My Hockey Rankings is National Ranking Service provides weekly snap shots of what they perceive as a National Ranking amongst many teams across the the USA and Canada. It is a fun fact snap shot. It uses many stats including last year’s performances and many other criteria much of which is information from other leagues. However, we know not all leagues are equal and wins and losses are not dispositive of the strength of a team.

Indeed, there is no question the teams that are above us in the rankings do not have the strength of schedule we do in these other leagues. If you have a record that has you playing weak teams you look good. The key here is the rankings placed on the USPHL web site. There you can see the daily dynamics of teams battling it out via  divisional rivals and extremely competitive games vs cross divisional play in the numerous College showcases the USPHL teams compete in. Indeed, each of the Eels teams participate in 4 of these showcases, where we battle teams from the South, The Midwest The North North East and Mid Atlantic Divisions.

But there is some interesting data in the rankings.. The Eels Premier  and Elite teams both are  ranked #6 amongst teams in the USPHL in the rankings. Moreover the teams above us in our league, only the Elite played one of those teams. Additionally our Elite team is ranked even higher over all than many Premier teams in our league and in others.  In the upcoming month and half the Eels will play the Hamptons, Charlotte and some of the Boston and Midwest teams.

We trust this rankings will have a different twist. But what the rankings do not take into account is the intangibles and tangibles provided and ingrained in our Eels  program. That is the training every day on the ice and the office training and video and analytics. That is what the college coaches look at. Over all player development.

Moreover, the most important stat is the teams that have and will advance in the playoffs to Nationals. Only 16 teams in the entire USPHL Premier Div advanced to Nationals last seasoned we are honored to say the Eels were one of those. And at Nationals the Eels did defeat the National Champions in the round robin by a clear and convincing game. Equally impressive is the Elite team was one of 8 teams in the league to advance and they played extremely well defeating the pre national favorites 7-1 in game one