The regular season is now over and the playoffs are set. First up in the postseason is a play-in round on Wednesday. Hobart earned the right to host that game when the Statesmen clinched fourth place in the standings last Friday with a 3-1 victory over Manhattanville.
These same two teams meet on Wednesday at The Cooler, but with much more on the line in the one and done playoff game. Manhattanville won two of the three games with Hobart this season, including the game at The Cooler at the beginning of the season.
Elmira, Neumann, and Utica all earned byes into the semifinals on Saturday. Neumann will host Utica after sweeping the regular season meetings between these two teams. Elmira waits to host the winner of the Hobart/Manhattanville game.
With the regular season complete, let’s take a look back at the preseason prognostications of both myself and the coaches.
The preseason coaches’ poll was:
1) Neumann
2) Manhattanville
3) Elmira
4) Hobart
5) Utica
My preseason picks were:
1) Manhattanville
2) Neumann
3) Elmira
4) Hobart
5) Utica
While everyone was relatively accurate with regards to Neumann, we couldn’t have been more wrong about Manhattanville. No one foresaw their late season swoon in league play.
After a difficult nonconference schedule, Elmira proved its mettle inside the league and exceeded everyone’s expectations. The steadiness of sophomore Darren McDonald in net has been a pleasant surprise for all.
Hobart finished just about where everyone expected, although the Statesmen were a bit more inconsistent in their play than is normal.
So I hit two teams right on the button, Neumann and Hobart, while the coaches only got one completely right (Hobart). While that might indicate a slight prognosticating advantage over the coaches, I’m not sure any of us should be particularly proud of our record this season.
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