Girls Prep Hockey

[Radar3535]

Just curious if you know which Hotchkiss goalie played in that game to earn the shutout? Their Sr. or their Jr. goalie? I have seen their Sr. goalie play a few times this year and noticed she was not as good as I have seen her play in previous years. (rebound control) Nevertheless it was a great win for Hotchkiss.Im not sure, it could have been the Jr.

[goalcam]

Question - Is there comprehensive training for refs in the prep league? College? I know it is difficult to get consistent calls, but this year IMO there are way, way to many whistles. Last few prep games, the refs slowed the game to a snail pace, taking all the fun & spontaneity out of the game. Has anyone noticed a pattern here? I feel some refs treat like players like mites & squirts and not elite players. Is there a suggetion box somewhere in hockey land?

Note that I have seen the response by Ref11

The ISL has one assignor. The Independants each have various different set-up's. Some by the individual area NIHOA Chapters, some not.

There is no comprehensive training. That's not to say there is no training. But, the training will vary by region. For the most part it covers book rules, rather than how to call a game. The College/ECAC is the most detailed. Using some films and more extensive manuals and supervisors.

How an official calls a game is developed over the course of their experience.

As each one will have different experiences, each one calls a slightly different game.

The sport is dominated by male officials. The fact is, the better officals are working mens games.

While there are some excellent female officials ( Parise and Piacentinni) for the most part the female officials are promoted before they have a lot of experience. Advancing to college so quickly, the Preps barely saw them.

As one would expect, to ref a womens game well, the official needs experience. Thus, the officials you see a lot of, should do a better job. My guess would be the better ones you see are the former college officials moving to the late stages of their career. But, probably all to often, you are seeing officials that are on the way up.

Be mindful that each individual official has a level that they are best at. It just might not be the one they are working, when you see them.

But, this is true for both boys and girls hockey.

There are about 1,500 hockey officals in Massachusetts covering Mites thru Colelge. About 20% have over 1,000 HS/Prep games under their belts. On a Saturday, the number of officials needed to cover College/Prep/HS/ games exceeds the "experienced" supply.

So to sum it all up. Enjoy the game. When you get a game done by great ref's, enjoy it even more. But, fans and the players gotta live with the calls. Complaining about it will have no positive effect.

[ref11]

Note that I have seen the response by Ref11

The ISL has one assignor. The Independants each have various different set-up's. Some by the individual area NIHOA Chapters, some not.

There is no comprehensive training. That's not to say there is no training. But, the training will vary by region. For the most part it covers book rules, rather than how to call a game. The College/ECAC is the most detailed. Using some films and more extensive manuals and supervisors.

How an official calls a game is developed over the course of their experience.

As each one will have different experiences, each one calls a slightly different game.

The sport is dominated by male officials. The fact is, the better officals are working mens games.

While there are some excellent female officials ( Parise and Piacentinni) for the most part the female officials are promoted before they have a lot of experience. Advancing to college so quickly, the Preps barely saw them.

As one would expect, to ref a womens game well, the official needs experience. Thus, the officials you see a lot of, should do a better job. My guess would be the better ones you see are the former college officials moving to the late stages of their career. But, probably all to often, you are seeing officials that are on the way up.

Be mindful that each individual official has a level that they are best at. It just might not be the one they are working, when you see them.

But, this is true for both boys and girls hockey.

There are about 1,500 hockey officals in Massachusetts covering Mites thru Colelge. About 20% have over 1,000 HS/Prep games under their belts. On a Saturday, the number of officials needed to cover College/Prep/HS/ games exceeds the "experienced" supply.

So to sum it all up. Enjoy the game. When you get a game done by great ref's, enjoy it even more. But, fans and the players gotta live with the calls. Complaining about it will have no positive effect.

Goalcam is "spot on" with his more eloquent and detailed response.

Regarding no positive effect, he is correct. There will be missed calls / bad calls (we all saw the superbowl). It is part of the game just like bad bounces off the glass.

Judgement calls are not a reason to complain.

Egregious errors would be more aptly addressed by the coachs after the game, and carry more weight than any fan. :cool:

[canuck]

Anxious to hear the score between Pomfret & Berkshire this afternoon...could somebody post the score upon completion? Very much appreciated!

[toots]

Anxious to hear the score between Pomfret & Berkshire this afternoon...could somebody post the score upon completion? Very much appreciated!

according to ushr site http://www.ushr.com/summaries/20060206/?gender=F, Berkshire defeated Pomfret 5-3.

[NHDad]

Can you please tell me how they select the teams to make the playoffs? With all the cross division play, it can't really just be the top eight in the division based on points or win pct is it?

