Re: The Top 25 College Hockey Teams of the NCAA Era
As anticipated, it was a pretty well-rounded and strong NCAA Tournament field this season. While no team cracked the Top 25, three teams cracked the Top 100, a very impressive feat in itself.
#77 - Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs - 152.5047 Points
The Bulldogs put together their third-best season in program history, and their best National Championship campaign. UMD was a distant second in the race for the NCHC regular season title, which likely limited their ceiling in these rankings. However, Duluth more than made up for that when it came to the pressure cooker of March/April. The Bulldogs captured the NCHC Tournament championship and the NCAA National championship, becoming the first program to win back-to-back NCAA titles since conference-mate Denver in 2004-2005. All told, this season's UMD squad finished 77th, just behind the 1978-1979 Bowling Green Falcons, and a spot ahead of the 1977-1978 Denver Pioneers.
#86 - Saint Cloud State Huskies - 148.2236 Points
The Huskies had their best ever season according to this ranking. St. Cloud dominated the NCHC in record setting fashion, en route to capturing the NCHC regular season title. Unfortunately for the Huskies, they were once again snake bit in March, and unable to put the finishing bow on an otherwise incredible season. Had SCSU been able to capture that elusive first national title, they would almost certainly have been a Top 50 team, and perhaps even a Top 25 team all-time. As it stands, St. Cloud will have to settle for sitting in 86th, sandwiched between a couple of national champions: the 1964-1965 Michigan Tech Huskies at 85th, and the 2001-2002 Minnesota Golden Gophers at 87th.
#95 - Massachusetts Minutemen - 145.7614 Points
The Minutemen also put together their best ever season in program history, capturing the Hockey East regular season title for the first time. UMASS also had its first Hobey Baker winner, and swept most of the major awards in Hockey East. Massachusetts also advanced to its first ever Frozen Four, and came just short of the program's first national championship. It was a tremendous run for the Minutemen, who wind up as a Top 100 team of all-time, sitting at 95th, sandwiched between two other powerhouses that nearly captured it all, the 1978-1979 North Dakota Fighting Sioux and the 1999-2000 Wisconsin Badgers.
The Best of the Rest
#208 - Quinnipiac Bobcats: 105.5272 points
#263 - Minnesota State Mavericks: 93.256 points
#311 - Clarkson Golden Knights: 83.6004 points
#331 - Cornell Big Red: 78.8253 points
#333 - Providence Friars: 78.6332 points
#392 - Northeastern Huskies: 68.1245 points
#408 - Ohio State Buckeyes: 65.9864 points
#453 - Denver Pioneers: 59.2973 points
#483 - Bowling Green Falcons: 54.9887 points
#538 - Notre Dame Fighting Irish: 45.8362 points
#559 - Harvard Crimson: 42.1181 points
#574 - American International Yellow Jackets: 39.4202 points
#582 - Arizona State Sun Devil: 37.4402 points
Out of the 660 ranked teams, the average score is 89.4156 points, with a midpoint of right around 79 points. So we had 5 above-average teams, with 8 teams in the field basically at or above the midpoint. The average from this year's field totaled 81.2215 points, which is just below the average, but over eleven points above the average of last year's field (70.1047 points).
