Bracket Predictions

Heres what I came up with if current games hold:

1 BU
2 Notre dame
3 DU
4 Michigan
5 Yale
6 Northeastern
7 UMD
8 North dakota
9 Vermont
10 NH
11 Cornell
12 Princeton
13 Miami
14 air force
15 ohio state
16 wisconsin


Bridgeport
4 michigan
14 Air Force

5 Yale
9 Vermont


Manchester
1 BU
15 Ohio state

8 North Dakota
10 New Hampshire

Grand Rapids
2 Notre Dame
16 Bemidji

7 UMD
12 Princeton


Minnesota
3 DU
13 Miami

6 Northeastern
11 Cornell

EDIT: Put Bemidji in as the 16 instead of Wisconsin.

Brackets, at least how I see them, assuming Duluth, Notre Dame, and BU go on to win:

NE   1 BU
     8 North Dakota
    10 UNH
    15 Ohio State

MW   2 Notre Dame
     7 Minnesota-Duluth
    11 Cornell
    16 Bemidji State

W    3 Denver
     6 Northeastern
    12 Princeton
    13 Miami

E    4 Michigan
     5 Yale
     9 Vermont
    14 Air Force

Ah, the only thing that will get Red Berenson to go East: the NCAA.

Shuffling is required for two inter-conference #1-#4 games, and kudos to Air Force for not being one of the two bottom seeds. Quite the reward.

The "logjam" in the #2/#3 seeds looks to work out logically, if not happily. Hosts at home really screwed everybody (including us) this year.

Can't be unhappy with our bracket. Duluth is on fire, but they're probably beatable. As for Notre Dame, we can do to them what Jeff Jackson's Lake St. teams did: clutch and grab. Not really a "speed team" in the bunch.

The group of death? No question its the east regional. Yale is a dangerous team, and so is Air Force. Vermont will be champing at the bit after their (typical) quarterfinal exit.

Should be interesting: I almost wish that I weren't planning to be en México and could hit Grand Rapids. It's grrrrrreat! Or is that Battle Creek...

(Reposted from the other thread.)

I missed the Bemidji AQ which probably screws mine up.

Jacob '06
Heres what I came up with if current games hold:

1 BU
2 Notre dame
3 DU
4 Michigan
5 Yale
6 Northeastern
7 UMD
8 North dakota
9 Vermont
10 NH
11 Cornell
12 Princeton
13 Miami
14 air force
15 ohio state
16 wisconsin


Bridgeport
4 michigan
14 Air Force

5 Yale
9 Vermont


Manchester
1 BU
15 Ohio state

8 North Dakota
10 New Hampshire

Grand Rapids
2 Notre Dame
16 Bemidji

7 UMD
12 Princeton


Minnesota
3 DU
13 Miami

6 Northeastern
11 Cornell

EDIT: Put Bemidji in as the 16 instead of Wisconsin.

Bemidji will very likely face BU.

I think for regionalization purposes, the NCAA will probably put UMD/NH in Minnesota and Cornell/Northeastern in Michigan.

lynah80

Jacob '06
Heres what I came up with if current games hold:

1 BU
2 Notre dame
3 DU
4 Michigan
5 Yale
6 Northeastern
7 UMD
8 North dakota
9 Vermont
10 NH
11 Cornell
12 Princeton
13 Miami
14 air force
15 ohio state
16 wisconsin


Bridgeport
4 michigan
14 Air Force

5 Yale
9 Vermont


Manchester
1 BU
15 Ohio state

8 North Dakota
10 New Hampshire

Grand Rapids
2 Notre Dame
16 Bemidji

7 UMD
12 Princeton


Minnesota
3 DU
13 Miami

6 Northeastern
11 Cornell

EDIT: Put Bemidji in as the 16 instead of Wisconsin.

Bemidji will very likely face BU.

I think for regionalization purposes, the NCAA will probably put UMD/NH in Minnesota and Cornell/Northeastern in Michigan.

