Atlantic region rankings

ACHA Hockey ACHA M3 Hockey
1

With one week left before the first ranking period ends. How does everyone think the first ranking period will shake out?

We still have some big games this weekend:

Farmingdale/UCal – Friday Night: I think Farmingdale handles UCal after Farmingdale got totally embarrassed against BA. UCal might be the better team when all said and done but they will be traveling that day and playing at 10 PM at night. I give this game to the Long Island boys. Farmingdale 5 UCal 2

Fairfield/UCal – Saturday Night: UCal finally gets over the long trip and comes out to play a good FU team and beats them to make the trip east worth it. UCal 4 FF- 2

Farmingdale/Stockton – Saturday Night: Farmingdale has an easy time with a weak Stockton team since they do not have the numbers they used to. Farmingdale 9 Stockton 1

BA/Rowan – Saturday Night: I will be attending this game to watch I think this has upset written all over it. BA plays next weekend in Pittsburgh and coming off their huge win on the Island. I think they will look over the Profs. Rowan has been playing some solid hockey over the past couple of weeks. I see this being close but I predict a Rowan upset. BA 3 Rowan 5

WVU/Maryland – Saturday Night: I only know about Maryland since I have seen them once. I will take Maryland 3 WVU 2

WVU/Fredonia – Sunday: Fredonia 7 WVU 5

SCSU/Stockton – Sunday: SCSU 6 Stockton 2

First Ranking prediction:

1- BAC: They have proven they are worthy of being #1 even though I have them getting upset this weekend. They have handle every team with ease and even with the lost to Rowan this weekend they will still be #1 since Rowan has not played Farmingdale, Cal, FF yet. I think the voters will take that into consideration. Another rumor I hear coming from the little school is they will be adding 4-5 new players at semester break. I was told they will be getting 2 true NCAA transfers and 2 other top notch junior players from the North American league. They have still yet to dress #5 who I thought was their most dominate forward when healthy last year. I guess the rumor is he hurt his ankle in the spring and had surgery on it.

2- Rowan: They will pull the massive upset over BA and solidify themselves into the #2 spot especially with Farmingdale having 2 loses. Rowan has pretty much drubbed each team they have played outscoring them almost 3 to 1 in. They may have the most complete defensive unit in the region. #13 is the real deal and I think he is the best d in the region. Rowan plays a tough style which makes it hard for teams to operate. They have cleaned up their act as well they do not take as many penalties. They also have extremely good goaltending.

3- Farmingdale: The loses to Albany and BA will hurt them. But they rebound to beat CAL this weekend so it helps them in the H2H. They also have a good win over D-2 Siena. They have beaten Fairfield to ensure that they can’t be passed by them yet. The good news for Farmingdale is that this is only the first ranking period and they still have 2X with Rowan and 3X more with BA so they will get their chances to leap frog those teams.

4- CAL – The will have only lost to Farmingdale in this ranking period (My prediction). They will take care of FF to lock down the 4th spot. CAL has been quietly beating up on teams in the early stages of the season. The issue I heard is that their goalie is weak and that they lost pretty much their top 3 d from last year. They always have a good offense and a good power play. I do not think CAL is a team who will be fighting for a top 2 spot this year but I do think they are one of the teams who will be a brutal draw in York and a team who might trip someone up on their way to the top 2.

5- Fairfield – Always a fun team to watch. Very fast and not very physical this year but they have upgraded their D with some size. Goalie looks to be stronger than previous years. They will have played the strongest schedule to date (CAL/BA/Farmingdale/SCSU) and having 3 loses in the first ranking periods hurts them since it will kill them in H2H. They have a shot at being in the top 2 this season but they need to string some wins against the “BIG DOGS”. But I would not want to see these guys in York. They will be a lock to make it out of the region this year.

6- George Mason – Yes, George Mason you have heard it heard first. I am a big fan of this addition to the DVCHC they have made that conference in a down year stay strong. George Mason will be the next Farmingdale, CAL, and BA. They will be pushing one of the top 4 teams out I think this season. I have seen them play this season and their coach is extremely intelligent. I personally think he is the best coach in the region followed by Fairfield coach. George Mason has had some big wins against RMU but tied WVU the next day. WVU will be battling for a 9.10,11 spot at the end. I do think RMU is having some issues this year. They absolutely crushed Liberty who was in nationals last year for the south.

