UMass stuns Maine

[DeltaOne81]

It'd help us if Providence moves up one PWR slot, past the ailing UND . If Providence were to beat the sliding BU this weekend, it would probably happen, clearing the East 4 seed - which would give us at least a non-"home" team matchup in the East Regional, or at most a 1 seed in the Northeast regional, pairing us in the regional with BU (who would likely slip to a #3) and a probable first round matchup with the CHA champ.

[Greg Berge]

PWR top 14 this morning http://www.uscho.com/polls/?data=pwr1m with weekend opponents:

01 CC (2 at Denver)
02 Cornell (idle)
03 Maine (QF vs UMass)
04 Minny (home-and-home with St. Cloud)
-----------------
05 UNH (QF vs Lowell)
06 Ferris (2 at Bowling Green)
07 BC (QF vs Merrimack)
07 BU (QF at Providence)
-----------------
09 Mich (2 at Ohio State)
10 Mankato (at UNO)
11 NoDak (2 at Wisco)
12 St. Cloud (home-and-home with Minny)
-----------------
12 Providence (QF vs BU)
14 Denver (2 vs CC)
14 OSU (2 vs Mich)



Post Edited (03-07-03 10:21)

[Adam]

This is a silly question for those who know more about PWR than I do.  If Maine losses again to UMass they sit idle next weekend.  Would they actually be better sitting idle than losing to a lower PWR team in the semi's or finals?  Especially if UMass then goes on to win out?

[curoadkill]

The Denver/CC series is a Thursday/Friday affair.
CC won 2-0 last night.

[Beth Chagrasulis \'80]

Yahoo ! Because THEY SUCK, that's why ! It's (finally) a good day to be  a BIG RED fan at work surrounded by UMaine alums.  

"Gee, too bad about your Black Bears last night, I say......"  

:-D

[jy3]

good point. i think it may boil down to us wanting providence to fall out of the top 14. this may also bring another ecac team into the top 14 which would be a good thing :-)
should be an interesting weekend!

[ugarte]

I still don't see how the Maine loss matters to us, if all it means is that Maine and UHN trade places with each other.  It probably weakens our RPI a little, and if Providence beats BU that weakens us more.  Since we are going to keep falling as we keep winning against ECAC teams, I am a little worried about what all of this is going to look like in three weeks.

At the same time, my cynical side says that if Cornell wins the Cleary and the Whitelaw, will we get a 1 seed in the E/NE, regardless of PWR.

[rhovorka]

big red apple wrote:

> At the same time, my cynical side says that if Cornell wins the
> Cleary and the Whitelaw, will we get a 1 seed in the E/NE,
> regardless of PWR.

There is no "regardless of PWR" clause.  The CC and Clarkson rules are gone, and PWR will determine our seed no matter what.  I'm willing to bet that if we win the Whitelaw, we'll be at #2 or #3 in PWR, which would guarantee us a #1 seed...somewhere.  We all assume that the committee will place the #1 seeds one-by-one, in order at the regional closest to each campus.  But read the criteria again: "Step three is to place the No. 1 seeds as close to their campus as possible."  Isn't this leaving it open to placing the entire #1 "band" so you have the closest overall outcome?  Say the #1 seeds are CC, Maine, Cornell, UNH.  Is it possible, using the "band" interpretation, to keep Maine and UNH in the East/Northeast, and send Cornell to Ann Arbor?  This is the NC$$ afterall...

My take on the advantage of getting the #2 overall seed is that we would/should have priority of a first round MAAC/CHA opponent, if the whole host school/avoiding intra-conference matchups criteria can be settled without involving us.  That's a nice advantage, IMO.

[ugarte]

I know that there is no clause, Rich.  I've defendend the objectivity of the criteria on other threads, and I don't believe in complaining until there is a reason to complain.  It is just a suspicion, and not even a deeply felt suspicion.  I hope there is no reason for it to be realized.  (I would hope that the inevitable loss in the tournament by one of the teams would ensure that two HE teams don't end up in the #1 band, especially if FSU wins out.)  But I want an eastern placement more than anything else.

And that is because I am not only cynical, I am selfish.  I would rather play a tougher opponent in the first round in the E or NE region than a CHA/MAAC team out west.  I have tickets to Worcester and Providence already, and no intention of flying out to Minneapolis or Ann Arbor.



Post Edited (03-07-03 14:00)

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]Isn't this leaving it open to placing the entire #1 "band" so you have the closest overall outcome? Say the #1 seeds are CC, Maine, Cornell, UNH. Is it possible, using the "band" interpretation, to keep Maine and UNH in the East/Northeast, and send Cornell to Ann Arbor? This is the NC$$ afterall...[/Q]
It's not impossible, however that clause has generally be interpreted to mean that #1 is placed closed to home first, then #2, then #3, etc, so that there's a preference within the band. There's no proof of either way though. We'll just hope #4 continues to be Minn or FSU so that we don't have to worry.

[Al DeFlorio]

big red apple wrote:
> And that is because I am not only cynical, I am selfish.  I
> would rather play a tougher opponent in the first round in the
> E or NE region than a CHA/MAAC team out west.  I have tickets
> to Worcester and Providence already, and no intention of flying
> out to Minneapolis or Ann Arbor.
Couldn't have said it better myself.  That was one big advantage of last year's "regionalization" of the regionals.

[jtwcornell91]

The handbook says:

[Q]No.1 seeds are placed as close to home as possible in order of their ranking 1-4.[/Q]

I'm reading the "in order of their ranking" to mean #1 has preference over #2 etc.  In particular I don't think they'd sent #2 farther away in order to get #4 closer to home.

Note also:

Wins over the likes of Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard should help our RPI, not hurt it, so a 4-0 run in the ECAC playoffs would probably leave us in good shape on the RPI front.

If Maine loses to UMass again (pleasepleaseplease) they will not have the opportunity to improve their RPI any next weekend.

Oh, and finally, UHN has actually passed Maine in a modified KRACH which takes home ice advantage into account.

[rhovorka]

John T. Whelan '91 wrote:

> The handbook says:
>
> No.1 seeds are placed as close to home as possible in order
> of their ranking 1-4.


That's the wording that I couldn't find previously.  Thanks, John.



Post Edited (03-07-03 15:52)

[Al DeFlorio]

UMass up 2-0 early in the first.

[Philip Fibiger \'01]

now 3-0, Jim Howard pulled for the second time in as many games.

looks like, barring a miracle, maine's gonna get knocked out of the hockey east playoffs.