NCAA vs AHL

[Snippit]

Could a very good NCAA team beat one of the weaker AHL teams?

I always assumed that the AHL was the much better league, but apparently UNB (CIS) has a 1-2-1 record all-time against the Portland Pirates.

Query output
UNBHockeyFans.com: UNB Rallies Past Pirates

It seems that the general opinion around here is that NCAA teams are better than CIS teams, so by this logic perhaps the gap between AHL teams and NCAA teams isn't significant?

If the above is very clearly AHL>>NCAA, how does the NCAA stack up against, say, the ECHL?

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[Sticktape]

For what it's worth, UNB is an elite CIS team and has been for a while. You can't really draw conclusions about the level of competition in CIS/USports based on their performance. Personally I think even a weak AHL team would chew through virtually every NCAA team. I just can't see NCAA defenses being able to handle even the worst AHL team's top players. I wish we had more inter-league games to get some numbers to support/refute these types of questions.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

NCAA could win a one-off, but AHL would probably win nine out of ten 7 game series.

 

[bigdog16]

^This is pretty spot on. Top NCAA teams would probably have a couple lines that would be fine against a bad AHL team. But in terms of depth I dont see many NCAA standing much of a chance in the long run

 

[Habs76]

CIS is teams are typically older than NCAA. NCAA teams take kids as soon as they hit college age a lot of the time whereas CIS teams are filled with 22-26 year olds. Also, UNB is a powerhouse in the CIS, often battling it out with the university of Alberta for the national championship.

 

[Habs76]

All in all though the AHL is far higher quality of play than the CIS. For example, the following players graduated from UNB to pro hockey last year:

F Philippe Maillet
AUS: 55 points in 30 games
AHL: 13 points in 39 games

F Cam Braes
AUS: 42 points in 27 games
NLB: 39 points in 38 games

D Jordan Murray
AUS: 40 points in 30 games
AHL: 15 points in 37 games

F Philippe Halley
AUS: 18 points in 30 games
Ligue Magnus: 34 points in 38 games

F Francis Beauvillier
AUS: 16 points in 24 games
AHL: 4 points in 22 games

D Matt Petgrave
AUS: 15 points in 29 games
ECHL: 19 points in 35 games

F Cam Critchlow
AUS: 10 points in 23 games
ECHL: 24 points in 41 games