College Hockey:
My Updated Bracket Prediction, March 11

By Jayson Moy • Senior Writer • March 11, 2011

The biggest winner of the night? Rensselaer. A team that played its last game this past Sunday.

The Engineers move into the Top 15 of the PairWise because almost everything went right for them on Friday night.

The teams ahead of them had lose. And they did. Dartmouth, CC, Western Michigan. And those around them also lost. Minnesota, Maine. But the Engineers can go right back down, just like they went up.

What does Saturday has to offer?

Some teams need to win to keep hope alive for next weekend. Among those are CC, Maine, Minnesota, Dartmouth, WMU. And on Sunday, BU. And Rensselaer continues to sit and wait.

How I see it after Friday’s games:

East Regional (Bridgeport)

16 RIT vs. 1 Yale

9 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 8 Merrimack

West Regional (St. Louis)

13 Boston University vs. 4 Michigan

10 Notre Dame vs. 5 Denver

Midwest Regional (Green Bay)

15 Rensselaer vs. 2 North Dakota

12 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 6 Miami

Northeast Regional (Manchester)

14 Dartmouth vs. 3 Boston College

11 New Hampshire vs. 7 Union

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bklein09
Nice to see these are coming out more than once per week!
Keep up the good work!
- http://pulse.yahoo.com/_33SQF75OBWLFTKUH6HNBBMVRYM Tim
  Here is how I got it:
  Bridgeport 1-Yale 8-Merrimack 10-Notre Dame 16-RIT
  Green Bay 2-North Dakota 7-Union 9-MN Duluth 15-Rensselaer
  Manchester 3-Boston College 5-Denver 12-New Hampshire 14-Dartmouth
  St. Louis 4-Michigan 6-Miami 12-NE Omaha 13-Boston U
Scott
How can u leave BU out, with a jump from 18 to tied for 13th with tie-breaker. I realize they gotta beat Northeastern, but suddenly they went from a team that needed to probably WIN if not make the title game to – thanks to Wisc. over CC in particular, and Dartmouth falling to Harvard, they might actually be able to make they tourney with a win on Sunday &, depending on who they would get in semis, that alone might now be enuff. Talk about reversal of fortune.
- Jay
  Is there any doubt which Scott this is?
  Anyway, who left BU out?
Jay
As for the brackets, I agree with all the matchups. Tried getting UMD to Green Bay, but it’s nearly impossible under the current rankings. Only thing I might change is putting the UND/UNO/Miami cluster in St. Louis rather than GB.
Food For Thought
What happens when SLU beats Yale again tonight?
- HockeyEast fan
  The #1 team in PWR has 2 weeks to rest, for another 1 and done. ND (North Dakota … don’t want to upset WCHA fans!) or BC deserve to be the true #1 team.
  - Typical WCHA troll
    North Dakota deserves to be number one because we have SEVEN NCAA TITLES. And 7 > 4. HAHAHAHAHAHA! And the WCHA is just so awesome!
    - B.D.
      I see you still donot have enough pride to use your own identity and refer to a sockpuppet instead.
      Sad, it must be an eastern trait.
      - Typical WCHA troll
        It’s sad you are resorting to ad hominem attacks now.
      - B.D.
        But at least I use my own screen name rather than fall back to a sock puppet one.
      - Typical WCHA troll
        What screen name are you talking about? Do you post as B.D. somewhere else? Whatever. You’re as anonymous as I am. And your posts are still weak. I read the junk you posted on the last bracketology story. Nothing even remotely connected to bracketology. And when you try to respond to other people you completely put words in their mouth and attack an argument they never made. Either you have a reading comprehension problem or you’re a complete troll. Which is it?
      - B.D.
        I have always posted as “B.D.”
        You were on the previous bracketology post? As what?
        Oh thats right, “Sockpuppet.”
      - Typical WCHA troll
        And you posts are still full of idiocy. Care to address that? Of course not. You are in fact a typical WCHA troll.
- Jason
  Would probably clinch the number 1 seed for Yale in the PWR. HaHa
  - HA HA HA
    Yale is that the same YALE that sent the Sioux home last year.Now thats funny HA HA HA
    - SAY WHAT
      I thought it was funnier when UNH sent them packing in Manchester 2 years ago.But that was in N.H. and the Sioux were tired from traveling and all the other excuses you come up with . LMAO
  - YALE WON GET OVER IT
    Does it matter you moron North Dakota will still be a 1 seed in their regional so why you always crying .Did the Yale loss really disturb your rational thinking ? Get over it let the games begin.
    - Jason
      ouch
    - unbiased opinion
      Problem is if BC Yale and UND all make it to Frozen Four, BC and ND would play each other…not fair. BC and UND shouldnt meet until champ game, should they both make it there. Undisputed #1 and #2 teams in nation
