BretGoBlue
Wolverine Spy
Well, with one weekend to go in the conference regular season (ECAC is actually done) the PairWise had a big shake-up.
We see a new team in the NCAA pairings this week, as someone else has been left out for now.
As usual, the teams with the highest conference winning percentage are given the auto bids for the sake of these pairings.
Automatic Bids:
Atlantic: Quinnipiac
CCHA: Michigan
CHA: Bemidji State
ECAC: Cornell *regular season champion*
Hockey East: New Hampshire
WCHA: Colorado College/Denver U
Only Cornell has their conference championship clinched at this point. All the other ones are up for grabs, the Quinnipiac, Michigan, and Bemidji State basically just need to win 1 more game. The Hockey East still has 3 teams with a shot, and the WCHA currently has co-leaders.
Should be a fun final regular season weekend across the country.
Anyways, back to the pairings.... We've ranked the teams 1-16, but indicated of any ties in the PairWise. The RPI is used as the tiebreaker.
PWR w/o any bonus points
1. Colorado College
2. Denver U
3. Boston College
4. Cornell (t-4th)
5. Minnesota (t-4th)
6. Michigan
7. Wisconsin
8. Harvard
9. New Hampshire (t-9th)
10. Dartmouth (t-9th)
11. Boston U (t-11th)
12. Ohio State (t-11th)
13. North Dakota (t-11th)
14. UMass-Lowell
15. Maine
16. Northern Michigan
PWR w/ 3-2-1 bonus
1. Colorado College (t-1st)
2. Denver U (t-1st)
3. Boston College (t-1st)
4. Minnesota
5. Cornell
6. Michigan
7. Wisconsin
8. Harvard
9. Boston U (t-9th)
10. New Hampshire (t-9th)
11. North Dakota (t-9th)
12. Dartmouth (t-9th)
13. UMass-Lowell
14. Maine
15. Bemidji State (PWR #30, auto bid)
16. Quinnipiac (PWR UNR, auto bid)
We do have 2 match-up issues as BC is currently paired with Maine and Cornell with Dartmouth. If we swap North Dakota with Dartmouth, we don't have any match-up issues and keep the pairings pretty much in tact.
We are limited in swapping Maine. We cannot switch them with UMass-Lowell, because we'd have the same issue, and we need to keep the #1 team matched up with the lowest ranked 4 seed out there. As a result, we need to move Maine & Bemidji State, so the pairings still remain fairly in tact.
The other swap we could have done was Michigan & Cornell. However, it doesn't really help us too much attendance wise to do so, and since the worst seeds are usually swapped first, we must stick with what we have done.
As a result, we get the following pairings (and what could be a very tough Midwest regional):
East Regional, Worcester, Mass. (Host: Boston U)
1. Colorado College (T-#1, 25-6-3) *auto*
2. Harvard (#8, 18-8-3)
3. Boston U (T-#9, 20-11-3)
4. Quinnipiac (UNR, 17-12-3) *auto*
West Regional, Minneapolis, Minn. (Host: Minnesota)
1. Minnesota (#4, 22-12-1)
2. Cornell (#5, 22-4-3) *auto*
3. North Dakota (T-#9, 17-13-3)
4. UMass-Lowell (T-#13, 19-9-4)
Northeast Regional, Amherst, Mass. (Host: UMass)
1. Boston College (T-#1, 20-6-6)
2. Michigan (#6, 24-7-3) *auto*
3. Dartmouth (T-#9, 17-10-2)
4. Bemidji State (#30, 19-12-1) *auto*
Midwest Regional, Grand Rapids, Mich. (Host: WMU)
1. Denver U (T-#1, 23-8-2)
2. Wisconsin (#7, 21-10-2)
3. New Hampshire (T-#9, 22-8-4) *auto*
4. Maine (#14, 18-10-6)
Last 2 In: UMass-Lowell, Maine
First 2 Out: Ohio State, Northern Michigan
In this situation, the winners of the East-West & NE-MW regionals will face each other in the Frozen Four.
Bids By Conference:
WCHA: 5
Hockey East: 5
CCHA: 1
CHA: 1
Atlantic: 1
It looks like you guys are tied with Maine in the Pairwise rankings right now but their SOS is listed at #9 while yours is #36 which is why they'd be in. You guys are really getting punished for being in one of the weaker CCHA clusters. I'd say you have to make the CCHA tournament finals or you'll probably get left out of the NCAA tournament which would be a shame. Hopefully your coach beefs up your non-conference schedule a bit more next season so this won't be an issue.