Just a quick note here that the annual American Hockey Coaches Association Convention begins Thursday in Naples, Fla. The interesting bit to me is that it’s the first one that will be attended by the newly formed College Hockey Inc.

So this is where we might to see some lines being drawn. The mission of College Hockey Inc. is to promote the game, but to do so, it’s going to have to help improve the game.

In Detroit, we at USCHO heard from people saying it was time for college hockey to address some big issues instead of squabbling about little ones. Today’s agenda includes a 90-minute meeting with Paul Kelly, the executive director of College Hockey Inc. With Kelly’s group positioned as the mouthpiece of college hockey in a lot of circles, that meeting may be the place where some of those big issues are put forward.

This is not to say that heavy issues have never been discussed before at the convention. It, in fact, is the place where great dialogue takes place in regard to rule changes, recruiting issues and the like.

With College Hockey Inc. in the mix, however, add another voice to the debate. And to date, that particular voice has proven to be one that’s not afraid to touch on touchy subjects.

There are two reasons why I bring you the Detroit weather forecast for the rest of the week.

One, because it’s always good to plan ahead. You may expect Anaheim weather and get Wisconsin weather, like I did in 1999.

Two, because I’ve heard people wondering whether warm weather would negatively impact the ice at Ford Field.

So, here goes, courtesy the National Weather Service:

Wednesday: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High 73.

Thursday: Chance of showers. High 52.

Friday: Partly sunny. High 52.

Saturday: Mostly sunny. High 55.

Sunday: Mostly sunny. High 62.

It sounds like they’re doing a pretty good job of keeping the building (60 degrees) and ice (low-20s) temperatures in place even though it has been warm in recent days.

Then again, let’s wait until they add 30,000 people to the building to judge.

In the end — after quite a while Sunday night in Fort Wayne — we have three No. 1 seeds in the Frozen Four. Regional leaders Miami, Wisconsin and Boston College join No. 4 seed RIT in heading to Detroit’s Ford Field next week.

It’s the first time since 2005 that three top seeds are in the field. That year, Denver, Colorado College and Minnesota advanced as top seeds to an all-WCHA Frozen Four.

This season, the teams represent four conferences — Atlantic Hockey (a first), the CCHA, Hockey East and the WCHA.

Even with those top seeds in the mix, the story of the leadup to Detroit likely will be RIT.

And why not? In just their fifth season as a Division I team, the Tigers have ascended all the way to the final weekend of the season, an impressive achievement that serves as a testimony to the institutional support that lifted the program to a situation where it could so quickly be perennial contenders for the automatic bid in Atlantic Hockey.

Last season, the talk going into the tournament was about Bemidji State. This year, it’s RIT in that place. We’ll see if the Tigers can do more than just get there.

RIT gets Wisconsin in the 5 p.m. Eastern semifinal on Thursday, April 8. The Badgers have a pair of Hobey Baker Award finalists in Blake Geoffrion and Brendan Smith, and Geoffrion was named the most outstanding player of the West Regional to help his individual award prospects.

It’ll be Miami and Boston College in the 8:30 p.m. semifinal after Miami knocked off Michigan 3-2 in double overtime.

Having the Wolverines in the Frozen Four probably would have been a big boost for attendance at Ford Field, but instead, the RedHawks will have a chance to go at the national title again after coming so painfully close last season.

Ranked No. 1 for most of the season, the RedHawks still go into the national semifinals with one big question: Who’ll be in goal?

Hobey finalist Cody Reichard won the regional semifinal against Alabama-Huntsville; Connor Knapp stood on his head against Michigan.

Miami and Boston College are familiar NCAA tournament foes. In 2008, the Eagles advanced to the Frozen Four with a 4-3 overtime victory. A year earlier, BC won the same game 4-0. In 2006, Boston College won 5-0 in the first round.

Is this the year the RedHawks get past the Eagles? It may be unless BC can shore up its defense.

The Eagles have allowed 14 goals in their last three games, but they’ve won them all by scoring 19 times in that span.

There are three games left in the college hockey season, and there should be plenty of story lines.

