D1 College Hockey: Which Teams & Conferences Are Best?

Anthony Florentino - Hockey East

Member of Providence College 2015 National Championship Team

(Photo by Alfredo)

Men's D1 College Top 10 Hockey Final 2015-16 Rankings

(Conferences Listed)

North Dakota....... NCHC

Quinnipiac.............ECAC

St. Cloud State.....NCHC

Boston College......Hockey East

Denver..................NCHC

Providence............Hockey East

Michigan...............Big Ten

UMass Lowell.......Hockey East

Boston University...Hockey East

Harvard.................ECAC

Last season National Champion, North Dakota, along with 3rd ranked St. Cloud State and 5th ranked Denver showed the strength of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). Although Hockey East is generally considered the premier college hockey conference, with 4 teams in the top 10, the power base seems to have shifted somewhat West, or perhaps it has always been there! We must also consider the strength of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) with 2nd ranked Quinnipiac,10th ranked Harvard, and the fact that ECAC Teams Union and Yale have won recent National Championships. Providence College in the Hockey East Conference won the National Championship in 2015. Seventh ranked Michigan also shows that the Big Ten Conference appears to be gaining strength although they will have to add teams to the Conference with only 6 teams presently.

The team that I have an interest in that is known for big time sports is Arizona State. Having announced in 2014 their intent to move from D2 hockey to D1, I highly admire how coach Greg Powers is taking on all comers in the 2016-17 season. ASU and Alabama-Huntsville are the only two D1 hockey colleges (that I know of) in the Southern part of the nation. Powers knows that in order to get better he will have to take on the best; he also knows that in order to do so he will have to come East. As a consequence Arizona State has one of the toughest schedules in the nation right out of the gate. In a grueling schedule ASU has away games against Notre Dame, Northeastern, New Hampshire, Boston College, Penn State, AIC (at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield, MA), UMass Amherst, Quinnipiac, and more. Can you imagine? There have been rumors that ASU might get into the Big Ten Conference, or the Western Collegiate Hockey Conference (WCHC), but for now they are playing as an Independent. By the way, helping to propel ASU into D1 was a gift $32 million from a pool of donors. With the ASU Hockey Team in D1, the NHL Arizona Coyotes Team, and the former AHL Springfield Falcons now playing in Tucson, maybe the sport of hockey is alive and well in the Southwest!

Folks in Western Mass are looking forward to see if new Coach, Greg Carvel, can bring UMass Amherst back to prominence in Hockey East. He has a good reputation, let's see what happens. Fans long to see a winning team and there is little doubt that they will pack the Mullins Center if it happens.

Alfredo DiLascia

Image News Service

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