2013-14 Week #27 Rankings Released
We are officially one week before USA Hockey Nationals begin on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 in Green Bay, WI (Tier 1 Boys), Marlborough, MA (Tier 1 Girls), Hackensack, NJ (Bantam Tier 2 Boys), Ashburn, VA (Midget 16U Tier 2 Boys), Wayne, NJ (Midget 18U Tier 2 Boys) and Amherst, NY (Tier 2 Girls). It's been an interesting week as the last teams punched their tickets or received invites.
Over the past couple days I've been asked two questions a number of times. The first is "What do you think about USA Hockey using your rankings to give out at large bids for Tier 1 teams?" To be honest, I cannot confirm what USA Hockey is, or is not, using to give out the four new at large invites this season. I can confirm that the 12 teams (four at each level) got the at large invites were the top 4 ranked teams after Week #25 that did not qualify. Probably not a coincidence, but I'm not sure what to say. The real issues are the change in format from my perspective. There had been rumors of some at large bids being used this year and those rumors proved true. I think it has the possibility to improve the overall quality of the Tier 1 tournament and make it an even better event.
The second question is similar to the first, "What do you think about USA Hockey using your rankings to seed teams for Nationals?" I'll be honest, I've been so busy entering game scores and continuing to work on putting out the best rankings possible that I haven't spent the time to verify this. In general, my response is that if they think it can improve the tournament, especially at the Tier 2 level, give it a shot.
This week we've put in a few thousand scores, many for teams that have qualified for Nationals but who have not been ranked to this point in time. There are still a couple teams going to Nationals that we do not have enough scores to rank, but you will find 98% in the rankings with the appropriate flag indicating they'll be at Nationals next week. For the few that are short of the ten game minimum, you can still find them using the alphabetic listing.
One quick shout out to NCAA Mens D1 Regionals that will be going on this weekend. Those who have followed Hockey Nerd for more than a couple years know I'm a huge college hockey fan and strongly encourage you to support this weekends events. They tend to be poorly attended. Let's reverse that trend.
Over the past couple days I've been asked two questions a number of times. The first is "What do you think about USA Hockey using your rankings to give out at large bids for Tier 1 teams?" To be honest, I cannot confirm what USA Hockey is, or is not, using to give out the four new at large invites this season. I can confirm that the 12 teams (four at each level) got the at large invites were the top 4 ranked teams after Week #25 that did not qualify. Probably not a coincidence, but I'm not sure what to say. The real issues are the change in format from my perspective. There had been rumors of some at large bids being used this year and those rumors proved true. I think it has the possibility to improve the overall quality of the Tier 1 tournament and make it an even better event.
The second question is similar to the first, "What do you think about USA Hockey using your rankings to seed teams for Nationals?" I'll be honest, I've been so busy entering game scores and continuing to work on putting out the best rankings possible that I haven't spent the time to verify this. In general, my response is that if they think it can improve the tournament, especially at the Tier 2 level, give it a shot.
This week we've put in a few thousand scores, many for teams that have qualified for Nationals but who have not been ranked to this point in time. There are still a couple teams going to Nationals that we do not have enough scores to rank, but you will find 98% in the rankings with the appropriate flag indicating they'll be at Nationals next week. For the few that are short of the ten game minimum, you can still find them using the alphabetic listing.
One quick shout out to NCAA Mens D1 Regionals that will be going on this weekend. Those who have followed Hockey Nerd for more than a couple years know I'm a huge college hockey fan and strongly encourage you to support this weekends events. They tend to be poorly attended. Let's reverse that trend.
