What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

2024 Bracketology - The Road to Connecticut

P

Pioneer247

Member
It's funny, I had a bracketology done this week and was going to post, and then Plattsburgh and Adrian lost and it through the whole thing into a mess

Anyways, first bracketology of the season coming after tomorrow night when most of the pre-Christmas games are done
 
Pioneer247 said:
It's funny, I had a bracketology done this week and was going to post, and then Plattsburgh and Adrian lost and it through the whole thing into a mess

Anyways, first bracketology of the season coming after tomorrow night when most of the pre-Christmas games are done
Click to expand...

I know it's all fun and games but literally most of the NESCAC has played 7 games so far...still so much left to decide.

But it's just a silly fan forum and can obviously do whatever. The Pairwise still has so much data to come, especially in early January with a lot more non-conference games to come.
 
The first bracketology for 2024 is done, and this is one of the more interesting ones I've had to put together. As a note if you're new, while in-season, the auto-bid for each conference in this goes to the team with the highest conference points percentage, they may not necessarily be the leader in points at the moment. Also in the case of conference ties in which H2H can't break them, like the NCHA currently, the auto-bid goes to the team with the highest PairWise of the tie

Without further ado, the autobids and at-larges as they currently stand:

CCC: Salve Regina (17)
MASCAC: Plymouth State (24)
MIAC: St. Scholastica (1)
NCHA: Adrian (9)
NEHC: Skidmore (6)
NESCAC: Trinity (20)
SUNYAC: Geneseo (5)
UCHC: Utica (7)
WIAC: Stevens Point (11)

At-Large:
Elmira (T-2)
Hobart (T-2)
Cortland (4)

First Four Out:
Bethel (8)
Norwich (10)
Plattsburgh (12)
Wilkes (13)

This grouping of teams to get in is very interesting as a whole. You have 3 teams in the East that can all play Adrian in the 1st round (500 mile rule still in play), so you'd think that'd help someone out, but if you're an Elmira or a Hobart, this means you end up losing your bye, and only one of Elmira/Hobart/Geneseo/Adrian is going to Hartford.

Round 1 would look like this:

Adrian @ Elmira
Geneseo @ Hobart
Plymouth State @ Utica
Trinity @ Salve Regina

And then your quarterfinals, which would be set up with G1 playing G4 and G2 playing G3 in the Semifinals

G1: Stevens Point @ St. Scholastica
G2: Geneseo/Hobart @ Adrian/Elmira
G3: Trinity/Salve Regina @ Cortland
G4: Plymouth State/Utica @ Skidmore


I know we obviously have a ton of games to go and this will change 50 times before the real bracket comes out in March, but looking at the teams on the bubble and the way things are looking now, I think we're going to have a great tournament on our hands here
 
Pioneer247 said:
The first bracketology for 2024 is done, and this is one of the more interesting ones I've had to put together. As a note if you're new, while in-season, the auto-bid for each conference in this goes to the team with the highest conference points percentage, they may not necessarily be the leader in points at the moment. Also in the case of conference ties in which H2H can't break them, like the NCHA currently, the auto-bid goes to the team with the highest PairWise of the tie

Without further ado, the autobids and at-larges as they currently stand:

CCC: Salve Regina (17)
MASCAC: Plymouth State (24)
MIAC: St. Scholastica (1)
NCHA: Adrian (9)
NEHC: Skidmore (6)
NESCAC: Trinity (20)
SUNYAC: Geneseo (5)
UCHC: Utica (7)
WIAC: Stevens Point (11)

At-Large:
Elmira (T-2)
Hobart (T-2)
Cortland (4)

First Four Out:
Bethel (8)
Norwich (10)
Plattsburgh (12)
Wilkes (13)

This grouping of teams to get in is very interesting as a whole. You have 3 teams in the East that can all play Adrian in the 1st round (500 mile rule still in play), so you'd think that'd help someone out, but if you're an Elmira or a Hobart, this means you end up losing your bye, and only one of Elmira/Hobart/Geneseo/Adrian is going to Hartford.

Round 1 would look like this:

Adrian @ Elmira
Geneseo @ Hobart
Plymouth State @ Utica
Trinity @ Salve Regina

And then your quarterfinals, which would be set up with G1 playing G4 and G2 playing G3 in the Semifinals

G1: Stevens Point @ St. Scholastica
G2: Geneseo/Hobart @ Adrian/Elmira
G3: Trinity/Salve Regina @ Cortland
G4: Plymouth State/Utica @ Skidmore


I know we obviously have a ton of games to go and this will change 50 times before the real bracket comes out in March, but looking at the teams on the bubble and the way things are looking now, I think we're going to have a great tournament on our hands here
Click to expand...

These are a lot of fun to follow! they are also a bit of work so thank you for putting them together!
 
VTpucksouteast said:
Couldn't they realistically do something like this?

