Friday Night RPI Update

With all of Friday's games except Alaska v. Alaska-Anchorage completed, here is a quick glance of the RPIs of three teams competing for tournament seeding:

Rank	Team	RPI
5	Michigan	.5565
6	Merrimack	.5564
7	Notre Dame	.5563

Michigan's .0001 lead over Merrimack has Michigan tied with Merrimack for 4th in the Pairwise, putting them in line for a 1-seed. Notre Dame, meanwhile, is tied for 7th in the Pairwise with two other teams and is in line for the last 2-seed in the tournament. Needless to say, the Pairwise is incredibly volatile at the moment. Incidentally, should Alaska win tonight, Michigan will remain in fifth, Notre Dame will probably advance to sixth place, and Merrimack will wind up in seventh. But should Alaska tie or lose, Merrimack will wind up in fifth, Notre Dame will wind up sixth, and Michigan will wind up seventh. As of right now, Alaska leads 3-1 midway through the third period, which is good news for Michigan. While it is highly doubtful that this game will determine where these teams ultimately finish in the RPI and Pairwise, these teams will take any help they can get with their comparisons as close as they are.

Bracketology: 2/25/11

The Pairwise Rankings remained remarkably consistent last week, despite a number of major upsets including Michigan Tech beating Denver, which was their first win since October. The only team to fall out of standing for an at-large bid was Dartmouth, after losing two games to Colgate and Cornell over the weekend, as they were passed by Western Michigan, who also went 0-2 on the weekend, but lost their games to Michigan. As such, here are the teams in the tournament as the Pairwise stands today, along with their overall seed and conference:

1. Yale (ECAC)
2. North Dakota (WCHA)
3. Boston College (HE)
4 (4t)*. Merrimack (HE)
5 (4t)*. Denver (WCHA)
6. Michigan (CCHA)
7. Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)
8 (8t)*. Union (ECAC)
9 (8t)*. Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)
10. Notre Dame (CCHA)
11 (11t)*. New Hampshire (HE)
12 (11t)*. Miami (CCHA)
13 (11t)*. Rensselaer (ECAC)
14. Wisconsin (WCHA)
15. Western Michigan (CCHA)
16. RIT (Projected AH Champ)
Rankings adapted from http://uscho.com/

*All ties in the Pairwise traditionally go to the team with the higher RPI.
Per usual, we will begin by simply employing straight seeding to create an initial bracket:

East Regional-Bridgeport
1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*
4 (16). RIT (AH)**
2 (8). Union (ECAC)**
3 (9). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)

Midwest Regional-Green Bay
1 (2). North Dakota (WCHA)
4 (15). Western Michigan (CCHA)**
2 (7). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**
3 (10). Notre Dame (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester
1 (3). Boston College (HE)**
4 (14). Wisconsin (WCHA)
2 (6). Michigan (CCHA)
3 (11). New Hampshire (HE)*

West Regional-St. Louis
1 (4). Merrimack (HE)
4 (13). Rensselaer (ECAC)
2 (5). Denver (WCHA)
3 (12). Miami (CCHA)**

*Denotes host school. Host schools that qualify for the tournament are automatically placed in the regional that they are hosting. This year, Yale will automatically be placed in Bridgeport and New Hampshire will automatically be placed in New Hampshire.
**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA rules.

This bracket is actually extraordinarily good for an introduction. There are no intra-conference first round matchups to work around, few teams have to fly, and the setup is such that attendance looks to be decent at most of the regionals, with St. Louis being the only problem spot. We do want to move Rensselaer east, which we can accomplish by removing Wisconsin from Manchester. This leaves us with our only dilemma of this bracket, namely what to do with Wisconsin. On one hand, we could simply place them in the now vacated 4-seed slot in St. Louis. On the other, we could work to put them in Green Bay, thus creating a modest attendance boost. As putting Wisconsin in Green Bay would, however, force Western Michigan to fly while putting Wisconsin in St. Louis allows both teams to drive, a straight swap of Rensselaer for Wisconsin makes more sense in this case. Thus, we are left with a remarkably easy-to-produce final bracket:

East Regional-Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*

4 (16). RIT (AH)**

2 (8). Union (ECAC)**

3 (9). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)

Midwest Regional-Green Bay

1 (2). North Dakota (WCHA)

4 (15). Western Michigan (CCHA)**
2 (7). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**

3 (10). Notre Dame (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester

1 (3). Boston College (HE)**

4 (14). Rensselaer (ECAC)**

2 (6). Michigan (CCHA)

3 (11). New Hampshire (HE)*

West Regional-St. Louis

1 (4). Merrimack (HE)

4 (14). Wisconsin (WCHA)**

2 (5). Denver (WCHA)

3 (12). Miami (CCHA)**

*Denotes host school.

