With the right combination of outcomes, we can climb as high as 11th in the PWR after this weekend. So we DO have something to play for in these next two games!
I'm going to play the devil's advocate here, and want to see what posters think of this plan. We "rest" our players in either both games this weekend or just the Dartmouth game. We give reduced ice time to the Spink line and maybe the second and third lines. We play Finn for 2 periods of the Harvard game. We play Mihilak for the third period vs Harvard and all of the Dartmouth game. My strategy is this: we've wrapped up a top 4 position in the ECAC post-season, so it doesn't really matter where we finish 1-4. The rest will be good for the team and we will come out smoking whoever we play on March 14th. We don't care if we play Minnesota or QU in the big dance....we know we can beat any of them, and having a well rested and non-injured team is paramount. OK....post your thoughts. This is just an idea..throwing it out there..![]()
The bracketology on USCHO basically just said "screw you" to Colgate. I know at the beginning of the season we all would be happy just to have the team mentioned in a "bracketology" article this late in the season but not that we are here lets get greedy.
The questions I have with it is why the committee would refuse to switch between teams tied with the same # of pairwise wins, but has no problem switching teams with 3 more "wins" on a whim. Yes technically Colgate is in the fourth "tier" but they are more closely related to Vermont and Cornell not Notre Dame or Michigan.
From a fans perspective I only worry about a Minnesota v. Gate (in St. Paul) match up in the first round. We went out there and played them well and they took it as a loss and will be looking for blood. We could go in there and win but I think that is the worst match up for 'gate. This just proves that Colgate has so much to play for this weekend, if not just because we arent in the tournament yet, and even if we were, we dont want that match up.
One of the (mostly unwritten) rules the committee uses is that they will move a team around within a band (#4 seeds) but not to another band. So, because Colgate is a #4, they will probably stay within the group of #4's.
I get the policy, it just makes no sense in this case, a) the pairwise are tied b) colgate has DEFEATED both teams, so to arbitrarily keep them in a higher "band" defeats the inherent fairness of keeping bands in tact. C)so the committee is willing to let a mathematical formula overrule what happened on a sheet of ice? I really am just happy we are in the conversation just trying to point out flaws in logic.
Secondly, does anyone know if the Ken Dryden award is given out based on league results or the "overall season" results. If it is the prior Finn might have a shot at it (although I will bet it will go to the senior illes)
I don't think that's a very good idea. We can jump in the PWR this weekend, not so much who we're playing but a lot of teams around us are playing each other. There will be some losses and we can jump. We will have two weeks to "rest up" before we play again. We want to go into the playoffs on a roll, with a winning streak. I think we need the two wins more for NCAA implications.
It's a league award, so the voters are supposed to count only league games. It does include the first RPI-Colgate game of course.
Just my opinion, but the committee should stick by its rules. If keeping the bands intact is a rule, which I think it is, they should stick by it. Otherwise its back to the smoke-filled room mentality of forty years ago. If you were around then, you never want to go back to it. Make one exception and then someone wants to make another.