Here’s what we’ve compiled for live television plans for NCAA regional games this weekend, including which local and regional stations are picking up the games not broadcast live on ESPNU (all times Eastern):

FRIDAY

Denver vs. RIT, 3 p.m. (ESPNU HD)

St. Cloud State vs. Northern Michigan, 5:30 p.m. (WBUP-TV, Marquette, Mich.; MASN)

Cornell vs. New Hampshire, 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU HD)

Wisconsin vs. Vermont, 9 p.m. (ESPNU HD)

SATURDAY

Boston College vs. Alaska, 1:30 p.m. (Comcast Sports Net New England; KFXF-TV, Fairbanks, Alaska; GCI Cable, Alaska; MASN)

Miami vs. Alabama-Huntsville, 4 p.m. (ESPNU)

North Dakota vs. Yale, 5 p.m. (FSN North; WCTX-TV, New Haven, Conn.; MASN)

East Regional final (Denver/RIT vs. Cornell/New Hampshire), 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU HD)

Bemidji State vs. Michigan, 7:30 p.m. (FSN North; MASN)

West Regional final (Wisconsin/Vermont vs. St. Cloud State/Northern Michigan), 9 p.m. (ESPNU HD)

SUNDAY

Northeast Regional final (Boston College/Alaska vs. North Dakota/Yale), 5:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

Midwest Regional final (Miami/Alabama-Huntsville vs. Bemidji State/Michigan), 8 p.m. (ESPNU)

Honestly, what I think this week is that there aren’t enough hours in the day. Sorry for not posting until now. NCAA time gets a little crazy around here.

I’m going to go through how I filled out my bracket, but I have to say right away that I don’t feel good about it. One problem is I don’t have any No. 4 seeds winning. That’s going to come back to bite me.

I have Cornell beating Denver in the East Regional final. I’m going with the goaltender that’s going into the weekend hotter, and that’s Cornell’s Ben Scrivens.

I have Wisconsin beating Northern Michigan in the West Regional final. The Badgers showed how they can play against Denver last Saturday. Will it continue? We shall see.

I have North Dakota beating Boston College in the Northeast Regional final. Coin toss, really, if it comes down to these teams. But I do like how North Dakota looked last weekend.

I have Michigan beating Miami in the Midwest Regional final. I think it would be closer than the CCHA semifinal game between the teams, but there’s something intriguing about the Wolverines right now.

In Detroit, I have Wisconsin beating North Dakota for the title. Just a hunch.

But I’m fully expecting the whole thing to crumble within hours of the start of the tournament. That’s why my investment in this in monetary terms is zero.

Here’s the TV information for this weekend’s conference tournaments. Also, watch for our live blogs for each tournament:

ECAC

This schedule comes from a league release. All times Eastern.

FRIDAY, MARCH 19 (SEMIFINALS)

NHL Network (Live in the U.S. and taped delayed in Canada) Semifinal #1 – Cornell vs. Brown at 4 p.m. and Semifinal

#2 – Union vs. St. Lawrence at 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20 (CHAMPIONSHIP GAME)

Fox College Sports (Live) 7 p.m.

NHL Network (Encore Presentation of Semifinals – Cornell vs. Brown at 12 p.m. and Union vs. St. Lawrence at 4 p.m. in U.S.)

NHL Network (Encore Presentation of Semifinals – Cornell vs. Brown at 2 p.m. and Union vs. St. Lawrence at 4 p.m. in Canada)

SUNDAY, MARCH 21 (CHAMPIONSHIP GAME)

NHL Network (Encore Presentation of Championship Game at 11 a.m. in U.S.)

NHL Network (Encore Presentation of Championship Game at 4 p.m. in Canada)

HOCKEY EAST

All games will be shown live on NESN.

WCHA

All games will be shown live on Fox Sports North and Fox College Sports Central.

CCHA

Friday’s first semifinal (Ferris State vs. Northern Michigan) live on Fox Sports Detroit and Fox College Sports Atlantic. The second semifinal (Miami vs. Michigan) live on Big Ten Network.

Saturday’s championship game on Fox Sports Detroit and Fox College Sports Atlantic.