      - Inigo Montoya
        Undisputed? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Snitka1
Not sure how you can say that RIP still can make it. Putting the rankings aside, their quality of play in the last 2 months has been inconsistent at best. Remember they lost the first round of the ECAC playoffs to Colgate, the number 12 of the conference. I think the final list shoudl not include RIP as they have not deserved it. And after this weekend, depending on what happens to Yale, perhaps Union should be moved up yet again – ahead of Yale.
- Scott Fitzgerald
  Agree.. RPI out…Union ahead of Yale for sure
- Rangers99995
  Being in the tournament is about the body of work for the whole season, not just how they’ve played recently. It’s only fair to look at the entire schedule and compare it to the other teams that are on the bubble.
HockeyEast fan
Seems like Yale “wins” by losing to St. Lawrence?? How is it that Yale continues to be #1 when they are stumbling so badly to close the schedule. The “TUC” is so strong for Yale, but they’ve tied Colgate (#12) and lost to St. Lawrence (#11) over their last 3 games, but continue to be #1 in PWR?
Meanwhile, a team like Wisconsin, Colorado or BU will probably not make it into the Tourney (I’m guessing only 1 of these 3 will make it)… while RPI, a team that is already done for the year, suddenly is back in?
Just PWR-oddity?? I don’t understand how ECAC can have 4 teams in at the moment, they are not that strong a conference; compared to WCHA, HE and CCHA (just my opinion).
- HockeyEast fan
  But I do agree … I check the PWR after each night’s games to see where I’ll be travelling to watch BC! I’m guessing I’m heading back to New Hampshire in 2 weeks!
  Keep up the daily Bracketology columns on weekends … love the debate(s)!
  Great job!
- simple math
  Before you keep complaining about which teams are in you need to familiarize yourself with how the Pairwise works and then look at the individual comparisons. It’s not that hard.
- Jason
  There are a couple teams on the bubble in the TUC that if they drop out would hurt Yale quite a bit. Princeton and Quinnipiac. would drop them to 8-3.
- learn how PWR works
  How is it that Yale continues to be #1 when they are stumbling so badly to close the schedule.
  Because Pairwise doesn’t take into account when you win or lose. It’s really simple.
Djkurve
Would do you think would have to happen for Cornell to sneak in?
- Unionalum
  Cornell would have to win at Atlantic city to be in the final 16. Having said that I have stated before that RPI should not even be in consideration. The final numbers include early season games so if Cornell has to have their bad early start unclouded then RPI has to have their most recent poor performances included and not live on their laurels.
Revrag28
RPI is not going to get in. Everything just went their way last night. That will change tonight and tomorrow. ECAC will have at most three in depending on who wins the tourney. Yale and union are locks and then if one of them do not win the tourney. I could see Cornell winning the tourney to make three from ECAC. That is the most they deserve. RPI losing to Colgate sealed their fate.
- bigred23
  I’m a Cornell fan and Cornell is not going to win the tournament. Even if Yale gets eliminated this weekend (and Cornell gets Dartmouth or Harvard in the semifinals) Cornell has shown no ability to hang with Union.
  - Rangers99995
    The U is awesome this year. It’s nice to hear a Cornell fan give them credit. Watching U play this year reminds me of those Cornell teams with McKee in net where you knew they were just going to beat you somehow and give up only 15 shots. The scariest part is that most of their top players are underclassmen this year !
- SLU34
  dont count SLU out!!! there upsetting everyone they can match with any team in the country rit now!
- Rangers99995
  What you said seems likely. I could see them squeezing in as the 15th though. If there no upsets in the tournaments I think they”ll be in. Who would be in instead of them ? Maine ??
Timmay
The NCAA would never allow Denver to play in either the GB or StL regional.
- Jay
  I know DU had to go to Albany last year, but weren’t they in a western regional in 2009?
Jason
Yale has to lose to good teams to hurt themselves in the PWR. How dumb is that? They are losing RPI comparisons to only ND and BC. Since neither BC or ND played Yale H2H you throw out that portion it.
So….It comes down to ND or BC winning either Teams Under Consideration or Common Opponent vs Yale.
BC and Yale share Vermont and Colgate as COp’s. Yale 2-0-1, BC 3-1-0. BC loses the COp part because they lost a game to Vermont and Yale took care of buisness.
ND and Yale share just Colorado College as their COp. Yale 1-0-0, ND 1-1-0. ND loses because they didn’t sweep their series with CC and Yale beat CC in their only game.