**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA rules.

Bracketology: 2/18/11

Last week saw major changes to the Pairwise rankings, including the huge jump by Merrimack after their sweep of New Hampshire. As such, here are the current teams projected to be in the tournament, along with their overall seed and conference:

1. Yale (ECAC)
2. Boston College (HE)

3. North Dakota (WCHA)

4 (4t)*. Denver (WCHA)

5 (4t)*. Merrimack (HE)

6. Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)

7 (7t)*. Union (ECAC)

8 (7t)*. Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)

9 (9t)*. Notre Dame (CCHA)

10 (9t)*. Michigan (CCHA)

11 (9t)*. Miami (CCHA)

12 (12t)*. New Hampshire (HE)

13 (12t)*. Dartmouth (ECAC)

14. Rensselaer (ECAC)

15 (15t)**. Wisconsin (WCHA)

16. RIT (Projected AH champ)

Pairwise Rankings replicated from http://uscho.com

*All ties in the Pairwise, such as Denver and Merrimack, traditionally go to the team with the higher RPI. However, the NCAA can also break the tie by favoring the team which wins the head-to-head comparison, which Merrimack wins against Denver.
**Wisconsin is tied with Western Michigan in the Pairwise, but wins all tiebreakers for the comparison, thus putting them in the tournament. Western Michigan cannot make it because the Atlantic Hockey Conference gets an autobid and no Atlantic Hockey team is in the top 15, meaning that their champion will be automatically slated as the last overall seed.

To begin with, let's form a simple bracket in which we simply go with straight seeding:

East Regional-Bridgeport
1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*
4 (16). RIT (AH)**
2 (8). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)
3 (9). Notre Dame (CCHA)

West Regional-St. Louis
1 (2). Boston College (HE)
4 (15). Wisconsin (WCHA)**
2 (7). Union (ECAC)
3 (10). Michigan (CCHA)

Midwest Regional-Green Bay
1 (3). North Dakota (WCHA)
4 (14). Rensselaer (ECAC)
2 (6). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**
3 (11). Miami (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester
1 (4). Denver (WCHA)
4 (13). Dartmouth (ECAC)**
2 (5). Merrimack (HE)**
3 (12). New Hampshire (HE)*

*Denotes Host School. Host schools are automatically placed in the regional that they are hosting should they make the tournament. New Hampshire, for instance, is automatically placed in the Manchester Regional which they are hosting. On the other hand, Michigan Tech is hosting the Green Bay regional, but they will not be placed there as they will not make the tournament short of a miraculous run to win the WCHA tournament.
**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA regulations.

This bracket has a myriad of problems. First of all, Merrimack cannot face New Hampshire in the first round by rule as that would be a intra-conference first-round matchup. Second of all, a lot of teams are flying that don't need to be. With some simple changes, such as switching Notre Dame with Michigan, we can rectify this issue. Thus, we produce this bracket:

East Regional-Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*

4 (16). RIT (AH)**

2 (5). Merrimack (HE)**

3 (10). Michigan (CCHA)

West Regional-St. Louis

1 (2). Boston College (HE)

4 (15). Wisconsin (WCHA)**

2 (8). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)**
3 (9). Notre Dame (CCHA)**

Midwest Regional-Green Bay

1 (3). North Dakota (WCHA)

4 (14). Rensselaer (ECAC)

2 (6). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**

3 (11). Miami (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester

1 (4). Denver (WCHA)

4 (13). Dartmouth (ECAC)**

2 (7). Union (ECAC)**

3 (12). New Hampshire (HE)*

*Denotes Host School

**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA regulations.

This bracket is much improved. We now avoid any intra-conference first round matchups, and only five teams have to fly, as opposed to eight. At this point, it makes sense to begin making changes to improve attendance in each of the respective regionals. For instance, it makes little sense to not place Wisconsin in Green Bay when we can easily do so. It also makes sense to place Notre Dame in Green Bay and Miami in St. Louis, as Miami is closer to St. Louis than Notre Dame and Notre Dame is closer to Green Bay than Miami. Thus, we get the following bracket:

East Regional-Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*

4 (16). RIT (AH)**

2 (5). Merrimack (HE)**

3 (10). Michigan (CCHA)

West Regional-St. Louis

1 (3). North Dakota (WCHA)

