Oh, The Polls.

And you thought the political pollsters were the only folks who messed up a ranking of items – meet the folks who rank New York state high school hockey teams. There are two such rankings and they are as wide a field as the people who provided the news media with their numbers before the New Hampshire primary.

The polls are from the New York State Sportswriters Association (NYSSWA) and US High School Online (USHSO). The NYSSWA is a recognized statewide organization made up of newspaper and broadcast reporters who cover high school sports in their community. They’ve been ranking teams in most major high school team sports for years. When you hear that So and So High School is state ranked, this is the ranking that most often is being referred to. The biggest problem is the same as it is with most human opinion sports polls, be it coaches or sportswriters, how do you rate teams that you haven’t seen play. The USHSO poll may seem like it’s more scientific, but it depends on human input – are all of the games played reported. There is a stated formula that factors game scores against opponents and game venue and the angle of the sun and circumference of an orange.

With all their flaws, there are some glaring differences that need to be examined and we’re just the folks to do it!

Only four teams appear in both polls top ten listings; Canandaigua, Queensbury, Whitesboro and New Hartford. Canandaigua is ranked first by NYSSWA and third in the USHSO poll. Queensbury is rated number one in the USHSO poll. One glaring difference is at number two in the USHSO poll, where Webster-Thomas, unbeaten in 11 games, is second but no where to be found in the NYSSWA poll. How do you overlook an 11-0-0 team? The sportswriters feel strong enough about a Section V team to judge them the best in the state, Canandaigua, but disregard the other unbeaten team in Section V?

There is one thing that both polls agree on…I am right – 3-2-E is the toughest league of any high school sports league in the state. The NYSSWA top ten has four 3-2-E teams listed and the USHSO has three 3-2-E team ranked in its top ten.

Here are the two polls, you’ll notice a difference in team record for the four teams common to both polls – that’s due to the difference in release dates:

NYSSWA (1/6/08)

1 Canandaigua 9-0-0
2 Queensbury 11-0-0
3 Whitesboro 10-2-1
4 Skaneateles 8-3-0
5 New Hartford 7-3-4
6 RFA 6-5-1
7 Pelham 10-4-1
8 Beekmantown 7-4-1
9 Norwood-Norfolk 7-3-1
10 Cazenovia 8-5-0

USHSO (1/13/08)

1 Queensbury 9-0-0
2 Webster Thomas 11-0-0
3 Canandaigua 12-0-0
4 Skaneateles 9-4-0
5 Whitesboro 12-2-1
6 Northeast Clinton 7-1-0
7 Irondequoit 4-3-2
8 Clinton 6-8-0
9 Kenmore East 7-5-2
10 New Hartford 7-3-3