How good are NCAA division 1 teams?

[canucks4ever]

I was curious, how good are NCAA teams in terms of head to head ability? Would this assessment be accurate:

top 10 ncaa team= lower tier AHL teams
11th to 40th= Average to Below average ECHL teams
bottom 20= Same level as SPHL and LNAH teams
bottom 5= FHL level teams

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[Barclay Donaldson]

I can't think of many D1 teams on par with the AHL. Throughout history there's been a couple of really good teams, but while the first line or two of the top teams can easily play in the AHL or jump right into the NHL, the lineups are rarely 4 lines deep. I'd say most NCAA D1 programs would compete with the average to lower end ECHL teams. Maybe the absolute worst 2 or 3 are the same level as SPHL teams, no way bottom 20. The SPHL is predominantly made up of former NCAA D3 and lower end D1 players. No teams are as bad as the FHL, every Fed team would get beat by an average NCAA D3 program. I would take most U18 midget AAA teams over a Fed team.

 

[MiamiHockey]

There's not nearly as much disparity within the NCAA as you are imagining here. None of them would beat an AHL team with any consistency, but games with ECHL teams would be competitive.
The SPHL and LNAH are bottom-tier, and the FHL is just a good men's league with fighting.

 

[wasup]

I would say the top 25 are somewhere between AHL and ECHL . NCAA quality has improved drastically over the last 5 -7 years and will only keep getting better and deeper now that USA hockey is producing piles of good players and Europe and Canada are sending more and more talent that way .