4 (14). Rensselaer (ECAC)

2 (8). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)**
3 (11). Miami (CCHA)**

Midwest Regional-Green Bay

1 (2). Boston College (HE)

4 (15). Wisconsin (WCHA)**

2 (6). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**

3 (9). Notre Dame (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester

1 (4). Denver (WCHA)

4 (13). Dartmouth (ECAC)**

2 (7). Union (ECAC)**

3 (12). New Hampshire (HE)*

*Denotes Host School

**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA regulations.

This bracket is pretty good. However, there is a significant issue left unresolved. The NCAA prefers putting 1-seeds in regions where they don't have to drive whenever possible, and Boston College is currently flying to Green Bay as opposed to driving to Manchester. Unfortunately, this cannot be rectified without making two 4-seeds fly, as placing Boston College in Manchester would force us to move Wisconsin to either Bridgeport or Manchester to avoid an intra-conference first round matchup. Such a move would, in turn, force whichever 4-seed Wisconsin replaces to drive as well. Because Manchester already has two teams from New Hampshire to draw fans there, as well as a team from upstate New York, I am inclined to believe that the NCAA would leave the bracket as is, because moving Wisconsin would mean sacrificing a major boon to attendance in Green Bay.

On the other hand, this issue disappears if we list Merrimack as a 1-seed instead of Denver, which the NCAA can justifiably do. As a preliminary bracket, let's take the current one, but switch Merrimack and Denver:

East Regional-Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*

4 (16). RIT (AH)**

2 (5). Denver (WCHA)

3 (10). Michigan (CCHA)

West Regional-St. Louis

1 (3). North Dakota (WCHA)

4 (14). Rensselaer (ECAC)

2 (8). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)**
3 (11). Miami (CCHA)**

Midwest Regional-Green Bay

1 (2). Boston College (HE)

4 (15). Wisconsin (WCHA)**

2 (6). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**

3 (9). Notre Dame (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester

1 (4). Merrimack (HE)**

4 (13). Dartmouth (ECAC)**

2 (7). Union (ECAC)**

3 (12). New Hampshire (HE)*

*Denotes Host School

**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA regulations.

We now have a lot more flexibility, as we can move around 1-seeds without taking Wisconsin away from Green Bay. As Boston College is seeded higher overall than Merrimack, we'll switch those two teams. We can also move Union to Bridgeport, which is about an hour closer to Union driving-wise and also addresses a potential attendance issue in Bridgeport. Thus, we are left with the following bracket:

East Regional-Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale (ECAC)*

4 (16). RIT (AH)**

2 (7). Union (ECAC)**

3 (10). Michigan (CCHA)

West Regional-St. Louis

1 (3). North Dakota (WCHA)

4 (14). Rensselaer (ECAC)

2 (8). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)**
3 (11). Miami (CCHA)**

Midwest Regional-Green Bay

1 (4). Merrimack (HE)

4 (15). Wisconsin (WCHA)**

2 (6). Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)**

3 (9). Notre Dame (CCHA)**

Northeast Regional-Manchester

1 (2). Boston College (HE)**

4 (13). Dartmouth (ECAC)**

2 (5). Denver (WCHA)

3 (12). New Hampshire (HE)*

*Denotes Host School

**Denotes team within 400 miles of site, thus allowing them to avoid flying per NCAA regulations.

This bracket is pretty much as good as it can get. Only four teams are flying and there are potential draws at every regional. The only regional that looks like it will have any major issues attendance-wise is St. Louis, which is pretty much unavoidable because there aren't many good hockey teams near St. Louis. 

Weekend and Beanpot Roundup

Roundup of games covered in the weekend preview, along with the Beanpot championship and consolation game:

Atlantic Hockey
RIT easily swept Canisius with a 3-0 win on Friday and a 6-0 win on Sunday. So long as they don't play very poorly down the stretch, they look to be a lock as a TUC in the Pairwise rankings. Also, they clinched the Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Championship this weekend.

Robert Morris beat Mercyhurst 3-2 on Friday and tied them 4-4 on Saturday. Their RPI remains just above .5000 at .5032. They could easily fall out of the Pairwise should they lose another game or two.

CCHA
Northern Michigan swept Michigan State on the weekend, dropping Michigan State below .5000 and bringing themselves to the cusp of TUC status with a .4996 RPI.

