2026 Bracketology: The Road to the Aud

[Pioneer247]

Another year, another bracketology thread!

A few reminders:

14 team tournament: 10 AQs and 4 at-large selections

Seeding is done exclusively from the NPI

Historically, they like to keep it as region based as possible, but as we were all shocked last year, this is just my best guess trying to keep both bracket integrity and money in mind

The AQs in these scenarios are awarded to the team with the best POINTS PERCENTAGE, not necessarily the teams currently in first place. This will remain until we hit conference tournaments, where the AQ will be tentatively given to the highest remaining seed

That being said, here's my first crack at this year's bracket:

Auto-bids:

CNE: UNE (7)
Little East: Babson (6)
MAC: Neumann (43)
MASCAC: Fitchburg State (29)
MIAC: Saint Mary’s (31)
NCHA: St. Norbert (12)
NESCAC: Bowdoin (2)
SUNYAC: Hobart (1)
UCHC: Utica (20)
WIAC: UW-Eau Claire (18)

At- Large:
Aurora (3)
Hamilton (4)
Salve Regina (5)
Adrian (8)

Round 1:

UW-Eau Claire @ St. Norbert
Saint Mary’s @ Adrian
Neumann @ Bowdoin
Fitchburg State @ Hamilton
Utica @ Babson
UNE @ Salve Regina

QF:

Saint Mary’s/Adrian @ #1 Hobart
UNE/Salve Regina @ Neumann/#2 Bowdoin
UW-Eau Claire/St. Norbert @ #3 Aurora
Utica/Babson @ Fitchburg State/#4 Hamilton

I tried my best to keep bracket integrity while also keeping a nice East/West split, and in this scenario, there is only a maximum of 2 flights

 

[bakdraft21]

#2 ranked Aurora has 2 Dmen that are both 6'7" and both played for the Maryland Blackbears....just sayin....

 

[Pioneer247]

#2 ranked Aurora has 2 Dmen that are both 6'7" and both played for the Maryland Blackbears....just sayin....

#3 ranked currently in the only ranking that matters

 

[Pioneer247]

Bracketology for games through 1/10. Some spicy potential matchups in here

CNE: Endicott (4)
Little East: Babson (16)
MAC: Neumann (43)
MASCAC: Fitchburg State (31)
MIAC: Saint John’s (22)
NCHA: St. Norbert (7)
NESCAC: Hamilton (2)
SUNYAC: Hobart (1)
UCHC: Utica (15)
WIAC: UW-Eau Claire (12)

At- Large:

Aurora (3)
Salve Regina (5)
Oswego (6)
UW-Stout (8)

Round 1:

UW-Eau Claire @ St. Norbert
Saint John’s @ UW-Stout
Neumann @ Hamilton
Fitchburg State @ Endicott
Babson @ Salve Regina
Utica @ Oswego

QF:
UW-Eau Claire/St. Norbert @ #1 Hobart
Utica/Oswego @ Neumann/#2 Hamilton
Saint John’s/UW-Stout @ #3 Aurora
Babson/Salve Regina @ Fitchburg State/#4 Endicott

 

[Fishman'81]

Bracketology for games through 1/10. Some spicy potential matchups in here

CNE: Endicott (4)
Little East: Babson (16)
MAC: Neumann (43)
MASCAC: Fitchburg State (31)
MIAC: Saint John’s (22)
NCHA: St. Norbert (7)
NESCAC: Hamilton (2)
SUNYAC: Hobart (1)
UCHC: Utica (15)
WIAC: UW-Eau Claire (12)

At- Large:

Aurora (3)
Salve Regina (5)
Oswego (6)
UW-Stout (8)

Round 1:

UW-Eau Claire @ St. Norbert
Saint John’s @ UW-Stout
Neumann @ Hamilton
Fitchburg State @ Endicott
Babson @ Salve Regina
Utica @ Oswego

QF:
UW-Eau Claire/St. Norbert @ #1 Hobart
Utica/Oswego @ Neumann/#2 Hamilton
Saint John’s/UW-Stout @ #3 Aurora
Babson/Salve Regina @ Fitchburg State/#4 Endicott

Nice work; I love this stuff. The next several weeks will provide some drama, for sure.

 

[SHockey98]

2026 Men's Bracketology: Edition #5 (January 13th) - DIIIHockeyNews.com

As the second half is getting into full swing, we now have seen numerous results that have wildly shifted the landscape of the tournament’s outlook moving into mid-January. Be sure to check out last week’s projections in order to get the full scope of all that’s changed in the last seven days...

diiihockeynews.com

I notice D3 hockey news has their own bracket projections: they don’t have Aurora getting a bye. Do you think it’s an easier bracket if they give Aurora the bye over hamilton?

