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Ohio State Buckeyes 2020-2021 ... Unfinished Business

Northeastern won three games - all shutouts- and passed you.

But if that's all there is too it, then Northeastern probably should have passed the Gophers as well.

Don't want to put words in Hockeybuckeye's mouth. But I don't think he was challenging Northeastern all that much. After all, 11-1-1 is a very strong record.

Does Northeastern have a better resume than a 5 loss team in the 2020-21 WCHA? In a normal year it's difficult to compare East & West. With this year's unprecedented insular schedule, it's all but impossible.

With that in mind, there was basically no way that the WCHA was going to keep the Top 3 spots in the poll for the rest of the season. It was pleasant to have those bragging rights for a while. But somebody has to lose each of the many head-to-head match-ups between the WCHA leaders. When other conference leaders go largely unscathed, they're inevitably going to move up the ladder in the weekly "beauty contests."

My reading is that Hockeybuckeye is questioning the differential treatment of the Gophers & Buckeyes. To the extent polls are worth discussing at all, that's an appropriate question to raise. The suspicion is that the difference is based more on long-term reputation, rather than on performance in 2020-21. This season, on the ice, it's been a stand-off so far. 2 wins apiece. Claiming Differences? On Minnesota's behalf, it can be pointed out that their road split came more recently. On Ohio State's side, you can argue that the Buckeyes won the most recent game. But mostly you're splitting hairs.

Fortunately there's another head-to-head series in a couple of weeks. And perhaps post-season match-ups to follow.
 
Thanks Mr.PGB, you perceived my intent well. I indeed was not focused on Northeastern's merits but the fact OSU and Minnesota split and no dip in the rankings for the Gophers which comes back to my statement of favoritism for schools with "Blue Blood" hockey programs over the ones who climb the ladder through hard work.
 
Simple...One team has a competent video production...The other doesn't. :)

You know I'd almost accept that as it frustrates me as much as anyone. in fact more because it's my school with more money than the pope and they won't spring for modern equipment and two more cameras for the offensive zones, it's a personal embarrassment!
 
questioning the differential treatment of the Gophers & Buckeyes.

Minnesota is 9-4. Ohio State is 9-5, with one of the wins a "two point" win, and a loss to Duluth. Head-to-head is 2-2.

In the two polls you are comparing, Jan 25 had Minn with 127 points and Ohio State with 115; after their series, Minn went to 126, and Ohio to 114. Each lost only one "poll point". What caused the change in overall ranking was Colgate lost a bunch of support, and Northeastern gained much of that support.

Nobody is picking on poor little Ohio State.
 
You know I'd almost accept that as it frustrates me as much as anyone. in fact more because it's my school with more money than the pope and they won't spring for modern equipment and two more cameras for the offensive zones, it's a personal embarrassment!

Hopefully it was obvious tongue and cheek on my part but to me it even goes beyond the ridiculously bad camera set up. The rink itself is sub-standard as well...Especially for OSU which shouldn't be taking a back seat to any other program, Wisconsin and Minnesota included . Where I live the community rink where the high-school teams and the youth hockey association teams play is nicer.

FWIW, I would rank the top four like this: (and I could be persuaded to put Ohio State above Minnesota just based on how porous Minnesota's defense is, which is likely going to be their undoing in the long run.)

1. Wisconsin
2. Northeastern
3. Minnesota
4. Ohio State
 
Mind you it's my opininon as I'm not going to throw out statistical facts but I would have left Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio State where they were in last weeks rankings based on the fact that we've split every series with Wisconsin, Minnesota and Duluth and I personally feel that gives us the edge over Northeastern based on strength of schedule. The top half of our conference has much stronger teams this season than Northeastern's.
 
Minnesota is 9-4. Ohio State is 9-5, with one of the wins a "two point" win, and a loss to Duluth. Head-to-head is 2-2.

In the two polls you are comparing, Jan 25 had Minn with 127 points and Ohio State with 115; after their series, Minn went to 126, and Ohio to 114. Each lost only one "poll point". What caused the change in overall ranking was Colgate lost a bunch of support, and Northeastern gained much of that support.
Well, how individual ballots are filled out, and aggregate level results are two different things.

For my individual ballot, I'm on board with what FiveHoleFrenzy did. Meaning, NE at #2. But on an individual ballot, plopping NE between MN & OSU still strikes me as unreasonable.

However, it's quite possible that very few individual ballots were filled out that way. If one substantial group of voters had NE @ #2 and another substantial group had them @ #4, Northeastern's aggregate vote total could easily land them in the #3 position.

Question: Are individual ballots made public? Or do we only know the aggregate vote totals? In other words, do we actually know where the vote switching occurred? Or are you just making a very plausible guess based on the total numbers?



