IRC National Rankings: 10/28/07

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Week 5: Recap

The 2007-2008 season is almost completely kicked off after the MCRHL played their first games this past weekend. With the ECRHA, SCHL and SECRHL in action as well, it provided many changes in the IRC National Rankings.

In Division I, Lindenwood University extended the national record for weeks ranked as tops in the country at 24. Lindenwood hasn't taken to the rink yet this season, however, this weekend they face-off against #8 UMSL in what is one of the most anticipated games of the season. Stony Brook moved into the #2 ranking this weekend after skating to their seventh consecutive victory to start the season, moving their current streak up to 28 games, the second longest in the country. #1 Lindenwood is currently on a 90 game winning streak.

Ohio State moved into the #3 spot this weekend, their highest ranking in team history after upsetting then #2 ranked Michigan State 5-4. #4 Florida remained in the top five after being idle this week. Michigan State rounds out the top five after posting a 4-1-0 record this weekend. Outscoring their opponents 46-12 MSU dominated their game before being beaten by Ohio State.

#6 Eastern Michigan and #7 Michigan both fell this week without playing a game. UMSL, Buffalo, and Cal Poly SLO round out the top 10. Colorado State, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbra all moved up to 11,12 and 13th.

North Texas joined the poll at 14 after posting a perfect 3-0-0 record this past weekend as they opened their title defense in the SCHL. NC State dropped drastically after struggling with James Madison, a team that is attempt to pound down the door at the IRC and being upset by the #10 ranked Elon Phoenix of Division II.

In Division II, The only game played in the top five this week was between then #1 Neumann and #2 West Chester. Neumann got the upper hand on West Chester, skating off with the 7-4 victory. With the loss, West Chester fell down three spots to fifth, while Truman State, Emory and Cal Poly Pomona improved one spot each.

6th through 10th stayed the same this weekend, #10 Elon lost their opportunity to move up after being upset by James Madison. However, Elon responded by defeating #8 NC State (DI) and overcoming a four goal, 1st period deficit against the College of Charleston. 11th through 15th remained the same as well, with all the teams idle in the final weekend of October.

In Division III, Nassau fell one spot to 5th after an unimpressive weekend. Nassau lost big to #2 Stony Brook (DI) and to unranked Towson (DI). Suffolk CCC moved up one spot to fourth.

In the B Division, fans were treated to their first rankings of the season, which after so many teams have yet to play, could be very volatile to start the season. Lindenwood Gold was an easy selection to open the season on top of the polls after taking home their fourth consecutive national championship last spring. Michigan State, UC Santa Barbara, Meramec Gold, and St. Charles round out the top five.

Central Florida, Michigan, Buffalo, North Texas and Colorado State round out the top ten. Buffalo and Central Florida are making only their second appearance in the top 15 in school history and both are ranked inside the top ten.

Penn State, Cal Poly SLO, Ohio State, Rutgers and Lindenwood Black finish the top 15. Penn State, Ohio State and Lindenwood Black are making their first appearances in the rankings in school history.

Stay Tuned for next weeks rankings as the Great Plains kickoff their season this weekend. The ECRHA and SCHL will be holding two events this weekend. The MCRHL, WCRHL and RMCRHA all will be in action this weekend as well.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Week 5: DI National Rankings

#1 – Lindenwood University
Last Week: 1

#2 - SUNY Stony Brook (7-0-0)
Last Week: 7

#3 - The Ohio State University (5-0-0)
Last Week: 5

#4 - University of Florida (3-0-1)
Last Week: 4

#5 - Michigan State University (4-1-0)
Last Week: 3

#6 - Eastern Michigan University
Last Week: 2

#7 – University of Michigan
Last Week: 6

#8 – University of Missouri-St.Louis
Last Week: 9

#9 - SUNY Buffalo (6-0-0)
Last Week: 10

#10 - California Polytechnic State University, SLO (4-0-0)
Last Week: 13

#11 - Colorado State University (6-0-1)
Last Week: 12

#12 - University of California, Irvine (4-0-0)
Last Week: 14

#13 - University of California, Santa Barbara (4-0-0)
Last Week: 15

#14 - University of North Texas (3-0-0)
Last Week: NR

#15 - North Carolina State University (3-1-0)
Last Week: 8

Week 5: B National Rankings

#1 – Lindenwood University - Gold
Last Week: 1

#2 – Michigan State University (4-0-0)
Last Week: 4

#3 – UC Santa Barbara Gold (3-0-1)
Last Week: 8

#4 – STL Community College - Meramec Gold
Last Week: 2

#5 – St. Charles Community College
Last Week: 5

#6 – University of Central Florida (4-0-0)
Last Week: 15

#7 – University of Michigan
Last Week: 8

#8 - State University of New York at Buffalo (5-0-1)
Last Week: NR

#9 - North Texas University (3-0-0)
Last Week: 14

#10 - Colorado State University (6-0-1)
Last Week: 10

#11 - Penn State University (5-0-1)
Last Week: NR

#12 - Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Gold (3-0-1)
Last Week: NR

