Sports

Gophers' schedule so far toughest out of 58 Division I teams

Another WCHA beat guy just sent me a tip today that I should have known. The Gophers have played the baddest, roughest schedule of any college team in the nation, according to KRACH, a college hockey ratings system. So cast stones on the Gophermen if you want for being 9th in the WCHA, but they have played many of the top teams in the country.

By Roman Augustoviz

December 4, 2009 at 8:28PM

KRACH stands for "Ken's Ratings for American College Hockey". It is the implementation of a sophisticated mathematical model known as the Bradley-Terry rating system, first applied to college hockey by a statistician named Ken Butler.

College Hockey News endorses KRACH as a way of determining the relative strength of one team to another.

So just looking at strength of schedule, these 10 teams have played the hardest schedules so far:

1. Minnesota, 328.2

2. St, Cloud State, 302.5

3. Michigan Tech, 291.1

4. Northern Michigan, 279.9

5, Ohio State, 262.4

6, Miami, 247.8

7. Vermont, 244.4

8. Wisconsin, 237.8

9, New Hampshire, 234.4

10. Denver, 232.7

Don't ask me what the numbers mean. I don't know. What is somewhat clear is that the Gophers' schedule is quite a bit tougher than anyboy's and Minnesota, St. Cloud State and Michigan Tech, all WCHA teams, are out there by themselves.

The numbers really start bunching up aroung Nos. 5 and 6,

There are five WCHA teams in the top 10.

KARCH also rates teams and has the Gophers No. 18.

Why is the Gophers' SOS (strength of schedule) so high? They have played all the big dogs in the WCHA --- DU, NoDAK, Wisconsin and UMD -- except CC. They have also played Bemidji State which continues to surprise and a solid Michigan State team.

Michigan is down around .500, but still has some fight (6-0 rout over U, hard to forget). The weak link in the Gophers' schedule so far is Alaska Anchorage, a team the Gophers swept. But even AA is not a pushover. It has wins over teams such as NoDak and CC.

ASK THE ROMAN

Frequently I get e-mails from ... OK, once in a blue moon, I get e-mails from Goal Gophers blog readers asking me questions or with requests. Here is the latest from a sad, forlorn, wish-we-could-go-back-in-time Gophers fan:

I'd like to hear what some of the current godfathers of the program REALLY think of the state of the team. Nanne, Sonmor, Woog, and other older prominent former players Brotens, etc. Do they think the program has potential to snap out of their 3 year slide or if more extreme measures need to happen? It's easy to see the few comments from commoners like myself, but it would be meaningful if there was a true groundswell of angst coming from people of influence. I used to be a season ticket holder, but to be honest, I'd rather watch a good H.S. game. -- BK (full name withheld because person didn't know I would put his/her thoughts on my blog) Roman says: Great idea for an inside the Gophers expose. I would like to read that myself -- Oh, since its my beat, I guess I have to write it first.. Hope it comes out as well as the story idea sounds.