Thursday, February 05, 2009

And down the stretch we come

First off, I want to thank everyone again for their support when I was in the hospital. That obviously kept me from blogging for a good chunk of the season. That said, it's amazing what has gone down since I came back.

RIT has not lost an NCAA game in calander year 2009, with 11 wins in a row. That, in addition to a bit of a collapse by Air Force, has propelled the Tigers into first place in the conference. They are poised to win their 2nd regular season title in 3 years. That's pretty good for a team that just now has their first DI class graduating this year.

I don't know what to make of Air Force now. They started out great - including a big win over Colorado College. They lost to Denver, and that seemed to start the downward trend. That following weekend, RIT went out there and got a split. They lost to Yale and Qpac. Every time you think they could be on their way, like 2 weeks ago when they swept Army, they slide back - getting 1 point last weekend at Mercyhurst. To be sure, they are dangerous come postseason and will have a high seed. But they can be beat.

After RIT and Air Force, the conference is wide open. 4 teams are vying for home ice in the quarter finals. Mercyhurst should be in the mix. Canisius could get there as well and I think will make it. Bentley and Holy Cross have tough games ahead of them to make it to the 3/4 seeds.

The play in teams seem pretty locked in now. Army and Sacred Heart will be playing AIC and UConn in some sort of combo.

Should make for an interesting month.