It's based on an average of three sets of rankings.
1. Overall winning %
2. D1 Winning % (assuming you're D1)
3. Winning % agianst D1 teams over .500 x Total D1 teams played (again assuming D1)

The place your team finishes in each poll is averaged equally together, and that's the ranking.

OK...so, here goes....
I understand the first two criteria. However the third one has me a bit baffled. If you do what it says here, the third criterion holds much more weight than the other two. I'm assuming the "Total D1 teams played" actually means number of games played against D1 teams. If you put all this together, I come up with the following ranking as of this point in time:

Rank School 1st 2nd 3rd Overall
1 Choate Rosemary Hall 0.824 0.800 10.111 3.912
2 Phillips Academy 0.789 0.750 9.800 3.780
3 Lawrence Academy 0.737 0.794 9.545 3.692
4 Pomfret School 0.813 0.769 8.727 3.436
5 Berkshire School 0.826 0.846 8.571 3.414
6 Nobles 0.806 0.806 8.556 3.389
7 Loomis Chaffee 0.618 0.633 7.091 2.781
8 Taft 0.600 0.577 6.000 2.392
9 Deerfield Academy 0.579 0.462 6.000 2.347
10 Tabor Academy 0.531 0.464 6.000 2.332

The numbers all get pushed together so it's a little hard to ready. I'm sure this isn't right, so can slug or ref shed some light....THANKS

[NHDad]

I should have mentioned the numbers, from left to right, include the three criteria with the final number being the average of the three numbers. The formula used is (Criteria 1 + Criteria 2 + Criteria 3)/3. So, you can see why the third criterion holds so much weight.

[Slug79]

NHDAD quoteI understand the first two criteria. However the third one has me a bit baffled. If you do what it says here, the third criterion holds much more weight than the other two. I'm assuming the "Total D1 teams played" actually means number of games played against D1 teams. If you put all this together, I come up with the following ranking as of this point in time:

Rank School 1st 2nd 3rd Overall
1 Choate Rosemary Hall 0.824 0.800 10.111 3.912
2 Phillips Academy 0.789 0.750 9.800 3.780...


For the 3rd ranking it is the number of Div 1 teams played, not the number of Div 1 games played. That's why it does a team no good to play a team more than once in a season.

As far as the rankings are concerned from above, rank each team 1 thru whatever (26?) in all three polls and average those numbers together. That way all 3 polls are equally weighted. Like golf, low score wins.

The 3rd poll gets very interesting in the last week of the season. If your team has 2 wins against a team that's exactly .500% going into the last game of the season, all of a sudden that seemingly meaningless game becomes very important.

It also shows you why playing teams that aren't Div 1 doesn't do your team any good, even if they're stong D2 teams. In 2 out of 3 polls there's no benifit to playing outside.

[NHDad]

As far as the rankings are concerned from above, rank each team 1 thru whatever (26?) in all three polls and average those numbers together. That way all 3 polls are equally weighted. Like golf, low score wins.

The 3rd poll gets very interesting in the last week of the season. If your team has 2 wins against a team that's exactly .500% going into the last game of the season, all of a sudden that seemingly meaningless game becomes very important.

It also shows you why playing teams that aren't Div 1 doesn't do your team any good, even if they're stong D2 teams. In 2 out of 3 polls there's no benifit to playing outside.

That's great and it certainly clears it up for me. Thank you.

[Black Bear]

NHDAD quoteI understand the first two criteria. However the third one has me a bit baffled. If you do what it says here, the third criterion holds much more weight than the other two. I'm assuming the "Total D1 teams played" actually means number of games played against D1 teams. If you put all this together, I come up with the following ranking as of this point in time:

Rank School 1st 2nd 3rd Overall
1 Choate Rosemary Hall 0.824 0.800 10.111 3.912
2 Phillips Academy 0.789 0.750 9.800 3.780...


For the 3rd ranking it is the number of Div 1 teams played, not the number of Div 1 games played. That's why it does a team no good to play a team more than once in a season.


As far as the rankings are concerned from above, rank each team 1 thru whatever (26?) in all three polls and average those numbers together. That way all 3 polls are equally weighted. Like golf, low score wins.

The 3rd poll gets very interesting in the last week of the season. If your team has 2 wins against a team that's exactly .500% going into the last game of the season, all of a sudden that seemingly meaningless game becomes very important.

It also shows you why playing teams that aren't Div 1 doesn't do your team any good, even if they're stong D2 teams. In 2 out of 3 polls there's no benifit to playing outside.

Interesting that D2 Brewster has beaten both of your top two teams. Choate at the Deerfield Tournament and Phillips last night in Wolfeboro.

[futurestar]

Because the rankings are based on win % insead of points, is a tie really a loss for both teams?

Thanks.

