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The BFB/Futile4 Committee is pleased to announce that the brackets for this year's event have been completed, and the sites have been selected. These decisions were actually made several days ago, but the information was withheld till the last minute in order to make travel difficult.
The participants, as ranked by FARTS (Freddie's Arbitrary Ranking of Teams that Suck) are as follows:
1. Alabama-Huntsville
2. Sacred Heart (AHA Auto bid)
3. Army
4. Bentley
5. Alaska-Anchorage (WCHA Auto bid)
6. American International
7. Bemidji State
8. Northeastern (HEA Auto bid)
9. RIT
10. Clarkson
11. Harvard (ECAC Auto bid)
12. Penn State
13. Princeton
14. Michigan State (CCHA Auto bid)
15. Maine
16. Vermont
The regional sites are:
EAST: Regency Ice Rink, Lancaster PA
NORTHEAST: Penobscot Ice Arena, Brewer ME
MIDWEST: Fryberger Arena, Duluth MN
WEST: Barrow Hockey & Curling Rink, Barrow AK
The Futile Four will be at Uline Arena in Washington DC
Let's take a look at how the brackets were drawn.
First identify the four regional #1 seeds. UAH, SH, Army and Bentley. Since this band is dominated by eastern schools, the committee felt it was necessary to break with tradition and NOT send the overall #1 seed to the furthest regional (Alaska), but to Maine instead.
#1 UAH goes to Brewer Maine
#2 Sacred Heart goes to Barrow Alaska
#3 Army goes to Duluth Minnesota
#4 Bentley goes to Lancaster Pennsylvania
Hoping to maintain the integrity of the bracket, we want place the #2 seeds as follows:
#5 Alaska-Anchorage goes to Bentley's bracket in Lancaster
#6 American International goes to Army's bracket in Duluth
#7 Bemidji goes to Sacred Heart's bracket in Barrow
#8 Northeastern goes to Huntsville's bracket in Brewer
Continuing the process we place the #3 seeds:
#9 RIT would be matched up against #8 Northeastern in the Brewer bracket
#10 Clarkson gets #7 Bemidji at Barrow
#11 Harvard gets #6 AIC in Duluth
#12 Penn State gets #5 UAA in Lancaster
Once more with the #4 seeds:
#13 Princeton goes to Lancaster, where they will play #4 Bentley
#14 Michigan State goes to Duluth, where they will play #3 Army
#15 Maine goes to Barrow, where they will play #2 Sacred Heart
#16 Vermont goes to Brewer, where they will play #1 Huntsville
Incredible as it may seem, but even with so many Atlantic Hockey teams in the field, we have managed to avoid any first-round matchups between conference mates. And since no school wants to host this event, we don't have to worry about that. But the committee does have some attendance concerns.
We are really concerned about the Penobscot bracket. With 3 eastern teams there (Northeastern, RIT and Vermont) somebody might actually show up. Let's swap Northeastern with Bemidji. Since all the other #3 seeds are eastern schools, there's nothing we can do but leave RIT in Maine. We'd like to move Vermont out of this bracket, but don't feel it would be fair to Huntsville...after all, they earned that overall #1 seed.
Now let's look at the Lancaster bracket.
Bentley's closer to home that we would like, but switching them with Army or Sacred Heart won't be any better, so we leave them alone. Penn State is entirely too close to home, we'll send them to Duluth and bring Harvard back east (their fan base is too high-brow to consider visiting Amish country anyway). Princeton's also too close to Lancaster, so we'll send them to Duluth also, and bring Michigan State to Lancaster.
After the swaps we've already done, the Duluth and Barrow brackets look perfect. So here are the brackets:
Brewer Maine
1. Alabama-Huntsville
2. Bemidji State
3. RIT
4. Vermont
Lancaster Pennsylvania
1. Bentley
2. Alaska-Anchorage
3. Harvard
4. Michigan State
Duluth Minnesota
1. Army
2. American International
3. Penn State
4. Princeton
Barrow Alaska
1. Sacred Heart
2. Northeastern
3. Clarkson
4. Maine
Game times will be announced later today, or perhaps tomorrow.