7- SCSU - They are always a weird team they have a good schedule but that only gets you so far. You have to win the games in order to get higher. I keep hearing how good they are but it seems like they can’t beat any quality teams like Farmingdale or Fairfield in the Empire. At this point I need to see more from them but I think this is a good starting point for them.

8- UDel – They have played Rowan tough and have beaten WVU. They have dominated major of their schedule so far this season. I have yet to see them play but I hear they have some quality d-2 drop downs that have helped sustain their offense. I think if they keep playing the way they have started they will find themselves in York.

9- WVU – Absolutely destroyed by Rowan this past weekend and lost to Delaware as well so the H2H goes to UDel. Some quality wins against RMU, Maryland, and a quality tie against GMU will help their case. They are not a team who will be higher than a 7 when all said and done since they do not beat quality teams. They are a difficult team because they have so many up and downs in their season.

10- Totally wide open for debate.

2

AD let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. BA just went into Long Island and worked Farmingdale. Rowan is a great team and I agree, I think there D can run with anyone. What Rowan is missing is what BA has, scoring. I love that you’re picking the Profs but I will have to believe it when I see it.

George Mason might have a good coach I guess? and he’ll probably win coach of the year if they finish in the top 10 but he doesn’t get any type of regconition until they make regionals. They are not ready to make a run. Maybe in a year or two.

BA
Farm
Rowan
Cal
Fairfield
SCSU
Albany
Fredonia
GMU
Quinnipiac

Both RMU and WVU are terrible. I’m not trying to knock GMU but they need to do
WAY more before they are even remotely considered in the top 5/6 area. They will be in a huge fight to make regionals with teams like UPJ/Stockton/UDEL receiving votes.

Go profs!

3

Baa

I think QU and Albany are not up for rankings according to the acha website they are not.

Anyone have info on this?

4

QU is eligible for post season, Albany is not.

5

  1. BA- they’ve proved that they’re simply the best so far. No contest, yet.

  2. Farm-Bad loss to Albany but i do not think that is enough to pull them out of the 2 spot. We’ll see what happens when they play Rowan and BA again.

  3. CalU- Haven’t really seen that much from them so far, I think they may actually drop a few spots in the next few rankings.

  4. Rowan- I wouldn’t have them as high as 2 yet. They’ve had a few easy games but I’ll agree about their defense, their top 5 is scary and have been playing together for a while now.

  5. Fairfield- As the season moves along I could see them swapping spots with the teams above them. Early losses to BA & Farm keep them from the 2 spot right now. Always a good team though, I wouldn’t be worried about them at all.

  6. SCSU-Best of the rest right here. Impressive whooping of UPJ and a nice win over Albany as well. I dont see them moving up anytime soon though.

7-10. Who knows. With Neumann and Brandywine folding it opens things up a little bit. I see teams like GMU, Fredonia, Udel or WVU eyeing for these spots.

6

Its about time …

1-BA…nuff said
2-Farmingdale…loss to Albany came without top 6 skaters and #1 tender…still a loss but take it in context
3-Fairfield…3 lines deep , good speed …little undisciplined…average goaltending
4-Rowan…good first 5 and goaltending, good depth…been having their way with weaker competition so far
5-6-Cal/SCSU…best team in CHE and up and comer from Empire …flip a coin
7-8-9-10…
.UPJ…second best team in the CHE.
GMU…smoked RMU…
Stockton…smoked RMU-ties w/Del-UPJ-and Maryland
Quinnipiac…good Emnpire schedule
UDel…beating up on lessers…0-4 vs betters
WVU smoke and mirrors

7

@Baaah6

Rowan has trouble scoring? They have scored the most goals in the region according to the acha website. I’m telling you I smell upset I think the profs learned a lot last year when they had BA on the ropes.

8

AD,

Rowan’s first true test will be against BA, sure they’ve put up a 10 spot twice against WVU and ESU. BA worked Farm in their own building, and Farm put up a 14 spot on Maritime who had Rowan on the ropes in their own barn.

Rowan and BA have the best defense in the region, I don’t think that’s a question but Rowan’s forwards are young and don’t have Junior’s experience either. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be rooting for an upset but judging by BA’s start, they are impressive. I’m hoping McCusker stands on his head and keeps his team in the game. He’s been lights out for over a year now.

