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UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

OK, who in the ECAC has got the toughest schedule next year?

At this point it looks like the schedules are pretty stable. I have taken the ECAC out of conference schedule for each team and recorded the number of NC games against opponents that finished in the top 20 (April 14, USCHO). Next to each team is the number of NC games, the number of NC-NL (non-conference non-league games), the number of games against last year's top 20 and the number against HE teams. Only non-conference games are considered since the league schedule is identical for all teams.

Based on this formula, which is a little dubious at best, the team with the hardest schedule, is RPI, followed by Q and St. Lawrence, then Union and Colgate.

RPI 12NC, 11NC-NL, 7 top 20, 4HE
Q 12NC, 12NC-NL, 6 top 20, 9HE
ST. LAWRENCE 12NC, 10NC-NL, 6 top 20, 4HE - two non league games against Clarkson
UNION 12NC, 11NC-NL, 5 top 20, 6HE - one non-league game against RPI
COLGATE 12NC, 12NC-NL, 5 top 20, 4HE
DARTMOUTH 7NC, 7NC-NL, 4 top 20, 4HE
BROWN 7NC, 7NC-NL, 4 top 20, 4HE
CORNELL 7NC, 7NC-NL, 3 top 20, 1HE
HARVARD 7NC, 6NC-NL, 3 top 20, 5HE - One non-league game against Yale in NYC
YALE 6NC, 4NC-NL, 2 top 20, 3HE - One non-league against Harvard and another against Princeton
PRINCETON 7NC, 6NC-NL, 2 top 20, 1HE
CLARKSON 12 NC, 10 NC-NL, 2 top 20, 4HE

There are 49 matchups with HE. Last year HE sent 5 teams to the NCAA's. All things being equal, a win against a non-conference opponent helps the whole league.
 
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Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

Copied from another thread, originally posted by Goon

1.) Five Must-See Non-Conference ECAC series.
http://thehockeywriters.com/ecac-hockey-five-must-see-non-conference-series/

2.) Five Must-See Non-Conference NCHC Series.
http://thehockeywriters.com/nchc-hockey-five-must-see-non-conference-series/

The ECAC once regarded as the EZAC by other conference fans, is now the home to the last two NCAA Champions. The ECAC is quickly becoming the country’s power conference for division I college hockey.

It would be great if Q, Cornell and us could come out of the blocks smoking ... in October. The better ECAC schools against the better from other leagues, Denver, St. Cloud and UML
 
Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

They forgot Colgate vs St Cloud State, some writers pick Gate as the ECAC pre season favorites. This is huge for PWR implications. I believe the week before Union vs St Cloud.
 
Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

sshablak said:
They forgot Colgate vs St Cloud State, some writers pick Gate as the ECAC pre season favorites. This is huge for PWR implications. I believe the week before Union vs St Cloud.
Click to expand...

sshablak, thanks for the heads up. You are correct, Colgate has St. Cloud on October 10,11 in their barn and they are going to be very very tough and this is a game to watch. We have them on the 24th and 25th in Schenectady, New York. They have an olympic rink, which, if memory serves me correctly, you did very well with last year. :) The big ice suited you well. Last year one of the papers in St. Cloud called us "Dutchmen College" in "Union, New York". :mad: Don't think that will happen again.

I don't know for certain how good St. Cloud is this year but they only lost 4 seniors from last year ..... this year they have 11 seniors on the roster. :( Dowd, their high scoring (#3) Captain is gone, Brosinski (#1) and Kosilla (#2), are back and only juniors. You are really going to have your hands filled. One weakness, they don't necessarily play well at home. They were only 7-6 in St. Cloud last year but 13-3 on the road. Don't know if that will repeat itself this year.

By the way, their schedule includes:
2 Colgate
2 Union
2 Q
4 North Dakota
2 Minnesota
4 Denver
4 Western Michigan

That is 20 games against teams that ended up in the top 20 last year including 8 in the top 5. Whatever else, their strength of schedule will be off the charts next year. They are definitely going to make a run. Best of the ECAC vs Best of the NCHC.

BTW, the St. Cloud fans have been known to throw bottles on the ice if they don't like a refs call. :eek: Their cheerleaders skate well.;)
 
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Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

Does anyone know if there'll be an icebreaker this year? I thought it was a great way to meet the new guys coming on the team.
 
Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

2014-2015 ECAC HOCKEY COMPOSITE SCHEDULE
http://collegehockeyinc.com/stats/compec15.php

Sampling of # of NC Games vs. ECAC - not everyone is listed

Denver - 7
Northeastern - 6
Vermont - 6
St. Cloud - 6
Boston University - 6
Miami - 5
Notre Dame - 4
Connecticut - 4
NH - 3
BC - 3
Providence - 3
Michigan State - 3
RIT - 3
Sacred Heart - 2
Minnesota - 2
Minnesota State - 2
Merrimack - 2
Maine - 2
Nebraska Omaha - 2
Holy Cross - 2
Mercyhurst - 2
Bowling Green - 2
Ferris State - 2
Penn State - 2
Massachusetts - 2
 
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Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

Last year the predictions for the ECAC were all over the place and most were way off. RPI was supposed to finish first and Clarkson was supposed to finish last. My guess is that this year its going to be harder to pick. Time to throw darts. More than 1/2 of the teams are predicted to improve so the ECAC competition is only going to get more intense.

I have looked at a number of possible algorithms, but there is too much change going on for predictive analytics, given the past. Look at how our freshmen performed last year, way beyond expectations. While its not as prevalent as with other leagues, the ECAC still loses talented Juniors before they have exhausted their eligibility. Will our freshmen step up like last year? Will our seniors and upperclassmen be able to carry the load until they do?

Here are my predictions (Cleary Cup):

Colgate - everyone returns - Finn earns and wins Ken Dryden Award
Yale - returns everyone and recruits have speed
Quinnipiac - great recruiting class and solid defense
Dartmouth - continues where they left off

Cornell - misses Isles, needs more offense
Union - younger, not as much depth - retreats for a year
Brown - lots of talent
RPI - good defense but no offense

Clarkson - ?
Harvard - better
St. Lawrence - just lost too many key players
Princeton - rebuilding takes time

I see us coming close but not making the NCAA's this year. I see Colgate, Yale and Q representing the ECAC.

All bets are off if we are able to make Lake Placid (Whitelaw Cup). Anything can happen if the hockey gods are smiling on you.

One of the F4 highlights for me was watching Michael Pontarelli sacrificing his 5'7", 172 lbs. frame by ramming it at full speed into much bigger forwards and forsaking scoring glory for the gritty work of forechecking. Going to need him to have a big year next year. Ditto to Matt Wilkins who didn't score much last year but when he did, it was usually a GW. Who else is going to step up?
 
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Re: UNION Hockey National Champion's Off Season-U Believe it?

Wholin1 said:
I had read about the Thruway incident. He was actually on his way to Union for a visit and never mentioned it to anyone when he got there. Pretty humble and courageous act. Thanks, Ralph.
Click to expand...

I love your predictions Dutch and hope you're correct. Also nice story on Shier.
 
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