The higher ranked teams all won throughout college hockey on Friday, so there was very little change in the pairwise rankings. Michigan still sits 5th, though no longer in a tie for that spot, and the only comparisons lost are to the same teams: Ferris, Boston College, Duluth, and Denver.
A win tomorrow would likely vault Michigan to 1st (possibly in a tie with BC), even if all the teams ahead of us win as well. Why? Northern is a Team Under Consideration (TUC), so a win would improve our record there. Denver and Duluth play much weaker teams that are not TUCs, so a Michigan win would improve the TUC record enough to win the overall comparisons against both teams. Also, since Ferris plays a bad BG team, a win would not give much boost to their RPI, and I think Michigan should overtake them. BC, with a win against Merrimack, should stay ahead of us in RPI and thus continue to win that comparison.
Keep in mind, though, that over the next two weeks Michigan will probably just have two games, both against BG, so some of our competitors will probably pass us again if they keep winning. There are a bunch of comparisons that are incredibly close (obviously, since Michigan can move up over 3 or 4 teams even if they all win). So don't get too excited if you see Michigan up at #1 in the Pairwise after the Saturday games. The seeding is all going to come down to who wins, who loses, and even who plays whom in the conference tournaments.
mfan_in_ohio, if someone put a gun to your head, what would you predict for the NCAA tounrament? Seeding/bracket wise I mean.
Also, I'm loving that we're anywhere near the top. I would have never guessed that a few months ago.
Go Blue!