Big Riser

Dartmouth (+7 to 25th) – Big wins over Franklin Pierce and Post twice, and the stats to go with, will do that.

Big faller

Franklin Pierce (-7 to 30th) – The Ravens were blown out by Dartmouth in the middle of the week and got blitzed on shots despite splitting with Union

After Bemidji State and Minnesota State snuck in a final series we are off until New Years Eve.  We’ve also learned that there will be 11 teams in this season’s tournament with no seeds switched to save on flights.  Seeds, however, would be switched to avoid intra-conference matchups.

This is what the bracket would look like if the current conference leaders (denoted by a *) received automatic bids and were arranged by their relative position in the PairWise.

This produced an intraconference matchup in Clarkson – Harvard and no ability to switch due to the number of ECAC teams in the first round.  So…CONTROVERSY…Minnesota’s bye was taken away and given to Yale.  (Not sure exactly how the byes will be determined but I imagine it will just be the top 5 in the PairWise and this may not be allowed.)

Syracuse, as the CHA winner, takes the spot of the 11th team in the PWR, Connecticut.  This kind of sucks as Syracuse is currently 25th in the PWR.  However, Mercyhurst and Penn State are 14th and 15th and all three are bunched up in the CHA standings so it’s possible the CHA winner will be just outside the top 11, or even in it if one of those teams goes on a run.

Who are the big losers?

11. Connecticut – At 13-4-2 the Huskies could see their best season ever (current best: 22-8-5 in 07-08) and still miss out.  They’ll probably need a couple big conference wins to move up in the PWR.

12. Providence – At 7-5-5 the Friars look less impressive, and they have some questionable losses to go along with impressive performances against Northeastern earlier in the season.  Even though they’re next on the list, they feel like a long shot due to the lack of PWR quality in Hockey East.

13. Princeton – The Tigers are 6-5-3 and in the midst of an underwhelming season.  However they still have a number of big ECAC matchups that could see them rise…or drop out entirely.

Advertisement