Norwich 14-15

[NUProf]

Re: Norwich 14-15

I mean, it still doesn't explain why it exists. It doesn't make sense. Is something different in hockey compared to the other sports? Why spend more money on a hockey program that doesn't really have anything to compete for when you could be DIII, not give scholarships, and have more to play for? What am I missing?

Because the NCAA doesn't let schools play "down." If you want to be DII in some sports, you have have to be DII in all sports. They do have the option on competing in DI hockey because there is no DII national championship, but that is not seen as viable. Thus both St. A's and St. M's are members of both the ECAC E and the NE 10 (DII conference). They play a partial schedule in the NE-10 by using non ECAC E games to play the other four NE 10 schools, and are eligible for the NE 10 post season. There is no national championship to play for, but they can compete for a conference title in the NE 10.

Consider this the short version of Nate's explanation. I hadn't read it until after I posted this.

 

[KRBFLINT03]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Because the NCAA doesn't let schools play "down." If you want to be DII in some sports, you have have to be DII in all sports. They do have the option on competing in DI hockey because there is no DII national championship, but that is not seen as viable. Thus both St. A's and St. M's are members of both the ECAC E and the NE 10 (DII conference). They play a partial schedule in the NE-10 by using non ECAC E games to play the other four NE 10 schools, and are eligible for the NE 10 post season. There is no national championship to play for, but they can compete for a conference title in the NE 10.

Consider this the short version of Nate's explanation. I hadn't read it until after I posted this.

Unlike NU Pastime, I actually fully understand the rule, but it still needs to be fixed. It's going to cost us (or another ECAC-E member) very soon, come NCAA time - perhaps even this year. It's a total disaster.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Unlike NU Pastime, I actually fully understand the rule, but it still needs to be fixed. It's going to cost us (or another ECAC-E member) very soon, come NCAA time - perhaps even this year. It's a total disaster.

The bigger sham is on the women's side where Holy Cross is completely Division I across the board yet their women's ice hockey team plays in the ECAC East. How they get around that blows my mind.

 

[NUProf]

Re: Norwich 14-15

The bigger sham is on the women's side where Holy Cross is completely Division I across the board yet their women's ice hockey team plays in the ECAC East. How they get around that blows my mind.

Doesn't the ECAC East require that they comply with DIII financial aid rules as a requirement of membership? Isn't that why Sacred Heart isn't in the ECAC East despite playing a DIII schedule - they won't play by DIII rules? Of course the only thing they are eligible for is the "treasured" ECAC Cup.

Looking at the seeding for that tournament, I don't understand how Holy Cross (the third place non DIII team in the ECAC East appears to be the fourth seed and relegated to a play-in game, while St. Mike's (the fourth place non DIII team in ECAC East) gets to host and appears to be the number 2 seed. That makes no sense.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Doesn't the ECAC East require that they comply with DIII financial aid rules as a requirement of membership? Isn't that why Sacred Heart isn't in the ECAC East despite playing a DIII schedule - they won't play by DIII rules? Of course the only thing they are eligible for is the "treasured" ECAC Cup.

I would assume yes but it still blows my mind that Holy Cross can have a completely Division I funded athletic dept. yet for all intent and purposes have a D-III women's hockey program while the rest of the teams are D-I.

Usually its the other way around with one or two sports "playing up" rather than a sport "playing down"

Just makes absolutely no sense to me.

 

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

Doesn't the ECAC East require that they comply with DIII financial aid rules as a requirement of membership? Isn't that why Sacred Heart isn't in the ECAC East despite playing a DIII schedule - they won't play by DIII rules? Of course the only thing they are eligible for is the "treasured" ECAC Cup.

Looking at the seeding for that tournament, I don't understand how Holy Cross (the third place non DIII team in the ECAC East appears to be the fourth seed and relegated to a play-in game, while St. Mike's (the fourth place non DIII team in ECAC East) gets to host and appears to be the number 2 seed. That makes no sense.

Your seeds (with records against teams in the tournament):

1. Franklin Pierce (6-3)
2. St. Anselm (6-2)
3. Holy Cross (4-3-1)
4. Sacred Heart (2-4)
5. St. Michael's (0-7-1)

I'm not sure what the deal is with 1 and 2. St. Anselm has a better conference record, a better winning percentage against Open Tournament teams, a 2-0 head-to-head against Franklin Pierce. FP leads only in overall record, and they get the #1 seed?