ATLANTIC HOCKEY

Games on pay-per-view Internet broadcast at www.b2tv.com.

I’ll write more as we go through this week, but I wanted to use this space to go through some of what we saw on what had to be one of the most insane weekends of the college hockey season. We’re (finally) done with the 23rd week of the season — of course, it fittingly took overtime in the last game going, where St. Cloud State knocked out Minnesota State — and think of what we witnessed, either in person or through our computers:

* Two No. 1 seeds going down in a third game Sunday, and what a set of circumstances in each.

Hockey East champion New Hampshire had Vermont down one game, but the Catamounts, who barely got in the league playoffs, came back with a pair of 1-0 shutout victories to win the series. Rob Madore stopped 17 shots on Saturday and 34 more on Sunday after being pulled in a six-goal outing on Friday.

Brown, the 11th seed in ECAC Hockey, took out another high seed when it shocked Yale in three games. A team that won eight games in the regular season now has two straight three-game victories under its belt.

* Bemidji State defying all expectations and leaving the final CHA tournament without a victory.

Host Niagara stunned the Beavers on Friday, and Bemidji had to scrap for a 3-3 tie with Robert Morris in the third-place game. The Beavers are going to make the NCAA tournament, but that’s no way to enter the dance.

* Alabama-Huntsville getting the first official NCAA bid with the CHA title, won in overtime at Niagara.

More took place behind the scenes than most will ever discover to leave the Chargers without a conference home for next season, but you could argue that this is some karma coming back to the program.

* Michigan suck the life out of Munn Ice Arena, and end its biggest rival’s season, with a pair of emphatic victories over Michigan State.

The Wolverines may still need to win the Mason Cup to get into the NCAA tournament, but is there any reason to believe they can’t do it?

* Plenty of free hockey.

We saw 12 single-overtime games, one double-OT contest and the item we’ll get to in a moment. There’s not much better than playoff overtime hockey.

* The WCHA get its top five seeds through to the Final Five, but some of them with some duress.

St. Cloud State needed overtime in Game 3 to oust Minnesota State. North Dakota blasted Minnesota 6-0 in Game 1, only to have to play Sunday to eliminate the Gophers. Minnesota-Duluth also needed a third game to take care of Colorado College.

It all set up what should be a terrific Final Five next weekend.

* All of those were good, but I think there’s one item that will be remembered longer than the rest, most likely because it took way longer than the rest.

Quinnipiac and Union played the longest game in Division I college hockey history Friday, with the Bobcats winning 3-2 after 150 minutes, 22 seconds. That bested the 141:35 set in the same Messa Rink just over four years before when Union lost to Yale.

Here’s the most interesting part to me: After that Game 1 setback Friday, Union rallied to win Games 2 and 3 to win the series. A lot of credit is due to the Dutchmen players and coaches for being able to let go of the epic loss and focus on winning the next one.

* After the dust settled, here’s how I voted in this week’s poll:

1. Denver

2. Miami

3. Wisconsin

4. Boston College

5. North Dakota

6. St. Cloud State

7. Ferris State

8. Cornell

9. Minnesota-Duluth

10. Bemidji State

11. Yale

12. Northern Michigan

13. Vermont

14. New Hampshire

15. Alaska

16. Michigan

17. Maine

18. Michigan State

19. Boston University

20. Union

* One last note: If you haven’t already checked, our PairWise Predictor is now live. Enter what you think will happen (or what you’d like to see happen) and find out what the PairWise would look like.

Also, USCHO bracketologist Jayson Moy is working the scenarios and updating things on the Bracketology Blog.

A few random (and not-so-random) thoughts after the 22nd week of the season:

* I’m guessing there’s going to be a little bit of fire in two series next weekend. North Dakota hosts Minnesota in a WCHA first-round series, and Michigan State hosts Michigan in a CCHA quarterfinal series.

You don’t really need to say too much more about those matchups to generate intrigue. Rivalry games are great; rivalry games in the postseason are tremendous.

The WCHA can’t be thrilled with the fact that either Minnesota or North Dakota will miss out on the Final Five — those two groups provide much of the fan base for the tourney — but that’s the way things shook out in the final standings.

