2016-17 OUA Men's Hockey Thread

[AdamMcg83]

1. I am also biased here, but it's not even close. Ryerson has far and away the best team in the OUA West, and should win the division. Nothing spectacular about a team fulfilling expectations for once. Ottawa is a team of 21 year-olds largely recruited from JrA and looks on track to make the playoffs. Grandmaitre over Duco for COY here. Although Hodgins at UOIT and, if their form holds, Gibson at Queen's will also be in the conversation.

Re: Grandmaitre: Ottawa is a nice story, but let's be careful not to look harder at ranking than record. "Make the playoffs" sounds like a great accomplishment for a first-year program, but that bar looks like it will be set pretty low by RMC and Nipissing this season. I'd also suggest a "team of rookies" means much less in men's hockey than in any other sport, because the age difference is no longer physically substantial - this isn't the 2013 Ravens football team of 18-year-olds playing 22-23 year-olds. The difference in talent between a 21-year-old top-6 fwd from Jr. A and a bottom-6 F with 4 years of major junior is *very* slim.

Success in year one isn't even that unprecedented in OUA hockey: Carleton went 12-13-3 in their first year (07-08), and Lakehead went 13-8-3 in their first season of 2001-02.

Clearly they are overachieving, and clearly they're a well-coached team. But If Ottawa makes the playoffs with 10 wins in a 28-game sched, CIS COY is a hard sell for me.

 

[MiamiHockey]

Re: Grandmaitre: Ottawa is a nice story, but let's be careful not to look harder at ranking than record. "Make the playoffs" sounds like a great accomplishment for a first-year program, but that bar looks like it will be set pretty low by RMC and Nipissing this season. I'd also suggest a "team of rookies" means much less in men's hockey than in any other sport, because the age difference is no longer physically substantial - this isn't the 2013 Ravens football team of 18-year-olds playing 22-23 year-olds. The difference in talent between a 21-year-old top-6 fwd from Jr. A and a bottom-6 F with 4 years of major junior is *very* slim.

Success in year one isn't even that unprecedented in OUA hockey: Carleton went 12-13-3 in their first year (07-08), and Lakehead went 13-8-3 in their first season of 2001-02.

Clearly they are overachieving, and clearly they're a well-coached team. But If Ottawa makes the playoffs with 10 wins in a 28-game sched, CIS COY is a hard sell for me.

In defense of Grandmaitre, Ottawa has higher admission standards than either Carleton or Lakehead. It's easier to build a new program when admission standards are low. Impressive work.

 

[4thline]

Quick question for those of you see Ryerson with any regularity, How does Armstrong look?

Played against him when he was with the Wingham Ironmen and it's really cool to see a guy like that succeed at the CIS level. As far as I know no AAA experience (played in like a C centre), only a smattering of games at Junior B. I know of a couple other to come straight from C in recent years but generally as depth players, not ppg forwards.

 

[AdamMcg83]

In defense of Grandmaitre, Ottawa has higher admission standards than either Carleton or Lakehead. It's easier to build a new program when admission standards are low. Impressive work.

I make a case against Grandmaitre for coach of the year, and Ottawa goes into Kingston and beats Queen's. Anyone else want me to make a case against their team?

 

[Rob]

First half over. It looks like the West is Ryerson's to loose. Queen's leading in the East but I still think it will go to McGill or UQTR (again). Carleton has had a disappointing first half.

 

[AdamMcg83]

First half over. It looks like the West is Ryerson's to loose. Queen's leading in the East but I still think it will go to McGill or UQTR (again). Carleton has had a disappointing first half.

Ryerson is the clear favourite, no doubt. But the top seed in the OUA West hasn't won the division title in the last 5 years (even when there's been a clear favourite), so I think we should at least be aware of who might be able to take a run at the Rams:

York - A great defensive team with tremendous special teams (In the OUA West, they rank 1st in PP%, 2nd in PK%). They are also 2-0-0 against Ryerson. Based on first half play, the road to the UCup goes through Toronto.

Guelph - Streaky team with talent; if they're on a hot streak, they can compete with anyone - their only two losses in November were on the road, against two OUA East ranked opponents (Queen's, UOIT).