Also weird: St. Michael's is listed on the ECAC Women's East website as the 5-seed in this tournament, and they therefore play the #1 team. But they are hosting, so ot must be a predetermined location scenario. And why does #5 go directly to the semifinals to play #1, while #3 and #4 play a play-in game for the right to play #2 in the semis? It should be 2v3 and 1 plays the winner of 4v5. Weird, indeed.

 

[NUProf]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Your seeds (with records against teams in the tournament):

1. Franklin Pierce (6-3)
2. St. Anselm (6-2)
3. Holy Cross (4-3-1)
4. Sacred Heart (2-4)
5. St. Michael's (0-7-1)

I'm not sure what the deal is with 1 and 2. St. Anselm has a better conference record, a better winning percentage against Open Tournament teams, a 2-0 head-to-head against Franklin Pierce. FP leads only in overall record, and they get the #1 seed?

Also weird: St. Michael's is listed on the ECAC Women's East website as the 5-seed in this tournament, and they therefore play the #1 team. But they are hosting, so ot must be a predetermined location scenario. And why does #5 go directly to the semifinals to play #1, while #3 and #4 play a play-in game for the right to play #2 in the semis? It should be 2v3 and 1 plays the winner of 4v5. Weird, indeed.

Obviously they had selected St. Mikes to host ahead of time, and thus had to make sure they made the the semis so there would be a home team. It makes the tournament look like what it is a cobbled together event to give the the teams that aren't eligible for the NCAA tournament and conference tournaments some kind of post-season event.

 

[peddler]

Re: Norwich 14-15

NU was a contender the entire game—simply because of what this team has proven to be made of. That team last night was the same one who in the first Babson game with five seconds to go.... tied it up with their goal empty and six attackers on the ice. And the same team that won that game in overtime.

All year….they have been full of pleasant surprises all around from two VERY solid but new faces in goal...great defense with an offensive punch….and four lines so deep in offensive talent—that scoring comes from every direction. All that....along with the discipline that keeps them out of the box and by consistently playing with the teamwork that has gotten them this far. Was I nervous last night well inside the 3rd period? Sure. Surprised they won? Not really… but it was fun seeing them finally pull that one out. And yes, the USM Goalie Shapiro played a superb game---he was USM's star.

Going forward....at this point every opponent is dangerous including Castleton. One game at a time.

Sorry about the Owsego score. Ouch…that had to hurt. When I read that score—I could only imagined what it might have felt like had USM beaten NU. Good luck NU next weekend...

For Oswego the only loss may well be "away ice" in the final tournament game. For NU it was lose and put your skates away.

 

[Birdwatcher]

Re: Norwich 14-15

For Oswego the only loss may well be "away ice" in the final tournament game. For NU it was lose and put your skates away.

The difference is the Oswego game was a regular season game. The NU game was a first round playoff game.

 

[peddler]

Re: Norwich 14-15

The difference is the Oswego game was a regular season game. The NU game was a first round playoff game.

Sorry, I thought that was evident.

 

[joecct]

Re: Norwich 14-15

I would assume yes but it still blows my mind that Holy Cross can have a completely Division I funded athletic dept. yet for all intent and purposes have a D-III women's hockey program while the rest of the teams are D-I.

Usually its the other way around with one or two sports "playing up" rather than a sport "playing down"

Just makes absolutely no sense to me.

One of the reasons why Quinnipiac replaced Vermont in the ECAC rather than Holy Cross

 

[Tuuk145]

Re: Norwich 14-15

What are everyone's thoughts on the ECAC-E match-ups this weekend? I think UMB has worked hard over the last few weeks to establish themselves as the favorite against Babson this weekend, but I certainly wouldn't count Babson out of it. In Northfield, I think NU needs to establish themselves early but I think their skill and balanced scoring is considerably better than Castleton State's. I'm foreseeing a a NU vs. UMB final and what a game that would be.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

What are everyone's thoughts on the ECAC-E match-ups this weekend? I think UMB has worked hard over the last few weeks to establish themselves as the favorite against Babson this weekend, but I certainly wouldn't count Babson out of it. In Northfield, I think NU needs to establish themselves early but I think their skill and balanced scoring is considerably better than Castleton State's. I'm foreseeing a a NU vs. UMB final and what a game that would be.

