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February 21, 2012

Men's Computer Rankings - Feb. 21, 2012

by Steve Wiitala

 

Now that the regular season is over, it’s time to focus on the post season (or, in the case of the NCHA, to continue to focus on the post season). In terms of the regular season, it seems the computer rankings sorted themselves out very nicely in the end.   Oswego State's wins over Plattsburgh and Potsdam gives the Lakers 688 points and a statistically significant edge on every other team’s regular season ratings. Norwich's 1-0-1 weekend keeps the Cadets solidly in second, and Amherst moves up to third by sweeping scoring wins at Middlebury and Williams.  Plattsburgh finishes a solid fourth, and then we find Elmira and Utica in a virtual tie for fifth.  The first West Region team in the rankings, as has been the case most of the season, is St. Norbert in the seventh position overall.  Certainly the conference that fares the best in these rankings is the ECAC West, which places all five of its teams in the top 12.

As we look forward to the the postseason and ultimately the selection and seeding of the NCAA tournament, we have included an indication of each team’s most recent NCAA Regional Ranking in our listing this week.  We also can take a look at the challenges that face the top ten teams in our rankings in this week’s action.  The difference in the rankings between a team and it’s scheduled opponent should give us a good idea as to how well the teams match up.

 
  1. Oswego (688 points) – at home against one of Potsdam (469 points, ranked 51st), Fredonia (534, 29th), or Geneseo (505, 38th) in the Semifinals of the SUNYAC Tournament
  2. Norwich (672) – at home against University of New England (323, 71st) in the Quarterfinals of the ECAC East Tournament
  3. Amherst (658) – at home against Hamilton (486, 44th) in the Quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament
  4. Plattsburgh (648) – at home against one of Fredonia, Geneseo, or Buffalo State (548, 24th) in the Semifinals of the SUNYAC Tournament
  5. Elmira (634) – at home against either Utica (631, 6th) or Neumann (618, 8th) in the Semifinals of the ECAC West Tournament
  6. Utica (631) – at home against Neumann in the Quarterfinals of the ECAC West Tournament.  If they win, they face Elmira
  7. St. Norbert (619) – at home against Wisconsin-Eau Claire (588, 16th) in the Semifinals of the NCHA tournament
  8. Neumann (618) – at Utica in the Quarterfinals of the ECAC West Tournament, and a win earns the Knights a trip to Elmira
  9. (tie) Hobart (614)  at Manhattanville (598, 12th) in the Semifinals of the ECAC West Tournament / (tie) St. Thomas (614) at home against Hamline (475, 50th) or St. Olaf (516, 35th) in the Semifinals of the MIAC tournament.
The are an abundance of interesting playoff games scheduled this week among some of the top teams in the country.  The ECAC West tournament has some particularly interesting matchups scheduled.  It’s playoff time and the hockey just gets better.
 
 through games as of Monday, Februay 20 
 

School (Poll Rank) [NCAA Ranking]

W

L

T

Rating

Rank Change

Rating Change

1

Oswego (1) [E1]

21

2

2

688

0

17

2

Norwich (2) [E2]

20

2

2

672

0

6

3

Amherst (3) [E3]

20

3

1

658

1

17

4

Plattsburgh (4) [E4]

17

4

4

648

(1)

(5)

5

Elmira (6) [E5]

15

7

3

634

1

16

6

Utica (10) [E6]

15

8

2

631

(1)

1

7

St. Norbert (5) [W1]

15

5

5

619

2

6

8

Neumann (11) [E9]

13

6

3

618

2

7

9

Hobart [E12]

14

10

1

614

6

22

9

St. Thomas (7) [W3]

18

4

2

614

(3)

(4)

11

Bowdoin (13) [E8]

15

4

3

603

3

8

12

Manhattanville (15) [E7]

13

8

3

598

(4)

(18)

12

St. Scholastica (8) [W2]

15

7

5

598

0

(6)

14

WI - River Falls

16

9

2

594

(3)

(13)

15

Castleton (9) [E11]

17

6

2

593

(2)

(3)

16

WI - Eau Claire [W6]

13

11

3

588

2

22

17

WI-Stevens Point (14) [W4T]

13

10

4

585

(1)

1

18

Middlebury [E10]

12

9

3

571

(1)

0

19

Plymouth State

15

6

2

564

7

22

20

Gustavus Adolphus [W4T]

13

7

5

560

1

9

21

Salem State

13

8

3

559

(2)

(5)

22

Wentworth [E14T]

17

6

1

558

2

14

23

Williams [E13]

10

8

5

552

(2)

1

24

Adrian (12)

19

5

1

548

3

8

24

Buffalo State

12

11

2

548

6

12

24

Wesleyan [E14T]

13

9

2

548

(4)

(9)

27

WI- Superior

10

10

7

541

1

3

28

Mass-Dartmouth

14

8

2

538

1

1

29

Fredonia

11

10

3

534

(5)

(10)

30

Concordia MN

11

10

4

532

(7)

(16)

