Bracketology

[Ralph Baer]

Re: Bracketology

I know all you WCHA folks like to tout the NCAA tournament as the "WCHA invitational" but would any of you mind taking a break from your circle jerk to give a couple of opinions on the CCHA.

I understand the pairwise, but I'm not as good at predicting the future and noticing the trends like many of you. I know Miami is the only CCHA team that is solidly in the tournament. As for Michigan State and Ferris, what is the ceiling for them (without winning the league tournament)?

CCHA Teams in contention for an NCAA birth.

Miami - LOCK
Ferris State - Good chance with 3 or 4 more wins
Michigan State - Maybe - Need 4 wins+
Northern Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha - Need lots of help (probably need to win out, might survive a loss in championship game, or beat a strong opponent in 3rd place game).

I would wager we get two teams in the tournament with an outside chance of a 3rd tournament berth if someone really heats up late.

Any reason that UA_ is being ignored?

[StLooMav]

Re: Bracketology

I think when all is said and done...... after all of the conference tournaments are compleated, you will see Bemidji State as the number 1 seed in Saint Paul.

Big games this weekend toward determining that. Blais has UNO rolling at just the right time. Since I have divided loyalties, I'm hoping for a split.

[yhforlife]

Re: Bracketology

Agreed. I'd love going to Albany for this bracket.

Didn't Yale tie the badgers this year. I thought they completely dominated that game too and the shots were something like 45-25. As a Yale fan I would also personally love this regional.

[WeWantMore]

Re: Bracketology

Didn't Yale tie the badgers this year. I thought they completely dominated that game too and the shots were something like 45-25. As a Yale fan I would also personally love this regional.

Kind of useless to get into this over a game that might never happen, but for what it's worth, the Badgers did have 3 players at the World Juniors for that game.

[uwbadgers14]

Re: Bracketology

Didn't Yale tie the badgers this year. I thought they completely dominated that game too and the shots were something like 45-25. As a Yale fan I would also personally love this regional.

I was impressed by yale in that game, i thought they were fast and played a lot harder then the badgers. BUt remember one thing about that weekend.

UW players gone to the world Juniors. Derek Stepan (F) (8-29-37pts), Jake Gardiner (D) (3-4-7, +12,) John Ramage (D) (2-8-10pts, +14) Although Gardiner and Ramage are not huge point guys that disrupted 2 of our defensive pairings in result UW only dressed 5 d-man against Yale. Stepan is a key part of our top 6 forwards both 5-5, on the PP and PK. So as impressive as Yale was in that game, UW was missing some key defensive players which allowed yale to get a lot of puck on net and yale still had to score late to tie the game. But I do think Yale should be in the running for a #1 seed...

[Squarebanks]

Re: Bracketology

Any reason that UA_ is being ignored?

CCHA Teams in contention for an NCAA birth.

Miami - LOCK
Ferris State - Good chance with 3 or 4 more wins
Michigan State - Maybe - Need 4 wins+
Northern Michigan and Nebraska-Omaha - Need lots of help (probably need to win out, might survive a loss in championship game, or beat a strong opponent in 3rd place game).

I would wager we get two teams in the tournament with an outside chance of a 3rd tournament berth if someone really heats up late.

One thing I learned the hard way last year is that sometimes the PWR makes no sense. Witness UAF eliminating Ohio State in the CCHA playoffs last season; the NCAA's response was to send OSU to the tournament, where they promptly got blasted by BU.

I guess if you're a bubble team, come to Fairbanks and lose a couple of games to us!

And assuming we can keep Anchorage from taking a giant dump all over our season again, and win our first round home series, we might just still be in the hunt in mid-March.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Bracketology

Didn't Yale tie the badgers this year. I thought they completely dominated that game too and the shots were something like 45-25. As a Yale fan I would also personally love this regional.

Yeah when we were missing two defensemen (Jake Gadiner, first round NHL draft pick, and John Ramage) as well as a forward (Derek Stepan, second round NHL draft pick) who were gone at the World Junior Championship.