I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the four teams win. Norwich and UMB are certainly favorites on their home ice but by no means is either matchup a gimme.

Castleton has a pretty good tender and some skilled defenseman. The longer NU lets Castleton hang around like they did against Southern Maine last weekend, the more dangerous the Spartans will become.

Babson always seems to play its best hockey in the playoffs and they have Murray so stealing a win from UMB isn't out of the question. After a big hiccup in January, the Beacons have been full steam ahead for quite awhile now. Their offense is clicking and Faust seems to have solidified himself in the pipes.

 

[ECACeastFAN]

Re: Norwich 14-15

I wouldn't be surprised to see any of the four teams win. Norwich and UMB are certainly favorites on their home ice but by no means is either matchup a gimme.

Castleton has a pretty good tender and some skilled defenseman. The longer NU lets Castleton hang around like they did against Southern Maine last weekend, the more dangerous the Spartans will become.

Babson always seems to play its best hockey in the playoffs and they have Murray so stealing a win from UMB isn't out of the question. After a big hiccup in January, the Beacons have been full steam ahead for quite awhile now. Their offense is clicking and Faust seems to have solidified himself in the pipes.

UMB is certainly on a tear, and they have to be excited by the 2nd round of Regional Rankings. Looking at the season matchup between Babson & UMB: Babson won game 1 of their Home & Home at Babson, and UMB won game 2 at UMB. However, UMB's win was come from behind and in OT. Also, Vollmin was suspended for that game, and he's a potential 1st all american and a Captain for the beavers. With the rivalry that has grown between these two teams, I think the only fair prediction is that it's going to be one hell of a game, and whoever comes on top in special teams could themselves coming out of that one with a win.

As for Norwich, when was the last time they lost in the ECACE semis? Might have to go back a while for that one. Since Pelletier was player of the year*, I think the battle up in Northfield is a no brainer, and the finals, as usual, go through kreitzberg.

All-in-all, the ECAC East top few teams have been stellar in the past few years, and it'll be interesting to see if UMB has good enough coaching to finally get his team to a Final game.

 

[CARDS_rule_the_Burgh]

Babson always seems to play its best hockey in the playoffs

They play their best hockey in the playoffs, as evidenced by their numerous Frozen Four appearances over the last few years

Not to disagree with you (I definitely agree with your point), but I just wanted to contest this assertion.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

They play their best hockey in the playoffs, as evidenced by their numerous Frozen Four appearances over the last few years

Not to disagree with you (I definitely agree with your point), but I just wanted to contest this assertion.

If I say ECAC playoffs would that placate you?

 

[NUProf]

Re: Norwich 14-15

They play their best hockey in the playoffs, as evidenced by their numerous Frozen Four appearances over the last few years

Not to disagree with you (I definitely agree with your point), but I just wanted to contest this assertion.

Playoffs ≠ NCAA tournament

 

[Tuuk145]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Anyone have any insight as to why the ECAC-E moved last year to change the division playoff format to one game per weekend over the course of three weeks, as opposed to a quarterfinal, and then a semi/final weekend to close out the championship? I'm sure there are arguments to be had on both sides: better syncing with other division's schedules leading up to the NCAA, more rest for players, etc. Personally, I always enjoyed the Friday/Saturday championship weekend.

 

[PrezdeJohnson09]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Anyone have any insight as to why the ECAC-E moved last year to change the division playoff format to one game per weekend over the course of three weeks, as opposed to a quarterfinal, and then a semi/final weekend to close out the championship? I'm sure there are arguments to be had on both sides: better syncing with other division's schedules leading up to the NCAA, more rest for players, etc. Personally, I always enjoyed the Friday/Saturday championship weekend.

Better syncing with other division's schedules and just stretching out the season to accomodate the shift in the NCAA Playoffs to having the FF the last weekend in March this year and also the First Round being on the weekend this year rather than weekday.

 

[Tuuk145]

Re: Norwich 14-15

Better syncing with other division's schedules and just stretching out the season to accomodate the shift in the NCAA Playoffs to having the FF the last weekend in March this year and also the First Round being on the weekend this year rather than weekday.

Makes sense to sync with the rest of the league. I think we should follow suit on the front end of the season as well and start hitting the ice when some of these western teams do. Anything to prolong the season on either end or both is a win in my book.