The folks in Grand Forks have done the math and North Dakota has a 100 percent chance of making the NCAA Tournament field as does Quinnipiac, Minnesota, Miami, Boston College, Mass.-Lowell, and New Hampshire. Click on the link and contact Jim Dahl of Sioux Sports Talk. He can explain the math far better than I ever could.
Here is more info gleaned from his report:
Three other WCHA teams are virtual locks for the NCAAs, too. Minnesota State (99.7 percent), Denver (98 percent) and St. Cloud State (94.1 percent) are very likely to join Minnesota and UND.
Wisconsin must beat Minnesota State on Thursday afternoon to stay in the hunt.
Can get an at-large bid: Yale, Notre Dame, Minnesota State, Niagara, St. Cloud, Denver, Western Michigan, Union, Wisconsin, Providence, Boston University, RPI, Alaska-Fairbanks, Robert Morris.
Needs to win the conference tournament: Brown, Colorado College, Ohio St, Michigan, Connecticut, Canisius, Mercyhurst.
2013 Red Baron WCHA Final Five – Xcel Energy Center – Saint Paul, MN Games for Saturday, March 23: Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game, 7:07 pm CT
Here is a look at Minnesota State’s Game 3 win over Nebraska-Omaha.
North Dakota has reached the WCHA Final Five for 11 straight years including nine under coach Dave Hakstol.
I did not give CC senior goalie Joe Howe (37 saves) as much ink as I should have in last night’s game story. Here is an attempt to rectify that since he made a huge toe save on Nick Shore on a shorthanded breakaway with 17:17 left in the second.
“That’s the difference in the series right there,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said of Howe’s save on Shore in a Denver Post story. “If we’re up 3-0 at that point, game over, series over, I think. Howe makes an incredible save and they get right back in the game.”
Here is a Pairwise calculator because you didn’t want to spend anytime today out in the spring sunshine did you?
CC is 25th in the Pairwise rankings as of noon Monday.
The Tigers got some respect from the USCHO voters by picking up some points in this week’s national poll. That is a first since Jan. 1.
North Dakota dropped to No. 6 while Minnesota climbed back to No. 1:
USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll
|
Team
|
(First Place Votes)
|
Record
|
Points
|
Last Poll
|
|
|
1
|
Minnesota
|
(22)
|
26- 7-5
|
967
|
2
|
|
2
|
Quinnipiac
|
(27)
|
26- 6-5
|
958
|
1
|
|
3
|
Miami
|
24-10-5
|
893
|
3
|
|
|
4
|
Boston College
|
22-10-4
|
820
|
5
|
|
|
5
|
Massachusetts-Lowell
|
( 1)
|
24-10-2
|
785
|
6
|
|
6
|
North Dakota
|
21-11-7
|
751
|
4
|
|
|
7
|
St. Cloud State
|
23-14-1
|
670
|
8
|
|
|
8
|
Minnesota State
|
24-12-3
|
626
|
10
|
|
|
9
|
Notre Dame
|
23-12-3
|
578
|
12
|
|
|
10
|
New Hampshire
|
19-11-7
|
519
|
7
|
|
|
11
|
Yale
|
18-10-3
|
515
|
13
|
|
|
12
|
Western Michigan
|
19-11-8
|
408
|
9
|
|
|
13
|
Denver
|
20-13-5
|
382
|
11
|
|
|
14
|
Wisconsin
|
19-12-7
|
375
|
14
|
|
|
15
|
Niagara
|
23- 8-5
|
339
|
15
|
|
|
16
|
Providence
|
17-13-7
|
269
|
17
|
|
|
17
|
Boston University
|
20-15-2
|
212
|
18
|
|
|
18
|
Union
|
19-12-5
|
192
|
19
|
|
|
19
|
Rensselaer
|
18-14-5
|
91
|
16
|
|
|
20
|
Michigan
|
17-18-3
|
52
|
NR
|
|
|
Others receiving votes: Nebraska-Omaha 37, Colorado College 18, Brown 11, Merrimack 10, Alaska 9, Ohio State 9, Robert Morris 2, Connecticut 1, St. Lawrence 1.
|
|||||
Joe. Since Quin has more first place votes, why are they in second on the rankings? Can you fill us in on how the ranking votes work?
Votes equal points, so 1st place = 20, 2nd = 19, 3rd= 18 and so on. The position in the poll is determined by points.
The only question i have why so much love for Denver..Not just the poer ranking polls but the National Polls. Heck CC took them out of the first round of the WCHA playoffs in there house.
No. 2 strength of schedule behind CC and a good nonconference record weighs heavily in the Pairwise rankings. Joe