Michigan swept Ohio State, breaking a 3 game losing streak and boosting their standing in the Pairwise. Meanwhile, Ohio State's RPI fell just below .5000. Michigan is definitely hoping that Ohio State closes off strong enough to bring that above .5000 again, as they are 3-1-0 against OSU, whereas fellow CCHA teams Notre Dame and Miami, who are closely competing with Michigan for Pairwise position, are 1-1-0 and 0-2-0 against OSU, respectively.

Miami went 1-0-1 against Western Michigan on the weekend. This brought Miami up to number 11 in the Pairwise, and knocked WMU to the position of being the first team out in the tournament. Miami's position in the tournament is far from secure and WMU is knocking on the door of the tournament, so both teams will need to close out the season very strong. WMU will close out the regular season a series on the road against Michigan and a home-and-home against Notre Dame. They'll be in very strong position if they can go 3-1-0 over this stretch.

ECAC
Dartmouth beat Quinnipiac and Princeton on consecutive nights, boosting them into a tie for 11th in the Pairwise with New Hampshire and Miami. They are, however, in a very precarious situation, as they are only .500 on the year against TUCs and will only play one more TUC in the regular season. Meanwhile, they currently have very narrow leads in several comparisons against CCHA and WCHA teams, including Miami, Western Michigan, and Colorado College that will close out with tougher schedules. Dartmouth will need these teams to falter down the stretch to ensure a spot in the NCAAs, or they'll need a strong showing in the ECAC tournament to boost their standing.

Hockey East
In the most important series on the weekend, Merrimack swept New Hampshire in a home-and-home series. This moved Merrimack all the way up to a tie for 4th in the Pairwise and knocked New Hampshire down to a tie for 11th. Merrimack now has a very good chance to wind up the #2 overall seed, while New Hampshire cannot afford to go on a slide if they want to make the tournament.

WCHA
North Dakota swept Alaska-Anchorage, knocking Alaska-Anchorage's RPI to .5032. North Dakota continues to look like a probable #1 seed, whereas Alaska-Anchorage is on the cusp of falling out of the Pairwise rankings entirely, which would be detrimental to numerous WCHA teams, including North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, and Wisconsin. Colorado College, on the other hand, would actually benefit, having gone 2-3-0 on the year against Alaska Anchorage.

Nebraska-Omaha swept Wisconsin in a critical series that served to nearly solidify Nebraska-Omaha's NCAA bid (although they can't afford to completely fall apart to end the year) and push Wisconsin to being the last team in the tournament. Wisconsin needs to rebound immediately, as every remaining game will be against a TUC. Nebraska-Omaha, incidentally, will play an even more difficult schedule to close out the year, and if they do well they look to be a #2 seed and could even push for a #1 seed.

Beanpot
Boston College won the Beanpot with a thrilling 7-6 overtime victory over Northeastern that wasn't terribly important in the grand scheme of things.

Harvard defeated Boston University in the consolation game, which was a big loss for BU, as they now are on the low end of the bubble. BU will close out against three weak teams and will have to rely on teams above them to lose or a strong showing in the Hockey East tournament if they are going to make it into the NCAA tournament.

Series Worthy of Attention this Weekend

As we near the end of the season, the importance of various games in the NCAA tournament picture becomes clear. The most important of these occur between teams on the bubble, for obvious reasons, and teams near the .5000 RPI cutoff which determines whether a team will be considered in the Pairwise Rankings*. As such, here is a list of games that merit special attention this weekend:

*Record against such teams is one of the factors considered in the Pairwise rankings. Such teams are referred to as Teams under Consideration, or TUCs.

Atlantic Hockey
Canisius vs. RIT (Home and Home): RIT has a .5012 RPI. A split could cause RIT to fall below .5000. Should this happen, both Union and Renssalaer will be at risk of dropping in the Pairwise, as both teams have a win over RIT and have played only 15 and 13 games against TUCs, meaning that losing a single game in the win column could have far-reaching adverse effects.

Mercyhurst vs. Robert Morris (Home and Home): Robert Morris is in a similar position to RIT in that they could also easily drop below .5000 in the RPI this weekend. Should this happen, North Dakota, who is in a tight battle for a 1-seed, would lose two wins over TUCs. This could be highly detrimental to their chances.

CCHA
Northern Michigan at Michigan State: Northern Michigan sits just below .5000. Michigan State sits just above .5000. This series, therefore, could impact a large number of teams. The teams that will be most affected are fellow CCHA teams Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Western Michigan, all of whom are on the NCAA bubble.

Ohio State at Michigan: Michigan is riding a 3-game losing streak that has dropped them from contending for a 1-seed to the NCAA bubble. As Ohio State is a TUC, Michigan really needs a strong series to help secure a NCAA bid.

