February 4, 2009
Updated Playoff Standings
Division I, II, III and B
Cockeysville, Md - With only two weekends remaining in the season and plenty of games to be played, much can changed before the 2008-2009 ECRHA Regional Champions. Currently there are many exciting races shaping up in what should be a seesaw of a final two weeks.
In Division I, Buffalo currently sits in first place, but Rutgers has three games in hand which could put them over the top for the top seed. The only certain thing is that Rutgers and Buffalo will be the top two seeds. If Rutgers just wins two of the final three games, they will be the regular season champion.
1- Buffalo (30 Pts) - Finished
2- Rutgers (27 Pts) - Penn State, Hofstra, Pittsburgh
The next two seeds will be tough to determine, but barring a total collapse by both teams and perfect finished by Stony Brook and Penn State, Rhode Island and Towson will hold the next two seeds for regionals. Towson has two games remaining, while Rhode Island has the upper hand with three contests to go. Rhode Island controls their own destiny, with the ability to win out and claim the 3rd seed outright.
3- Towson (21 Pts) - Pittsburgh, Penn State
4- Rhode Island (20 Pts) - Connecticut, Nassau, Stony Brook
Penn State and Stony Brook are the final teams who have already clinched a bid to the regional championships. Where they end up from there will be anyone's guess. Penn State could climb as high as 3rd place if everything happens perfectly, but will definitely fall in the 3-6 range. Stony Brook at this stage could finish as high as fourth but no lower than 7th.
5- Penn State (15 Pts) - Rutgers, Towson, Hofstra
6- Stony Brook (12 Pts) - Suffolk, Nassau, Rhode Island, Connecticut
The next four teams, West Point, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Hofstra are all position to still make regionals, but have no room for error. Hofstra, who only has one victory on the season, would need to win out and get tons help on the way, including taking over some tiebreakers they are currently falling behind in. Pittsburgh and Connecticut are currently in the position where they can win there way into the playoffs. Connecticut will clinch a regionals bid with just a single victory, while Pittsburgh, most likely will need all three wins to qualify. West Point, who has finished the season with 9pts, will have to wait and see how the cards fall. Currently they are in 7th place, but could finished the season on the outside looking in.
7 - West Point (9 Pts) - Finished
8 - Connecticut (8 Pts) - Rhode Island, Suffolk, Stony Brook
9 - Pittsburgh (4 Pts) - Towson, Hofstra, Rutgers
10 - Hofstra (3 Pts) - Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Penn State
In Division II, Neumann College currently sits in first place, with 30 points, but West Chester is lurking behind with three games in hand, trailing only by three points. West Chester will finish this weekend with three games, and just two victories will clinch them the top spot at regionals.
1 - Neumann (30 Pts) - Finished
2 - West Chester (27 Pts) - Cornell, Brockport, Binghamton
Shippensburg currently sits in third place, but with their season finished, Brockport and Rowan are both in position to overtake the top spot of the final pool at regionals. Brockport can pass Shippensburg with three victories in the final four games, including games against both Rowan and West Chester who currently sit ahead of them in the standings. Rowan just needs two victories to jump Shippensburg in the final three games.
3 - Shippensburg (27 Pts) - Finished
4 - Rowan (24 Pts) - Brockport, Binghamton, Cornell
5 - Brockport (22 Pts) - Rowan, West Chester, Binghamton, Ramapo
The 6th through 10th bids to regionals have already been clinched, but at this point it is a matter of who will be seeded where. Drexel, Slippery Rock and Millersville concluded their seasons last weekend and will have to wait on the results of the final two weeks to determine what seed they will fall to. Cornell and Binghamton both will be in action this weekend in Harrisburg and each point earned will help them shake out where they will be come regionals.
