t know what’s more impressive, that they had two guys of that caliber, or that Coach McShane had the guts to alternate their starts, no matter what, all the way down the stretch.
 
I will stand by the team that finished undefeated. The Pointers gave up more than 2 goals twice this year, and in both of those games, they gave up 3. They played ranked teams and beat them all.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

KrbFlint said:
I give 2017 a tiny edge for the reason someone touched on earlier: TWO #1 goalies. I don’t know what’s more impressive, that they had two guys of that caliber, or that Coach McShane had the guts to alternate their starts, no matter what, all the way down the stretch.
Click to expand...

I'll give the goal tending edge to the 2017 team but the 2010 team had three No. 1 lines. That team was just so dominant.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

jerrynu26 said:
Middlebury. 5 in a row? No one has dominated like that.
Click to expand...

I think the conversation is trying to pick specific years. I never had the privilege of seeing those dominant Middlebury teams so tough to comment. I distinctly remember Elmira went out to Middlebury in either 1999 or 2000 I believe and lost 2-1 in the regular season and then Middlebury never returned the trip which left Coach Ceglarski pretty salty. Would have loved to have seen the Panthers in person. My first experience with the boys with the Big Blue Ms on their sweaters was 2003 and the Kevin Cooper era.

I'd be curious to hear from Dan Lukes and the St. Norbert fans who they think was their best team of the powerhouse teams they've had for the last 20 years.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

KrbFlint said:
It’s really unbelievable when you try to wrap your head around it. They followed it with three straight a few years later, right?
Click to expand...

Not only did the men win three in a row from 2004-2006, the Middlebury women won three in a row from 2004-2006 as well. Also in Charlie's words known as "The Dark Days of D-III hockey".
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Not only did the men win three in a row from 2004-2006, the Middlebury women won three in a row from 2004-2006 as well. Also in Charlie's words known as "The Dark Days of D-III hockey".
Click to expand...

That made me laugh out loud. I can see him saying that. When a man's hate of Middlebury is spoken of during his eulogy, you know that he must've held particular contempt for them during their dynasty years.
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
I think the conversation is trying to pick specific years. I never had the privilege of seeing those dominant Middlebury teams so tough to comment. I distinctly remember Elmira went out to Middlebury in either 1999 or 2000 I believe and lost 2-1 in the regular season and then Middlebury never returned the trip which left Coach Ceglarski pretty salty. Would have loved to have seen the Panthers in person. My first experience with the boys with the Big Blue Ms on their sweaters was 2003 and the Kevin Cooper era.

I'd be curious to hear from Dan Lukes and the St. Norbert fans who they think was their best team of the powerhouse teams they've had for the last 20 years.
Click to expand...
If it is a single year, i’d vote for the 99-00 NU team. A loss to Midd right after their 5 year title run and one to RIT, who sat out most of their top
Players the night before. Redemption against both later(ot win over Midd, and two game sweep of RIT). Not fastest team, but plenty fast enough. The one thing they had more of than others was just plain grit.
 
Re: Most Dominant D3 Hockey Team?

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
I'd be curious to hear from Dan Lukes and the St. Norbert fans who they think was their best team of the powerhouse teams they've had for the last 20 years.
Click to expand...

Hard pass. Trying to compare teams from different eras with how styles and systems have changed is a fools' errand only an ESPN talking head just trying to fill air time would attempt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top