Scores Elsewhere pre-New Years

[farce poobah]

Put a big W on the board for the WCHA:

UMD, #37 in the RPI here at SS.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/rpi.php

wins 4-1 over

Maine, #9.

This is a big win in terms of the pairwise for all the WCHA schools with NCAA hopes...

UMD gets a second shot tomorrow at Cornell. Go Sandy! Go Dogs.

[farce poobah]

UMD with a 1-1 tie against Cornell. Another strong outcome for UMD against a ranked opponent, and a decent outcome for the WCHA. Also, since UND has 2 wins aginst the 'Dogs, if UMD becomes a TUC, that helps all UND's comparisons with other teams. (And it would hurt MN, since they lost and tied).

Don't bet against Sandelin having that young UMD squad in form come March.

[farce poobah]

Thursday 12/29:

On the good side (for WCHA rankings), CC beat Michigan 6-1.

MN beat Union.

On the bad side,

Sioux lost to Harvard (the top of the ECACHL)

Mankato only manages a tie against Yale, the bottom of the ECACHL.

Tech loses to Michigan State (as expected)

Net net, not a good night for the WCHA.

Being #5 in the WCHA might not be good enough to make it into the NCAA this year...

[siouxnami]

Thursday 12/29:

On the good side (for WCHA rankings), CC beat Michigan 6-1.

MN beat Union.

On the bad side,

Sioux lost to Harvard (the top of the ECACHL)

Mankato only manages a tie against Yale, the bottom of the ECACHL.

Tech loses to Michigan State (as expected)

Net net, not a good night for the WCHA.

Being #5 in the WCHA might not be good enough to make it into the NCAA this year...

I EXPECT that the Sioux will finish 2, 3, or 4 and may end up with the autobid.

[farce poobah]

I EXPECT that the Sioux will finish 2, 3, or 4 and may end up with the autobid.

Hope you're right. If someone told me right now that UND would get the last seed in, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

[farce poobah]

Friday 12/30:

4 wins for the WCHA, all important to NCAA possibilities:

Most importantly for UND, a win over Harvard ... might ultimately become a "quality win" if H. finishes in the top 15.

WI beats a CCHA team, Western Michigan,

CC beats a CCHA team, Mich. State

MN beats UM_Lowell of Hockey East

Three losses:

One bad, bad loss - the worst of the weekend - DU loses to Princeton.

One expected loss - Tech nearly beats Michigan but loses in the end.

And UAA loses to UAF.

Also, Bemidji ties Clarkson, solidifying their status as a TUC. (And UND's 2-0 record vs. Bemidji becomes valuable as long as Bemidji stays RPI>.500.)

All in all a decent night for the WCHA, 4-3, but not enough to really move the dial.

Going to the RPI calculator here at siouxsports.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/rpi.php a few things stand out immediately:

* 9 CCHA teams are TUCs right now, 1 Miami, 3 Michigan, 6 Ohio State, 10 LSSU, 11 UNO, 16 Ferris State, 18 UAF, 20 Michigan State, 28 Northern Michigan. And Bowling Green is just below .500. If this persists, it means generally that CCHA teams will have better PWR than their RPI's... helping all their comparisons.

* Meanwhile, the WCHA has only 5 TUC's. 4 of the top 8, but only DU is also a TUC. HOWEVER, UMD is at .4995, and if they become a TUC, it really helps the Sioux (and hurts Minnesota!) due to the results so far. And St Cloud is close at .4963.

* If the NCAA field were drawn today, based on PWR from siouxsports.com, http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/pwr.php it would be:

5 CCHA - including 3 of the 4 #1 seeds - Miami, Michigan, and Ohio State

4 WCHA (WI, MN, CC, UND)

3 ECACHL (Harvard! Cornell and St Lawrence, with Colgate close at hand)

2 Hockey East (Vermont and BC - but no UNH, no Maine, no BU - Providence is close)

1 Atlantic

1 CHA

Will be nice to see the "official" rankings come out soon. Expect all the polls to pick up on the power shift toward the CCHA soon...