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2017 Pairwise thread

Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

J.D. said:
Another thing i like about the schedule is the two regional finals on Saturday don't start until after all the other games. Mot sure that has always been the case on the saturday of regional weekend.
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I like that too. In the past, it's been common for one frozen four team to be decided before one set of first round games has taken place.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

Among the many possible combinations of teams which could reach the Frozen Four is: Denver, Duluth/NoDak and Western Michigan. I don't think it will happen, but it is a possibility.
 
mookie1995 said:
umlol is filling manchvegas. Haven't you read :)
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BU could barely fill two sections at the Garden while Lowell dominated attendance. Probably one of the reasons they shipped BU to Fargo - the Terrier fans weren't going to show up anyway.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

Right, that WMU-Air Force match up in prime time will TOTALLY get more people than having BU there.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

One thing i forgot is i do remember reading/hearing in the past that the committee cares about QF bracket integrity. Whether or not that is actually true...who knows. But we have it this year in 1 v 8 etc. Thus the only switch was cornell and air force, presumably to get a 2nd eastern team to manchester. Although providence really has 1.5 eastern teams because harvard doesn't have any fans.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

Scarlet said:
Haven't seen one person predict Minnesota comes out of Manchester.
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Sounds about right. This a not a good Minnesota team and in my opinion Denver or Minnesota Duluth will be raising the trophy, everybody else is playing for second place.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

J.D. said:
One thing i forgot is i do remember reading/hearing in the past that the committee cares about QF bracket integrity. Whether or not that is actually true...who knows. But we have it this year in 1 v 8 etc. Thus the only switch was cornell and air force, presumably to get a 2nd eastern team to manchester. Although providence really has 1.5 eastern teams because harvard doesn't have any fans.
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Also there is a segment that wants regionals to be played on campus sites. the committee did nothing to enhance attendance especially in cincinnati. Don't understand why neither Notre dame or Ohio State is there. Get the bracket integrity but the margins this year between positions were minscule.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

I think all this defense of "bracket integrity" is overrated for college hockey. If there difference between teams were greater I could see it more however we have seen how much teams can move in the Pairwise just by changing the result of just one game. The differences between 6-7 or 12-13 etc. are quite miniscule.

Taking that into consideration I think the committee moving teams around within their seed's band for attendance purposes is entirely appropriate and a bit of a mystery to me why they did it less this year.

Perhaps that since we didn't have any intraconference matchups in the straight bracket caused the committee to not want to tinker with things?
 
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Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

interesting as well is they moved 2 teams which is creating a game that was already played this year (wmu v. afa).
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

DLG said:
Also there is a segment that wants regionals to be played on campus sites. the committee did nothing to enhance attendance especially in cincinnati. Don't understand why neither Notre dame or Ohio State is there. Get the bracket integrity but the margins this year between positions were minscule.
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Notre Dame and OSU have never proven to have much of a traveling fanbase. Notre Dame barely drew people to Toledo in 2013 or Cincinnati last years. OSU often gets 2000 people to show up for games on a campus with 40,000 students in a county with a million people. If either team starts to show some ability to drive a box office you can bet your life the committees will reward them with regions closer to home. I admit to being a little surprised that there are no teams within driving distance of Cincinnati, but not shocked beyond belief. Notre Dame has such a large contingent of Subway alums out east, they are likely to have as much support in Manchester as they would have gotten 4 hours from South Bend.
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

I read, on another site, an interview with the Committee Chair. He said that what they did was to make the bracket first: 1-8-9-16, etc, and then look at which location to place the groups in. So, NoDak's group, with UMD, went to Fargo. Then, Denver to Cincinnati, and etc. That's perfectly reasonable to me.

The 2 questions I have, going forward, are:
1- Not really a question, but a general comment. Objectivity is a needed thing in hockey. There is no subjective way to pick the teams on the bubble, so objectivity saves the committee from accusations of bias. I like that. However, I feel that the PWR system, while it is wonderful in choosing the 16 teams, is not as good in deciding between seeds. The margins are too tight to make it a good system. I don't know of a better one, though, so the Committee might well be stuck. I had a "Committee votes on seeds" system built at one time, but in any case, it's just a hard thing to do, to bracket a tourney, without clear objective rules.

2- Bigger question: What are the regional sites for 2018? Do we know yet?
 
Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

WeAreNDHockey said:
Notre Dame has such a large contingent of Subway alums out east, they are likely to have as much support in Manchester as they would have gotten 4 hours from South Bend.
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Nah, Fake Hockey East turned out very few at the Garden in Boston Friday for HE semis so have no idea where these subway fans are/were. Not even many poser fans either yelling "Go Irish!" on St. Patrick's Day. They did have a band there this year unlike in 2014 and I think it outnumbered their actual fans. They'll have the same dismal turnout in Manchester, along with maybe a few poser fans, as these mysterious subway alums will be nowhere to be found. Lowell, Minnesota, and Cornell fans will overrun the place.
 
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Re: 2017 Pairwise thread

I'm guessing there will be less than 100 Union fans who make the trip to Cincy. If we had been switched to Providence (which would have sent Western Michigan to Cincy), both regionals would have had an increased attendance. Would swapping Western Michigan with Union really have messed up bracket integrity?

BU also obviously has a major gripe about being placed in Fargo instead of Providence.
 
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