Our new PUCK Rankings are a weird beast. They give a lot of respect to teams that don’t lose often despite the strength of their opponents, and no respect for losing teams despite their “brand name” reputations. Sometimes it has a heart. It knows when a team had a tough loss and takes it into consideration. That being said when you lose a couple of times, especially to a weak team, you get yourself knocked down or off the rankings fairly quickly, especially this early in the season.

New Hampshire and TAFKAF make their debuts on CHN Blog’s PUCK Rankings this week, and we bid adieu to Michigan Tech who we had hoped was the real deal but was punished badly after back-to-back losses to Colorado College over the weekend. The same goes for defending ECAC Co-Champ Dartmouth who was swept by Clarkson and SLU. Cornell benefits from it’s undefeated record, but a loss from Harvard or Dartmouth could see it slide dramatically.

It’s a work in progress.. Things will only become more clear grasshoppers.
CHN Blog “PUCK” Rankings
November 6, 2006

One of the things I’ve found with this season so far is that I’m always looking forward to checking out the scores because anything and everything seems to happen. Having the scores CHN Wireless Scoreboard has made it even better, with the exception of the data fees that I accrue by refreshing constantly.

Some of the games and thoughts that had me watching the cell phone this weekend:

• Michigan State beating Michigan 7-4 on Friday night, which comes as no surprise to Spartan Fans, but then Michigan taking their first in nine games the following night 6-2.
• Ok, so maybe not true on the phone for Friday, because I was there, but definitely on Saturday, Clarkson sweeping on the road for the first time in four years, knocking off Harvard and Dartmouth, while maintaining one of the most potent offenses in the country.
• St. Lawrence also opening the ECAC slate with a sweep. Big deal for suCh a young team.
• UMass makess our PUcK Rankings, then sweeps Providence. That really makes us feel good. UMass has had a very solid opening few weeks, and I still feel they’re underrated.
• Michigan Tech getting swept by Colorado College. Is their ranking in jeopardy? Did everyone overhype and is this the letdown, or was this just a little stumbling block?
• Boston University coming back to tie Maine on Saturday Night after being down 2-0 early on.
• How about those Fighting Irish? A win and a tie against Ohio State. They’re still on fire.
• Alaska. Still undefeated in CCHA play.

It’s just a month into the season, and already we’ve seen a lot of interesting and unusual things.

Take Providence, for instance. Despite faltering down the stretch last season, the Friars certainly seemed much improved under first-year coach and fan-favorite alum Tim Army.

PC was slated to open with five straight at home this year, against Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Bowling Green, Notre Dame and Merrimack. Five quite winnable games.

You wouldn’t have blamed any Friar fan for thinking a 5-0 start was in the cards, but instead, the faithful were left confused and confounded when PC managed only one win in those five games, 4-2 over SLU. Even Merrimack, which won only three of 27 league games a year ago — including a season-ending win in Providence — tacked another loss onto the home club’s record.

Fast forward to last night, with No. 3 Boston College in town — fresh off an impressive sweep of defending NCAA champion Wisconsin. But a 2-0 Eagle lead after one didn’t hold up. PC outshot BC, 33-19, over the last two periods (42-29 on the night), buried four of the next five goals, and iced it with the empty-netter for a 5-3 win over Cory Schneider and the Eagles.

So suddenly, all is right in Providence, and it’s the Eagles who are back to shaking their heads — not for the first time this season either, with that terrific performance in Madison contrasted by confounding defeats to Notre Dame and PC.

It may be no consolation to fans of these teams, but early on this season, there seems to be more parity — if you want to call it that — than I can ever remember. We’re just a few games in and already only one non-Ivy remains undefeated (Maine, 6-0-0), with only two still seeking their first win (AIC, 0-5-0; Bemidji State, 0-3-1). There have been more upsets in a few weeks than we had in almost all of last season.

It’s going to be very interesting to see if this continues.