Holiday Tournaments Allow Inter-Conference Battles

Momentum? Sure. Conference standings? Negative. Extra Christmas pudding? Go for it.

But holiday hockey tournaments certainly don't appear to hold much weight at first glance. Or second glance for that matter. But one of the most overlooked parts of college hockey during the holidays is the chance for each conference to make a statement for itself.

Much like its older and larger brother, NCAA football, collegiate-level hockey teams often do not get the privilege of playing out-of-conference games until right around the beginning of the new year. When that happens, it gives the conferences a chance to make statements about the quality of teams it hosts. The more well-known conferences play to prove themselves the best; the smaller conferences play for recognition; meanwhile, the middle-of-the-road collaboration of teams goes out to prove it is top-notch and not to be ignored.

During this opening Thursday night, sixteen teams representing five conferences faced off for inter-conference battles on the hockey rink (the exception being UConn and Army, who faced each other as fellow members of the American Hockey Athletic conference).

Below, you will find the scores of all tonight's eight games, along with the conferences each team represents:

      Maine (Hockey East) :      6                 Clarkson (ECAC) : 1
      Michigan State (CCHA) :  3                 Michigan Tech (WCHA): 1
      Lake Superior (CCHA)  :  5                 Vermont (Hockey East) : 3
      R.I.T. (AHA) :   3                                 Ferris State (CCHA) : 0
      U-Mass Lowell (Hockey East) : 7         R.P.I. (ECAC) : 2
      UConn (AHA) : 2                                Army (AHA) : 0
      Michigan (CCHA) : 4                           Boston College (Hockey East) : 2
      St. Cloud State (WCHA) : 4                Western Michigan (CCHA) : 2


Now. Here are the records for each conference thus far in the holiday tournaments:

     American Hockey Athletics (AHA) :                      2-1
     Hockey East:                                                      2-2
     Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA):     3-2
     East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC):                0-2
     Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA):   1-1


At this point, strictly by mathematics, it's very close between the CCHA and AHA conferences. Going by percentages, AHA would lead with 66.7% success at this point in the tournaments. The CCHA would come in second with 60%. However, it should be noted that the CCHA has more overall wins than the AHA (as well as two additional teams playing); and also, two AHA teams played each other, automatically giving the conference a win and loss.

Based on scores and performance by the teams, I'd say the CCHA and Hockey East look to be the best teams out there in the tournaments. As far as championship games go, the CCHA will have both Michigan and Michigan State play each other, guaranteeing a tournament win. Lake Superior will play R.I.T., which hails from the AHA, for the Catamount Cup in Vermont. For Hockey East, both Maine and U-Mass Lowell will be in championship games on Friday night.

Things should get interesting over the weekend, as conferences battle each other in tournament hockey. Which team will come out with the most tournament titles? Who knows.

Just pass the chips, ring-in the end of the world, and catch some holiday hockey.