The 8th seed - The two winningest programs in the division over the past decade are currently battling it out for the last playoff spot, so there's a good chance that Ryerson's round one opponent will be either Western or Waterloo. Both are suffering from a lack of top-end offensive talent, but either team has the structure, coaching, and experience to pull off an upset - and Western has Greg Dodds, who is starting to regain form ahead of his appearance at FISU games selection camp.

 

[Dutch]

So sad for Colin Behenna and the whole family

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitch...aly-chelsea-rebecca-alvarez-1.3919116?cmp=rss

 

[AdamMcg83]

FISU Games roster announced by the OUA. As expected, lots of Patriotes, Gaels, Ravens, and Redmen: http://oua.ca/sports/mice/2016-17/releases/20170106cczffo

 

[Rob]

Ottawa Gee Gees with 6 wins in a row. That includes beating Concordia and UQTR.

I would say they have an outside chance of making it to the Nationals in March.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

It will be interesting to see who comes out of the OUA this year...I still think 2 out of McGill/Carleton/UQTR will be there to go along with the West winner, which is wide open. I still can't believe how much UQTR has struggled this year though. It would be nice to see some different teams this year...hopefully teams like Ryerson/Queen's/Concordia can make it.

 

[Drummer]

It will be interesting to see who comes out of the OUA this year...I still think 2 out of McGill/Carleton/UQTR will be there to go along with the West winner, which is wide open. I still can't believe how much UQTR has struggled this year though. It would be nice to see some different teams this year...hopefully teams like Ryerson/Queen's/Concordia can make it.

With 10-12pts left on the table and some teams missing key players due to WUG, these standings could be a lot different in 3 weeks. Queen's/UQTR in the first round would be interesting.


McGill ......36
Queen's .... 34
Concordia .. 32
Carleton ... 31
UOIT ....... 29
Ottawa ..... 29
UQTR ....... 28
Laurentian . 20

Queen's, Concordia and Ottawa are 'rookies' really when it comes to going deep in the playoffs and with best of 3 series, anything can happen.

From an experience viewpoint, McGill, Carleton and UQTR are the strongest.

I'd like to see Queen's at UCup (and maybe Concordia) just for some new teams (and MRU from the CW).

 

[Dutch]

Not sure where UQTR is heading with 6 players at WUG and Marc-Olivier Mimar out until the playoffs, but unless their depth pays off really big, I don't see them getting in the top-4. This might mean it would be UQTR's worst year in decades.

This is gonna be one very interesting first round playoffs with such parity.

 

[Dutch]

I've seen stuff in my career.

But never this kind of stuff. (for those who read french)

http://www.lapresse.ca/le-nouvellis...re-sur-deux-patinoires-pour-les-patriotes.php

 

[Rob]

I've seen stuff in my career.

But never this kind of stuff. (for those who read french)

http://www.lapresse.ca/le-nouvellis...re-sur-deux-patinoires-pour-les-patriotes.php

1938. I did not know that the colisee was that old. Might be the oldest rink in the CIS. Although I know the Saskatchewan Huskies plan in a very old barn as well.

Are there any plans on building a new arena?

 

[AdamMcg83]

Western was eliminated from playoff contention tonight with their loss in Trois-Rivières. A monumental fall for last year's OUA West champions.

 

[northvanman]

Western was eliminated from playoff contention tonight with their loss in Trois-Rivières. A monumental fall for last year's OUA West champions.

In fairness, they were pretty ho-hum last year and emerged out of a relatively weak West division compared with the East. They were awful against UNB at the University Cup last year.

Their decline started after the 2014 season when they lost Daniel Erlich, Zach Harnden, and Matt Clarke. They then lost Steve Reece the following year. Every university team deals with this of course, but the point is that they did not replace this offensive talent.

