NCAA Hockey Pairwise Set

Submitted by hockeyguy9125 on

With North Dakota beating Denver in 2OT to win the WCHA Playoff Championship, the pairwise is set for the NCAA Selection Show tomorrow afternoon.

Miami will be the last #1 seed (joining Yale, North Dakota, and Boston College), as they won their first CCHA Playoff Championship tonight. Michigan finished #5, which means they will be a #2 seed (most likely) in Miami's region. The pairwise does not totally determine the field, it could be adjusted for travel concerns and will be adjusted to avoid intra-conference first round matchups. Also, teams that host regions automatically play in those regions no matter what seed they are.

Selection Show will be tomorrow, 11:30am, ESPNU (I think)

Teams that made the tournament according to USCHO:

Yale, North Dakota ,Boston College, Miami, Michigan, Merrimack, Denver, Union, Minnesota-Duluth, Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Nebraska-Omaha, New Hampshire, Colorado College, Rensselaer, Air Force

Let's assume for the moment Michigan is in Miami's region. If you watched both teams play this weekend, you should be (rightfully so) concerned. Michigan played like garbage Friday night and while winning today against ND, they were outshot by about 20. Miami meanwhile steamrolled ND and took care of WMU to win their first CCHA Playoff title and looked like a championship team doing it. However, that is why they play the games. This senior class has one last shot at that nice gold trophy and to hang a nice white banner at Yost. They certainly have the talent to win it all...but will we see the team we all want to see, or the debacle we watched this weekend?

The only thing to be sure about...there is nothing more nerve wrecking than single elimination hockey...game on

EDIT: http://www.uscho.com/2011/03/19/bracketology-our-final-answer/

USCHO predicts Michigan will be in the St Louis Region

West Regional (St. Louis):
14 Colorado College vs. 3 Boston College
12 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 5 Michigan

I recommend clicking on the link, they do a great breakdown at how they predicted the regions...

redwings8831

March 20th, 2011 at 12:32 AM ^

I posted this in the diary but here is my breakdown of the brackets (same as priceless on USCHO).

To fill out the bracket we need to place the host schools first, which are Yale and New Hampshire. Yale will be the #1 in Bridgeport while New Hampshire will be the #4 in Manchester.



Bridgeport:

1. Yale (ECAC - #1 overall)

2.

3.

4.

Green Bay:

1.

2.

3.

4.

St. Louis:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Manchester:

1.

2.

3.

4. New Hampshire (Hockey East - #13 overall)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Now to fill in the rest of the #1's, North Dakota, Boston College and Miami. Lets start with BC. They would be in Manchester, but since the #4 seed is from the same conference as them, they have to be sent out west. I'm putting them in St. Louis. Thus, one of the western teams have to be sent to Manchester and will get to play New Hampshire who is the host. This will probably be Miami since they are the lower of the two western #1 seeds.



NOTE: This would be Michigan had we won the CCHA Playoffs.

Bridgeport:

1. Yale (ECAC - #1 overall)

2.

3.

4.

Green Bay:

1. North Dakota (#2 overall)

2.

3.

4.

St. Louis:

1. Boston College (Hockey East - #3 overall)

2.

3.

4.

Manchester:

1. Miami (CCHA - #4 overall)

2.

3.

4. New Hampshire (Hockey East - #13 overall)

----------------------------------------------------------------

We now want to fill in the rest of the bracket by keeping bracket integrity, accouting for attendance, and keeping teams that can bus to sites in those sites if possible.

Union will go to Bridgeport (keeping the 1-8 together). I think Merrimack will stay east (Manchester) while Denver and Michigan will be in St. Louis or Green Bay. To determine who is where, we have to look at the #3 seeds. I believe Minnesota-Duluth will get Green Bay over Western Michigan (both teams can bus) for attendance purposes (although WMU could bring a ton of fans like they did to the Joe). Since Notre Dame is the only team that can bus to St. Louis, they will go there.

Bridgeport:

1. Yale (ECAC - #1 overall)

2. Union (ECAC - #8 overall)

3.

4.

Green Bay:

1. North Dakota (#2 overall)

2.

3. Minnesota-Duluth (#9 overall)

4.

St. Louis:

1. Boston College (Hockey East - #3 overall)

2.

3. Notre Dame (CCHA - #11 overall)

4.

Manchester:

1. Miami (CCHA - #4 overall)

2. Merrimack (Hockey East - #6 overall)

3.

4. New Hampshire (Hockey East - #13 overall)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Now we can fill in the rest of the #2 seeds and #3 seeds. Michigan has to go to Green Bay (avoid CCHA 1st round matchup in St. Louis) and Denver has to go to St. Louis (avoid WCHA 1st round matchup in Green Bay). Western Michigan would go to Bridgeport and Nebraska-Omaha would go to Manchester (better bracket integrity for both matchups).

Bridgeport:

1. Yale (ECAC - #1 overall)

2. Union (ECAC - #8 overall)

3. Western Michigan (CCHA - #10 overall)

4.

Green Bay:

1. North Dakota (WCHA - #2 overall)

2. Michigan (CCHA - #5 overall)

3. Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA - #9 overall)

4.

St. Louis:

1. Boston College (Hockey East - #3 overall)

2. Denver (WCHA - #7 overall)

3. Notre Dame (CCHA - #11 overall)

4.

Manchester:

1. Miami (CCHA - #4 overall)

2. Merrimack (Hockey East - #6 overall)

3. Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA - #12 overall)

4. New Hampshire (Hockey East - #13 overall)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Finally we have to fill in the last three #4 seeds, RPI, Colorado College, and Air Force. Colorado College will be in St. Louis, leaving RPI for Green Bay and Air Force for Bridgeport.

Final Brackets:

Bridgeport:

1. Yale (ECAC - #1 overall)

2. Union (ECAC - #8 overall)

3. Western Michigan (CCHA - #10 overall)

4. Air Force (Atlantic Hockey - #16 overall)

Green Bay:

1. North Dakota (WCHA - #2 overall)

2. Michigan (CCHA - #5 overall)

3. Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA - #9 overall)

4. RPI (ECAC - #15 overall)

St. Louis:

1. Boston College (Hockey East - #3 overall)

2. Denver (WCHA - #7 overall)

3. Notre Dame (CCHA - #11 overall)

4. Colorado College (WCHA - #14 overall)

Manchester:

1. Miami (CCHA - #4 overall)

2. Merrimack (Hockey East - #6 overall)

3. Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA - #12 overall)

4. New Hampshire (Hockey East - #13 overall)

Wolverine318

March 20th, 2011 at 12:55 AM ^

That looks good, however, if you fill out the brackets by just focusing on PWR at first and then fixing intraconference like USCHO you get us in St. Louis. USCHO's ends up with a single intraconference swapout that must occur (swapping Miami for BC in the west). I am a true believer in keeping things simple. I think we still end up in St. Louis. Notre Dame does not travel well for hockey (the CCHA finals were this weekend was perfect evidence of this).. So, travel won't be an issue for them. I guess we will see tomorrow where we are heading.