Any last minute predictions for this rankings period? This seems to be the first year in a long time that there are about 20 legit teams contending for 1 of the top 10 spots.

I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and will have a Happy New Year!

1. Davenport
2. GVSU
3. Michigan State
4. DePaul
5. Lindenwood
6. St. Thomas
7. Michigan
8. Iowa
9. Illinois
10. Missouri State
11. Robert Morris College - Maroon
12. Central Michigan
13. Illinois State
14. Ferris State
15. Minnesota

Recieving Votes: Northern Michigan, Kansas, Mizzou, Wisconsin-Platteville

Thoughts?

WSR's projection almost nailed it.

How does Kansas get votes over SIUE. Kansas was swept by SIUE and Mizzou and is in 8th place in the MACHA.

SLU is eligible for DII regionals even though they are not eligible for MACHA playoffs. What I don't get is why three MACHA teams who are below SLU in the standings are either in the rankings or got votes.

SLU has more wins then any of them with games in hand over all of them. How does Mizzou, Kansas, and ISU get votes over SLU?

Just some things that didn't make sense when I looked.

I'm still baffled at how Wisconsin-Platteville and Northern Michigan are getting votes. Who are the ranker(s) deciding not to vote for in order to get those 2 teams in?

Isn't SLU a first year D2 team? I know they have been with ACHA for over a decade, but I believe they just transfered to D2 which would make them ineligible for Regionals and Nationals. They could still be ranked though. SLU is 7-9 overall though, so they have no reason to be ranked. They may be high in MACHA standings but that is not all that counts.

I dont understand where they are deciding things, but st thomas moved up 2 spots from 8 i believe with their only quality games against depaul, which was a split. Depaul stays at #4 after splitting with #8 and #12. And ISU #12 moves to #13, with a split and a +1 goal differential against the #4. This is all screwy to me and I have no idea why some things are the way they are.

I agree, ISU got ripped off. But they have chances to show what they have vs. RMC-Maroon, Iowa, and Lindenwood. Should be a great five weeks to finish the season.

If a team does what SLU did moving back down to D2 then they are eligible for post season in ACHA.

too bad they are 7-9

The majority of those losses came from D1 teams, Lindenwood, Iowa State, and Central Oklahoma all highly ranked in D1...Dont think those losses should hurt them much bc half the D2 teams wouldnt survive after playing those teams anyway

well that makes them 7-11 then, because they didnt have ISU scores on there. and when they lost to these D1 teams, they didn't come close!

I COULD BE WRONG>.... BUT!

I heard that Ferris State Beat Davenport... How come they are only ranked 14?

KANSAS Beat Iowa... Thats why

Well, as to Ferris being ranked: You don't start the season 0-9 with losses to Michigan, Michigan State and Davenport and expect to be ranked. Despite their one win against Davenport, that one game does not rank you! Remember the criteria: Good wins vs bad losses and over all record, etc. A sub .500 record (Michigan State excluded) won't get you ranked.

(#9) U of I dropped 3 games to (#9 West)UNLV this past weekend...looks like the 9 and 10 spots are opening up.

So U of I loses three times (?) to #9 ranked UNLV and the MSU JV team played the #3 and #5 West ranked teams to very close losses (actually led into the 3rd period against the #3 team.) I think they deserve a vote!

Lets not get crazy here

UNLV plays both of those teams (university of Colorado AND Northern Colorado this weekend.) If UNLV loses by more than 2 goals in either game then I say MSU JV gets a vote. (I only want one.) At that point I also want an apology from you for calling me crazy.

MSU's first team is currently tumbling in the rankings. What makes you think MSU JV could get a vote (by the way the west is awful, who is the next best team they beat?)and why would you want them to knowing it could affect the number of votes the First team gets? If second teams start getting votes when the first team is below number 4 in the rankings just doesn't make sense. QUIT BEGGING!

"by the way the west is awful" Riddle me this, the West's 9th ranked teams beat's our 9th ranked team 3 times, including one real convincing thrashing and the west is awful????? I'll quit begging if you start making some sense.

IU lost by a 13 goal differential in the 3 game series. How is the West awful?

(M2) Illinois, University of 6 @ (M2) Nevada-Las Vegas, University of 8 Jan 09, 2009 Details
(M2) Illinois, University of 4 @ (M2) Nevada-Las Vegas, University of 8 Jan 10, 2009 Details
(M2) Illinois, University of 2 @ (M2) Nevada-Las Vegas, University of 9 Jan 11, 2009 Details

Florida Gulf Coast 14
U of Illinois 4

Yikes...when it rains it pours; they have to be out of the top 10, top 13 may be a stretch...

