brianvf

I just realized that Michael Emerson is on the Merrimack roster. Remember him? Had a great USHL year with the Steel averaging over a pt/gm, then came to UND as a FR in fall of 2023. Only played 6 games in the first half...didn't get a single point...and then went back to the Steel in the USHL. Ended up at Merrimack for the last two years. Crazy.

Something tells me we're gonna see all four NCHC teams put into 2 regionals. And then if all advance past game one, it will just be repeats of the NCHC tourney semi-final games.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2026/03/22_Bracket-Breakdown-Final-.php Albany 1. Michigan vs. 16. Bentley 8. Minnesota Duluth vs. 9. Penn State Sioux Falls 2. North Dakota vs. 15. Merrimack 7. Providence vs. 10. Quinnipiac Worcester 3. Michigan State vs. 14. Connecticut 6. Dartmouth vs. 12. Wisconsin Loveland 4. Western Michigan vs. 13. Minnesota State 5. Denver vs. 11. Cornell

Yeah, you know the NCAA will want to move some teams around to avoid sending three Eastern teams out to SD to face UND.

For sure. Unless the NCAA doesn't mind shipping Providence to SF and Duluth to Michigan's regional, which would be pure bracket.

You could see that whole play develop backdoor. UMD didn't pick it up.

Makes sense, Sandy is putting them out there every other shift.

11 goes with 3 in a perfect bracket.

They could...but that would sure hose over the #2 overall seed. Not to mention crush attendance in SF.

Not looking at any other brackets, if they go by true bracket rankings/integrity, we'd be looking at the following for SF: 2-7-10-15 2 - UND 7 - Dartmouth or Providence 10 - Quinnipiac 15 - Merrimack The DU/UMD game wouldn't affect those rankings regardless of who wins.

Potential major on Duluth? No, that can't be. No way a major is getting called, didn't happen last weekend with two chances.

These must not be the usual DU refs, as DU is getting more PK than PP...not normal for a home game.

They'll have enough talent to not need to dive for PP's any longer. But they still will, of course.

None of DU's forwards really stand out a ton. So much of their offense is generated from the backend. If both Pohlkamp and Buckberger go pro this offseason, they'll have a ton of points to replace.

Duluth could be scary next season if both Plante's return --as expected-- to play with their brother.