31

Mass-Boston

13

9

3

525

1

1

32

Milw School of Eng

19

5

1

523

1

7

33

Curry

13

9

2

519

2

6

34

Brockport

9

13

3

518

(3)

(11)

35

St. Olaf [W7]

11

8

6

516

(2)

0

36

Skidmore

11

12

2

514

2

12

37

St. Anselm

12

8

4

506

(1)

(1)

38

Geneseo

13

11

1

505

(1)

1

39

Babson

9

12

4

503

4

12

40

Southern Maine

8

10

6

495

5

7

41

Trinity

8

12

2

493

3

4

42

Tufts

11

11

2

492

(3)

(6)

43

WI - Stout

8

17

2

487

3

3

44

Hamilton

8

13

3

486

(5)

(12)

45

New England College

9

11

5

485

(3)

(11)

46

Marian

13

8

4

484

(7)

(14)

47

Augsberg

10

14

1

478

7

21

48

St. John's

11

12

2

477

(2)

(7)

48

Western NE College

13

10

1

477

3

7

50

Hamline

10

13

2

475

(1)

(2)

51

Potsdam

8

14

2

469

(3)

(11)

51

St. Mary's

5

18

2

469

2

4

53

Westfield State

6

12

5

465

2

9

54

Fitchburg State

9

12

3

456

2

1

55

Lawrence

12

10

3

455

(5)

(19)

56

Bethel

8

15

2

453

1

3

57

Conn. College

5

15

3

450

(5)

(17)

58

Worcester State

8

12

3

449

0

1

59

Johnson and Wales

13

9

3

444

0

(1)

60

Cortland

6

18

1

429

1

1

61

Nichols

10

12

2

428

(1)

(14)

62

Morrisville

5

19

1

426

1

(1)

63

Colby

6

15

1

422

(2)

(6)

64

Framingham State

5

14

4

416

0

(8)

65

Assumption

12

10

1

402

1

(9)

65

Becker

9

14

2

402

0

(16)

67

Finlandia

8

17

0

366

0

(14)

68

St. Michael's

6

17

2

364

0

(13)

69

Stonehill

9

11

2

363

1

15

70

Northland

6

16

3

338

(1)

(13)

71

U New England

4

18

2

323

2

21

72

Franklin Pierce

5

11

4

306

(1)

(13)

73

Salve Regina

5

18

0

301

(1)

(4)

74

Suffolk

3

21

0

286

1

5

75

Concordia (WI)

1

20

3

279

(1)

(13)

76

Lake Forest

4

19

0

277

0

31

77

So. New Hampshire

2

19

1

210

0

10

 
margin of error 
 

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

22

15

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

23

15

15

 
 
 
 
 
 

24

15

15

15

 
 
 
 
 

25

15

15

15

14

 
 
 
 

26

15

15

14

14

14

 
 
 

27

15

14

14

14

14

14

 
 

28

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

 

29

14

14

14

14

14

14

13

13

 

 

Thoughts?

Questions, comments, arguments or otherwise, don't hesitate to jump into the discussion in the D3hockey forum.


 ~
Dr. Steve Wiitala is a Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. He possesses a M.A. from Western Washington University and a Ph.D. from Dartmouth College. He is a statistical consultant specializing in quality improvement.
With another week of play in the books, we look at this weeks computer rankings.
The first and most obvious change is that Oswego has displaced Norwich at the top
of the list this week. This was not totally unexpected, as Norwich spent the weekend
playing two games against St. Michaels (ranked 68th), and as a consequence, their
strength of schedule components were reduced. On the weekend, the Cadets lost
14 points. Oswego also lost points for similar reasons (they played Cortland and
Hamilton), but their 6 point loss was enough to move them ahead of Norwich. This
is a good illustration of the fact that small fluctuations in the ratings can cause
changes in rank without any major events. The difference between Norwich and
Oswego was not statistically significant last week, and it’s not statistically significant
this week when they are flipped the other way. At this point we can certainly
say that Oswego and Norwich are very close statistically, and Plattsburgh is not
far behind. The comparison between Plattsburgh and Oswego is just outside
the margin of error, and then there is a gap as we move down the rankings from
Plattsburgh to Castleton.

Manhattanville and Utica made big moves this week, as Manhattanville’s sweep
over Neumann moved them all the way from 16th position to 6th, and Utica’s tie with
Elmira and win over Amherst moved them into 7th on the list. Another impressive
move came from St. Scholastica, who moved up 5 positions and 21 points by
sweeping Wisconsin-River Falls. Beyond those changes, the rankings held pretty
steady for the most part, and with the exception of Adrian, the top 15 in the poll line
up very well with the top 15 in these rankings.