Go Profs

9

Prediction Bryn Athyn 8 Rowan 1. Rowan possibly has one forward who would even make Bryn Athyns team and he would be on their third line. Profs defensemen while offensively gifted are asked to pinch often thus getting caught numerous times which will not bode well against Bryn Athyns speed. Coach rotates goalies so Baaah6 it would not be McCuskers turn since site said he was in net for WVU

10

BA is just too good. I wouldn’t put a potential upset past Rowan but 5-2 BA

11

Yeah unfortunately you’re right, it will not be his turn.

I heard talks of a potential lollipop return?

12

I wish I could pick powerball numbers the way I exactly picked the final score of Bryn Athyn versus Rowan in my post above. Can’t believe this was someone’s upset special or people picking a close game. Ridiculous

13

Dreamer, you were right on the money. Congrats! Rowan scored first and that was it. Their D got smoked by a faster team. If it wasn’t for the hometown Hollydell Okie Dokie refs, it would of been worse. I wouldn’t even put them in top five, they haven’t played anyone, they’d lose to Farmingdale, Cal, and Fairfield by at least three goals a game against them.
There is no doubt who 1 is in the Atlantic. Nuff said. Rowan doesn’t impress me at all.

14

Personally phanatic I agree with you. No offensive snipers on Rowan at all. Lack of scorers will doom them. You will need to score four or more to beat the big boys like Bryn Athyn, Cal, Farmingdale and Fairfield and I don’t see this happening with their forward group. Defensemen score most of their goals. Their only chance is to play shutdown defense and hope to win low scoring games against the big four.

15

Yeah idk what AD hockey was thinking but sometimes you gotta keep it realistic. This is still Rowan’s 2nd team at their school and it wouldn’t make sense that they can hang with a team like BA after losing all of their offensive scoring power. I’ll say this though, the entire Atlantic is down this year bc I don’t think BAC is not as strong as they were last year. They’re still the best team in the region by a long shot.

What I thought was funny was that parents were getting into it and saying “we beat you guys every year so shut up.”

No shit you guys beat us every year… you get aged out junior players with full beards and Rowan’s wondering if they’ll be able to get a 3rd line high school player with some peach fuzz. It does not compare and never will.

Go Profs

16

@Baaah6

I was giving the benefit of the doubt to you guys. I was not at the game but I keep hearing the little school has not played with their full team yet. In all honesty I saw them play earlier in the year I think this is their best team in recent years I hate to say it but they have all the pieces. To your point Baa they do have junior guys which always makes a difference. I know at my school it is nearly impossible for us to recruit a junior guy. I would imagine if a junior guy went to Rowan he would be sucked up by the D2 team. But as the weekend wrapped up and I was watching scores come on twitter I have my 1st ranking prediction it has changed since my last post.

Rowan has played the weakest SOS of anyone in the top 7 teams. When they played 1 quality team they got shelled and turtled up. Junior players or not you need to perform against the top teams if you want to be considered in the top 3/4 teams. Farmingdale has junior players, Cal has junior players, Fairfield has junior players, and SCSU has junior players so your excuse of “older teams” will only go so far.

1 - BA - nothing to say
2- Fairfield - quality team and good showing against CAL but the game against Farmingdale hurts them btu Farmingdale drop 3 this ranking period.
3- CAL - not as strong but they will be a contender
4- Farmingdale - average first ranking period. Beat the teams they should of and lost to a bad Albany team.
5 - SCSU - Good schedule and right now SOS matters. They have a stronger SOS over Rowan.
6- Rowan
7 - GMU
8 - Fredonia
9 - UDel
10 - Stockton/WVU/Rampo/QU

The empire is the strongest conference this year by far.

17

Come on Demon. Benefit of the doubt? So one game and you drop Rowan from #2 and your upset special to #6. What did you see in Rowan in the first place? Running up the score on bad teams made you think they were an offensive juggernaut. Your rankings though should be pretty much spot on except Rowan will be 5 even though they won’t beat SCSU head to head later in the season. Very much a down year for the region. Some bad teams and bad hockey.

18

i’d like to know your reasoning behind ranking Rowan above SCSU when you just stated they won’t beat them down the road. I have watched both SCSU and Rowan play, Rowan shouldn’t be ranked higher than 7.

19

@TheRock22

What’s you rankings?!?!

20

It’s only first ranking period and I think Rowan’s 8-1 record with their only loss being to Bryn Athyn will be just enough to squeak by a 4-4 SCSU team. Personally I don’t agree with it but remember some of the voters have no clue.