And how’s this for a bad sign for the Gophers: They’ve never won a playoff game in Grand Forks, going 0-5 against the Sioux there. There may have been an NCAA game against Holy Cross there, too.

That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minnesota pull off the upset next weekend. After two pretty strong outings against Wisconsin this weekend, the Gophers might just be in a playoff frame of mind.

As for the Spartans and the Wolverines, Michigan State won three of the four meetings this season, including both at Munn Ice Arena. Could Sparty be the one to end the Wolverines’ hopes at extending the nation’s longest active streak of NCAA tournament appearances? You’ve got to think the motivation is incredible not only there, but from the Michigan side as well.

Good hockey ahead, I think.

* Three of the four ECAC Hockey first-round series went to three games; none of the CCHA’s four series went the distance.

The latter was a mild surprise, if for no other reason than that Notre Dame couldn’t drum up much of anything against Ohio State. As awful as it is to see your season end, it has to be so much more so when you fall behind 4-0 after the first period of an elimination game and lose 8-2.

* Brown had three wins in the second half of the season before it played at Rensselaer in the ECAC’s 6-vs.-11 series this weekend. It just goes to show you what a fresh outlook can do, because the Bears upset the Engineers in three games to earn a spot in a quarterfinal series against top-seeded Yale.

Even if next weekend is the end of the line for the Bears, that first-round series victory is certainly something first-year coach Brendan Whittet can build on down the road.

* In a week, we’ll know the identity of the first official entrant in the 2010 NCAA tournament; the CHA final is scheduled for Saturday at Niagara.

It’s all but given that Bemidji State will be in the field of 16, either as the CHA tournament champion or through an at-large bid. If the latter happens, get ready for an awful lot of grumbling about the CHA getting two teams in the tournament at the expense of a team from a league with a more difficult conference schedule.

I don’t know if many thought it would have been a possibility until this season, when Bemidji State became a PairWise mainstay. But it’s a product of the current (and, thankfully, expiring) system of the four-team CHA with an automatic bid.

* College Hockey Inc. compiled some stats for former college players in the Olympics, and there were some noteworthy ones.

All three of the Directorate Awards, chosen by the IIHF, went to former college players — Michigan State’s Ryan Miller at goalie, Wisconsin’s Brian Rafalski at defenseman and North Dakota’s Jonathan Toews at forward.

Wisconsin’s Ryan Suter led the tournament in plus/minus at plus-9.

Ohio State’s Ryan Kesler and Wisconsin’s Joe Pavelski ranked second and third, respectively, in faceoff wins.

Not a bad advertisement for college players, it would seem. It’s not a clear victory, but it’s a decent step in building the case.

* Here’s how I voted in this week’s poll:

1. Denver

2. Miami

3. Wisconsin

4. Boston College

5. North Dakota

6. Bemidji State

7. Yale

8. St. Cloud State

9. Alaska

10. New Hampshire

11. Ferris State

12. Michigan State

13. Minnesota-Duluth

14. Cornell

15. Colorado College

16. Northern Michigan

17. Vermont

18. Nebraska-Omaha

19. Union

20. Massachusetts-Lowell

You can’t help but being a little bit heartbroken if you’re an American hockey fan, but I’ll preface this week by saying this: The two best teams were in the gold-medal game, and I don’t think it was coincidence that it needed overtime to separate them.

With that done, here’s this week’s edition:

* I’m not surprised Denver is skating away with the WCHA’s MacNaughton Cup this season. I am, however, surprised that the Pioneers took care of things this weekend.

They had built enough of a buffer on the rest of the league that it was only a matter of time before they wrapped things up. Needing a sweep at Minnesota State this weekend to clinch, I was skeptical. Denver has been playing phenomenally in the second half of the season, but getting two wins in Mankato is a tall order for anyone.

The Pioneers needed overtime on Saturday — and almost all of it at that — to get the second win. Now 13-1-2 in 2010, the Pioneers get you thinking there might be something special going on in Denver this season.

* I mentioned a while back that I didn’t think North Dakota was a top-10 team at that point. Times sure change, don’t they? Look at the Sioux now: Winning five in a row against the likes of St. Cloud State, Minnesota-Duluth and Colorado College alters the landscape.