We haven’t paid a lot of attention to the bottom of these rankings, but we did see
one interesting move on the part of Nichols, who by going 2-0 for the week gained
41 points in the ratings. That’s an impressive change for this time of the season.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
11
13

Team (Poll Rank)
Oswego (2)
Norwich (1)
Plattsburgh (3)
Castleton (4)
Elmira (6)
Manhattanville
Utica (7)
Amherst (8)
St. Scholastica (14)
Neumann (13)
St. Norbert (5)
Wis. - Eau Claire (12)
St. Thomas (10)

W

14
13
12
14
12
8
12
12
11
12
11
11
13

L

2
1
2
3
5
4
5
3
5
5
4
6
3

T

2
1
4
0
2
3
1
1
3
0
4
2
2

Rating
671
666
650
628
626
623
620
613
611
609
607
607
601

Change
in Rank

1
(1)
0
0
0
10
6
(2)
5
(1)
(3)
(2)
(1)

Change
in Rating

(6)
(14)
(8)
(7)
8
37
23
(4)
21
(2)
(5)
(1)
(1)

14
15
16
17
18
18
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
30
32
33
34
35
36
36
38
39
39
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
51
53
54
55
56
57
58
59

Williams (11)
Wis - River Falls (9)
Bowdoin
Fredonia
Hobart
Buffalo State
Wis. - Stevens Point
Gustavus Adolphus
Adrian (15)
Wesleyan
Salem State
Concordia MN
Mass-Dartmouth
Wis. - Superior
Middlebury
Curry
Mass-Boston
Wentworth
St. Olaf
Plymouth State
Geneseo
New England College
Brockport
Wis. - Stout
Marian
Southern Maine
Tufts
Western NE College
Hamilton
St. Mary's
Milw School of Eng
St. John's
St. Anselm
Trinity
Bethel
Johnson and Wales
Augsberg
Potsdam
Hamline
Fitchburg State
Cortland
Babson
Morrisville
Becker
Conn. College
Skidmore

9
12
10
9
10
9
8
10
13
10
9
8
10
8
7
8
9
9
8
9
10
8
7
7
8
5
6
9
7
4
12
6
6
6
6
10
6
6
7
6
4
5
3
7
3
5

2
5
3
6
7
8
8
5
4
5
5
8
5
8
6
6
6
6
4
5
9
6
10
11
5
6
8
7
8
12
5
9
5
7
11
5
10
9
10
8
13
11
14
9
10
10

4
2
2
3
0
2
3
2
0
1
2
3
1
3
2
1
2
1
5
2
0
2
2
1
4
4
1
0
1
1
0
2
3
1
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2

597
596
591
578
572
572
571
569
563
560
557
545
535
530
527
525
523
523
521
519
516
512
511
511
509
505
505
502
496
490
489
487
481
477
471
469
468
466
466
464
462
459
451
444
443
432

(3)
(8)
6
2
5
(4)
(3)
(3)
4
(2)
11
(5)
(3)
1
(3)
10
11
(3)
(2)
(1)
(4)
(1)
7
(10)
(1)
0
(5)
(9)
(4)
1
7
7
(4)
7
0
(2)
(4)
(6)
(3)
8
(4)
3
(3)
(1)
1
(2)

(10)
(20)
26
7
22
(17)
(6)
(3)
20
(8)
35
(24)
(15)
(5)
(20)
18
17
(12)
(11)
(7)
(16)
(13)
12
(25)
(9)
(2)
(17)
(24)
(13)
(6)
26
26
(21)
28
(2)
(9)
(18)
(28)
(2)
53
(4)
25
(1)
5
11
(6)

60
60
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77

Margin of error

Worcester State
Lawrence
Westfield State
Framingham State
Assumption
Colby
Northland
Nichols
St. Michael's
Stonehill
U New England
Finlandia
Salve Regina
Suffolk
Concordia WI
Franklin Pierce
Lake Forest
So. New Hampshire

6
5
3
3
8
2
6
5
3
5.5
3
5
3
2
1
3.5
1
1

8
9
9
9
7
13
8
11
10
7.5
10
12
11
13
12
8.5
14
15

3
3
3
3
1
0
3
1
2
1
2
0
0
0
3
3
0
1

430
430
424
409
405
404
393
382
375
372
345
330
310
306
305
291
237
217

(1)
(6)
3
3
(1)
(3)
(2)
3
(1)
(1)
(1)
0
0
0
1
(1)
0
0

(2)
(11)
28
14
0
(5)
(7)
41
0
1
(12)
0
(14)
(8)
12
(8)
(18)
(14)

15

16

17

18

19

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

12
21
21
20
20
20
19
19
19

13

20
20
20
19
19
19
18

14

20
19
19
19
18
18

19
19
18
18
18

18
18
18
17

18
17
17

17
17

17
Friday, Mar. 16: All times Eastern
M:
Final
St. Norbert 4, at Norwich 1
Box Score Recap
M:
Final - OT
at Oswego State 2, Amherst 1
Recap
Saturday, Mar. 17: All times Eastern
M:
Final
St. Norbert 4, at Oswego State 1
Box Score Recap
Friday, Mar. 16: All times Eastern
W:
Final - OT
at Rochester Tech 2, Plattsburgh State 1
Recap
W:
Final - OT
Norwich 4, at Gustavus Adolphus 3
Recap
Saturday, Mar. 17: All times Eastern
W:
Final - OT
at Plattsburgh State 4, Gustavus Adolphus 3
W:
Final
at Rochester Tech 4, Norwich 1
No contests today.
No contests today.