Quarterfinals:
G1: Stevens Point @ St. Scholastica
G2: Adrian/Geneseo @ Hobart
G3: Salve Regina/Utica @ Elmira
G4: Trinity/Cortland @ Plymouth State/Skidmore

I feel like this is more likely to give the byes to Elmira and Hobart, rather than Skidmore and Cortland. What do you think?
Click to expand...

This makes more sense to me, but who knows with a selection committee lol. When geography IS NOT an issue, I feel like they wouldn't put the (technically) 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th seeds in a round-robin where one gets to Hartford. Not when they could make that round robin the (technically) 5th, 6th, 11th, and 12th seeded teams.

Yes, Adrian's geography is an issue, but lots of teams can play Elmira/Hobart/Genny. I can see them giving one of those three a bye.
 
Itll be interesting to see if the UCHC can even survive the next few years. Its a 6 team conference next year and all it takes is a Utica move to D1 a Naz/Manhattenville move to the NEHC, or a chatham move to the MAC and all of sudden this conference lost its autobid. Then again if they can somehow convince two out of the 3 ny NEHC teams (Hobart,Elmira,Skidmore) to join the UCHC u could argue thats the best conference in the county with Hobart, and Elmira saving a lot of money on travel. Skidmore probably wouldnt save as much as the other 2 I would admit.
 
Lord_Zubin said:
Itll be interesting to see if the UCHC can even survive the next few years. Its a 6 team conference next year and all it takes is a Utica move to D1 a Naz/Manhattenville move to the NEHC, or a chatham move to the MAC and all of sudden this conference lost its autobid. Then again if they can somehow convince two out of the 3 ny NEHC teams (Hobart,Elmira,Skidmore) to join the UCHC u could argue thats the best conference in the county with Hobart, and Elmira saving a lot of money on travel. Skidmore probably wouldnt save as much as the other 2 I would admit.
Click to expand...

The NEHC will probably be the next conference that “blows up” in 2025 when a number of their teams will be forced to leave because their all sports conferences affiliation will have enough teams to form a hockey conference.

In a way, this could save the UCHC as the three NY teams will be orphaned.
 
VTpucksouteast said:
Not sure where to post this, so I thought this might be the best option. Over on the DIII women's forum, I posted some rankings of conference thus far as we have hit the Christmas break to see who lines up where. I had read on a previous post that in terms of hockey, a pretty good (not necessarily perfect) way to measure conference strength was to look at the median RPI ranking of all a conference's teams and line up accordingly. I ran the numbers on the women's side, so I decided to take a shot at the men's. Just thought this was some interesting data.

Conference (Median RPI rank)

1. MIAC (33)
T-2. NEHC (36.5)
T-2. WIAC (36.5)
T-2. CCC (36.5)
5. NCHA (41)
6. Independents (42)
7. SUNYAC (50)
8. MASCAC (50.5)
9. NESCAC (53)
10. UCHC (54)

Definitely pretty eye-opening. When watching the games, you obviously would rather fear a SUNYAC schedule over an independent one, but I do like how this takes into account ALL games that teams play. Also, with just four independents, strong starts from Albertus and Anna Maria weigh heavily in that calculation.

MIAC on top isn't too terribly surprising given the perennial top-to-bottom quality depth of that league. Despite the bottom dwellers, I am surprised at how low the SUNYAC is ranked. Also, despite the CCC being "down" from last year, that's a super strong league with almost no "Gimmies." NEHC and WIAC being ranked high makes some common sense to most people. I can't say that seeing the UCHC at the bottom was shocking either. It'll be interesting to see how this evolves as the season goes on!
Click to expand...

I am surprised by the SUNYAC ranking as well. But, some of the SUNYAC teams have weak nonconference schedules, and not necessarily winning those games, so it will pull the median down.
 
Russell Jaslow said:
I am surprised by the SUNYAC ranking as well. But, some of the SUNYAC teams have weak nonconference schedules, and not necessarily winning those games, so it will pull the median down.
Click to expand...

The conference is also pretty top-heavy this year. There's a big drop-off from the #4 teams to #5-10.
 
Lord_Zubin said:
Itll be interesting to see if the UCHC can even survive the next few years. Its a 6 team conference next year and all it takes is a Utica move to D1 a Naz/Manhattenville move to the NEHC, or a chatham move to the MAC and all of sudden this conference lost its autobid. Then again if they can somehow convince two out of the 3 ny NEHC teams (Hobart,Elmira,Skidmore) to join the UCHC u could argue thats the best conference in the county with Hobart, and Elmira saving a lot of money on travel. Skidmore probably wouldnt save as much as the other 2 I would admit.
Click to expand...

UCHC will have 8, Geneseo and Brockport have already committed to moving next season, with Utica, Wilkes, Neumann, Manhattanville, Chatham and Nazareth staying
 
Russell Jaslow said:
The NEHC will probably be the next conference that “blows up” in 2025 when a number of their teams will be forced to leave because their all sports conferences affiliation will have enough teams to form a hockey conference.

