The hockey Buckeye's are officially #1 in the NCAA Men's D1 Pairwise Rankings.
For those that may be asking, what in the h-e-doublehockeysticks is a "pairwise"? Well, let me help ya out courtesy of USCHO.com:
The PairWise Rankings (PWR) are a statistical tool designed to approximate the process by which the NCAA selection committee decides which teams get at-large bids to the 16-team NCAA tournament. Although the NCAA selection committee does not use the PWR as presented by USCHO.com, the PWR has been accurate in predicting which teams will make the tournament field.
For a more in-depth explanation check out this link.
Basically - the Buckeyes are in GREAT shape to make the NCAA tournament this year.
To put things into perspective, they haven't made the tournament since 2009. In fact, since their program began in 1963, they have only made the tournament 6 times (1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009). To take it a step further, they have only won their conference tournament twice (1972 and 2004) and made the Frozen Four once (1998).
So what they are currently doing now hasn't happened very often for this program. What they are doing now is unprecedented as far as I can tell. They have only 1 loss in their past 14 games. Their 14 wins with 14 games still remaining is already one less win than their win total from each of the past two seasons. Heck, they've only managed more than 15 total wins in 1 of the past 6 seasons!
Here are some rankings from three major college hockey polls right now:
USCHO.com
Rank: 2
USAToday.com
Rank: 2
InsideCollegHockey.com
Rank: 2
The Buckeyes have 14 games remaining, all against CCHA opponents. Combined league record of those seven foes: 38-45-13
I've always enjoyed this level of hockey and make it a point to get out to at least a couple of games a year. I've said it before earlier this year, this is BY far the best Buckeyes team I've ever seen. There are no stars but what they do have is what I'd kill to have on the Jackets - outstanding team play (7 players with 10 or more points). Nobody is above the team. Everyone works their tails off. Everyone does their job. They move as 5 man units. Everybody has bought into 2nd year coach Mark Osieki's system. It really is a treat to watch.
What is even more impressive is the fact they have 12 freshmen on their roster. In other words, this is just the beginning!
Next up is a back to back @ Bowling Green this weekend on the 7th and 8th.
Then it's home for two games versus Michigan starting next Friday on 1/13 at the Schott and concluding on 1/15 outdoors in Cleveland Ohio @ Progressive Field!
This is a game I have got to see live and plan on doing just that! Tickets are not as expensive as you'd think so get your butts on up to Cleveland next weekend to join in on the fun! You can also follow @Indians on Twitter for a chance to win free tix!
For those that can't make it, I promise lots of tweets AND according to @JJ_On_Sports via Twitter - FS Ohio will air the game live starting at 5 p.m. EST!
It's time to get realy excited about Buckeye hockey folks!! This team is for real!
-LTL