Bemidji has to face Notre Dame b/c of the 2 CCHA teams in the 4 seeds and the 2 CCHA teams in the 1 seeds

lynah80

Jacob '06
Heres what I came up with if current games hold:

1 BU
2 Notre dame
3 DU
4 Michigan
5 Yale
6 Northeastern
7 UMD
8 North dakota
9 Vermont
10 NH
11 Cornell
12 Princeton
13 Miami
14 air force
15 ohio state
16 wisconsin


Bridgeport
4 michigan
14 Air Force

5 Yale
9 Vermont


Manchester
1 BU
15 Ohio state

8 North Dakota
10 New Hampshire

Grand Rapids
2 Notre Dame
16 Bemidji

7 UMD
12 Princeton


Minnesota
3 DU
13 Miami

6 Northeastern
11 Cornell

EDIT: Put Bemidji in as the 16 instead of Wisconsin.

Bemidji will very likely face BU.

I think for regionalization purposes, the NCAA will probably put UMD/NH in Minnesota and Cornell/Northeastern in Michigan.

NH/New Hampshire is a host, thus must stay in Manchester.

So it starts out:
NE 1 BU
8 North Dakota
9 Vermont
16 BSU

MW 2 Notre Dame
7 Minnesota-Duluth
10 UNH
15 OSU

W 3 Denver
6 Northeastern
11 Cornell
14 AFA

E 4 Michigan
5 Yale
12 PU
13 Miami

UNH has to move to NE. PU has to leave the E. ND and UM can't play OSU or Miami. So swap the 4's all around. Move UVM to it's one place. Swap UNH into NE. And with a minimum of flipping you get:

NE 1 BU
8 North Dakota
10 UNH
15 OSU

MW 2 Notre Dame
7 Minnesota-Duluth
12 PU
16 BSU

W 3 Denver
6 Northeastern
11 Cornell
13 Miami

E 4 Michigan
5 Yale
9 UVM
14 AFA

I think those are your East and Northeast regionals almost for sure. It gets messy in the western half. Would the committe flip the UMD/PU matchup to Minnesota to make up for the goofers absence? Would they just flip UMD in and have them face CU? Would they care that UMD gets a gift as a 7 drawing the 12?

My preference is Scersk's bracket. I'm guessing what's above is what happens though.

Rita

lynah80

Jacob '06
Heres what I came up with if current games hold:

1 BU
2 Notre dame
3 DU
4 Michigan
5 Yale
6 Northeastern
7 UMD
8 North dakota
9 Vermont
10 NH
11 Cornell
12 Princeton
13 Miami
14 air force
15 ohio state
16 wisconsin


Bridgeport
4 michigan
14 Air Force

5 Yale
9 Vermont


Manchester
1 BU
15 Ohio state

8 North Dakota
10 New Hampshire

Grand Rapids
2 Notre Dame
16 Bemidji

7 UMD
12 Princeton


Minnesota
3 DU
13 Miami

6 Northeastern
11 Cornell

EDIT: Put Bemidji in as the 16 instead of Wisconsin.

Bemidji will very likely face BU.

I think for regionalization purposes, the NCAA will probably put UMD/NH in Minnesota and Cornell/Northeastern in Michigan.

NH/New Hampshire is a host, thus must stay in Manchester.

Ok, my mistake. Sorry.

Basically all we can say for sure is that we are facing either Northeastern or UMD and the game will be in either Minneapolis or Grand Rapids.

Jacob '06
Basically all we can say for sure is that we are facing either Northeastern or UMD and the game will be in either Minneapolis or Grand Rapids.

Yes. And the game will be the night cap.

Jacob '06

lynah80

Jacob '06
Heres what I came up with if current games hold:

1 BU
2 Notre dame
3 DU
4 Michigan
5 Yale
6 Northeastern
7 UMD
8 North dakota
9 Vermont
10 NH
11 Cornell
12 Princeton
13 Miami
14 air force
15 ohio state
16 wisconsin


Bridgeport
4 michigan
14 Air Force

5 Yale
9 Vermont


Manchester
1 BU
15 Ohio state

8 North Dakota
10 New Hampshire

Grand Rapids
2 Notre Dame
16 Bemidji

7 UMD
12 Princeton


Minnesota
3 DU
13 Miami

6 Northeastern
11 Cornell

EDIT: Put Bemidji in as the 16 instead of Wisconsin.