The participants, as ranked by FARTS (Freddie's Arbitrary Ranking of Teams that Suck) are as follows:
1. Alabama-Huntsville
2. Sacred Heart (AHA Auto bid)
3. Army
4. Bentley
5. Alaska-Anchorage (WCHA Auto bid)
6. American International
7. Bemidji State
8. Northeastern (HEA Auto bid)
9. RIT
10. Clarkson
11. Harvard (ECAC Auto bid)
12. Penn State
13. Princeton
14. Michigan State (CCHA Auto bid)
15. Maine
16. Vermont
The regional sites are:
EAST: Regency Ice Rink, Lancaster PA
NORTHEAST: Penobscot Ice Arena, Brewer ME
MIDWEST: Fryberger Arena, Duluth MN
WEST: Barrow Hockey & Curling Rink, Barrow AK
The Futile Four will be at Uline Arena in Washington DC
Let's take a look at how the brackets were drawn.
First identify the four regional #1 seeds. UAH, SH, Army and Bentley. Since this band is dominated by eastern schools, the committee felt it was necessary to break with tradition and NOT send the overall #1 seed to the furthest regional (Alaska), but to Maine instead.
#1 UAH goes to Brewer Maine
#2 Sacred Heart goes to Barrow Alaska
#3 Army goes to Duluth Minnesota
#4 Bentley goes to Lancaster Pennsylvania
Hoping to maintain the integrity of the bracket, we want place the #2 seeds as follows:
#5 Alaska-Anchorage goes to Bentley's bracket in Lancaster
#6 American International goes to Army's bracket in Duluth
#7 Bemidji goes to Sacred Heart's bracket in Barrow
#8 Northeastern goes to Huntsville's bracket in Brewer
Continuing the process we place the #3 seeds:
#9 RIT would be matched up against #8 Northeastern in the Brewer bracket
#10 Clarkson gets #7 Bemidji at Barrow
#11 Harvard gets #6 AIC in Duluth
#12 Penn State gets #5 UAA in Lancaster
Once more with the #4 seeds:
#13 Princeton goes to Lancaster, where they will play #4 Bentley
#14 Michigan State goes to Duluth, where they will play #3 Army
#15 Maine goes to Barrow, where they will play #2 Sacred Heart
#16 Vermont goes to Brewer, where they will play #1 Huntsville
Incredible as it may seem, but even with so many Atlantic Hockey teams in the field, we have managed to avoid any first-round matchups between conference mates. And since no school wants to host this event, we don't have to worry about that. But the committee does have some attendance concerns.
We are really concerned about the Penobscot bracket. With 3 eastern teams there (Northeastern, RIT and Vermont) somebody might actually show up. Let's swap Northeastern with Bemidji. Since all the other #3 seeds are eastern schools, there's nothing we can do but leave RIT in Maine. We'd like to move Vermont out of this bracket, but don't feel it would be fair to Huntsville...after all, they earned that overall #1 seed.
Now let's look at the Lancaster bracket.
Bentley's closer to home that we would like, but switching them with Army or Sacred Heart won't be any better, so we leave them alone. Penn State is entirely too close to home, we'll send them to Duluth and bring Harvard back east (their fan base is too high-brow to consider visiting Amish country anyway). Princeton's also too close to Lancaster, so we'll send them to Duluth also, and bring Michigan State to Lancaster.
After the swaps we've already done, the Duluth and Barrow brackets look perfect. So here are the brackets:
Brewer Maine
1. Alabama-Huntsville
2. Bemidji State
3. RIT
4. Vermont
Lancaster Pennsylvania
1. Bentley
2. Alaska-Anchorage
3. Harvard
4. Michigan State
Duluth Minnesota
1. Army
2. American International
3. Penn State
4. Princeton
Barrow Alaska
1. Sacred Heart
2. Northeastern
3. Clarkson
4. Maine
Game times will be announced later today, or perhaps tomorrow.
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