#13 - Ohio State University (3-1-0)
Last Week: NR

#14 - Rutgers University (2-1-0)
Last Week: 10

#15 - Lindenwood University Black
Last Week: NR

Week 5: DII National Rankings

#1 – Neumann College (5-0-0)
Last Week: 1

#2 – Truman State University
Last Week: 3

#3 – Emory University
Last Week: 4

#4 - Cal Poly Pomona (4-0-0)
Last Week: 5

#5 – West Chester University (3-1-0)
Last Week: 2

#6 - Saint Louis University
Last Week: 6

#7 - University of California, San Diego (3-1-0)
Last Week: 7

#8 – Missouri State University
Last Week: 8

#9 – Washington University (STL)
Last Week: 9

#10 – Elon University (3-1-0)
Last Week: 10

#11 – California State University, San Bernardino (3-1-0)
Last Week: 11

#12 - University of Louisiana at Lafayette (3-0-0)
Last Week: 12

#13 - Shippensburg University (8-3-0)
Last Week: 13

#14 - Slippery Rock University (5-1-0)
Last Week: 14

#15 – University of Nevada, Reno (2-1-1)
Last Week: 15

Week 5: DIII National Rankings

#1 – St. Charles Community College
Last Week: 1

#2 – Broward Community College (2-1-1)
Last Week: 2

#3 – Arapahoe County Community College (6-1-0)
Last Week: 3

#4 – Suffolk County Community College (1-1-1)
Last Week: 5

#5 – Nassau County Community College (6-3-0)
Last Week: 4

The Rankings Explained

Since the conclusion of the season both founders set out to find the best solution to answer the age old question, “Who’s #1?” After much search, the answer was to use a mathematical formula to calculate the answer. Removing the human element from the voting would likely result in less biased rankings towards individual teams and regions.

The solution would be found in the ELO chess rating system. They system was created to rank chess players by another means that wins, losses and draws. The system uses a mathematical formula to reward each person for impressive feats and punish them for lesser impressive feats. Because chess and inline hockey are two different animals, the general equation had to be changed to allow for more hockeys related factors into the equation.

Using the FIFA Women’s World Rankings as a guideline (Elo Based), we managed to change the rankings to suit the nature of our sport. The rankings include the importance of the game, the outcome of the game, the expected result of the game, and the goal differential of the game when calculating a result. To better explain the way the rankings work I give you the following examples (all team start with a ranking of 1500):

Lindenwood University (1500) vs. UMSL (1500): If Lindenwood won the regular season game 4-3; they would be awarded 15 points for the victory and UMSL would be docked 15 points. However, if the game was won 12-2, Lindenwood would earn 39.38 points for the victory and UMSL would be docked 39.38 points. Additionally, the importance of the game could change, using the national title game as the example, with both teams having equal ratings Lindenwood would be awarded 52.5 points for a 6-3 win.

However, as you could assume, two teams having the same rating would be rare. Each teams point total carries over from one week to the next and from one season to the next. The following is a example of two teams with different point values and the different results it can produce.

Lindenwood University (1746.38) vs. Illinois State (1360.88): There are a few things that you can determine because of the vast difference in each teams rating (385.5). The first is that Lindenwood is expected to win the game. The second is that Illinois State winning the game would be a much bigger accomplishment that Lindenwood winning the game. The maximum points Lindenwood can earn from this game is 7.72, which would mean they won by at least 10 goals. However, on the flip side, if Illinois State was to win the game by at least 10 goals they could earn as many as 71.03 points. This is based on the projection that Lindenwood would win the match-up 90% of the time.

As the two examples show, there are a bunch of positives when using this system. For starters, once a team has achieved a high rating, it becomes difficult for them to increase it without playing a higher level of competition. This rewards regions that have more competitive teams. It also rewards teams who travel out of the region and win games against other higher rated teams. For example, last season, Towson and Army both played James Madison who would have had a higher rating that both visiting teams. In the games, Army and Towson both won handily and would have increased their ratings while negatively hurting James Madison. But, the hidden bonus is they now can bring those rating points back into their region. Those points then become spread out over the entire region as the season progresses and teams win and lose.

For the ratings system to work, each game has to have a certain amount of value attached to it. In the system we will be using five different levels to rate the importance of any give game. The first level is the lowest level of importance; it contains all pre-season exhibition games. The second level includes all regular-season regional games, as well as cross-divisional exhibition games. Level three includes all cross-regional games and invitational based tournaments, like WinterFest. The fourth level includes all regional playoff games and the fifth and final level includes all national playoff games.