Bemidji will very likely face BU.

I think for regionalization purposes, the NCAA will probably put UMD/NH in Minnesota and Cornell/Northeastern in Michigan.

Bemidji has to face Notre Dame b/c of the 2 CCHA teams in the 4 seeds and the 2 CCHA teams in the 1 seeds

Ok, I see what you are saying. Thanks.

Anybody know if/when/where there is a "selection show" for the hockey tourney this year? I remember it being on ESPN a couple of years ago but I don't see it on any of their 25 channels tomorrow.

I see how you're doing it, a very one-to-one flipping arrangement, but I can't see why the committee would leave the "6" playing a higher seed than it should, especially when it's so easy to fix.

ansky629
Anybody know if/when/where there is a "selection show" for the hockey tourney this year? I remember it being on ESPN a couple of years ago but I don't see it on any of their 25 channels tomorrow.

A couple of days ago I had set my TiVo to record it at 11:30 AM tomorrow, based on the programming info stored in the TiVo. If there was a recent change, though, the TiVo might not know about it.

There it is: 11:30 on ESPN2. Not sure how I missed that. Thanks.

Scersk '97
Brackets, at least how I see them, assuming Duluth, Notre Dame, and BU go on to win:

NE   1 BU
     8 North Dakota
    10 UNH
    15 Ohio State

MW   2 Notre Dame
     7 Minnesota-Duluth
    11 Cornell
    16 Bemidji State

W    3 Denver
     6 Northeastern
    12 Princeton
    13 Miami

E    4 Michigan
     5 Yale
     9 Vermont
    14 Air Force

Ah, the only thing that will get Red Berenson to go East: the NCAA.

Shuffling is required for two inter-conference #1-#4 games, and kudos to Air Force for not being one of the two bottom seeds. Quite the reward.

The "logjam" in the #2/#3 seeds looks to work out logically, if not happily. Hosts at home really screwed everybody (including us) this year.

I got this bracket exactly also. Got to disagree wit hScersk though. If we manage to beat Duluth, Notre Dame is going to tear us a new one. THey'll be relatively rested from playing Bemidgi for one. Also, I watched the Michigan ND game tonight and ND looks as hot as UMD. ND has a good offense and actually managed to clog up *Michigan's* breakouts.

If they can put the clamp on Michigans offense I figure we are due for -2 goals.

abmarks
I got this bracket exactly also. Got to disagree with Scersk though. If we manage to beat Duluth, Notre Dame is going to tear us a new one.

Well, I didn't say that we will be able to slow down Notre Dame, I said that we can. Honestly, whether or not you can play a clogging game depends a lot on the refs.

Part of the reason that Jackson's Lake State teams were so effective was that refs did not call all the rampant holding that went on. We used to be like that—I'm thinking of 1997. I wonder if we can still play that kind of game.

abmarks

Scersk '97
Brackets, at least how I see them, assuming Duluth, Notre Dame, and BU go on to win:

NE   1 BU
     8 North Dakota
    10 UNH
    15 Ohio State

MW   2 Notre Dame
     7 Minnesota-Duluth
    11 Cornell
    16 Bemidji State

W    3 Denver
     6 Northeastern
    12 Princeton
    13 Miami

E    4 Michigan
     5 Yale
     9 Vermont
    14 Air Force

Ah, the only thing that will get Red Berenson to go East: the NCAA.

Shuffling is required for two inter-conference #1-#4 games, and kudos to Air Force for not being one of the two bottom seeds. Quite the reward.

The "logjam" in the #2/#3 seeds looks to work out logically, if not happily. Hosts at home really screwed everybody (including us) this year.

I got this bracket exactly also.

Me three.

As an addendum to my earlier post, if you look at the rankings with KRACH in mind (a far better method for determining the relative strengths of teams), a few things come to mind (using my seeding):

(1) BU will actually receive something of a tough draw; however, I doubt they will be unable to handle it.