Edit: Apparently I was beaten to the punch...by two posters.

[profoster]

Re: Bracketology

Any reason that UA_ is being ignored?

I think despite their current RPI ranking, they have the toughest road to the tournament out of the remaining teams. They will be playing Alaska-Ancourage this weekend where they can only suffer in the RPI. The best they can hope for is two wins and hope to maintain their current standing. The 2nd thing I have against them is they will be in all likelyhood be drawing Western Michigan or Bowling Green in the first round of the CCHA playoffs, again not helping the RPI. A loss in any of those games could be fatal to their chances (they are not out of it, but they have a long road ahead of them).

Nebraska-Omaha has the most room for improvement this weekend with a big home series against Bemidji State. I think even a split will improve their RPI rankings.

I should add that I would like to see these teams win their non-conference games this weekend! It can only benefit all the teams in the CCHA in the long run.

[Priceless]

Re: Bracketology

Jayson's bracketology is the same as my second (reducing flights for #1 seeds)

Albany			Worcester		Fort Wayne	St. Paul
Wisconsin		Denver			Miami		St Cloud
Yale			UND			BC		Bemidji
Alaska			UNH			MSU		UMD
Cornell			AHA Champ		Union		Ferris

[mcfarljd]

Re: Bracketology

Jayson's bracketology is the same as my second (reducing flights for #1 seeds)

Albany			Worcester		Fort Wayne	St. Paul
Wisconsin		Denver			Miami		St Cloud
Yale			UND			BC		Bemidji
Alaska			UNH			MSU		UMD
Cornell			AHA Champ		Union		Ferris

Well, apparently Moy forgot to notice that for the first time in who knows how long Miami is #2 instead of #1. Curious if he'd still send Denver to Worcester if he swapped that. Eh, he probably still would with that St Paul attendance.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Re: Bracketology

Well, apparently Moy forgot to notice that for the first time in who knows how long Miami is #2 instead of #1. Curious if he'd still send Denver to Worcester if he swapped that. Eh, he probably still would with that St Paul attendance.

He forgot in the first part, but when he is placing the teams he has it correct. Simple oversight.

[mcfarljd]

Re: Bracketology

He forgot in the first part, but when he is placing the teams he has it correct. Simple oversight.

OOps, youre right, sorry I just scanned. Seeing "Union" next to Miami really threw me off honestly, yea he's got the Pios with RIT so looks like he just switched them at the top.

[Priceless]

Re: Bracketology

Today's Bracketology:

Albany			Worcester		Fort Wayne	St. Paul
Wisconsin		Denver		        Miami		St Cloud
Yale			UND			BC		Bemidji
MSU			UNH			Cornell		Alaska
NMU			AHA Champ		Vermont		Ferris

A slight modification could be made by switching the BC/Cornell game and the Yale/MSU game to help attendance in both Albany and Fort Wayne.

The TUC line:

21	Northeastern	0.5244
22	Nebraska	0.5210
23	Mass.-Lowell	0.5208
24	Michigan	0.5185
25	Boston U	0.5149
---
26	Massachusetts	0.5108
27	Merrimack	0.5094
28	Lake Superior	0.5073
29	Minnesota State	0.5044
30	RIT	        0.5025

[Patman]

Re: Bracketology

Today's Bracketology:

Does it bother anybody that, plausibly, Vermont could miss the HEA tournament and yet make the NCAAs. Man, this year is screwed up.

[VermontFan]

Re: Bracketology

Does it bother anybody that, plausibly, Vermont could miss the HEA tournament and yet make the NCAAs. Man, this year is screwed up.

Not one bit (although I am biased). We scheduled a difficult non-conference schedule and performed well against top 10 teams in the PWR (Denver, Yale, UMD). We are just as frustrated by our poor performance in the league.

However...if we do miss the HEA tournament, it will likely be caused by the team losing 2 of the next 3 games, which would knock us out of the top 13 in the PWR and out of NCAA consideration. So it is really a moot point.