6 - Drexel (21 Pts) - Finished
7 - Slippery Rock (20 Pts) - Finished
8 - Cornell (18 Pts) - West Chester, Ramapo, Rowan
9 - Millersville (16 Pts) - Finished
10 - Binghamton (14 Pts) - Ramapo, Rowan, Brockport, West Chester
The final two bids to the regional tournament will be the hardest to decide. Currently five teams sit within striking distance of each other with one event remaining. Ramapo is all but eliminated from contention, needing an nearly impossible string of things to happen to keep any hopes alive. Glastonbury, CT will host what amounts to a playoff event for the final five teams. Albany, Boston, Maine, Vermont and Temple will slug things out at the Z-Rink to determine who will be heading to Feasterville for regionals. Albany and Boston currently hold the advantage, but the scenarios will change after each game goes final.
11 - Albany (9 Pts) - Vermont, Temple, Boston
12 - Boston (7 Pts) - Temple, Maine, Albany
13 - Maine (5 Pts) - Vermont, Temple, Boston
14 - Vermont (5 Pts) - Temple, Maine, Albany
15 - Temple (4 Pts) - Albany, Boston, Maine, Vermont
16 - Ramapo (2 Pts) - Brockport, Cornell, Binghamton
In Division III, Loyola has clinched the first Division III regular season championship and the top seed for the regional tournament. The final four spots will be figured out during the last two events of the season. This season, Division III will compete in a double-elimination tournament. The winners bracket champion will play the playback bracket champion in a single elimination championship game to determine the DIII Champion. All five DIII teams will make the tournament.
1 - Loyola (18 Pts) - Finished
2 - Delaware (10 Pts) - Binghamton B, Cortland, Scranton
3 - Scranton (10 Pts) - Cortland, West Chester B, Delaware
4 - Cortland (6 Pts) - Scranton, Delaware, Cornell B
5 - Syracuse (4 Pts) - Finished
In the B Division, six bids to regionals have already been claimed and there are plenty of teams vying for the final spots. Buffalo has clinched the top seed for the tournament, and West Chester is in position to claim the top spot in the other pool. Suffolk Gold still has an outside chance to overtake West Chester, but would need some help from other teams to make it happen. Towson, Penn State and Drexel round out the other teams who have clinched.
1 - Buffalo (30 Pts) - Finished
2 - West Chester (23 Pts) - Cornell, Scranton (DIII), Binghamton
3 - Towson (22 Pts) - Finished
4 - Penn State (21 Pts) - Finished
5 - Drexel (20 Pts) - Finished
6 - Suffolk Gold (19 Pts) - Finished
The final two spots are currently held by Rutgers and Stony Brook. But pretty much everyone but Binghamton has a chance to sneak into the final spot if they have a good showing in their final event. Hofstra has very small odds of making the playoffs, but if they win out and things fall there way, you never know. The final pecking order will be hard to even theorize at this point, but the positive for everyone but Rutgers is they have games left to play. Rutgers, currently sitting in 7th place is only squad who doesn't control their own destiny and will be hoping for teams to beat up on one another in order to hold onto the final spot.
7 - Rutgers (12 Pts) - Finished
8 - Stony Brook (11 Pts) - Suffolk Blue, Suffolk Gold, Temple
9 - Temple (9 Pts) - Suffolk Blue, Suffolk Gold, Hofstra, Stony Brook
10 - Suffolk Blue (9 Pts) - Stony Brook, Hofstra, Temple
11 - Cornell (8 Pts) - West Chester, Binghamton, Cortland (DIII)
12 - Hofstra (6 Pts) - Suffolk Blue, Suffolk Gold, Temple
13 - Binghamton (0 Pts) - Delaware (DIII), Cornell, West Chester
In Junior College action, Nassau will take on Suffolk County for the third straight season in a best of three series. Nassau defeated Suffolk in three games last year, winning the decisive game 10-6. Suffolk won the 2007 title taking the series in two games, including a 11-7 decision in the decisive game. Suffolk leads the season series 2-0, winning 8-5 and 6-3 in two games. Suffolk leads the all-times series, 9-4-1.