(2) All of the possible games between #1 and the best of the #2/#3 seeds work out in a serpentine order following KRACH. (Vermont, a #3 seed that is 6th in KRACH, ends up the likely second-round opponent of Michigan, 3rd in KRACH. Northeastern, according to KRACH, would be the effective #1 seed in the west regional.)

(3) The only "#3" seed that did well is Vermont, but if you consider Yale the effective #3, each #3 seed has an equally difficult path. See #2 above.

(4) Arguably, Princeton and Cornell, by avoiding eastern seeds, have ended up in the least "high-powered" regionals, though I see an upset of Notre Dame by Bemidji as highly unlikely.

Just looking for some lemonade in the lemons.

PS: Minnesota's Pride on the Links! Never a bad thing.

When I did it, I put us in Grand Rapids against UMD and Princeton in Minneapolis against NU, but in retrospect, I think the rest of you are right and I was wishful thinking.

Everyone is getting the same East and Northeast regionals. I'll be surprised if it doesn't play out like this. Same for the 1 vs. 4 games at the other two sites. Where there is some uncertainty is in the western 2 vs. 3 matchups. We could end up at either site playing either UMD or Northeastern. Neither matchup would violate any of the committee's "rules". We'll see.

My biggest fear in all of this is that committee decides that there just isn't enough excitement and surprise in the selection process anymore(NCAA officials have made comments to this effect on the selection show in the past) and decide to pull something new out of their asses to give us a surprise. I'm not expecting it, just afraid that one year some jackass will do something. (I can just see them pulling some shenanigans to get the Gophers in.)

Scersk '97
Just looking for some lemonade in the lemons.

PS: Minnesota's Pride on the Links! Never a bad thing.

There's your lemonade!

Jeff Hopkins '82
When I did it, I put us in Grand Rapids against UMD and Princeton in Minneapolis against NU, but in retrospect, I think the rest of you are right and I was wishful thinking.

Not sure what you're referring to, most of us have that too. It makes the most sense...

Assume Notre Dame gets the Midwest as the overall #2, and DU gets the West as the overall #3, then the 'correct' matchups for the second seats are UMD (7) in the MW and NE (6) in the W.

For the 3 seeds then, NH having to be in the NE and Yale being unable to play us or Princeton messes with it. Of the only two places we and Princeton can go (MW, W), the best matchups are 7-11 and 6-12, which are UMD-Cornell & NE-Princeton, putting us in the MW & Princeton in the W.

I suppose you could try to reward NE for the higher seed by being 'closer' to home and flipping that pairing, but I don't think the committee has ever given a darn about that (pairings come first), and, from Boston, Grand Rapids vs. Denver seems to most certainly be in the 'a flight is a flight' category.


The big 'screw job' this year seems to be NE. Its no one's fault, but they were real good for the first time in a long time, end up a number 2 after a very good season, and get shipped all the way to Denver to presumably face DU in the second round in their backyard.

DeltaOne81
The big 'screw job' this year seems to be NE. Its no one's fault, but they were real good for the first time in a long time, end up a number 2 after a very good season, and get shipped all the way to Denver to presumably face DU in the second round in their backyard.

So you're saying Northeastern got Cornelled?

ugarte

DeltaOne81
The big 'screw job' this year seems to be NE. Its no one's fault, but they were real good for the first time in a long time, end up a number 2 after a very good season, and get shipped all the way to Denver to presumably face DU in the second round in their backyard.

So you're saying Northeastern got Cornelled?

The west regional is in Minnesota, so, Northeastern would be sent to Minneapolis to play in Denver's bracket in front of a bunch of disappointed goofer fans.

I think I will wait until noon to see who got "Cornelled". It is possible (and within the rules of keeping the "seed bands" intact), that UMD-Cornell, or Northeastern-Cornell could be a match-up in Minneapolis.

Should we end up in the Twin Cities, we indeed would be "Cornelled", yet again.

ugarte

DeltaOne81
The big 'screw job' this year seems to be NE. Its no one's fault, but they were real good for the first time in a long time, end up a number 2 after a very good season, and get shipped all the way to Denver to presumably face DU in the second round in their backyard.