So another words, Yale won’t lose the COp to either ND or BC.
TUC is remaining factor. Yales current TUC is .8000. ND is .7121. BC is .6875. Not possible for ND or BC to get up to .8000 with so few games remaining. So it comes down to Yale having to lose to good teams or there is a shift in the TUC and teams like Princeton and Quinnipiac drop out.
- tweak23
  Yale has to lose to good teams to hurt themselves in the PWR. How dumb is that?
  It’s the same rule that has been applied to everyone for years. As for Common Opponents, schedule more non-conference games. Going from memory, WCHA usually have 8 non-conference games. I think North Dakota played at least two of those games against WCHA teams. Yale did the same thing. I do give credit to North Dakota for showing willingness to travel (Cornell, Harvard, Maine in recent years). More teams need to do this. And against teams with whom they are fairly matched. Example, look at Wisconsin’s non-conference slate. Joke.
  - Jason
    I hear what you are saying. ND played Anchorage in a tournament early then Duluth for their rink opener Dec 30. Yale gets awarded for having a week nonconference schedule
    - HA HA HA
      I believe ND being swept by Maine is the reason.
      .CRYING AGAIN WHAT ELSE IS NEW IN SIOUX COUNTRY.
    - Crybabies
      And if they played a better non-conference schedule you would be complaining about the league schedule. Get over it. When all is said and done, the ECAC will get two teams in and UND will still be a one seed with a creampuff first round game.
      - Rangers99995
        There’s no such thing as a cream puff game in the NCAA Hockey Tournament.
      - Crybabies
        Point is, they are going to be a #1 seed. They get a #4 in the first round. And in all likelihood the bracket is not going to have perfect “integrity” i.e. 1 v. 8 in the second round, 2 v. 7 etc. So why get worked up about it?
Williamson
I think New Hampshire and UNO should be switched to eliminate the WCHA matchup in the regionals.
- Nodaksioux
  I don’t mind this WCHA matchup, UNO is so new to the league they still feel like a new opponent to UND, add to that some good games they have played against eachother this year, and the Blaiser coaching against his former team, I think it is a great potential matchup, league opponents or not.
  - sioux4ever
    the pairwise is so full of eastern bias it makes me want to puke. yale being the 1 overall seed is a joke. their schedule is a joke and their non conf schedule is a joke. who are they going to schedule for non conf opponents next season the northeastern bantam allstars or maybe thats too tough they’ll play the pee wee allstars. yale gets too much respect for a team that plays a powder puff schedule. play a schedule like n. dak. and see what yales record would be.
    - just go away
      Yes, simple math shows “eastern bias”. That’s what the NCAA set out to do decades ago. It was all part of a master plan to get Yale the top seed in 2011. What evil geniuses they are.
- Bruce
  Can’t move UNH. They host in manchester
YouSee
If that lineup holds up, Manchester will be packed with all those local teams there. Can’t spell “bubble” without bu.
KRATCH FAN
If Yale Does not win the ECAC and either ND or BC win thier conference it would take the commitee big NUTZ to give Yale the overall #1.
They played no one and beat no one. When your non conference is 3 Atlantic (Sacred Heart, Air Force “LOST” , Holy Cross), 1 HE (Vermont) and 1 WCHA (Colorado College) they are truly a 3 seed at best.
- It is KRACH
  If you can’t even get the spelling right your argument has no merit.
- Jay
  if Yale finishes #1 in PWR, not it won’t.
- Stal102
  Does it matter? There’s no way Yale even wins its regional at this point. Whoever is the #2 or #3 in that region is lucky – probably merrimack or notre dame
B.D.
I still think it would be more fair to move the second WCHA team to manchester.
Which currently looks like:
Northeast Regional (Manchester)
14 Dartmouth vs. 3 Boston College
11 New Hampshire vs. 7 Union
Either replace union or new Hamshire with UNO.
- Matt Dresens
  Cant move UNH they host in Manchester
  - Jay
    not to mention the committee doesn’t move teams to a different seed.
  - B.D.
    Just saying it would be fairer is all…
CollegeHockeyRules
In a way, one can argue that PWR is fair since it is predefined. That said, it is so obviously flawed that it is equally easy to argue that it is not fair. Under PWR Yale can continue to lose to crappy teams and they would still continue to hold the PWR advantage over BC and North Dakota since the teams they are losing to are not good enough to be teams under consideration. Also the fact that all TUCs are treated equal in PWR is another obvious flaw. Let’s face it, beating the a bottom half TUC is not as impressive as beating an upper half TUC.