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.