Before this year, they have only missed the playoffs once since 1971, and that was in 1999. That was back when the OUA had the four division set up and the ridiculous system of the top 3 in each division making the playoffs, and then the two east and two west division playing off against each other. That year, Western finished last in the Far West, but had more points than any team in the Mid West, but 3 Mid West teams made the playoffs (same think happened to McGill in the East: http://icehockey.wikia.com/wiki/1998-99_OUA_Season

All of this underscores just how bad this year has been for Western, especially given their history and the resources they have available. There are a couple of reasons for this...the division - and the league – are arguably as competitive top to bottom as they have ever been, which is great for everyone (look at RMC this year), but Western is also not winning in the recruiting pool the way they have in the past. Will be interesting to see if there is a coaching change in the offseason, as Singer has had as much or more playoff failure as success and now heads a team that is at an all-time low.

 

[connor macdavid]

Will be interesting to see if there is a coaching change in the offseason, as Singer has had as much or more playoff failure as success and now heads a team that is at an all-time low.

Have to wonder about a similar fate perhaps for Nipissing's Mike McParland.

Lakers went from .500 last season to 8-17-1 this year. At times have looked less potent than RMC.

Obviously the arrival of the Battalion in North Bay a few years ago hurt that program immensely, but you've got to wonder about its future. They didn't lose much in the way of high-end skill -- D Keirstead and F Robichaud were pretty much it -- and have looked atrocious for long stretches this season.

Will be interesting to see whether there's something of a coaching carousel this offseason, with potentially two vacancies in a league with typically little movement. I think U. of T.'s respectable second half has probably saved Darren Lowe some sweating, though he's such an institution and hockey/sport is such an afterthought at that school that it would be hard to see him getting fired.

Thoughts?

 

[MiamiHockey]

Have to wonder about a similar fate perhaps for Nipissing's Mike McParland.

Lakers went from .500 last season to 8-17-1 this year. At times have looked less potent than RMC.

Obviously the arrival of the Battalion in North Bay a few years ago hurt that program immensely, but you've got to wonder about its future. They didn't lose much in the way of high-end skill -- D Keirstead and F Robichaud were pretty much it -- and have looked atrocious for long stretches this season.

Will be interesting to see whether there's something of a coaching carousel this offseason, with potentially two vacancies in a league with typically little movement. I think U. of T.'s respectable second half has probably saved Darren Lowe some sweating, though he's such an institution and hockey/sport is such an afterthought at that school that it would be hard to see him getting fired.

Thoughts?

Darren Lowe's job is secure. The UofT doesn't really care too deeply about its athletics, and even if they did he's been there long enough to outlast a mediocre season or two.
Western does care about its athletics, but Clarke Singer's taken them to the University Cup enough times to survive a bad season.
There are few jobs more secure than a CIS hockey coach's.

 

[Rob]

There are few jobs more secure than a CIS hockey coach's.

Very seldom do you hear of a coach being fired.

 

[AUS Fan]

Except Darrell Young and Pete Belliveau.

 

[thook]

Except Darrell Young and Pete Belliveau.

Lakehead has fired Pete, then Don McKee and most recently Joel Sherban. You also have to think with the lack of results and poor recruiting that billy Macdonald must be on the hot seat too.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Lakehead

Lakehead has fired Pete, then Don McKee and most recently Joel Sherban. You also have to think with the lack of results and poor recruiting that billy Macdonald must be on the hot seat too.

Lakehead came to Fredericton in 2003-4 Nationals and were a young program on the upswing.
Lost to Albeta in a National final out west and were good when they hosted in 2009-10.
Since then they have been on a downswing, recruiting hasn't been good.
I don't know what happened to Pete Belliveau, but he had that program in the right direction.
He won a National title at Moncton and could recruit. Something that they haven't had since.

 

[UNB Bruins Fan]

I didn't think they were all that great either year they hosted. Didn't they change coaches in between their two hosting years? That was the turning point IMO...they haven't really been a national contender since.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

I didn't think they were all that great either year they hosted. Didn't they change coaches in between their two hosting years? That was the turning point IMO...they haven't really been a national contender since.

The first year hosting, they played well against UNB who would go on to win gold against Western.
I think they were eliminated early in the OUA playoffs that year and had a long layoff, before hosting Nationals.
The program has gone south since.

 

[AUS Fan]

Lakehead has fired Pete, then Don McKee and most recently Joel Sherban. You also have to think with the lack of results and poor recruiting that billy Macdonald must be on the hot seat too.

I was just thinking of DAL, forgot about Lakehead.