Minnesota Women's Hockey 2025-26

[eastcoastgopher]

There's a thought that's been in and out of my brain since the Mankato series in November. And it's "If Minnesota is the clear #3, how bad is the #4?"

Now Minnesota didn't lose this weekend but they did get outshot in both games against St. Thomas (not badly in either contest but still concerning). 4-1 win yesterday and shootout win today. And that question still lingers.

 

[robertearle]

There's a thought that's been in and out of my brain since the Mankato series in November. And it's "If Minnesota is the clear #3, how bad is the #4?"

Now Minnesota didn't lose this weekend but they did get outshot in both games against St. Thomas (not badly in either contest but still concerning). 4-1 win yesterday and shootout win today. And that question still lingers.

Penn State has edged uncomfortably close to Minn in the NPI.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Penn State has edged uncomfortably close to Minn in the NPI.

It's been odd how Penn State has not suffered in the rankings such as no change when swept by Ohio State. Now I have nothing to back up what I'm going to say other than my own suspicion and that is the rankings are being crafted so as the host school of the Frozen Four they want Penn State to also host a regional. I just can't get that thought out of my head.

 

[BowWowWow]

It's been odd how Penn State has not suffered in the rankings such as no change when swept by Ohio State. Now I have nothing to back up what I'm going to say other than my own suspicion and that is the rankings are being crafted so as the host school of the Frozen Four they want Penn State to also host a regional. I just can't get that thought out of my head.

I have to respectfully disagree; I think that Penn State has been dominant in their conference and has some impressive non-conference wins. They won against Cornell x2, home and road, and had a split with Northeastern. Cornell has moved a bit downward in NPI, but Northeastern is still fifth. #4 or 5 Penn State getting swept by then-#2 Ohio State and not losing much ground in the NPI makes some sense given it is not an upset. There's the theme too throughout the season of how far ahead of the rest of the pack Ohio State and Wisconsin have been, with some talking here this year and prior years about the NCAA tournament as a "two-horse race" or the like. So it makes sense that a loss to one of those two teams wouldn't move the rankings much.

Concerning the design of the tournament, it would be interesting if Penn State hosts a prior round too, but I don't think that is all that intentional for the tournament committee, at least for this year in particular. For example, Sacred Heart is hosting the Frozen Four in a couple years and probably is not close to an auto-bid in the next several years, at least, given NEWHA teams' current non-conference records. Do the tournament organizers give the FF to teams that are likelier to make it to that round than some teams are? Perhaps.

 

[robertearle]

It's been odd how Penn State has not suffered in the rankings such as no change when swept by Ohio State. Now I have nothing to back up what I'm going to say other than my own suspicion and that is the rankings are being crafted so as the host school of the Frozen Four they want Penn State to also host a regional. I just can't get that thought out of my head.

The NPI is straight up math. The formula is set, and it can't be "cooked" after the fact. Grant, aka TonyTheTiger, will - I assume - have his bracket predictor up in a few weeks, and that with have duplicated the USCHO NPI calculation (which, if I'm not mistaken, is itself a "duplication" of the unpublished committee NPI.)