I never said U of I deserved to be ranked either... I think its a miracle they lasted this long. Not playing anybody definitey helps. MSU JV did have a better showing against a better team in the west but in my opinion niether MSU JV or U of I deserves to be ranked... Don't know what the rankings comittee was smoking when the ranked u of i in the first place. Honestly its a joke, but now at least that mistake will be corrected. Also if you want to know whether or not the west is weak just ask anybody who knows anything about the ACHA, I'm sure even Kich would back me up on that one.

Cool your jets 4:30. Everything will even out by the 5th ranking. Teams go up, teams go down. The way things are going, St. Thomas and Illinois will probably drop in the end. You may see CMU or dare I say it...Ferris creep up.

Again, that's why the ranking period is all season long, so teams that perhaps started off bad, can regain their form and make the Top 10.

MSU lost a couple close ones to lower ranked teams, Iowa lost in OT to an unraked div 2 team! Hmm...

using the logic... didn't msu lose to iowa? hmmmm

I am not saying in that sentance that msu is a better team than iowa, just that msu might still have a chance to stay in the top ten rankings. Iowa also lost their second highest scorer, their captain, and they are in need of a goalie.

Iowa might be "in need of a goalie" but the one they have is as good as anyone in the league, and he's only a freshman. True, the loss of a couple of their players changes things but Iowa also added a couple players who show some promise. Stay tuned.

Thought I would finish this off with the results of the two games involving UNLV.

M2) Nevada-Las Vegas, University of 6 @ (M2) Colorado, University of 10

(M2) Nevada-Las Vegas, University of 1 @ (M2) Northern Colorado, University of 6 Jan 23

So the goal differential was greater than the two that was referenced. MSU JV actually played both of these teams much tougher than the current #9 Gold ranked UofI team. Hmmm

There aren't two common opponents there. Stupid analogy.

Oh - don't be so hard on yourself.

i'll make this simple for you. When you first can just destroy every silver team, or at least beat a gold team, you won't be considered for a vote. This is just retarded

Almost as retarded as the self-serving claims that the west is a weak region. Nice clain until two teams ranked exactly the same in central and west meet and the central team is destroyed by the west team.

Say what you want but it's interesting none the less that the silver team in this instance looks to be a much better team than the 9th ranked gold team. Can't prove it but on the surface it can't be effectively argued against eoither so don't try.

There's a whole lot of craziness going on here.

No where is there proof that MSU-JV is a whole lot better than Illinois.

No proof, just some prima facie evidence.

"much better team than the 9th ranked gold team"....ILLINOIS?!? 9th ranked is Iowa....idiot

When you call someone an idiot because you think they have their facts wrong and it ends up that you are the one with the wrong facts. What does that make you an uber-idiot?

Per the ACHA website:
1 Davenport (14) 12
2 Grand Valley 24
3 Michigan State 38
4 DePaul 48
5 Lindenwood 62
6 St. Thomas 82
7 Michigan 95
8 Iowa 111
9 Illinois 112
10 Missouri State Maroon 132
11 Robert Morris Maroon 139
12 Central Michigan 143
13 Illinois State Redbirds 144
14 Ferris State 154
15 Minnesota 178

If people think MSU's JV team is so good, then let the JV team take the varsity teams place and play Mizzou next weekend.

That's not gonna work for obvious reasons but the JV team now has an open weekend in February because of a team suspending operations. I'm know they are looking for a team to come down and play them. How about a gold team? They would be exhibition games and the JV team would need their two players back from varsity but heck it might be fun and it would put an end to this discussion one way or the other.

JV team was willing to play ranked gold teams out west, so I'm sure their game for it, any takers? I realize it's pretty much a win-win for the JV team. If they lose, they should, if they win it makes whoever plays them look really bad. For that plus the cost reasons I'm sure their aren't any takers but heck it's worth asking. Contact Stan if your looking for extra games.

What gold team would have an open weekend at this point in the season?

Sucks when a team can't meet their obligations. Looked like Western started the season with a thin roster, they obviously should have waited a year to get their organization in better shape. Now others will suffer. Finding someone with an opening in their schedule AND surplus money for a unscheduled road trip to Springfield probably numbers around zero teams.