Countdown!

[BGDrew]

I get that you’re just extrapolating. But USCHO only recognizes a top-20. USA Today/USA Hockey is even more restrictive with a top-15.

BG is not nationally ranked, just recognized as receiving votes.

[mbenecke]

Right, of course. We're the third team out. I just find it easier to say #23. My apologies for the confusion.

With our brutal stretch of 6 out of 9 games against ranked teams to start the year, we have a huge opportunity to move up. I look forward to the challenge, and I think this team could be special.

[pdt1081]

Right, of course. We're the third team out. I just find it easier to say #23. My apologies for the confusion.

With our brutal stretch of 6 out of 9 games against ranked teams to start the year, we have a huge opportunity to move up. I look forward to the challenge, and I think this team could be special.

There's 60 teams in division 1. They rank the top third. A total of 36 teams received votes (top 20, plus 16 more teams). That's more than half.

If you look at the far right column where it says "last poll," you'll notice not much movement. The biggest movers are the big schools that had down years last season (11, 12, 13). Very, very little movement from last season outside of those spots. Those teams are always in the preseason polls, along with the past season's top 10. That leaves voters with 5-7 spots for filler. 62 votes means BG managed to be used as filler on a couple ballots.

[unfalconbelievable]

Here's what the group thinks:

Code: Select all

Overall Record   Wins   Losses
                  23      12

Code: Select all

Series Records		Wins	Losses
Mercyhurst	 	     1	   0
Western Michigan  	 1	   1
RMU		  	        2	   0
Ohio State	  	    1	   1
Northern Michigan 	 2	   2
UAA		  	        2	   0
Lake Superior	  	 2	   0
Alabama Huntsville	 3	   1
Ferris State		    3	   1
Minnesota State		 1	   1
Bemidji State		   2	   2
Michigan Tech		   1	   1
Alaska			       3	   1

Code: Select all

   Final Standings
 1 Minnesota State
 2 Bowling Green
 3 Northern Michigan
 4 Michigan Tech
 5 Bemidji State
 6 Ferris State
 7 Lake Superior
 8 Alabama Huntsville
 8 Alaska
10 Alaska Anchorage

Observations

• o Everyone has us winning at least 21 games (range was 21-26, mode was 23)
  o Consensus is an OOC record of 5 and 2 (sweep AHC, split B1G, split Nacho's) which I think we'd all take in a heartbeat as would the rest of the league
  o Strong consensus on top 4 teams, middle 2 teams, and bottom 4 teams; our league seems pretty predictable among these three bands
  o With that said, I was surprised to see the Lakers come in ahead of both Huntsville and Alaska
  o Seems like this result puts us in the conversation but on the bubble for an at-large if we can't close the deal for the tournament hardware

I'm going take my multiple decades worth of Orange and Brown season ticketing holding glasses off for a moment, which may may be difficult.

Optimism is high this year, true. We won 23 games last year and if we repeat that performance I'm sure many of us will be disappointed. Going on the average prediction win total people have for the Falcons this season, they better be near the high end of that if we are think at-large bid. Won 23 and we were the 3rd team out last year. Outside of winning the league tournament title we would need at least 26. We can manipulate the wins anyway we want but going to have to have a winning record in non-league games. Splits and .500 out of league isn't going to cut-it. We've been there before. I'm actually going to be a tad disappointed if we aren't 3-0 come the home opener on the 14th. Yes, tough task, but if they want to play in March these games are a must have.

Very interesting. I really am looking forward to the season. I think we'll win a lot of games, and I really hope that leads to some good attendance numbers this year. Overall, we only averaged 2,300 fans per home game, which was 6th in the WCHA.

We need a big turnout for home games this year, so I hope many of you plan to get to as many games as you possibly can!

If you take a deeper look at all the schools in our league, BG is the only school with D1 everything, meaning Football is the meal ticket. Some of the schools we play in hockey don't have football which means hockey is their meal ticket or Hockey is their only D1 sport. Those smaller schools draw bigger for hockey because thats their marque sport. BG has football, mens and women basketball, soccer along with other sports that separate the fan base. Schools in our hockey typically have fewer sports and hockey is their number #1 draw. Now on the other side, yes I agree we should be drawing more then 2,300 a home game. But there are several weekends that we know are going to be low attendance just because of the schedule. Fall Break weekend, Exam/graduation weekend (which happens to be home vs. Minnesota State), 1st & 2nd weekends of January and spring break (typically first or second round of WCHA playoffs). Hopefully their record will overcome those obstacles.