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2026 Bracketology: The Road to the Aud

Pioneer247 said:
It bodes the question for the teams near the top: would you rather have the first round bye and sit home, or play Week 1, boat race a team that is obviously lesser which can only build momentum as you move on
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The boat racing doesn’t happen if the lower quality teams don’t make the tournament to begin with. Hamilton doesn’t boat race a Babson or Curry, they boat race a Neumann or Westfield St. That’s my point.
 
JSicedog said:
Starting to look like Salve is positioning themselves well for an at large. They likely win out and finish 18-2. On top of the MASCAC and MAC getting autobids, both winners wont be higher than 25-30 in the NPI, you let a team with 1 good win and a bottom 5 SOS in the country in. Leaving some quality teams at home in the process.
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Not even 15 minutes later and they lose to Anna Maria 1-0. Still somehow they hang on to one of the at large bids. Whats even crazier is their last game is feb 10th. 1st round is March 14th. They could go a whole month without playing.
 
So through tonight's game, this is what I have. It's the no flights until the Frozen Four version, which is fun. There's ways you can add flights to make it a true bracket but like we've established, who knows if that's going to happen


CNE: Endicott (3)
Little East: Norwich (19)
MAC: Neumann (33)
MASCAC: Anna Maria (31)
MIAC: Saint John’s (22)
NCHA: Adrian (10)
NESCAC: Hamilton (2)
SUNYAC: Hobart (1)
UCHC: Utica (7)
WIAC: UW-Eau Claire (18)

At-Large:

Aurora (4)
Oswego (5)
Bowdoin (6)
Salve Regina (8)

Round 1:

Saint John’s @ Eau Claire
Adrian @ Oswego
Neumann @ Hamilton
Anna Maria @ Endicott
Norwich @ Bowdoin
Salve Regina @ Utica

QF:

Adrian/Oswego @ #1 Hobart
Salve Regina/Utica @ Neumann/#2 Hamilton
Norwich/Bowdoin @ Anna Maria/#3 Endicott
Saint John’s/Eau Claire @ #4 Aurora
 
JSicedog said:
Starting to look like Salve is positioning themselves well for an at large. They likely win out and finish 18-2. On top of the MASCAC and MAC getting autobids, both winners wont be higher than 25-30 in the NPI, you let a team with 1 good win and a bottom 5 SOS in the country in. Leaving some quality teams at home in the process.
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A nightmare scenario for bubble teams.
 
Lord_Zubin said:
Not even 15 minutes later and they lose to Anna Maria 1-0. Still somehow they hang on to one of the at large bids. Whats even crazier is their last game is feb 10th. 1st round is March 14th. They could go a whole month without playing.
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This happened to Arizona State the year they made the D1 tournament as an indepedent. And they got wiped out in the first round.
 
Pioneer247 said:
Salve Regina 2025-26 will be the first instance of people going to be complaining of the NPI system at large and we're all just going to have to sit here and be like....they're not wrong
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Lot of hockey left to be played. I'm still not convinced they'll sneak into the tournament, but we'll see.
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
Lot of hockey left to be played. I'm still not convinced they'll sneak into the tournament, but we'll see.
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I'm convinced they will fall down and out of an at-large even if they manage to win out. I feel like others' schedules will pass them. My projection actually already had them as the first team out, but the conference standings are bunched up enough that it was hard to select a few of the "auto-bids" right now.
 
spwood said:
I'm convinced they will fall down and out of an at-large even if they manage to win out. I feel like others' schedules will pass them. My projection actually already had them as the first team out, but the conference standings are bunched up enough that it was hard to select a few of the "auto-bids" right now.
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I agree. They will be stagnant while other teams are picking up quality win bonuses etc. I firmly believe this situation will sort itself out and Salve will be on the outside looking in as well.
 
Snowed in so here's today's edition of Bracketology. This is the no-flights edition of the bracket, which works perfect for money and sucks if you're a fan of Hobart/Adrian/Oswego

As a note, I don't think two wins for Norbert would put them in an at-large spot this week, but if it does, this will be updated


CCC: UNE (7)
Little East: Babson (12)
MAC: Stevenson (31)
MASCAC: Fitchburg State (34)
MIAC: Bethel (30)
NCHA: Adrian (8)
NESCAC: Hamilton (2)
SUNYAC: Hobart (1)
UCHC: Utica (6)
WIAC: Eau-Claire (16)

At-Large:

Aurora (3)
Oswego (4)
Endicott (5)
Salve Regina (9)

Round 1:

Bethel @ Eau Claire
Adrian @ Oswego
Fitchburg @ Hamilton
Stevenson @ Endicott
Babson @ Utica
Salve Regina @ UNE

Quarterfinals:

Adrian/Oswego @ Hobart
Salve Regina/UNE @ Fitchburg/Hamilton
Babson/Utica @ Stevenson/Endicott
Bethel/Eau-Claire @ Aurora
 
And of course I was wrong by under two tenths....but this bracket honestly feels a lot better:

CCC: UNE (7)
Little East: Babson (12)
MAC: Stevenson (31)
MASCAC: Fitchburg State (34)
MIAC: Bethel (30)
NCHA: Adrian (8)
NESCAC: Hamilton (2)
SUNYAC: Hobart (1)
UCHC: Utica (6)
WIAC: Eau-Claire (16)

At-Large:

Aurora (3)
Oswego (4)
Endicott (5)
St. Norbert (9)

Round 1:

Eau Claire @ St. Norbert
Bethel @ Aurora
Adrian @ Oswego
Babson @ UNE
Stevenson @ Utica
Fitchburg @ Endicott

Quarterfinals:

Adrian/Oswego @ Hobart
Babson/UNE @ Hamilton
St. Norbert/Eau-Claire @ Bethel/Aurora
Stevenson/Utica @ Fitchburg/Endicott
 
I'm assuming that SNC's 5-2 win on Saturday night/Sunday morning counts as a road win in the NPI. I'm curious what the official ruling on that is.
 
Tom Coughlin said:
I'm assuming that SNC's 5-2 win on Saturday night/Sunday morning counts as a road win in the NPI. I'm curious what the official ruling on that is.
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Is there a different weighting for a "neutral" site? If so, that would probably be the most appropriate tag for this game.
 
Tom Coughlin said:
I'm assuming that SNC's 5-2 win on Saturday night/Sunday morning counts as a road win in the NPI. I'm curious what the official ruling on that is.
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I don't know this for a fact. But I would think the NPI (if it couldn't do neutral) would have to factor in where the game started to be played as the home team.
 
The official reasoning for the home/away adjustment is:

Factors that make it more challenging for a team to win on the road are travel, and the home team having the ability to match lines with the last change.

Both MSOE and SNC had to travel (for different portions of the game), but MSOE had the last change for the entirety of the game.
 
Salve Regina continues to slide down the NPI as they sit idle (now down to 10th)...I really think this situation is going to sort itself out over the next month and they'll be on the outside looking in because of their weak SOS and not much for QWB.
 
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