Independent Rankings Committee National Rankings

The Independent Rankings Committee National Rankings is a ranking system for college inline hockey teams. The method used to rank teams is based upon the World Football Elo Ratings but has been modified to work within the college hockey environment. The rankings are not sponsored by the national governing body of the sport, which is the NCRHA, however, are maintained to increase the awareness of the continually growing college game. The rankings generally converge on a team's true strength relative to its competitors after about 30 contested games. Teams new to the rankings receive a default ranking of 1500 and their rank should be considered provisional until a qualifying set of games is played.

Prior to February 18th, 2008, the rankings were conducted using a Bowl Championship Series type rankings system. Eight independent voters, generally located within one of the member organizations of the NCRHA, sent weekly rankings in based on their own formulated opinion. The votes were then tabulated and weighted according to each members percentage of the vote to calculate the final rankings. The rankings received a lot of scrutiny's because of the ability for biasness to sway to poll.

History

The Independent Rankings Committee was formed on October 1, 2006 after the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association made the decision to stop producing weekly national rankings. The contributers of the poll were hidden because of the intense criticism they would receive from perceived biased towards their own regions.

On February 18, 2008, the committee started experimenting with a new rankings equation that he planned to release at the conclusion of the annual national tournament. The new rankings were released on June 16, 2008 and applied to the rankings dating back to its creation four month earlier.

Lindenwood University, Neumann College and St. Charles Community College became the first teams ranked during the first pole and have spent the most time at the top of their respective divisions. Each team has fallen from the top spot at least once, only to reclaim the position at a later date.

Current Rankings - Top 15

Current Division I (left), Division II (Right) & Junior College (middle) rankings, as of July 28, 2008, of the Independent Rankings Committee National Rankings, compiled by the [http://ircnationalrankings.blogspot.com/ Independent Rankings Committee web site] based on data obtained from the official [http://www.ncrha.org NCRHA website] .

Progressive Leader's Chart

The following lists represent the schools that have achieved the number once spot since the first Independent Rankings Committee poll October 2, 2006. The first mathematical calculation of the Independent Rankings Committee National Rankings took place on February 18th, 2008. The Division I progression is located on the left and the Division II progression is located on the right. The Junior College progression is located on the bottom, in the middle.

External Links

* [http://ircnationalrankings.blogspot.com/ Independent Rankings Committee National Rankings]