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The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

Fighting Sioux 23 said:
I've been tinkering around with some of the tools that were left behind after College Hockey Weekly shutdown, and one thing I did was modify their "Predictor" so that I could use it to pit two squads from different seasons against each other and simulate a game. As a result, I have been debating about using it to have some sort of quasi-fictional tournament between the top 100 teams on my list.

Basically, I would give the top 28 teams on the list a "Bye" in the first round, and then start pairing up the remaining teams. So for example, The 29th Best team (1959-1960 Denver) would square off against the 100th Best Team (2002-2003 New Hampshire). The winner would take on the winner from the 36th best team (1989-1990 Wisconsin)-93rd Best team (1973-1974 Michigan Tech). the #1 Team (1992-1993 Maine) would match up against the winner of the 64th Best Team (1990-1991 Maine)-65th Best Team (1981-1982 North Dakota) match.

Anyway, if people are interested, I'll put a little more work into it and maybe post brackets over at CHW. If not, then I won't waste my time. :)
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I like the idea.
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

Dirty said:
I can't wait for Jim Archibald to beat the crap out of Kariya for stealing Greg Johnson's Hobey!
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But how will it be decided which team the Jr's and Sr's play for?
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

I'm still in the process of putting the data in for this season, but there is an outside chance that Union may crack the top 25. At the very least, it looks like they will be a top-50 of all-time team. Minnesota and Boston College also look poised to crack the top 100...not sure who else beyond that. When I finish putting in the data, I'll post how the teams from this season fared in relation to the other NCAA Tournament teams. I'll try to have that done in the next week or two.
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

Alright, so I just finished up entering in all the data required for the Top Teams, and here are this year's results:

#43 - 2013-2014 - Union Dutchmen - 170.7909 Points
- Obviously, a great season. They finish just 6 hundredths of a point behind 2005-2006 Wisconsin, and just 2 tenths of a point ahead of the 1982-1983 Wisconsin squad.

#67 - 2013-2014 - Boston College Eagles - 155.4853 Points
- The Eagles also claim another top 100 spot, sitting right between the 1981-1982 North Dakota team, and the 2006-2007 Notre Dame squad.

#97 - 2013-2014 - Minnesota Golden Gophers - 142.2168 Points
- The Gophers finished exactly 5 hundredths of a point behind the 1973-1974 Michigan Tech Huskies, and about 1 1/3 points ahead of the 2006-2007 BC Eagles. Pretty fitting for a great season that ended just short of a championship.

#178 - 2013-2014 - Massachusetts Lowell Riverhawks - 110.5879 Points
- A very solid season, and had they been in a different regional (well, had they been in the Midwest Regional) they likely would have been at the Frozen Four. They fall in between the 2010-2011 Miami Redhawks and the 2011-2012 Union Dutchmen.

#269 - 2013-2014 - St. Cloud State Huskies - 86.0754 Points
- The Huskies won the NCHC Regular Season title, and advanced to the Regional Finals before bowing out to the Gophers. They fall in between the 2002-2003 Maine Black Bears and the 1985-1986 Western Michigan Broncos.

#352 - 2013-2014 - Ferris State Bulldogs - 67.7751 Points
- The Bulldogs came so close to advancing to their second Frozen Four in three years, but fell just short in double overtime to North Dakota. The Bulldogs fall between the 2011-2012 Miami Redhawks and the 1966-1967 North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

#360 - 2013-2014 Quinnipiac Bobcats - 67.025 Points
- The Bobcats turned another strong season into an NCAA Tournament appearance, but failed to repeat their trip to the National Title game. They fall between the 2006-2007 Massachusetts Minutemen and the 2008-2009 Vermont Catamounts.

#401 - 2013-2014 Providence Friars - 60.6376 Points
- The Friars advanced to the Regional Final, but were unable to defeat the eventual national champions. They fall between the 2004-2005 Harvard Crimson and the 1995-1996 Michigan State Spartans.

#415 - 2013-2014 Wisconsin Badgers - 57.5344 Points
- The Badgers won the inaugural Big Ten Hockey Tournament, but were upset by North Dakota in the Regional Semifinals. They fall between the 1994-1995 Lake Superior State Lakers and the 2002-2003 Harvard Crimson.

#429 - 2013-2014 Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks - 55.0817 Points
- The Mavs won the WCHA Tournament title en route to another trip to the NCAA Tournament, but were ousted by Massachusetts Lowell in the Regional Semifinals. They fall between the 2006-2007 SCSU Huskies, and the 1958-1959 North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

#443 - 2013-2014 North Dakota Fighting Sioux - 52.7392 Points
- The Sioux stunned many, even those in their own fanbase, with a surprise trip to the Frozen Four after being the last at-large team to make the NCAA Tournament. They fall in between the 2007-2008 SCSU Huskies and...

