Can’t believe we’re already at the conclusion of week 12 and about to begin week 13 of the hockey season (weeks in terms of playing weeks, not overall). We’re starting to see some teams catching fire, whilst others fading as of late. It’s not always about how you start, but how you finish, as ultimately the conference tournament can earn you a bid whether you performed well during the regular season or not.
Elmira figuring it out?
Elmira has been a fascinating story this season, starting off a hot 7-0-0, winning all but one via shutout. They then hit the nucleus of their schedule, facing six ranked teams in their next eight games, five of those games being a top-7 ranked opponent. They went 1-5 during that stretch, including a 7-0 loss to Plattsburgh and a 6-0 loss to Norwich (both consolation tournament games). It looked like their season was taking a wrong turn until as of late, they’ve strung some good wins together. The Soaring Eagles have won their last five games, including wins over #7 Norwich (3-2) & #12 Nazareth (3-2 OT) to improve their record to 14-5-0 on the season (#12 in pairwise).
Head Coach Jake Bobrowski talked about some of his team’s struggles in the first half especially versus ranked opponents and how the team has come around as of late: “I think there were a lot of things going on in the first half. Travel schedules, injury & illness, we didn’t say much about it publicly, but we had a ton of adversity to overcome. I think an example is when we lose 7-0 to Plattsburgh and then the next time it’s an overtime game. We had our lineup back healthy and prepared. I think that’s who we are when we’re healthy and locked in; we can play with anyone.”
Coach Bobrowski then added: “I think a continuation of health and hard work and maybe finally some puck luck. We are healthier and hopefully we can peak at the right time. Every game will be a battle, we know that.”
Elmira’s next games are this weekend 1/27-1/28 on the road vs Johnson & Wales on Friday and then UMass-Boston on Saturday.
A fun Tuesday night
#7 Hamilton (12-3-0) visited #13 Utica (14-1-1) on Tuesday, January 24th for a midweek game that preseason may have been circled by each team, especially Utica, but it turned out to have higher implications than originally thought. Hamilton entered the game with a lot of tough tests behind them, most tests they passed with flying colors (ranked opponents), whilst Utica was a mystery to many. I’ve been high on Utica and was in the preseason, I still feel as though #13 for them is too low, we’ll see if they move up at all, but this team is different to me and will show everyone once the UCHC playoffs begin, possibly getting over that final hump of Nazareth that’s been in the way.
This game was even on the scoreboard, but by no means even on the stat sheet. Hamilton jumped out to a 2-0 lead after scoring a quick pair of goals in the 2nd period that were 44 seconds apart, 11:09 & 11:53. Utica would answer however with a quick pair of their own similar to Hamilton’s in the 3rd period. The Pioneers scored a powerplay goal at the 3:31 mark and then just 34 seconds later they scored the even strength tying goal to eventually send the game to overtime, which ended with a 2-2 tie.
The statistical landslide was in favor of the Continentals of Hamilton, outshooting Utica 54-11 and only committing three penalties to Utica’s six. The difference was Utica goaltender Angela Hawthorne, who’s having an outstanding year so far, making 52 saves on the 54 shots she faced and kept the game within reach for her team.
Utica is now unbeaten in their last 16 games (14-0-2) after they also swept Manhattanville 4-0 & 3-1 over this past weekend. Their next games are this weekend on the road at Neumann on 1/27-28 and 4pm/2pm.
A look at pairwise
As mentioned before multiple times, this time of year is when pairwise becomes the end all be all especially in women’s hockey. Unlike the men’s side, where the committee seems to take into consideration other factors at times, you might as well call the pairwise ranking the bible of the women’s tournament. Consistently, we’ve seen the difference between the last at-large bid team and the first team left out, to be as little as one tenth, hundredth, or even thousandth of a percentage point.
Looking back at last season, we saw Colby receive the last at-large bid over Cortland, now there’s a fair argument to be made for both teams to get in, but Colby held on to the last spot by around a hundredth of a point or so ahead of Cortland. The way these two teams finished the season is the main sign that nearly proves pairwise is the bible of the women’s selections, Colby was 16-6-1, Cortland was 18-6-1. Colby ended the season 1-3-1 in their last five games and lost in the NESCAC semifinal, granted, to #3 Amherst, but they finished the season below-par. Cortland on the other hand, was 3-2 in their last five games and took Plattsburgh to overtime and lost 4-3 in the NEWHL championship. Obviously, there’s room for debate on either side of the isle, but regardless of your opinion, situations like this have shown more and more that pairwise is the end all be all for women’s D-III hockey whether we like it that way or not.
Other Notable Results
#3 Plattsburgh defeated Canton 1-0 & Williams 2-1.
#4 Amherst defeated #8 Norwich 5-0 and swept Wesleyan, winning 6-0 & 3-1.
#6 Middlebury swept Bowdoin, winning 4-2 & 3-1.
#8 Norwich defeated Plymouth St. 2-0 and Castleton 3-0, also lost to #4 Amherst 5-0.
#10 Colby split with Williams, winning 2-0 and losing 3-1.
Oswego defeated Buffalo St. 3-1 & Morrisville 3-2.
Suffolk swept Curry, winning 4-1 & 6-1.
Trinity swept #14 Connecticut College, winning both games in OT 1-0 & 3-2.
