Hockey pairwise update 3/12/11
In case you missed it during yesterday's post-win muppet euphoria, there was good news and bad news from around college hockey last night. The bad news is that Michigan dropped a comparison to Merrimack after Merrimack defeated Maine in the Hockey East playoffs. The good news is that we regained another comparison, as Nebraska-Omaha lost to Bemidji State. That pulled Bemidji above the TUC cliff, which kills UNO's TUC record (they are 0-4-1 against Bemidji). Also, Denver scored a comeback win over Minnesota State, which brings the Screaming Eagles Mavericks to the brink of the TUC cliff. If Denver beats Minnesota State tonight, it will knock them off the cliff and solidify our comparison against both Denver and UNO.
What to root for tonight:
Michigan wins.
Bemidji State beating UNO either tonight or tomorrow.
Denver either beating Minnesota State again or losing to them both today and tomorrow. The worst case from that series is a Denver loss tonight and win tomorrow.
Maine to defeat Merrimack. That's the biggest game tonight.
Also, root for Alaska over Miami. The RedHawks are getting uncomfortably close to us, and those two head-to-head losses can be killers.
I miss rooting against MSU. Oh well. Go Blue!
Miami truly is getting too close to us. Following Notre Dame's OT win over LSSU and before some other results were final Miami was actually tied with us for 4th in the PWR. If we met at the Joe that would probably be a play in game for the last 1 seed.
So, I take it Miami isn't that big a deal unless U of M and Miami lose in the tournament. Absent that either we win and Miami loses some other time. Or we beat Miami ourselves. Or we lose to Miami and it doesn't matter.
Yes, a win against Miami at the Joe would in all likelihood solidify our comparison with them. We'd get a head to head point against them, and we're so far ahead of them in Common Opponents and Teams Under Comparison, I don't see either of those flopping. And a win against them of course would help our RPI and hurt theirs. That's the luxury of having teams near you in your own conference, you control your own destiny against them (in all likelihood of course since this is the pairwise).
March 12th, 2011 at 12:33 PM ^
Seems like the biggest issue here to me. We really need them to win tonight since they got the win last night. I find it ironic that their winning tonight will actually probably put them ahead of us in RPI, but shoot themselves in the foot on TUC.
Would be nice to get the Merrimack comparison back if Maine wins and flips the TUC comparison back, but it seems to me that we just need to keep DU at bay.
March 12th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
I love college hockey as much as the next Wolverine, but man is the seeding system crazy. Thanks for the information. I'm praying U-M ends up in St. Louis so I can roll down there (3 hours away) and scream my head off.
What I want for the next round.
1 Michigan vs 4 Ferris State
2 Notre Dame vs 3 Alaska
The issue with ND and me has been brewing for four years and I want Michigan to finish them off for the Championship.