HOCKEY: A steaming hot pile of NJ right in our conference

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Puck Frovidence
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HOCKEY: A steaming hot pile of NJ right in our conference

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Viewers of "How I Met Your Mother" are likely to recognize the reference in the post topic.

Rhody's away this week, and with no way to follow the games live, I've abandoned a brief and informative primer intended to spark conversation in favor of this long, derisive diatribe. Only god can judge me. Or the mods.

This weekend URI travels to Somerset, NJ for the first of two series this year against Rutgers in ESCHL conference play. The Scarlet (Ice) Knights are a relatively recent addition to the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League, traditionally one of the strongest conferences in ACHA Division I. Just as the entrance of Penn State caused big shake-ups in the NCAA, their departure from the ACHA precipitated realignments as well. The gap created in our conference was soon widened as Robert Morris left for the CHMA, and well...desperate times called for desperate measures.

One of the new additions were the upstarts at SUNY Stony Brook, a well-supported team on the rise from the middle-of-the-pack ECHA. More recently, abject NCAA D3 basement-dwellers Lebanon Valley College downgraded from varsity status after back-to-back final winless seasons; they've fared no better here, currently the conference doormat with a single win on the books this year. In terms of conference strength, the addition of Stony Brook somewhat mitigates LVC terrible-ness. The Seawolves are 4-1 OOC right now, currently sitting at #11 in the rankings. Closer to home, they've been on a tear against URI, knocking the Rams out of both the ESCHL and National tournaments last year (we're in their barn next week for a chance at some vengeance). Still, Penn State held the most National Championship titles of any program in the country, and with those big shoes to fill, you just know the ESCHL needed another powerhouse to replace them who could match up to Rhode Island and Delaware, and keep league play at the highest possible level. Instead we got Rutgers, who this year are 5-8-2 (so 10 losses to 5 wins). The Ice Knights are 2-10 against URI since 2006, with a particularly demoralizing 14-1 loss in that year. Yeah. 14-1.

So why does any of this matter, beyond some easy Ws for the Rams? Well, last month, the ACHA finally brought to fruition a plan to eliminate the old coaches poll in favor of a new computer ranking system ala the Pairwise in NCAA. The new system takes a number of factors into consideration, including strength of schedule, and eschews ties in the rankings (breaking them with a boring and somewhat arbitrary system that averages rank with another ranking algorithm an-zzzzzzzzzz). The point is this: tournament qualification and placement is now based on a fixed algorithm that puts a good deal of weight on wins over teams that have in turn beaten difficult opponents. We see our conference rivals twice as often any OOC team (ESCHL is 20 out 33 games on our schedule), so for wins in our conference to count the most in the national rankings, it benefits us when ESCHL teams perform well against OOC foes. Unfortunately, Rutgers is 1-5 this season outside conference play (as a result of a split with Navy). By comparison, the rest of the ESCHL OOC is:
URI 8-1
Stony Brook 4-1
Delaware 7-5 (Note: Every opponent they've faced has been ranked, with many in the top 5)
WC 3-3
LVC 0-2

I'll add that obviously Lebanon Valley is the pits, worse than Rutgers (although they've yet to really crack their OOC schedule). This is, however, only their second year in ACHA DI and their first year in the ESCHL. There were plenty of reasons to think before the season started that with the facilities and tradition of an NCAA program they might be a good addition. Jury is still out, although things don't look great so far.

In conclusion, boo Rutgers, with one addendum: one big bummer of underperforming/undersupported teams in the conference is the lack of broadcasting. The top teams in the ESCHL (as in the national scene) have some sort of free streaming broadcast of home games. Delaware and Stony Brook both have free video streams (Stony Brook's is very high quality with pro looking graphics and veteran commentators), and URI broadcasts radio coverage on WRIU 90.3 FM (or WRIU2 online when preempted by basketball). Most other competitive teams have a pay video stream through ACHA partner FastHockey (URI offers this as well). Rutgers has neither, so fans can have fun following the game on Twitter. Boo Rutgers again.

NEXT WEEK: URI and Stony Brook beat the crap out of each other live from Long Island in free Hi-Def. Can't wait.
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