Polling

One has to wonder what people are thinking when they vote in polls. This week Boston University is #17 in the country in the USCHO college hockey poll. Now those who have not followed this season might think, "Oh, BU must be having a bit of a rough start as they are defending national champions". That sentiment is right but the ranking is not.

BU is 2-5-0. You read that correctly. They have 5 losses, are three games under .500, and on top of that are in last place in Hockey East. This team is also #17 in the nation. How? Name recognition. People are voting on what they think BU will do later and not what they are doing now. This is the classic problem with early season polls. Because BU started the year so high voters think they can't possible be as bad as their record so they still give them votes and get them in the poll.

I know this might sound like sour grapes from a die-hard BC hockey fan but I would like to think I would be just as outraged if Wisconsin were 2-5 and still ranked. No other team in the top 20 has more than 4 losses (that team is Michigan and is getting excused for two of those losses since they came to early season juggernaught Miami). No other team in the top 20 has a losing record never mind 3 games under. BU's two victories are an overtime squeaker against Lowell and a close 3-2 decision over Michigan. This past weekend BU was shut out by "Others receiving votes" team Northeastern who was waxed by BC the next night and lost to a Maine team nowhere to be found in the rankings.

This post is not designed to bash BU (I'll save that for when we get closer to the Fenway game and the Beanpot). They are a very good team that lost a lot last year in Colin Wilson, Matt Gilroy, Jason Lawrence, and Brandon Yip. I think, like BC in 2008-09, BU underestimated how difficult it would be replace those departing players and the production and leadership. They are still an immensely talented roster that is just trying to find the winning combination right now. When Nick Bonino returns from injury it will provide a boost that will more than likely get them back to winning games. But right now, at this moment, this team is struggling to score and to win games. They are not currently one of the top 20 teams in the nation. We've seen it all season in college football and not it has moved to the ice that name recognition is getting votes instead of in-game production. I do have to give Insidecollegehockey.com credit not only for dropping BU from their Power Rankings this week but calling out USCHO.com for having the Terriers ranked 17th.