NCAA regionals: Cornell-UNH @ Amherst (Bracketology column)

This week's USCHO speculation on NCAA seedings (Bracketology, [www.uscho.com] ) starts with Cornell as the No. 3 seed overall, meaning one of the four No. 1 regional seeds, and playing this group:

First pass:
Northeast regional, Amherst (on a 200x195 rink)
Dartmouth vs. Cornell
Harvard vs. Michigan

Revised first pass to avoid conference matchups in the first round:
Bemidji State vs. Cornell
UNH vs. Michigan

Second pass applying bonus points for "good" road, neutral, and home wins drops Cornell from No. 3 overall to No. 6 overall but in Jason Moy's analsis still has Cornell in Amherst:

(With bonus for good wins)
1 Denver
2 Colorado College
3 Boston College
4 Minnesota
5 Michigan
6 Cornell
7 Boston University
8 Massachusetts-Lowell
9 New Hampshire
10 Wisconsin
11 Ohio State
12 Harvard
13 North Dakota
14 Colgate
15 Bemidji State
16 Sacred Heart


First pass:
Colgate vs. Boston College
Ohio State vs. Cornell

Second pass to resolve other conflicts:
North Dakota vs. Boston College
UNH vs. Cornell

Applying a stronger bonus for the quality wins, Cornell stays sixth overall (but Colgate falls out and Dartmouth falls back in), still in the Northeast (in JM's estimation), and with this partnering:

Dartmouth vs. Colorado College
Ohio State vs. Cornell

And one final shuffling to avoid some problems elsewhere:
Bemidji State vs. Boston College
UNH vs. Cornell

Playing in Worcester would be slightly better than Amherst (tighter rink) and it's only an hour's drive farther, but then you don't have Smith and Mt. Holyoke in your backyard that weekend. I kind of like the three Ivy schools plus Michigan in one bracket; it's never gonna happen, but that would let Cornell settle a couple Ivy/ECAC scores and then show Al Montoya a thing or two about defense and goaltending. Do we really want to play UNH, or do we figure that jinx can't run forever? Ohio State may not go all the way, but it's going to have incentive since the Final Four is in Columbus.

[edit fixing typo in subject line]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
Playing in Worcester would be slightly better than Amherst (tighter rink) and it's only an hour's drive farther, but then you don't have Smith and Mt. Holyoke in your backyard that weekend.
[/q]

...or my hot tub. That, and the Centrum is an absolute dump.

The Centrum was a monstrous palace for those who lived in the orbit of the Springfield Mass. Civic Center. Or at least it was back when WAAF was the rock 'n' roll air force and we all yearned to shop at Spags for cheap apparel. And its roof never caved in, unlike Hartford.

Either place in Mass. beats getting on a plane. Well, you can get to Minneapolis fairly cheaply (just so long as you don't start your trip in Ithaca or Syracuse). And when you land the Northwest flight attendant person is going to start the departure spiel, "We recognize you have a choice in air travel ... " Not into MSP or PIT or DTW you don't unless you have a fractional share in a Citation.

Mercy on your soul if you have to fly into Grand Rapids. Ain't gonna be cheap.

Isn't Grand Rapids where Dick Bertrand '70 is living now?

[Q]jeh25 Wrote:

billhoward Wrote:
Playing in Worcester would be slightly better than Amherst (tighter rink) and it's only an hour's drive farther, but then you don't have Smith and Mt. Holyoke in your backyard that weekend.
[/Q]
...or my hot tub. That, and the Centrum is an absolute dump.[/q]
How is the Centrum a dump? Yeah, its not a new multi-hundred million dollar, NHL style palace, but its a perfectly clean, moderately sized, roomy enough minor league arena, similar to Albany (which again isn't great, but isn't a dump).