Western Michigan at Miami: Western Michigan is on the right side of the NCAA bubble. Miami is on the wrong side. Miami will look to flip their respective positions after coming off a sweep of Michigan last weekend.

ECAC
Quinnipiac at Dartmouth (Friday), Princeton at Dartmouth (Saturday): Dartmouth is currently listed as the last team into the tournament and will need to finish the season very strong to make it. Quinnipiac, for its part, sits just below .5000 and could make a big impact on the ECAC teams in the Pairwise if they can rise above .5000 by getting a win or tie on Friday.

Hockey East
Merrimack vs. New Hampshire (Home and Home): This is the most important series of the weekend. New Hampshire is currently in a tight battle for one of three 1-seeds (assuming the overall 1-seed will go to Yale, who holds a solid lead over everyone in the Pairwise) with Boston College, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, and Denver. Sweeping Merrimack would do a lot to help their cause. Merrimack, meanwhile, needs a strong showing this weekend, as they only have 9 games against TUCs thus far, meaning that this series could greatly elevate their standing or drop them to the NCAA bubble.

WCHA
Alaska-Anchorage at North Dakota: North Dakota is battling for a 1-seed and needs to sweep teams like Alaska-Anchorage if they are going to get one. Alaska-Anchorage, meanwhile, is at risk of falling below .5000, which would have a somewhat significant impact on every WCHA team in Pairwise.

Wisconsin at Nebraska-Omaha: Nebraska-Omaha is on the NCAA bubble and cannot afford to be swept by Wisconsin this weekend, although a split will likely keep them on the right side of the bubble for now. A sweep of Wisconsin, on the other hand, would go a long way towards securing a bid to the tournament.

Bracketology: 2/9/11

During the latter half of every season, it is my intention to publish a projected NCAA Tournament bracket based on the current Pairwise Rankings every week.

The NCAA Hockey tournament has 16 spots. A slot is guaranteed to the five conference tournament winners. The remaining slots are filled with the highest ranked teams in the Pairwise. Each team is given an overall seed based on their rank in the Pairwise. Then, the teams are then divided into four seeding bands, that is to say the top 4 teams are given 1-seeds, the next four teams are given 2-seeds, and so on and so forth. These teams are then mixed and matched to form a bracket based on a variety of considerations including geography, attendance concerns, and bracket integrity. For instance, the NCAA tournament committee strives to keep schools within 400 miles by road from their tournament site, as NCAA rules mandate that teams fly to regionals over 400 miles away. Another important rule is that the school hosting a regional is guaranteed to play at that regional if they make the tournament. Finally, the NCAA cannot allow intra-conference first round games unless there are more than 5 teams from a conference in either the 1 and 4 seeding bands or the 2 and 3 seeding bands. All that said, I will now attempt to put together a bracket:

Overall Seeds based on Pairwise Rankings (Conference in Parenthesis)

1. Yale (ECAC)

2. Boston College (HE)

3 (3t)*. Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)

4 (3t)*. New Hampshire (HE)

5 (5t)*. North Dakota (WCHA)

6 (5t)*. Denver (WCHA)

7 (7t)*. Rensselaer (ECAC)

8 (7t)*. Wisconsin (WCHA)

9 (9t)*. Union (ECAC)

10 (9t)*. Merrimack (HE)

11 (11t)*. Notre Dame (CCHA)

12 (11t)*. Michigan (CCHA)

13. Western Michigan (CCHA)

14. Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)

15 (15t)**. Dartmouth (ECAC)

16 (NR). RIT (Projected AH Champion)

*These teams are tied in the Pairwise. Ties in the Pairwise are traditionally broken by overall RPI rank.

**Dartmouth currently is slotted into the 15th slot despite being tied with Miami and Boston U based on their slightly higher RPI rank. It should, however, be noted that Miami currently leads the CCHA standings and it would not be remotely surprising if they were to win the CCHA championship.

We can use this to form the following simple bracket:

Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale* (ECAC)

4 (16). RIT** (AH)

2 (8). Wisconsin (WCHA)

3 (9). Union** (ECAC)

Manchester

1 (4). New Hampshire* (HE)

4 (13). Western Michigan (CCHA)

2 (5). North Dakota (WCHA)

3 (12). Michigan (CCHA)

St. Louis

1 (2). Boston College (HE)

4 (15). Dartmouth (ECAC)

2 (7). Rensselaer (ECAC)

3 (10). Merrimack (HE)

Green Bay

1 (3). Minnesota-Duluth** (WCHA)

4 (14). Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA)

2 (6). Denver (WCHA)

3 (11). Notre Dame** (CCHA)

*Denotes that school is the host of the regional.

