Time to make some noise in the rankings

[gmartin]

After our game tonight against Michigan Tech BG will play 9 of its 11 next games at The Slate. Our only road series within our next 11 games is 2 games against Minnesota State. Could you just imagine if BG were to win majority of its home games and split the series against Minneksota State. BG could be ranked pretty well giving this team confidence for the 2nd half of the season.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

We have to win the games we'supposed to win. Splitting with the Lakers next week is no Bueno.

[gmartin]

We definitely need to keep sweeping series or at least a win and a tie for every series at home.

Even after beating Tech and then a tie our pairwise dropped from #7 to #14. SOS dropped from #3 to #8.

We have the Lakers coming in next weekend and their Pairwise is #50 out of 60. Even with 2 wins we will see our pairwise and SOS drop but a loss would see us drop even further. We need to sweep all 'bottom feeders' to even think about at large bid at end of the season.

[pdt1081]

We definitely need to keep sweeping series or at least a win and a tie for every series at home.

Even after beating Tech and then a tie our pairwise dropped from #7 to #14. SOS dropped from #3 to #8.

We have the Lakers coming in next weekend and their Pairwise is #50 out of 60. Even with 2 wins we will see our pairwise and SOS drop but a loss would see us drop even further. We need to sweep all 'bottom feeders' to even think about at large bid at end of the season.

Seems like just winning will take care of everything. No need to take anything else into consideration at this point. It is WAY too early in the season to be looking at those other numbers.

There's a reason USCHO used to not release PWR numbers until January. A team with a bye week this time of year will move significantly.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Everyone reading/posting knows:

A) It's way too early in the season to get excited about polls and rankings; they mean nothing right now.
B) There's way too much time for our team to start performing down to the preseason expectations everyone outside the program set for us.

But right now I'm excited. I like seeing our name up there with the big dawgs even if it's only for a week or two. I like being part of the conversation. I like seeing the Miami State message board posters whine that 7 years ago they let the wrong coach go. I like low expectations and coming out of the gate hard rather than what happened last year. I like being surprised that these freshmen are off to a very good start and have so far exceeded expectations. I like being in first.

Making the right kind of noise this early in the season can create a buzz on campus and a buzz on campus can lead to more filled seats in The Slate. Buzz also helps with recruiting.

Plenty of time for all this to go south, especially if we crap the bed against the Anchors next weekend. But I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can.

[gmartin]

Well said Talons!!!!

[pdt1081]

Everyone reading/posting knows:

A) It's way too early in the season to get excited about polls and rankings; they mean nothing right now.
B) There's way too much time for our team to start performing down to the preseason expectations everyone outside the program set for us.

But right now I'm excited. I like seeing our name up there with the big dawgs even if it's only for a week or two. I like being part of the conversation. I like seeing the Miami State message board posters whine that 7 years ago they let the wrong coach go. I like low expectations and coming out of the gate hard rather than what happened last year. I like being surprised that these freshmen are off to a very good start and have so far exceeded expectations. I like being in first.

Making the right kind of noise this early in the season can create a buzz on campus and a buzz on campus can lead to more filled seats in The Slate. Buzz also helps with recruiting.

Plenty of time for all this to go south, especially if we crap the bed against the Anchors next weekend. But I'm going to enjoy it for as long as I can.

I'm not saying "don't get excited." You should ALWAYS be excited about BG Hockey.

Looking at PWR this early in the season and seeing BG drop 7 spots after a tie or win is the reality of this league.

The PWR is unfavorably formulated against leagues like the WCHA and Atlantic Hockey, that don't traditionally win many non-conference contests. Two teams could run the gauntlet non-conference and run away within the league, but only the auto-bid will get in the NCAA tournament. Until the league as a whole can win half or more of their non-conference games, there's no reason to ever be looking for an at large bid. One loss to a team below about 3rd or 4th in the final standings will eliminate any chance of two teams getting in.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

I'm not saying "don't get excited." You should ALWAYS be excited about BG Hockey.

