Looking at the standings after Friday night's games really highlighted the difference between the CCHA and the WCHA for me.
In the CCHA, the top 5 teams all have one or fewer losses, with Michigan and Michigan State still undefeated in conference play. On the other end of the spectrum, Lake Supeior, Alaska, Ohio State, and Northern Michigan all have yet to earn a point in conference play this season. The gap between the good teams and the bad teams seems pretty huge this year
In the WCHA, on the otherhand, every team has lost at least one conference game so far. Alaska-Anchorage is the only WCHA team without a win in the league, but the Seawolves do have two ties so far, and they only trail first place Colorado College by 6 points. North Dakota began the season as the clear-cut favorite around the country, but after 5 games, are 2-3-0 in conference play. There's virtually no gap between the best and the worst teams this year. Everyone seems to at least be competitive on any given night, which makes for some very exciting hockey.
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Exciting hockey in the WCHA? I guess it is a matter of perspective. What I see this year are mostly lackluster performances. Even the best teams have started off slow. It is clear that the early departures caught up to the league this year because the quality of play just isn't to the level of a few years ago. Which is kind of sad.
Early departures have hurt WCHA teams. But the WCHA has done pretty well so far in head to head competition against the top CCHA teams.
The best american born college hockey players are more prepared to play in the NHL at an earlier age today than they were even 4 years ago. The end result is that more kids are getting a crack at D1 which is quite refreshing. Unless you feel the talent level in the NHL has deteriorted to a level where they need to start stealing mediocre D1 players which i don't think is the case.
WCHA > CCHA period.
Lot of the best American born players aren't even choosing the WCHA or NCAA anymore and maybe that's why the quality of play is suffering.
Oh come on the WCHA is like 22-5-4 or something like that against the rest of college hockey. We have 6 teams that would win the CCHA...
The CCHA whales are fattening up their record feasting on CCHA plankton.
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