#53 Bowling Green Falcons

#53 Bowling Green Falcons

Bowling Green – CCHA, WCHA

127-226-37 (.373)
Conference Titles: 0

Conference Tournament Titles: 0

NCAA appearances: 0

NCAA Wins: 0

Frozen Four: 0

NCAA Championships: 0

Points: 88.736

No one lost more playoff games in the old CCHA than Bowling Green, and they picked up in the new WCHA with a perfect 0-2 record.  Their 226 losses rank third among teams over the decade.  This last season – the first in the WCHA – was easily Bowling Green’s high water mark since breaking .500 in 1997.  The next challenge for Bowling Green is to reach 20-wins for the first time since 1996.  If they can do that, the Falcons have a shot at flying up these rankings.

#54 Brown Bears

#54 Brown Bears
Brown Bears – ECAC (Ivy)

102-178-48 (.384)
Conference Titles: 0

Conference Tournament Titles: 0

NCAA appearances: 0

NCAA Wins: 0

Frozen Four: 0

NCAA Championships: 0

Points: 87.960

Brown is another team at the bottom that has shown signs of life recently. Two years ago they were above .500 for the first time in a decade and have reached double digits in wins four of the past five seasons. This is more difficult for an Ivy because of the limited schedule they play. On the other hand, it prevents them from the catastrophic losses of a Michigan Tech or Alaska-Anchorage. The Bears have twice won five games in the ECAC tournament to reach the conference semifinals, falling in the ECAC Championship in 2013.

#56: University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves

#56 Alaska Anchorage Seawolves
Alaska Anchorage – WCHA

110–212-43 (.360)
Conference Titles: 0

Conference Tournament Titles: 0

NCAA appearances: 0

NCAA Wins: 0

Frozen Four: 0

NCAA Championships: 0

Points: 84.921

Another team that has been crippled by playing a crushing schedule, the Seawolves never threatened the .500 mark in the old WCHA days under Dave Shyiak. This past season, in the new WCHA under the leadership of Matt Thomas, UAA rebounded to a solid 18-16-4 mark. Even in the days of the old WCHA, the Seawolves enjoyed a .583 record out of conference. With a new conference, a more reasonable schedule and new leadership the future looks bright for the boys from Anchorage.

 

 

#57 Michigan Tech Huskies

Michigan Tech – WCHA 105-230-47 (.336)

Conference Titles: 0

Conference Tournament Titles: 0

NCAA appearances: 0

NCAA Wins: 0

Frozen Four: 0

NCAA Championships: 0

Points: 80.236

Michigan Tech has routinely played one of the most difficult schedules in the world of college hockey and they have the record to show it. They come in second only to AIC’s 236 losses and have the third-worst winning percentage. The last three years of the Jamie Russell era saw the Huskies go 15-85-12 (.188) but are a more respectable 43-58-15 (.435) in the three most recent campaigns under Mel Pearson. The next step is to get above .500 – something the team has accomplished only twice since 1983.

#58: American International

American International – AHA
74-236-32 (.263)
Conference Titles: 0

Conference Tournament Titles: 0

NCAA appearances: 0

NCAA Wins: 0

Frozen Four: 0

NCAA Championships: 0

Points: 55.323

AIC pulls off an amazing feat: The fewest wins, the most losses and the worst winning percentage all while playing in easily the worst conference in college hockey. In the 2004-05 campaign AIC earned only four victories, but that isn’t that worst season for the Yellow Jackets. In 2008-09 AIC had a .171 winning percentage. They have managed to win just five non-conference games in the past 10 seasons and won only three playoff games. Recently the team has started to turn things around, winning 10+ games in consecutive years for the first time in 20 years. They will need to improve much, much, much more if they plan to challenge in these rankings.

#59 Penn State Nittany Lions

 

Penn State Nittany Lions – Independent, B1G

Record: 21-40-2 (.394)

Conference Titles: 0

Conference Tournament Titles: 0

NCAA appearances: 0

NCAA Wins: 0

Frozen Four: 0

NCAA Championships: 0

Points: 15.398

It was Penn State’s decision (prompted by a generous donation) to start a Division I hockey team that sent the college hockey world into a scramble that spawned two new conferences, the death of another and began a realignment of teams that would touch every conference in college hockey except the ECAC.

The Nittany Lions come in at the bottom of this list because of their brief history.  However, a few seasons in the new B1G conference – and a few more tournaments like this past season – and Penn State will shoot up the rankings.

 

 

Ranking College Hockey Programs Over a Decade

Over the next few weeks I’ll be slowly unveiling the rankings of college hockey programs for the past 10 seasons.  This differs from The Greatest Programs of All-Time compiled by Fighting Sioux 23 in the USCHO Forums because his rankings take into account all of a program’s history, whereas these rankings will only take into account the past 10 years.  The results will change frequently as each year a team loses 10% of its score and a new 10% is added.  In the case of a team like Denver, that means losing an NCAA championship.  On the other end of the spectrum, Princeton gets to leave behind a miserable 2003-04 season that saw the Tigers win only five games.

Every team that still fields a team is included in the rankings.  Wayne State shuttered its program in 2008 and are not ranked.  Penn State is ranked, but with only two seasons under its belt, the Nittany Lions fare poorly.  As time passes they will certainly improve.

Sources for this include USCHO, the College Hockey Historical Archives and various school web sites as needed.  I do not wish to take credit for the work of others, so it should be known that all logos, photos and other images posted here are the result of a Google Image Search and not mine.  When possible, credit will be given to the photographer or artist.

 

 

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