Looking at PWR this early in the season and seeing BG drop 7 spots after a tie or win is the reality of this league.

The PWR is unfavorably formulated against leagues like the WCHA and Atlantic Hockey, that don't traditionally win many non-conference contests. Two teams could run the gauntlet non-conference and run away within the league, but only the auto-bid will get in the NCAA tournament. Until the league as a whole can win half or more of their non-conference games, there's no reason to ever be looking for an at large bid. One loss to a team below about 3rd or 4th in the final standings will eliminate any chance of two teams getting in.

Look, I get it. I can do the math too. But when was the last time we were arguing about the futility of PWR rankings in November?

[pdt1081]

]
Look, I get it. I can do the math too. But when was the last time we were arguing about the futility of PWR rankings in November?

Season before last? Season before that? It really hasn't been that long. At one point not too long ago, the school was referring to the team as the "#20 team in the country" because they were receiving votes in the polls. The rest of the college hockey world was laughing at the school because of that. I guess you can say I'm one of those "act like you've been here before" kind of people.

[TalonsUpPuckDown]

Season before last? Season before that? It really hasn't been that long. At one point not too long ago, the school was referring to the team as the "#20 team in the country" because they were receiving votes in the polls. The rest of the college hockey world was laughing at the school because of that. I guess you can say I'm one of those "act like you've been here before" kind of people.

I honestly agree with everything you've been saying. So I'll cry "uncle." But I'm still surprised and excited.

[Clubber]

Gonna need W's, and a lot of them. That SOS will sink slowly throughout the year. Although Western sweeping Denver and Mankato sweeping BU helps the cause. The second half schedule is about as easy as it gets, problem is, any loss will hurt in the computer rankings.

Eventually hockey has to get an NCAA bid. The odds have to be in BG's favor.

[pdt1081]

Gonna need W's, and a lot of them. That SOS will sink slowly throughout the year. Although Western sweeping Denver and Mankato sweeping BU helps the cause. The second half schedule is about as easy as it gets, problem is, any loss will hurt in the computer rankings.

Eventually hockey has to get an NCAA bid. The odds have to be in BG's favor.

Quoted for truth.

[jpfalcon09]

Gonna need W's, and a lot of them. That SOS will sink slowly throughout the year. Although Western sweeping Denver and Mankato sweeping BU helps the cause. The second half schedule is about as easy as it gets, problem is, any loss will hurt in the computer rankings.

Eventually hockey has to get an NCAA bid. The odds have to be in BG's favor.

BG has to rely on no one but themselves. Take care of business within the conference, beat the teams you're supposed to beat and get home ice throughout the playoffs. The goal should be winning in the league and not crossing your fingers for an at-large bid. I agree that BG is due but you have to make your own breaks to get there.

[BGFan]

The leadership this year seems to be much better. This, alone, helps to keep the team's focus where it should be. I have only seen one game so far where that focus wasn't there (the first Minnesota State game). Otherwise it's been fairly consistent. (Yes, the second MSU game lacked a bit of focus at times, but not near to the extent of that first game.) Keep in mind that we've lost a few key players to injury (Spezia, Dalton, etc.) and we're still playing at a high level and winning. Hopefully they will be back for the second half when the large majority of the games are on the road and where we tripped up a couple of years ago.

[unfalconbelievable]

There is a tab once the tournament semi-finals come up every year on Pairwise called PWR predictor. Basically seeing what teams needs to do in order to get into the NCAA tournament, it also allows you to change previous played previous to answer the "what if" questions.

Playing around with it last year, I was astonished and it speaks to the SOS, we would have had to WIN 31 games to get an at-large last year. We were a bounce of the puck away from playing Denver, but given all the variables as many others have said, just get Ws and let the pieces fall.

I told a few people setting near us the first two weekends that there are a couple freshman we may not see four years. Three years and gone, that's a good problem because it means we are getting better players.