 

[Pioneer247]

2026 Men's Bracketology: Edition #5 (January 13th) - DIIIHockeyNews.com

As the second half is getting into full swing, we now have seen numerous results that have wildly shifted the landscape of the tournament’s outlook moving into mid-January. Be sure to check out last week’s projections in order to get the full scope of all that’s changed in the last seven days...

diiihockeynews.com

I notice D3 hockey news has their own bracket projections: they don’t have Aurora getting a bye. Do you think it’s an easier bracket if they give Aurora the bye over hamilton?

It really comes down to whether or not the NCAA values in terms of bracket integrity vs potential cost.

Both options do work, his probably a little more than mine, but my option does set up a potential QF of

1v7
2v6
3v8
4v5

whereas the D3 Hockey version sets up a potential:

1v8
2v6
3v7
4v5

After watching last year's Selection Show and the shock we all had, there's no saying what they might do, but I'd be confident in saying one of our two versions of the bracket are correct

 

[Lord_Zubin]

I think the 2 major factors going into last years shock was the fact we had 5 western teams and an unknown site for the frozen four. It was impossible to avoid flights in the 1st 2 rounds and from what I can tell st norbort has the facility to host the frozen four if they made it, which could've added 3 more flights. They were a higher seed than Geneseo (Curry and Hobart clearly couldnt have hosted with their facilities, and Utica wouldn't have hosted since they wouldve lost to st norbort in this scenario). If you can't control the amount of flights, might as well go for bracket integrity. Now they have a predetermined site in Utica thats within 500 miles of every school in the east. If the west only produces 4 teams this year (or 3 with aurora getting a bye), you can very easily only get 1 flight for the whole tournament without sacrificing too much bracket integrity.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

I think the 2 major factors going into last years shock was the fact we had 5 western teams and an unknown site for the frozen four. It was impossible to avoid flights in the 1st 2 rounds and from what I can tell st norbort has the facility to host the frozen four if they made it, which could've added 3 more flights. They were a higher seed than Geneseo (Curry and Hobart clearly couldnt have hosted with their facilities, and Utica wouldn't have hosted since they wouldve lost to st norbort in this scenario). If you can't control the amount of flights, might as well go for bracket integrity. Now they have a predetermined site in Utica thats within 500 miles of every school in the east. If the west only produces 4 teams this year (or 3 with aurora getting a bye), you can very easily only get 1 flight for the whole tournament without sacrificing too much bracket integrity.

Just as I was going to yell at those who forgot about the bracket integrity last year, proving they have changed their ways, Zubin comes around and makes perfect sense.

I didn't consider this logic string. Yeah, costs could trump bracket integrity again. Though, what they did for the second year in a row with the D3 football tournament -- not perfect, but they compromised between both budget and integrity -- gives me some hope.

 

[Lord_Zubin]

Yeah it'll be interesting to see which sites they choose starting in 2029. I would imagine they want at least 1000 seats in the arena and being somewhat close to an airport which narrows it down to maybe 10 teams in all of d3. Will they recycle the same sites or will they get creative like they did with the harbor center back in 2020 and the place is WI for 2028. Hard to find arenas that big that don't have a permanent tenant already trying to split the money.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Yeah it'll be interesting to see which sites they choose starting in 2029. I would imagine they want at least 1000 seats in the arena and being somewhat close to an airport which narrows it down to maybe 10 teams in all of d3. Will they recycle the same sites or will they get creative like they did with the harbor center back in 2020 and the place is WI for 2028. Hard to find arenas that big that don't have a permanent tenant already trying to split the money.

Lake Placid always likes having this tournament. So, they will continue to bid and will continue to get selected occasionally.

I would love to see the RIT rink bid. There wouidn't be a conflict (the AHA playoffs are over by then), it meets all criteria (except perhaps one, believe it or not, they never really built enough locker rooms, so there would have to be some interesting solutions), perfect size for such a tournament, plenty of hotel rooms, and easy to fly into. And you have four local DIII schools (and that's not including Hobart) who could be the official host.

Of course, people have mentioned Oswego. But I don't know if they have ever shown interest. The Oswego insiders here can chime in. Plattsburgh would work as well. But both those locations require busing a bit from whatever airport is used (sure, Lake Placid is like that also, but it is Lake Placid). Utica wil always be a possibility. I thought I read Hamilton is thinking of building a new rink, but I have no ideas what those rink plans would be if that's true.

I would like to see HarborCenter go for it again.

That's all I got for NYS.

 

[Tom Coughlin]

SNC's new rink will seat 3000 fans and is less than a mile from the runway at Austin Straubel. A lot of boxes checked there...