NCAA Ice Hockey Bracketology: February 17th

Robert Morris has been on a roll all season (RMU Athletics)

The final regular season weekend is here, well minus the College Hockey America conference they go on for another week, but nevertheless tournament madness is right around the corner. Things are going to get very interesting during this last rush of the season, there's still plenty of chaos that can take place.

Last weekend, Robert Morris took a step toward clinching the CHA regular season title with a sweep of RIT and Syracuse's split with Mercyhurst. That gives RMU a four point cushion with two weeks left. Each team in the conference can go on a run and win the auto bid, I mean we've seen it before, as much as I like RMU, I still think this conference is going to give us a surprise.

The ECAC has been dominated by Clarkson in recent years, and since winning the national title they have become a national program determined to return a trophy back to New York. The experience of the Knights will benefit them this tournament season. Teams like St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac, Cornell and Princeton can all make a case for winning the conference tournament but this Clarkson team was one win away from the national championship last season and they want to get back frozen four. St. Lawrence hasn't played great lately and will be on the road at #7 Cornell and then at Colgate to close out the season.

In the Hockey East, Northeastern earned a hard fought victory over Boston College and gives that team a load of confidence going into the tournament. It's clear that many people expect it to be a BC-NU rematch in the tournament final but not so fast. The tourney this year is at Walter Brown Arena, home of the Boston University Terriers and let's not count out the bottom half of the Hockey East. Maine has beaten Boston College, Vermont has beaten BU and Northeastern so just watch out, that conference tournament should be fun to watch.

Now the WCHA, well it's clear Wisconsin is good... like really really good and they proved how dangerous they can be in game two against Minnesota Duluth last weekend. The Badgers will now go to Minnesota to take on the Gophers to wrap up the regular season. This could be a preview of the WCHA championship unless Minn-Duluth has something to say about it. The Bulldogs will welcome in St. Cloud State to close out the season. Just like Hockey East, the strength of this conference from top to bottom can pull off a run but who can knock off Wisconsin? The winner of this tournament will say a lot about how the tournament field will shape.

Well that leads us to this weeks bracketology, As a reminder here is the criteria for women’s college hockey.

The top four teams according to the selection criteria will be seeded 1-4 at the time of the selection call. The remaining four teams will be placed in the bracket based on relative strength as long as these pairings do not result in additional flights. These teams will not be reseeded and the committee will not change the bracket once the tournament has begun.
Assuming it meets the committee’s hosting criteria, the highest seeded team will be given the opportunity to host the quarterfinal game.
Pairings in the quarterfinal round shall be based primarily on the teams’ geographical proximity to one another, regardless of their region, in order to avoid air travel in quarterfinal-round games whenever possible. Teams’ relative strength, according to the committee’s selection criteria, shall be considered when establishing pairings if such pairings do not result in air travel that otherwise could be avoided.

In women's hockey only the top 4 of 8 teams earn a seed, with the primary consideration being minimizing flights between opponents and bracket integrity the second consideration. The following are projections based on current standings and selection committee criteria. AUTOBIDS: (CHA, ECAC, WCHA, WHEA)

#1 Wisconsin (WCHA)

#2 Clarkson (ECAC)

#3 Boston College (WHEA)

#4 Robert Morris (CHA)

Now lets get the next four teams using the current Pairwise Rankings

#1 Wisconsin (WCHA)

#2 Minn-Duluth

#3 Minnesota

#4 St. Lawrence

Boston College (WHEA)

Clarkson (ECAC)

Cornell,

Robert Morris (CHA)

The straight bracket would look something like this:

Robert Morris v. #1 Wisconsin

Cornell v. #2 Minn-Duluth

Clarkson v. #3 Minnesota

Boston College v. #4 St. Lawrence

On the Bubble: Colgate, Quinnipiac, Princeton and Northeastern

Now last year the committee made some moves that brought into question their criteria and match ups that just didn't make sense (Princeton to Minnesota and Northeastern to Boston College in the Quarterfinals). That being said, this year the top seven teams have been pretty consistent. Obviously we can see some major changes in the conference tournaments but if it remains chalk, then the committee will have to make some big decisions.

Some of these match ups have unavoidable flights so it will be interesting to see how the committee handles these final selections.

For now this is our projected NCAA Tournament field

MyWSports Projected Bracket:

Robert Morris v. #1 Wisconsin

Cornell v. #2 Minn-Duluth

St. Lawrence v. #3 Minnesota

Clarkson v. #4 Boston College

On the bubble:

Colgate

Quinnipiac

Princeton

Northeastern