So you're saying Northeastern got Cornelled?

'zactly.

How is that cornell getting screwed? Cornell was terrible down the stretch, and lost it's conference championship 5-0. Had cornell won last night you might be able to say cornell getting shipped out west is a screw job, but right now cornell ought to be happy they are even in the tourney.

Dpperk29
How is that cornell getting screwed? Cornell was terrible down the stretch, and lost it's conference championship 5-0. Had cornell won last night you might be able to say cornell getting shipped out west is a screw job, but right now cornell ought to be happy they are even in the tourney.

Agreed. Ugarte was referring to our historical 'tradition' at this point of being sent to Minnesota to play Minnesota, Wisconsin to play Wisconsin, and that kinda junk (all justifiable at the time, just annoying).

He was using it as a verb that is referencing years past, not this year. Shown by the very fact that we are saying NE is the one getting 'Cornelled' this year.

Dpperk29
How is that cornell getting screwed? Cornell was terrible down the stretch, and lost it's conference championship 5-0. Had cornell won last night you might be able to say cornell getting shipped out west is a screw job, but right now cornell ought to be happy they are even in the tourney.

They are obviously talking about past tournaments, not this year's.

Dpperk29
How is that cornell getting screwed? Cornell was terrible down the stretch, and lost it's conference championship 5-0. Had cornell won last night you might be able to say cornell getting shipped out west is a screw job, but right now cornell ought to be happy they are even in the tourney.

Dpperk,

Yes, this year Cornell is lucky to be in and with last night's lost, should be expecting to be sent west, though, if the seedings (w/ caveats due to the Yale-Vermont matchup), hold form, only to Grand Rapids.

As you well know, there are many of us who feel that "the committee" spends its days and nights trying to figure out how to send Cornell to play regional games in "unfair" confines, so my worry (this year) is that the committee will move the umd-cornell match up to Minneapolis. The committee says it doesn't worry about attendance, but........

In 2003, some people thought the Cornell-Minnesota State Mavericks match-up was "disrespectful" (and I think we were ticked that we were put in Providence with BC rather than in Worcester).

2005, Minneapolis, big ice, playing the goofers

2006 (though, like this year, that is what we "played ourselves into" but losing the ECAC finals game) playing the badgers in Wisconsin.

This year NU had a very good year and probably thought they might be kept east. However due to both eastern hosts making the tourney and "sancrosant" rules of the committee, they will be sent west. But then again, it could be argued, well if they had taken care of business (i.e. not lost in the HE semis).

But hey, we need something to gripe about (even in the hypothetical) for the next 48 minutes. .

()

Glad I tuned in to ESPN2 a few minutes early to catch the last runs of the tractor pull!

So far the Manchester regional is exactly what we all said.

Cornell vs Northeastern in Grand Rapids. 4 PM ET, ESPN U

We get northeastern in Grand Rapids at 4 PM.

GRAND RAPIDS to play Northeastern.

ND v. BSU

Would not surprise Melrose "atoll" to see a long game in the Midwest regional.

For those interested, there seemed to be packages available at lastminute.com for travel into Grand Rapids this weekend for ~$300 per person.

ETA: From NYC

Cornell catches big break. Instead of getting UMD that is playing their best hockey of the season, they get a team that has lost 3 of 5 heading in. I would have thought the top seed in the regional plays the 4:00 game.

Hmmm, the switch of NE & UMD surprises me. Any thoughts on why? Its an oh-so-slight screw of both Notre Dame & NE.

Northeastern-Cornell is the "natural" pairing. I assume the switch of UMD and Northeastern between midwest and west is more of an attendance thing.

Cornell is a team that could upset BU?

I'll sign right now for that opportunity

Jacob '06
Northeastern-Cornell is the "natural" pairing. I assume the switch of UMD and Northeastern between midwest and west is more of an attendance thing.