* New Hampshire can wrap up the Hockey East title with a win or a tie against second-place Boston College on Friday. Never would have thought that would have been the case back when I saw the Wildcats play Wisconsin. Then, they were a disorganized group that seemed to be looking for a break that wasn’t coming.

I wouldn’t suggest now that they’ve got it all figured out, but to be in the position to which they’ve ascended in Hockey East, things have to be pretty well along the path.

Boston College, meanwhile, can steal away the Hockey East title by sweeping the home-and-home series next weekend. It’s not out of the question, folks.

* We’re getting a little bit of a glimpse into the WCHA’s procedure for dealing with potential suspensions, and it’s not sitting well with a lot of people.

Basically, the league decides on a suspension, but it can’t announce it until the three-day window for an appeal passes without action by the player or the team, or until after the appeals process concludes.

That’s why we haven’t heard anything official about St. Cloud State’s Aaron Marvin, whose unpunished hit on Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion was being scrutinized.

I do not like that we have to referee games after the fact, but if we do, it should be done in a quick manner. I’m sure there are concerns about a player being deemed guilty before being afforded a hearing — especially considering we’re talking about academia here — but I really think concessions need to be made there. By this point, so long after the fact, the impact of announcing a suspension is a little muted.

* The stunning stat of the weekend: Minnesota-Duluth’s 3-0 victory over Minnesota on Saturday was the first time the Bulldogs had blanked the Gophers since Nov. 14, 1980.

* Here’s how I voted in this week’s poll:

1. Denver

2. Miami

3. Wisconsin

4. St. Cloud State

5. Boston College

6. North Dakota

7. Bemidji State

8. Yale

9. New Hampshire

10. Minnesota-Duluth

11. Ferris State

12. Michigan State

13. Alaska

14. Cornell

15. Vermont

16. Colorado College

17. Maine

18. Northern Michigan

19. Nebraska-Omaha

20. Union

I do not know Aaron Marvin. I can’t speak to his personality, nor to his intent when he takes the ice for St. Cloud State.

What I do know, however, is that he’s getting quite a reputation around the WCHA, and it’s not something to be proud of.

I heard one longtime WCHA observer use the term goon in reference to Marvin after last Saturday night’s game, in which the Huskies junior forward delivered an open-ice check to Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion that left the Badgers captain with a concussion. Geoffrion didn’t return to the game that night (he later informed everyone via Twitter that he was doing “just fine”), and the Wisconsin State Journal reports that the Badgers’ leading goalscorer won’t play this weekend at Michigan Tech.

On first glance, I didn’t see that Marvin’s shoulder went against Geoffrion’s head in the check, so I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. I’m guessing the on-ice officials were of the same viewpoint, even though their eyes were significantly closer to the play than mine, because no penalty was called.

St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said after the game that players on his bench told him it was a good hit, but even then, he was worried because of the crackdown on hits to the head.

If this was an isolated incident, I don’t think it would be as heated a topic this week. But Marvin is the same player who leveled North Dakota captain Chay Genoway on Nov. 13, drawing a one-game suspension from the WCHA.

As of nearly five days after the latest incident, there has been no public follow-up from the league, so many were left to believe no action is being taken. A WCHA official, however, said that the league’s supplemental discipline procedure was launched a day after the game, and the reason that no announcement has been made is that it must fully run its course before public comment is issued.

I’m a firm believer that if there is supplemental action taken in these cases, the league needs to scream it from the mountaintops. When Marvin was suspended in November, the league did not issue any news release or comment on why Marvin’s hit was being punished.

That may have been an oversight. Let’s hope it was. It may seem insignificant at times, but in the big picture, a league’s voice resonates.

Hits to the head are dirty and need to be eliminated from the game. Those who commit those infractions — and especially those who are repeat offenders — need to feel the consequences, both in missed game time and in the public shame that comes from being identified as such.

Genoway hasn’t played since the November game in which he was hit. Geoffrion will miss time when his team is playing for playoff positioning.

How many more good players does college hockey need to have sitting in the seats?