Way too early NCAA Hockey Bracketology
Through 1/14 Games:
1. Minnesota-Duluth (31)
2. Ohio State (30)
3. Boston University (29)
4. Boston College (28)
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5. Notre Dame (26)
6. Merrimack (25)
7. Minnesota (24)
8. Western Michigan (23)
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9. Michigan (22)
10. Northern Michigan (22)
11. Mass-Lowell (21)
12. Ferris State (20)
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13. Cornell (19)
14. Denver (18)
15. Colorado College (18)
16. AHA Champ (Mercyhurst)
St. Paul:
1. Minnesota-Duluth
7. Minnesota (host)
9. Michigan
16. AHA Champ
Green Bay:
2. Ohio State
8. Western Michigan
11. Mass-Lowell
15. Colorado College
Worcester:
3. Boston University
6. Merrimack
10. Northern Michigan
14. Denver
Bridgeport:
4. Boston College
5. Notre Dame*
12. Ferris State*
13. Cornell
*All CCHA matchup in the first round between a 2 seed and a 3 seed is unavoidable.
January 15th, 2012 at 12:49 AM ^
Michigan Minnesota would be a great game.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:05 AM ^
Because we have absolutely owned Minnesota in the last 5 or so years
January 15th, 2012 at 12:57 AM ^
I hate the host sites. It would be nice to have a true West regional and a true Midwest regional (basically, a WCHA location and a CCHA location) instead of having two WCHA sites this year and two CCHA sites (Toledo and Grand Rapids) next year. I really hope we can stay out of that Minnesota regional, because no matter how the rest of the season shakes out, it would probably mean beating both the host team and the defending national champs, because both those teams are going to that regional unless they are in the same seed band.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:01 AM ^
Yeah, its going to be a tough draw in St. Paul this year. Basically we can avoid both of them (and probably get Green Bay, with OSU or ND) if we can get into the same seed band as Minnesota.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:07 AM ^
It's amazing what a good 6-0-2 streak will do for you in ncaa hockey. A month ago we were barely ranked and were on the outside looking in. Now we're top ten in the PWR and with a win against OSU tomorrow, we'll be in the 3rd place in the CCHA and only 5 points out of first place.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:09 AM ^
That regional would be killer... Minnesota AND Duluth, both in St. Paul?! That's deadly. None of the regionals are really easy, but that's especially hard, when you add Michigan, even considering the AHA champ.
Worscter is probably the easiest, I'm not sold on Merrimack, but other than that, the other seven 1 and 2 seeds all seem like pretty to really good teams.
Weird to not see Miami or North Dakota in there, but I think Miami makes it by the end of the year as a hot team nobody wants to play. It does make most of the 3 and 4 seeds seem relatively underwhelming right now, though.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:33 AM ^
try playing North Dakota in St Paul or Minnesota Duluth in Minniapolis then complain to me about "home advantage." I hate the regional set up in the NCAA Men's hockey tournament.
January 15th, 2012 at 2:17 AM ^
but I do get the point. We played two road games in the same weekend almost pulled off the sweep. That was a home game for North Dakota and then in the title game anyone not wearing maize was cheering for Duluth
January 15th, 2012 at 1:58 PM ^
a few years back when we hosted at Yost though.
January 15th, 2012 at 1:31 AM ^
Just a heads up. If we would've beat Northeastern and Union at Yost over Thanksgiving, we'd be #3 in the PWR with 30 comparisons won. Instead we're 9th with 22 comparisions won.
January 15th, 2012 at 2:20 AM ^
I still can't believe we lost to Union and cellar-dweller Northeastern. I admire Red for sticking to his guns wrt Merrill, but I can't help but wonder what the stretch of WMU-OSU-Union-NE would've looked like with Merrill in the line-up
January 15th, 2012 at 10:47 AM ^
Something is screwy with the USCHO website, specifically in how they calculate record against common opponents. We actually win the comparison with Notre Dame, so we are actually 7th. That being said, those games really hurt us in comparisons with the eastern teams. The Union game is also the sole reason we are losing the comparison to Colorado College, who is way below us in the RPI.
January 15th, 2012 at 11:44 AM ^
That's actually not a mistake. This summer the NCAA ice hockey committee tweaked how they do the common opponents comparison, so the way they are doing it on USCHO is correct. Instead of adding up wins and losses and calculating a total percentage from that, they now add up the winning percentage against each common opponent.
January 15th, 2012 at 9:51 AM ^
That's crazy. I don't know what's more surprising, that the CCHA is that deep this year or that OSU is on top of it right now with 12 freshman or however many. Hopefully we can pick up the sweep today and cut the gap in half. If we do, I like our chances to keep it close down the stretch and hopefully take advantage of having Northern at home for senior weekend and then Bowling Green on the road for a final four. Lot of tough game before that, but if we can survive it somewhere above .500, we're in good shape.
January 15th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^
Really, I just want to keep the streak going.
January 15th, 2012 at 11:43 AM ^
Agreed. I don't care who we play or which region we're in. I just want to keep the streak alive. I know we're not contenders this year. Any tourney victory would be gravy this year.
January 15th, 2012 at 6:58 PM ^
We're up to #5 with a win today. Currently up 4-1 after the 2nd.
January 15th, 2012 at 11:02 PM ^
Which seems to mean something like a first-round game with Mass-Lowell in Worcester, with BU or BC waiting.
It's a bit early for this, isn't it? But it's nice to see how fast things have changed.