Yeah, it is. They had an option between two pairing that were off by one, or one that was 'natural' and the other was that off by two. I would have figured they would have preferred two near-corrects, than one being further off. But perhaps we've seen that first-round natural pairing take priority?

It *could* be attendance, but as the committee has ever to do anything based on attendance yet, I would not jump to that conclusion.

and they want to see colin wilson or zane kalemba win the hobey...anyone but those two

calgARI '07
Cornell catches big break. Instead of getting UMD that is playing their best hockey of the season, they get a team that has lost 3 of 5 heading in. I would have thought the top seed in the regional plays the 4:00 game.

Agreed. A team that plays more like we do at a neutral venue. Only downside is that we get sent West, but we all knew that anyway, and no one here had any sense of entitlement to an Eastern draw.

I don't think we could have asked for too much more. Playing at a neutral site against a team who is leaking oil. I don't know if we've played in GR before but it has to be better than playing in Minny on their funky sheet of ice. (Unless GR has the same sheet.) And IF (big IF) we make it to the second round to play ND at least it's not in South Bend.

If we had beaten Yale and gotten a 2 seed wouldn't we have ended up playing UNH @ their crib in the first round?

I was irked that when they introduced the Midwest region they didn't even announce Cornell. They stopped at NE. Other than Barry saying we could upset BU we didn't get too much airtime. I guess when you're a three seed you're not the flavor of the day.

Germ
I don't think we could have asked for too much more. Playing at a neutral site against a team who is leaking oil. I don't know if we've played in GR before but it has to be better than playing in Minny on their funky sheet of ice. (Unless GR has the same sheet.) And IF (big IF) we make it to the second round to play ND at least it's not in South Bend.

If we had beaten Yale and gotten a 2 seed wouldn't we have ended up playing UNH @ their crib in the first round?

I was irked that when they introduced the Midwest region they didn't even announce Cornell. They stopped at NE. Other than Barry saying we could upset BU we didn't get too much airtime. I guess when you're a three seed you're not the flavor of the day.

Bucci and Melrose know what a puck is and love pro hockey, but their college hockey IQ on a scale of 1-10 is about 2.5.

Instead of asking Parker about the other teams in the field, his current teams strength, etc. they asked him about championships in 1979, 1995(?). Auuggghhhh.

But hey, it is late March and we are still playing hockey. That is nice. Very nice.

Germ

I was irked that when they introduced the Midwest region they didn't even announce Cornell. They stopped at NE. Other than Barry saying we could upset BU we didn't get too much airtime. I guess when you're a three seed you're not the flavor of the day.

But to be fair, when they were talking about Yale's chances, one of the announcers pointed out how impressed he was with the fact that Yale had defeated us three times this season, mentioning that Cornell is an excellent team.

Yeah, I heard that and it was nice. If I were the show's producer I would have done a segment on how the selection committe hosed Cornell in '05 and '06.

Grand Rapids is an AHL rink... so 200x85.

calgARI '07
Cornell catches big break. Instead of getting UMD that is playing their best hockey of the season, they get a team that has lost 3 of 5 heading in. I would have thought the top seed in the regional plays the 4:00 game.

CHN has our game at 7:30 on ESPNU, USCHO has it as listed at 4. I also thought ND would be at 4.

Jim Hyla

calgARI '07
Cornell catches big break. Instead of getting UMD that is playing their best hockey of the season, they get a team that has lost 3 of 5 heading in. I would have thought the top seed in the regional plays the 4:00 game.

CHN has our game at 7:30 on ESPNU, USCHO has it as listed at 4. I also thought ND would be at 4.

The selection show showed it at 4 PM, and I'm guessing the committee would tell them the correct thing. Stranger things have happened though.

By the way: WZHA. Three teams for them, three teams for us.

Germ
I don't know if we've played in GR before ...

We've played four games in Grand Rapids, all of them, oddly enough, in calendar year 1997.

On March 22 and 23, we played in the NCAA West Regional. We beat Miami 4-2 in the regional semis (the first time we'd advanced a round in the NCAA's since 1972), but lost to North Dakota 6-2.

