Ranking the Central Region

Obviously computers are doing the heavy lifting now - but I figured I’d chip in my thoughts on where these teams fall and hopefully get some other opinions as well. I have included the teams MYHockeyRanking, as well as Strength of Schedule for reference.

  1. Grand Valley (MY #2, SOS #3) - hard to argue with a weekend sweep over Belleville on their resume that they are currently deserving of a #1 seed

  2. Lindenwood Belleville (MY #1, SOS #1) - Incredibly talented team that will without question have an autobid come late Feb

  3. Davenport (MY #3, SOS #9) - Quick team who can’t burn you all over the ice. Battle tested, but not sure if they are poised to go deep just yet.

  4. Marian (MY #5, SOS #7) - Good, competitive team with sneaky talent mixed throughout.

  5. Lindenwood (MY #7, SOS #4) - Not nearly as good as their cross town rivals, but still a systematically sound team who can get very hot at times.

  6. Aurora (MY #4, SOS #13) - Besides Belleville, haven’t really been tested. Not as good as the computer might think.

  7. Michigan State (MY #9, SOS #5) - Disciplined team who always seems to get better as the year goes on. Limited sample size though.

  8. Michigan (MY #10, SOS #2) - Sporadically very good, usually pretty good. Depends which Michigan you see on a given night.

  9. McKendree (MY #6, SOS #17) - Weaker schedule with no signature wins - pretty average team

  10. Waldorf (MY #8, SOS #31) - There’s a reason these guys are only #8 but have 16 wins already. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to schedule a relatively challenging game every once in a while.

Nice series coming up this weekend between Grand Valley and Davenport-should be two good games.

It seems the top Central and Southeast teams have/are linked up for some interesting matchups and showcases this season. Smart planning.

The Central and Southeast are shaping up to be the top two regions come Nationals. When the pools are set, a #3 Central or #3 Southeast team could be considered a pool favorite over a #1 seed from the West or Northeast.

Still a long way to go and some good hockey on tap before tickets are punched for Columbus.

McKendree and Aurora shouldn’t even be ranked in the top 10. No wins over anyone important.

Biggest losers with the computers. DEPAUL!! Wins against 3 teams in the top 15 and still can’t pull a decent number. Lewis should be ahead of SLU (Lewis has had the much harder schedule and harder then 1/2 of the top 10).

From the looks of the rankings you simply needed to play LU-B (doesn’t matter the scores) add a bunch of weak teams to get 6 games under your belt and “BAM” top 10. Love the Hamlin # wtf