In a way, this could save the UCHC as the three NY teams will be orphaned.
Click to expand...

I forgot about that with keene state in 25-26 with the LEC and the GNAC. Has the GNAC confirmed theyre adding hockey yet? That would leave the NEHC with what 4 teams 3 being from NY and the other being babson so yeah they would be done
 
Lord_Zubin said:
Itll be interesting to see if the UCHC can even survive the next few years. Its a 6 team conference next year and all it takes is a Utica move to D1 a Naz/Manhattenville move to the NEHC, or a chatham move to the MAC and all of sudden this conference lost its autobid. Then again if they can somehow convince two out of the 3 ny NEHC teams (Hobart,Elmira,Skidmore) to join the UCHC u could argue thats the best conference in the county with Hobart, and Elmira saving a lot of money on travel. Skidmore probably wouldnt save as much as the other 2 I would admit.
Click to expand...

I would be a lot more worried about the viability of the SUNY as a conference than the UCHC. From what I've heard Geneseo and Brockport aren't the only two looking for greener pastures.
 
In 25-26, we're looking at 11 conferences with no independents... for now, with lots of rumors still swirling. It sucks that most likely one of the UCHC, NEHC, or SUNYAC will be blowing up, when the new conferences being made are much worse than any of those 3 in their current state. The question is, is whichever league blows up, where do the powerhouse programs end up? They're most likely absorbed by the other leagues that stay intact. Whichever program(s) move first between Plattsburgh, Oswego, Elmira, Hobart, and Norwich could be the deciding factor. Geneseo obviously already made a move, but they could react again. The elephant in the room is Utica's D1 chances.

No changes:

MIAC (9 teams)
NCHA (10 teams)
WIAC (6 teams)
NESCAC (10 teams)

Changes:

SUNYAC (8 teams)
Added: Canton
Lost: Brockport, Geneseo

-Buff State
-Canton
-Cortland
-Fredonia
-Morrisville
-Oswego
-Plattsburgh
-Potsdam

CCC (8 teams)
Added: Johnson & Wales
Lost: Salve Regina

-Curry
-Endicott
-Johnson & Wales
-Nichols
-Suffolk
-UNE
-W. New England
-Wentworth

MASCAC (8 teams)
Added: Anna Maria, Rivier
Lost: Plymouth State, UMass Dartmouth

-Anna Maria
-Fitchburg State
-Framingham State
-MCLA
-Rivier
-Salem State
-Westfield State
-Worcester State

NEHC (8 teams)
Added: Albertus Magnus, Salve Regina
Lost: Castleton, Johnson & Wales, Southern Maine, UMass Boston

-Albertus Magnus
-Babson
-Elmira
-Hobart
-New England College
-Norwich
-Salve Regina
-Skidmore

UCHC (6 teams)
Added: Brockport, Geneseo
Lost: Alvernia, Arcadia, King's, Lebanon Valley, Neumann, Stevenson, Wilkes

-Brockport
-Chatham
-Geneseo
-Manhattanville
-Nazareth
-Utica

MAC (8 teams)
Added: all below schools

-Alvernia
-Arcadia
-King's
-Lebanon Valley
-Misericordia
-Neumann
-Stevenson
-Wilkes

LEC (6 teams)
Added: all below schools

-Castleton
-Keene State
-Plymouth State
-Southern Maine
-UMass Boston
-UMass Dartmouth
 
I was talking with someone the other night who is in a very good position to know and was told to look for another Rochester institution to add mens and women's DIII hockey in the next 2 years. this would solve the UCHC issue with Utica possibly leaving
 
Jensen35 said:
I was talking with someone the other night who is in a very good position to know and was told to look for another Rochester institution to add mens and women's DIII hockey in the next 2 years. this would solve the UCHC issue with Utica possibly leaving
Click to expand...

I’ve been hearing rumors about St. John Fisher. I just don’t know where they would play. The rink in Fairport perhaps. Nazareth already has the “MCC” rink with their own locker rooms and other space set just for them.

I’ll be surprised if the school is U of R, even though they have easy access to a rink.

Those are the only two schools left.
 
Jensen35 said:
I was talking with someone the other night who is in a very good position to know and was told to look for another Rochester institution to add mens and women's DIII hockey in the next 2 years. this would solve the UCHC issue with Utica possibly leaving
Click to expand...

2 biggest schools remaining in that area would be St John Fisher and University of Rochester with plenty of money at their disposals. Considering Fisher and Naz are right next to each other wouldn't be shocking if they shared the same rink. U of R also has a rink thats 4 min walk from campus or they can play in an AHL rink thats a 5 minute drive away and potentially absolutely demolish d3 hockey attendance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top