On December 27 and 28 we played in something called the Pepsi Tournament. We lost in the opening round to North Dakota 5-1, but beat Western Michigan in the consolation game, 3-2.

ACM

Germ
I don't know if we've played in GR before ...

We've played four games in Grand Rapids, all of them, oddly enough, in calendar year 1997.

On March 22 and 23, we played in the NCAA West Regional. We beat Miami 4-2 in the regional semis (the first time we'd advanced a round in the NCAA's since 1972), but lost to North Dakota 6-2.

On December 27 and 28 we played in something called the Pepsi Tournament. We lost in the opening round to North Dakota 5-1, but beat Western Michigan in the consolation game, 3-2.

So, since North Dakota is not there we should be in good shape.

As an aside do you know anything about tickets, how many CU will get, etc. I'm torn between buying ticketmaster, before they all go to ND, or waiting for CU in the AM. I don't want to be shut out.

Nice to know we won't have to face Yale again until the National Championship game

Interesting, of course, interview with the committee chair.

One of the resistances the chair mentions regarding flipping teams between bands is the last change advantage. It occurs to me, what would be so bad about bracketing #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4 if it makes sense?

You flip Princeton and Miami, as CHN (I'll assume adamw) suggests, and the brackets are (with the "atmosphere" move):

NE  1   (1) BU
    2   (8) North Dakota
    3  (10) UNH
    4  (15) OSU

MW  1   (2) Notre Dame
    2   (6) Northeastern
    3  (11) Cornell
    4  (16) Bemidji State

W   1   (3) Denver
    2   (7) Minnesota-Duluth
    3   (9) Vermont
    4  (14) Air Force

E   1   (4) Michigan
   |2   (5) Yale
   |4  (13) Miami
    3  (12) Princeton

Yes, it violates some sort of abstract notion of how brackets "should" work, but I think we're all smart enough to handle this in college hockey. This isn't squeakball. Miami gets a marginally easier opponent and Princeton a noticeably more difficult one. But they get to stay east. And, though it pains me to argue against it, Yale doesn't get screwed.

Miami is a #3 in practice and #4 in name, and Princeton vice versa. If, somehow, Miami and Princeton make it through, with the non-traditional first-round pairings but retention of appropriate seeds, Princeton gets the last change.

I think everyone would be a bit happier with those brackets. Except maybe Vermont... but f*** them. Splitters.

Scersk '97
Interesting, of course, interview with the committee chair.

One of the resistances the chair mentions regarding flipping teams between bands is the last change advantage. It occurs to me, what would be so bad about bracketing #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4 if it makes sense?

You flip Princeton and Miami, as CHN (I'll assume adamw) suggests, and the brackets are (with the "atmosphere" move):

NE  1   (1) BU
    2   (8) North Dakota
    3  (10) UNH
    4  (15) OSU

MW  1   (2) Notre Dame
    2   (6) Northeastern
    3  (11) Cornell
    4  (16) Bemidji State

W   1   (3) Denver
    2   (7) Minnesota-Duluth
    3   (9) Vermont
    4  (14) Air Force

E   1   (4) Michigan
   |2   (5) Yale
   |4  (13) Miami
    3  (12) Princeton

Yes, it violates some sort of abstract notion of how brackets "should" work, but I think we're all smart enough to handle this in college hockey. This isn't squeakball. Miami gets a marginally easier opponent and Princeton a noticeably more difficult one. But they get to stay east. And, though it pains me to argue against it, Yale doesn't get screwed.

Miami is a #3 in practice and #4 in name, and Princeton vice versa. If, somehow, Miami and Princeton make it through, with the non-traditional first-round pairings but retention of appropriate seeds, Princeton gets the last change.

I think everyone would be a bit happier with those brackets. Except maybe Vermont... but f*** them. Splitters.

Read the article and UMD moved for the fans in Minny. So, you see Dpperk29, we got screwed by Minny again. We get the higher seed NE instead of lower UMD, just so they can have fans in Minny. Now do you understand?Not that I mind the shift.