#444 - 2013-2014 Notre Dame Fighting Irish - 52.55 Points
- The Irish had their struggles in Hockey East this season, but were strong in their push to the conference Semifinals. They also earned an NCAA Tournament bid, but fell in OT to St. Cloud State. They fell between the Sioux and the 2007-2008 Clarkson Golden Knights

#465 - 2013-2014 Colgate Raiders - 48.3176 Points
- Colgate returned to the NCAA Tournament this season, and despite a strong effort, fell to Ferris State by a goal in the Midwest Regional Semifinals. They fall between the 1982-1983 New Hampshire Wildcats, and the 2008-2009 North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

#543 - 2013-2014 Vermont Catamounts - 30.4844 Points
- Vermont played a strong schedule that helped them qualify for the NCAA Tournament despite a mediocre record in Hockey East. The Catamounts fell in the opener to Union, and fall between the 1992-1993 Northern Michigan Wildcats and 2009-2010 Vermont Catamounts on this list.

#551 - 2013-2014 Denver Pioneers - 27.8447 Points
- After a lot of struggles in the regular season, the Pios went on a tear in mid-March, winning the NCHC Tournament Championship. That got them in the NCAA Tournament where they fell to Boston College in the First Round. They fall between the 1998-1999 Ohio State Buckeyes and the 2001-2002 Quinnipiac Bobcats.

#572 - 2013-2014 Robert Morris Colonials - 9.642 Points
- RMU earned their way to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Atlantic Hockey Tournament for the first time in their program's history. They put up a good fight against the Gophers, but it would not be enough, as RMU lost in the Regional Semifinals. They fall between the 2003-2004 Harvard Crimson and the 2012-2013 Canisius Golden Griffens.

I have ranked every NCAA Tournament team, along with a few dozen "others" (generally teams that would have made the tournament had it been more than just 4 teams back in the day). In total, I have ranked 580 teams. The mean score is about 90, with the median being about 81.

What does this mean to me? To have three teams crack the top 100 in one season shows that this season had a lot of top-end teams. It's no surprise that those three teams all made the Frozen Four. I also see that there were not a lot of upsets this year based on the rankings. I count just three real upsets: North Dakota over Wisconsin, North Dakota over Ferris State, and Providence over Quinnipiac. Given that separation on this list by even 2-3 points is almost nothing, one could make the argument that the only true upset was North Dakota over Ferris State.

Anyway, no team this season was able to crack the top 25 (or about the top 0.5% of teams all time in the NCAA era). Union came close, and finished just under 20 points away from that honor. They also represent the best ECAC team since the 1988-1989 Harvard Crimson, one of the top 1% of teams in the NCAA era, and they are one of the top 10 teams of the last 10 years.
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

Fighting Sioux 23 said:
Anyway, no team this season was able to crack the top 25 (or about the top 0.5% of teams all time in the NCAA era). Union came close, and finished just under 20 points away from that honor. They also represent the best ECAC team since the 1988-1989 Harvard Crimson, one of the top 1% of teams in the NCAA era, and they are one of the top 10 teams of the last 10 years.
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The top team doesn't always win the NC - it certainly looks like the best team did this year.
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

lugnut92 said:
Well, winning the NC would have bumped them up quite a bit. If BC or Minny had won, they might have been ranked the best...
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Had Boston College won, they almost certainly would have topped this group. It would have been close for Minnesota had they won. Without going into the formula and altering the data to see exactly how it would have panned out, my guess is that Union would still have led the group, but it would have been very close between Union, BC, and Minnesota...they all would have probably been around the 60-70 range. Either way, this is probably the clearest "high end" group we've had in quite some time.
 
Hokydad said:
better rerun the numbers because they are not
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If you want to create your own formula for ranking teams then go right ahead and start your own thread. I'm sure it will garner all the attention it deserves.
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

I will be entering the numbers for each of the 2015-2016 NCAA Tournament participants and posting the results when finished. A few things to look out for:

1) North Dakota likely cracks the top 25. The Sioux won the title with a +.800 winning percentage and a top 10 SOS. How high can they go? My guess is they crack the top 20, but fall short of the top 10.

2) Quinnipiac probably falls short of the top 25, but should crack the top 50. The Bobcats were also a +.800 team with a pretty solid schedule. Had they won the title, QU may have cracked the top 10 (they had a higher ceiling than North Dakota due to winning their conference tournament). Instead, they will likely have to settle for being one of the top 50 teams since 1947...not too shabby.

3) Boston College and St. Cloud State will have a shot to crack the top 100.

4) I don't think Providence will have a shot at the top 100, but they should push the top 150.

I don't think anyone else will crack the top 200 (out of 612 ranked teams (all 597 NCAA Tournament Participants, and 15 others who people asked me to calculate)).
 
Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era

We can only dream of winning a national title in an easy, blowout win.

Condemned to 3-2 OT games for the rest of eternity :(
 
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