Cornell-BU

[Scersk '97]

I think Scott's idea is to disqualify any team not playing the weekend before the regionals start.  It might have the unintended consequence of getting conferences to adopt Final Five and Super Six formats...

Yup, and I have no problem with that. But let's cap it at four teams per league, shall we? Do we ever need to see five or more teams from any league in the tournament, e.g., the 2016 Hockey East second-chance tournament?

Really, I'd prefer a tournament of just the league champions, so everyone would likely have played 2 games the prior weekend. I suppose I could tolerate league champions and league regular-season "champions" who have at least made their leagues' final weekends. I'd arrange things so as to have a best 2 of 3 quarterfinal round at the higher seed's rink, with byes or play-in games as necessary. If we're dealing with the tournament and regular-season champions, I'd seed those teams who pull off "the double" first.  

So, let's look at this year:

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                        RS  PS  TOTES
St. Cloud      NCHC     1   2     3
Mankato        WCHA     1   3     4
Air Force      AHA      3   1     4
Denver         NCHC     2   1     3
Princeton      ECAC     7   1     8
Cornell        ECAC     1   3     4
BU             HE       4   1     5
Notre Dame     B10      1   1     2
Michigan Tech  WCHA     5   1     6
BC             HE       1   3     4
Mercyhurst     AHA      1   3     4

Given the differing sizes of leagues, how to combine the results is arguable, but this is my world so I'm fine for now with the idiocy of TOTES. So, rearranged as seeds:

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                    TOTES
1. Notre Dame         2
2. St. Cloud          3 [seed within bands by KRACH]
3. Denver             3
4. Cornell            4
5. Mankato            4
6. BC                 4
7. Mercyhurst         4
8. Air Force          4
9. BU                 5
10. Michigan Tech     6
11. Princeton         8

Or flipping within bands of TOTES for the play-ins:

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1.  Notre Dame
2.  St. Cloud
3.  Denver
4.  Cornell
5.  Mankato
6.  BC
7.  Air Force
8.  Mercyhurst
9.  BU
10. Michigan Tech
11. Princeton


Princeton/BC, Michigan Tech/Air Force, and BU/Mercyhurst figure out the play-in, either mid-week at the higher seed or at their future quarterfinal location.

It's messy and far beyond ridiculous, but I don't like how the current system lets in teams that just shouldn't be there. Like, picking a few:

Code Select Expand


                  RS   PS
2017  Providence  5    5
2016  BU          4    5
2016  Notre Dame  3    5
2015  BC          3    5
2015  Omaha       3    5
2015  Duluth      5    5
2015  Yale        3    5
2014  Vermont     7[!] 5
2013  Mankato     6    5
2013  NoDak       3    5
2013  UNH         5    5
2013  Denver      5    7 [first round!, at home to CC]
2012  MSU         5    5
2011  Duluth*     4    5
2011  RPI         5    5
2011  Omaha       3    7
2010  UAF         5    5

* Won it all! Doesn't refute my point; still shouldn't have been there.

The small sample space of OOC games is not a valid means for comparing conferences, so why not just rid ourselves of at-large teams and get rid of the static?