You know, given the way this turned out, there's not necessarily much difference for us between being a #2 seed and a #3. As a #3 we play NE, but could have played NoDak or UMD. As a #2, we could have played Vermont, UNH, or Miami, plus one other. All are good competition, as is NEU, but none are teams we could not beat or lose to, depending on if we're on our gamee.

A #2 seed would have gotten us last change.

There's no comparison between NU and Miami. I'd take a matchup with Miami every day and twice on Sunday. None of those teams are easy, but there are different levels of hard, too...

Playing Northeastern at a neutral site (in the "west"is all we could have asked for based on our performance. Wouldn't want to deal with UNH at their house. We found a way to get by OSU and CC in '05 and '06 so I'm hoping we can find that "first round magic" once again.

In fact, when was the last time we got purged in the first round? We made it through to the quarters in '02, '03, '05, and '06. I know we also beat Miami in '97 to advance (or was that '96?). Maybe one of those two years we didn't make it. I know Denver beat us in '86 put there were only 12 teams that year and we DID at least split that series 1-1.

I like our chances on Saturday. Sunday is a different story.....

Germ
In fact, when was the last time we got purged in the first round? We made it through to the quarters in '02, '03, '05, and '06. I know we also beat Miami in '97 to advance (or was that '96?). Maybe one of those two years we didn't make it. I know Denver beat us in '86 put there were only 12 teams that year and we DID at least split that series 1-1.

There were also only twelve teams through 2002, when we made it past Quinnipiac to lose to UNH in the quarters, but as you note, it had long since become single elimination (in 1992, I think).

We beat Miami in 1997 to advance (to lose to North Dakota in the quarters); the last time we were knocked out in the first round was 1996, when we lost to Lake Superior State in their last gasp on the national scene (they lost to Vermont in the quarters the next day).

Germ
In fact, when was the last time we got purged in the first round? We made it through to the quarters in '02, '03, '05, and '06. I know we also beat Miami in '97 to advance (or was that '96?). Maybe one of those two years we didn't make it. I know Denver beat us in '86 put there were only 12 teams that year and we DID at least split that series 1-1.

This is why we have TBRW.

Beeeej
the last time we were knocked out in the first round was 1996, when we barely lost to Lake Superior State in their last gasp on the national scene (they lost to Vermont in the quarters the next day).

FYP. Goddamn, that was an exciting game.

That was a really good LSSU team. Pushed Michigan to the brink in the CCHA championship game. I was at Michigan in grad school that year and saw them play a few times. I was very impressed with Sean Tallaire (30+ goal scorer) and their goalie was John Grahame who went on to play for the Bruins and Lightning. I wish I could have seen that game against LSSU but I had to go to Munn to watch Mike Legg do that lacrosse goal thingy.

ugarte

Beeeej
the last time we were knocked out in the first round was 1996, when we barely lost to Lake Superior State in their last gasp on the national scene (they lost to Vermont in the quarters the next day).

FYP. Goddamn, that was an exciting game.

I still haven't gotten that ringing sound out of my head.

Scersk '97

ugarte

Beeeej
the last time we were knocked out in the first round was 1996, when we barely lost to Lake Superior State in their last gasp on the national scene (they lost to Vermont in the quarters the next day).

FYP. Goddamn, that was an exciting game.

I still haven't gotten that ringing sound out of my head.

I was waiting for someone to mention that.

What is PC Drouin up to these days, anyway?

the killer call was the one earlier in the game were Cornell has a goal disallowed for goalie interference on the goal scorer. as replays showed just a terrible call, but no replay back in thoe days to fix a refs mistake.

jtwcornell91
What is PC Drouin up to these days, anyway?

I only know this because it came up recently in Dunbar's and I was shocked that he was still playing, but after a couple years in Europe, he's still bouncing around the minors, playing for the Fort Wayne Komets in the IHL. 28 goals, 56 assists this year, to boot.

You mean you don't religiously check on Cornell alumni on hockeydb.com?

Boston 96-97

There are important stats that you need to know, like PC was the only player on Boston in '96-'97 with a positive +/-.

These are important tidbits to impress the ladies at cocktail parties. Oh yeah, works like a charm.