[Slug79]

Interesting that D2 Brewster has beaten both of your top two teams. Choate at the Deerfield Tournament and Phillips last night in Wolfeboro.

There's always a couple of D2 teams that put together a couple of strong teams. Greenwich and Gunnery always come to mind.

I wish the preps would put together some kind of floating ranking between D1 & D2, and in turn force everyone to adjust their schedules acordingly. It does nobody any good to have NMH and Kent to get crushed every season on a D1 schedule.

[WFR]

Here we go again!

Parity! Parity! Parity!

My guess at the New England Division One Rankings this week.

1. Berkshire
2. Choate
3. Nobles
4. Lawrence
5. Loomis
6. Pomfret
7. Taft
8. Hotchkiss

9. Phillips Andover
10. Cushing
11. Deerfield

Any thoughts.

[NHDad]

Here we go again!

Parity! Parity! Parity!

My guess at the New England Division One Rankings this week.

1. Berkshire
2. Choate
3. Nobles
4. Lawrence
5. Loomis
6. Pomfret
7. Taft
8. Hotchkiss

9. Phillips Andover
10. Cushing
11. Deerfield

Any thoughts.

My ranking is based on the data in the NEPSACSports.com website. Today is a very big day for many of these teams. There are several D1 schools hovering around .500. If they go above or below that mark, it'll change the rankings of 4 thru 8. I think 1, 2 and 3 are pretty secure at this point.

I think it's more like:
1. Berkshire School
2. Choate Rosemary Hall
3. Nobles
4. Lawrence Academy
5. Pomfret School
6. Phillips Academy
7. Loomis Chaffee
8. Taft

9. Westminster School
10. BB&N
11. Cushing Academy
12. Hotchkiss School

[whfan]

I've read the previous replys about how the teams are ranked in the earlier threads, and that clears up alot for me. I was just wondering if the winner between head to head competition between two teams ever comes into play when seeding the prep school teams?

[NHDad]

I've read the previous replys about how the teams are ranked in the earlier threads, and that clears up alot for me. I was just wondering if the winner between head to head competition between two teams ever comes into play when seeding the prep school teams?

Not according to anything that has been relayed to me. I have been told that it only comes into play as a tie breaker.

[WFR]

My rankings were based upon how I felt the teams were playing right now.

[NHDad]

The latest:
1 Berkshire School - big win over CRH solidifies them as the top team
2 Choate Rosemary Hall - big loss to Berkshire
3 Nobles - handled Phillips easily - would meet PA in 1st round if season ended today
4 Pomfret School - should stay here - one final test vs Cushing
5 Lawrence Academy - should stay here - easy schedule rest of way
6 Phillips Academy - should solidify here, but vs. PEA you never know
7 Taft - On a slide - tough schedule rest of way
8 Westminster School - tough schedule rest of way
--------------------------------------
9 Loomis Chaffee - look for them to move up
10 Cushing Academy - tough schedule rest of way
11 BB&N - nice comeback this year, but too little too late
12 Hotchkiss School - tough schedule rest of way - tough next year

There could be movement in the 6th thru 8th spots. The final rankings are only partially in the individual teams' hands. They have to rely on the D1 teams they beat to remain above .500.

[nut_case]

NHDad_ Are your rankings"official" or simply your opinion? There is no way, in the real world, that Westminster should be ahead of Loomis, which plays a more difficult schedule and has defeated Westminster twice. Just curious.

[NHDad]

You scared me for a minute....I thought you were callling me a "nut case!" Although, some might agree with you....you'll see why...

I am being as scientific in my approach as possible. I built a spreadsheet that looks at the data available on the NEPSACSports.com website.

From what I have been able to determine (input from numerous people), there are three criteria (polls, if you will) that are averaged together. 1st poll = Overall (D1 & D2) winning %, 2nd poll = D1 Winning %, 3rd poll = Winning % of D1 teams over .500 * # of D1 teams played. Each poll stands on its own merits. To get the overall ranking, you take each team's average of the three polls.

Regarding Loomis vs Westminster, I was also surprised, but here's the info:
1st Poll
Loomis - .618 equates to 8th
Westie - .688 = 6th
2nd Poll
Loomis - .567 = 8th
Westie - .600 = Tied for 7th with Taft
3rd Poll
Loomis - 5.958 = 7th
Westie - 3.000 = 9th

Final Avg
Loomis - 7.667 = 9th overall
Westie - 7.333 = 8th overall

Again, this information is only as good as what has been told to me and what is on the NEPSACSports.com website.

If I were a betting man (I'm not) I would say Loomis will move up to the 8th spot and Westminster will drop out. Westie has one of the toughest remaining schedules of any of these "bubble teams."

Hope this helps.