Nobody is picking on poor little Ohio State.
Nor was I insulting 'lil old you, or anyone else.
 
Spend less time fretting about polls. They don't matter.
My goodness. So cranky.

Spend less time on the polls? The only way for me to accomplish that would be to drop down to zero.

This time? Just thought it was kind of fun for OSU to hold a high ranking; too bad to drop a spot, but then fun to figure out the likely explanation for the drop. And credit where credit is due: You had more to do with finding the answer than I did.

Not sure why you felt the need to steer the conversation south. Twice.
 
Spend less time fretting about polls. They don't matter.

But it's a fun way to pass the time discussing our super-niche sport. I miss the weekly poster's poll. That was a lot of fun and it was the most accurate D1 women's poll out there. We all can give teams the eye test. What I hate about this year is you can't do the eye test by watching a video feed.
 
Just thought it was kind of fun for OSU to hold a high ranking...
A big reason why three WCHA teams were at the top was that Princeton, Cornell, and Harvard weren't playing. If they were, some team in the East, be it one of them or Northeastern, etc., would have emerged as a clear NCAA contender. As it is, the East has lost the marquee matchups and has paid for it in the polls.

To my eyes, Minnesota doesn't look like a top-three team in a typical season; maybe they're a No. 6. OSU has looked much more like a contender, and they'd been the most consistent defensive team that I'd watched -- right up until they let the Gophers hang a 7 on them. Probably just an aberration, because the Buck's were back to stingy the next day. But there was smoke, so now I'm more worried about fire than I was before.
 
To my eyes, Minnesota doesn't look like a top-three team in a typical season; maybe they're a No. 6. OSU has looked much more like a contender, and they'd been the most consistent defensive team that I'd watched -- right up until they let the Gophers hang a 7 on them. Probably just an aberration, because the Buck's were back to stingy the next day. But there was smoke, so now I'm more worried about fire than I was before.

If I recall it was a pretty tight game with the Gophers winning goal coming on the PP and the last two were empty netters so it was a much tighter contest than looking at the final score would lead one to believe.
 
If I recall it was a pretty tight game with the Gophers winning goal coming on the PP and the last two were empty netters so it was a much tighter contest than looking at the final score would lead one to believe.
The winner came 5-on-5, the insurance goal was on the PP, and only the 7th goal was EN, but it's true that it was back and forth and closer than the score. Whereas I didn't think that Saturday was as close as the score.
 
I'm more than a little surprised nobody has already posted with a good win tonight over Minnesota. We really need the sweep but haven't done so over the stronger teams this season and how much energy did we spend and how deep will we have to dig into the reserves with an early game tomorrow? I thought our goaltending today was OUTSTANDING.
I'll be in Michigan tomorrow but already have my Chromecast packed so I can stream my phone to a TV.
Go Bucks!!
 
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Hockeybuckeye, thanks for getting the talk started! I am late getting on, but the Buckeyes made a statement tonight with a 2-1 win over Minnesota in a game where Coach Muzerall said after the game, "This is absolutely the best game this team has played." Needless to say, Coach was very happy with the performance in this one. Despite outshooting Minnesota 17-3 in the first period, the Buckeyes and Gophers went into the first intermission scoreless. Ohio State struck twice in the second period on goals from Emma Maltais and Paetyn Levis and went into the second intermission leading 2-0. Emily Brown scored late in the third period for the Gophers, but that was all they would get against goaltender Andrea Braendli, who would stop 21 of the 22 shots she faced to get the win. For the game, Ohio State outshot the Gophers 38-22. Gopher goaltender Makayla Pahl stopped 36 of the 38 shots she faced. The two teams will face each other for the final time in the regular season tomorrow with game time at 2:07 pm EST.
 
MN #16 with big cross check to the back cheap shot at end of game in corner. Will OSU remember that and come out and sweep today?

I saw that too. Definite BS move. I hope a Buckeye gets some payback today but I’ll be surprised if that happens. I’ve always wanted a bit more from the women’s game in that regard. I love it when a team stands behind its players by sending such messages.
 
Ohio State struck twice in the second period on goals from Emma Maltais and Paetyn Levis and went into the second intermission leading 2-0.
I'd like to take a moment to commend Brooke Bink for her primary assist.

After Bink was hooked, it would have been easy to think "OK, drew the call. On to the Power Play." Instead, Brooke kept battling & had the presence of mind to give the puck an extra nudge into Paetyn's wheelhouse. Thus converting a good scoring chance into a great one. Of course Levis nailed the upper left hand corner to complete the play.

At the time, the Buckeyes were just building on their lead. But in the end, 'twas the GWG. Without Brooke's fine 2nd effort, who knows how the game plays out?
 
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