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Yale - The best team in the country?

H

hockeyjunkie10

New member
Obviously opening this up for healthy debate, but is Yale the best team in the country?

Here is the argument on my end...

Last year, as everyone knows Yale lost 9-7 to BC (who steamrolled two other teams to win the title) to get within a game of the frozen four, and everyone could tell that goaltending was their Achilles heel. Not saying that is fixed, but through three games Rondeau is 3-0 with 2.34GAA and a .919 save percentage. Yale has won their first 4 games (obviously not against the very best in the nation...but six goals a game is six goals a game) by 3.25 games and currently has three players (and three Hobey Baker candidates) in Denny Kearney, Broc Little and Brian O'Neill averaging over two points per game. By comparison, only 14 teams are averaging as many goals in a game as Yale is winning by! Yale scored 7 times twice and 5 times twice in four games, while averaging 21.8 minutes in penalties. Basically, they have averaged 6 goals a game while spending 1/3 of the game in the penalty box! On top of the time they have spent in the penalty box, their PK is at 74% and 7 of the 11 total goals they have given up are shorthanded. At even strength, Yale is outscoring their opponents 18-4 through 4 games.

I have no qualms with BU at number 1 in this week's poll, but is it time the Bulldogs get a little more respect?
 
Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

After they play some more NC games, as well as some teams that can take their game and throw it right back at them. Yale's good against the EZAC clutch-and-grab play, but I am not yet convinced they can play against the faster teams that can skate just as quickly and efficiently as them.
 
Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

I have trouble reading into stats when a team is just four games into their season. It's far too early for this conversation, as we have barely had a chance to see Yale, and most other schools are only a month into the season. I can understand the excitement about this Yale team, but it's far too early to be so excited about these stats. (Although if you ARE excited about the numbers, you should also be worried about a 74% PK.)
 
Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

hockeyjunkie10 said:
Obviously opening this up for healthy debate, but is Yale the best team in the country?

Here is the argument on my end...

Last year, as everyone knows Yale lost 9-7 to BC (who steamrolled two other teams to win the title) to get within a game of the frozen four, and everyone could tell that goaltending was their Achilles heel. Not saying that is fixed, but through three games Rondeau is 3-0 with 2.34GAA and a .919 save percentage. Yale has won their first 4 games (obviously not against the very best in the nation...but six goals a game is six goals a game) by 3.25 games and currently has three players (and three Hobey Baker candidates) in Denny Kearney, Broc Little and Brian O'Neill averaging over two points per game. By comparison, only 14 teams are averaging as many goals in a game as Yale is winning by! Yale scored 7 times twice and 5 times twice in four games, while averaging 21.8 minutes in penalties. Basically, they have averaged 6 goals a game while spending 1/3 of the game in the penalty box! On top of the time they have spent in the penalty box, their PK is at 74% and 7 of the 11 total goals they have given up are shorthanded. At even strength, Yale is outscoring their opponents 18-4 through 4 games.

I have no qualms with BU at number 1 in this week's poll, but is it time the Bulldogs get a little more respect?
Click to expand...
If you'd been following UVM threads over the last couple of seasons, you'd know that according to HE fans who dislike UVM, the Yale hockey program sucks and isn't deserving of respect. ;)
 
Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

JS Tigers said:
I have trouble reading into stats when a team is just four games into their season. It's far too early for this conversation, as we have barely had a chance to see Yale, and most other schools are only a month into the season. I can understand the excitement about this Yale team, but it's far too early to be so excited about these stats. (Although if you ARE excited about the numbers, you should also be worried about a 74% PK.)
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Your point about the four games is noted, and it is valid. I will say though, that this is a veteran group, so the success they had last year has to be taken into account.

That said, I don't agree with the comment about the PK stats being of a concern. The PK number is skewed in the fact that they gave up four PPG's in the first game against Brown (three of which came in the first 12 minutes of the season). After that game, the PK is 15 for 18 (83.3%) which obviously isn't unreal but it is certainly much better. The point of the PK comment is just to show how much time they've spent in the box and how few goals they have given up at even strength compared to how many they've scored.
 
Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

Nick Papagiorgio said:
Nope.
Click to expand...

Dope.

But eunuchs aside, I would judge one team versus another team on which squad I'd rather have money on in a straight bet. The team that I would bet on against the most other teams would be my number one. I love Yale and I've seen every second of their season, but I wouldn't taken them versus a lot of other teams: BU, Miami, Denver, Duluth. Could Yale beat any of these teams on a given night, sure, but I just wouldn't be confident enough to bet on it.

I would aruge that Yale may be the best team in the country to watch. They have a knack for not only scoring scads of goals, but also for scoring pretty goals. If you haven't seen Yale this year, check out the highlights on the YaleAtheltics channel on YouTube.
 
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Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

hockeyjunkie10 said:
Your point about the four games is noted, and it is valid. I will say though, that this is a veteran group, so the success they had last year has to be taken into account.
Click to expand...

You absolutely cannot and should not factor in results from previous seasons when determining rankings for a current season. The only exception is the original poll where the only comparable data is the perception of incoming recruits, and how voters think teams can continue success with the remaining players from the previous year's squad. A month into the season, last year's success and whether a team is veteran or not is a total non-factor when discussing and creating poles.
 
Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

licwinko said:
Dope.

I love Yale and I've seen every second of their season, but I wouldn't taken them versus a lot of other teams: BU, Miami, Denver, Duluth. Could Yale beat any of these teams on a given night, sure, but I just wouldn't be confident enough to bet on it.
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So I'm a dope because I don't think Yale is the best team in the country... but you seem to agree with me that there are better teams out there?

That makes sense.

Yale is the best team in the Numbnutmeg State. There. Ya happy now?

UVM Cat in Texas said:
Good reply Nick..... Wouldn't expect anything less from the fans I referred to in post #5 ;)
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Oh don't you worry, I saw that reference and figured out who you were talking about, it wasn't hard considering you prance all over the internet whining about it. You still seem to be very upset that someone (err... everyone not from Vermont) isn't impressed with wins over Yale and Air Force on a particular weekend (don't forget about that moral victory over BU!). Some day maybe you'll get over it. And maybe some day Vermont hockey will become relevant and we can have a thread asking if Vermont is the best team in the country.
 
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Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

licwinko said:
Dope.



I would aruge that Yale may be the best team in the country to watch. They have a knack for not only scores scads of goals, but also for scoring pretty goals. If you haven't seen Yale this year, check out the highlights on the YaleAtheltics channel on YouTube.
Click to expand...

nah, no thanks, i saw enough of their pretty goals in Worcester last year:eek:.............i absolutely agree , they were entertaining as hell though that was the only time i saw 'em
 
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Re: Yale - The best team in the country?

licwinko said:
I would aruge that Yale may be the best team in the country to watch. They have a knack for not only scoring scads of goals, but also for scoring pretty goals. If you haven't seen Yale this year, check out the highlights on the YaleAtheltics channel on YouTube.
Click to expand...

They scored some REALLY pretty goals against my team at the Whale last year. ;)
 
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