Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!
Denver can miss the NCAA tournament entirely. They can also be the #1 overall seed. Volatile enough? They've got enough TUC games left, but they also stand to lose a bunch if UAA, BSU and Air Force lose their TUC status. And they have coughed up a great big furball before in the WCHA playoffs (ask any Pioneer fan, they'll tell you).
Let's assume they lose those 7 games from the TUC mark. Their record is is suddenly 10-8-2. Assume they get swept by SCSU this weekend and then knocked from the WCHA by Mankato (and it has to be Mankato, because UAA or BSU would maintain TUC status if they faced Denver) that would drop them to 10-12-2 (.458). Unless noted, we're going to assume this situation for the following comparisons.
Union already has the RPI lead. They share UAA and BSU as common opponents, so we'll adjust their TUC record accordingly. With Denver's TUC so low, Union just has to win one against Qn. If Qn were knocked out of TUC status, Union would then need to beat Bn and one win at AC.
Merrimack has a lock on COp, so they could head to Florida and watch the HE playoffs on the dish. If Denver's TUC record drops below Merrimack's .615 they flip the comparison.
Furthermore, Denver could lose the comparisons based on COp and TUC to: Maine, Miami, New Hampshire, Notre Dame and Quinnipiac.
In the WCHA they face more problems.
UMD, Mankato, UNO and St Cloud could all flip comparisons based on H2H matchups, TUC and COp.
That would be enough to knock Denver all the way out of the NCAAs. It has happened before.
That said, assuming they're going to go 0-4 is a stretch. Assuming that all three TUC's will fall off the cliff is another stretch. I'm guessing they go at least 3-2, one or two of their TUCs remain and they win all of these comparisons and become the 4th number 1 seed in either Manchester or St. Louis.
Recapping:
#1 Yale
#2 North Dakota
#3 Boston College
#4 Denver
#5
#6
#7
#8
Next up: Union