The 28 Division I coaches and 12 beat writers that make up the United States College Hockey Online national poll couldn’t seem to agree on much of anything this week.
Other than the University of Maine, which jumped two spots from last week to take the top spot by nearly 40 points over its nearest follower, many other rankings were hotly contested.
Only two points separated No. 2 Colorado College and No. 3 University of North Dakota, with Colorado actually receiving one more first place vote than the Fighting Sioux. Boston University’s Hockey East rival, No. 8 Boston College, finished just four points ahead of No. 9 Ohio State, while fellow conference foe University of Massachusetts squeaked its way into the top 15, just two points ahead of the University of Miami at Ohio.
Even after a four-game winning streak and a tournament title at the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit, Boston University fell one spot from last week to No. 12 after a tough overtime loss to Providence College, which squeaked in as the last team receiving votes in this week’s poll. BU will have the opportunity to make some serious strides in upcoming weeks, with two games against BC, two against No. 5 University of New Hampshire, a Beanpot matchup with No. 13 Harvard University and a possible Beanpot final showdown with BC.
Also unveiled last week was the USCHO NCAA Pairwise Rankings. This system ranks teams based on four criteria: record against common opponents, head to head competition, record against other teams with a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) above .500 and the RPI itself. The RPI is a complex mathematical formula based on a teams’ strength of schedule, and even on the strength of schedule of that team’s opponents.
BU sits in a tie for eighth in this week’s Pairwise Rankings, knotted up with Ferris State and BC. Maine and Colorado College, 1-2 in the USCHO top-25 poll, are also 1-2 in the Pairwise.
For the past few seasons, the Pairwise Rankings have been perfect in predicting the NCAA Tournament field of 12. While the challenge will be tougher this season with 16 teams in the tournament, the Pairwise Rankings are intended to mimic the selection method used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
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