**Denotes that school is within 400 miles of the regional, thus allowing them to avoid flying.

This bracket is rife with issues. First of all, there is an intra-conference matchups in the Green Bay regional. Secondly, numerous regionals in this setup will simply not draw fans. For instance, it is highly doubtful that teams from New England and upstate New York will be able to draw a large number of fans to St. Louis for a college hockey game. And it should be noted that the NCAA demonstrated last year that attendance is of the utmost importance, when overall 12-seed Michigan was placed in the Fort Wayne regional to face overall 8-seed Bemidji State, just so that Fort Wayne could draw a crowd. Bearing this in mind, we can make a number of immediate changes to the bracket by sending eastern schools east wherever possible and keeping western schools west whenever possible:

Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale* (ECAC)

4 (16). RIT** (AH)

2 (8). Wisconsin (WCHA)

3 (9). Union** (ECAC)

Manchester

1 (4). New Hampshire* (HE)

4 (15). Dartmouth** (ECAC)

2 (7). Rensselaer** (ECAC)

3 (10). Merrimack** (HE)

St. Louis

1 (2). Boston College (HE)

4 (14). Nebraska-Omaha** (WCHA)

2 (5). North Dakota (WCHA)

3 (12). Michigan (CCHA)

Green Bay

1 (3). Minnesota-Duluth** (WCHA)

4 (13). Western Michigan** (CCHA)

2 (6). Denver (WCHA)

3 (11). Notre Dame** (CCHA)

*Denotes host school.

**Denotes that school is within 400 miles of the regional, thus allowing them to avoid flying.

This bracket is much improved. Instead of having only six teams within driving distance, we now have 11. Manchester is looking to be a great region attendance-wise, as three teams are within 100 miles of Manchester, and Rensselaer, the school with the farthest trek, is only 160 miles out. Furthermore, no first round intra-conference matchups. However, this is not to say that there can't be improvement. For instance, it would be quite beneficial to put Wisconsin in Green Bay for attendance purposes, as Wisconsin can easily draw fans there. So we'll switch Wisconsin and Denver. It also would be beneficial to have a second team in St. Louis that is within a reasonable driving distance to help boost attendance. There are no reasonable options among the 1 or 2 seeds and the 4-seed in the region is already within driving distance. However, we could switch Notre Dame with Michigan, as Notre Dame is approximately 6 1/2 hours away from St. Louis, whereas Michigan is about 9 hours away from St. Louis. As Green Bay has no real attendance concern with Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin in the regional, it makes sense to switch Notre Dame and Michigan. This results the following final bracket:

Bridgeport

1 (1). Yale* (ECAC)

4 (16). RIT** (AH)

2 (6). Denver (WCHA)

3 (9). Union** (ECAC)

Manchester

1 (4). New Hampshire* (HE)

4 (15). Dartmouth** (ECAC)

2 (7). Rensselaer** (ECAC)

3 (10). Merrimack** (HE)

St. Louis

1 (2). Boston College (HE)

4 (14). Nebraska-Omaha** (WCHA)

2 (5). North Dakota (WCHA)

3 (11). Notre Dame (CCHA)

Green Bay

1 (3). Minnesota-Duluth** (WCHA)

4 (13). Western Michigan** (CCHA)

2 (8). Wisconsin (WCHA)

3 (12). Michigan (CCHA)

*Denotes host school.

**Denotes that school is within 400 miles of the regional, thus allowing them to avoid flying.

Welcome

I'd like to welcome any college hockey fans (or non-college hockey fans who wound up here accidentally or for some other reason) to Pairwiseland. This blog will primarily focus on the various issues surrounding the NCAA Hockey postseason format, with a special focus on the Pairwise comparison system that determines which teams make the tournament and how they are seeded. In addition, I will cover certain aspects of the college hockey season, although I still haven't decided the specifics of what I will focus on.

At any rate, all college hockey fans, other hockey fans, general sports fans, or anyone, really, are welcome to join in discussion on college hockey or anything else I wind up writing about. Comments are encouraged, although I reserve the right to censure any comments containing overly offensive content, such as racial slurs and other obvious things, content that is completely off topic, and spam. I hope to see many of you. And as I am a Michigan student I will conclude with a simple, GO BLUE! Well, that and a video of the Michigan student section dancing to Can't Turn You Loose: