December 14, 2012
2013 Inter-Regional Cup Draw Announced
The ECRHA is proud to announce the draw
for the 2013 Inter-regional Cup to be held on January 26th
& 27th at Hot Shots Sports Arena in Mount Pleasant,
PA.
To conduct the draw, teams were divided
into two pools. The ECRHA Pool which included the following teams:
Neumann, West Chester, Pittsburgh, Towson, Rowan, Stony Brook and
Temple. The NCRHA Pool included the following teams: Lindenwood,
Bethel, George Mason, Michigan State, Ohio State, Eastern Michigan
and Buffalo. As the two highest ranked Division I teams, as per NCRHA
Coast to Coast rankings, Nuemann and Lindenwood were awarded first
round byes in their respective pools.
The first round will consist of six
games, the first of which will be Towson vs Eastern Michigan. These
teams have not met on the floor since 2009, so it should be mostly
new faces when they square off. The teams have split the all-time
series at 1-1, with Towson coming out on top 6-5 in the most recent
meeting. The winner will have a meeting with Neumann in the second
round.
The defending national champions,
Bethel University will open against Rowan University. The teams have
never met previously, but Bethel would have to be considered a heavy
favorite. The winner of the contest will take on the winner of the
Temple/George Mason contest, which will be played at the same time.
Temple and George Mason met last season and it ended in a 5-5 tie,
that won't happen this time around as the game will head to overtime
if things aren't settled after regulation.
On the side of the bracket, Michigan
State will square off against Stony Brook in the first round, after
handing Stony Brook a 7-0 defeat last season, Michigan State will be
expected to win this meeting as well. If they can avoid an upset,
they will find long time rival Lindenwood awaiting them in the second
round in what would be an extremely exciting contest.
In what is probably the most exciting
match-up in the first round, Ohio State and West Chester will meet up
in a rematch of a round robin game from last season at nationals. In
that game, West Chester tied things up with five seconds remaining,
who would have won had it gone the distance, we will never know, but
the winner of this contest will face off against the winners of
Pittsburgh vs Buffalo.
Pittsburgh and Buffalo have already met
twice this season, with Pittsburgh coming out on top both times, the
first contest was a close 3-2 meeting, the second was an 8-3
decision.
After the first round, anything can
happen in a double elimination format, can a team that suffers and
early defeat rally and go through the struggle that will be the
losers bracket? Only time will tell.
The B Division schedule has also been
posted and there are some exciting games scattered throughout the
schedule, including rivals Lindenwood and Michigan State meeting at
12pm on Sunday just before the DI Final, talk about an awesome
contest to set the mood.
Stay tuned to www.ecrha.net
for details and information regarding inter-regional and the
remainder of the regular season.