A VERY rough sketch at what the selections would look like if the season ended today...still lots of hockey left to be played and most leagues have unequal number of games played with teams, which effects this as well. Took the teams currently in first place in each league and used tiebreakers (Salve over Nichols, Elmira over Wilkes)
SUNYAC - Geneseo
NESCAC - Wesleyan
NEHC - UMass Boston
CCC - Salve Regina
MASCAC - Plymouth State
UCHC - Elmira
NCHA - St. Norbert
MIAC - Augsburg
Pool C - Stevens Point
Pool C - Oswego
Pool C - Eau Claire
Pool C - Williams
Crazy to think the No. 6 ranked team in the PWR right now (Norwich) would be left out of the tournament right now if all conference leaders won.
TONS of hockey left to be played and this can and will change a lot. Right now though, I would think the only two pretty close to being a lock if not almost already clinching it are Geneseo and Stevens Point baring absolute collapses.
That makes for an 8-4 split and a very tough decision on which region has to play first round games. The East has 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8. The West has 2, 4, 9 and 10. In a perfect world, they would have 3 play-ins for the east and 1 play-in for the west so that the top 4 seeds all get the byes they deserve by the PWR...however, that's not how it has worked in the past and it would force a flight for the quarterfinal round.
Can anyone remember the last time a team flew for the quarterfinal round in the NCAA men's hockey tournament? I can't....I know it's happened but the only one I definitely know of is when Elmira flew out to Minnesota to play St. Johns in like 1993 or 1994.