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Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Priceless
  • Start date Start date
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Notre Dame fanbase>UNO fanbase

ND has not turned out well for regionals, at least not in the western Michigan / northern Indiana area. Maybe St. Louis would be different, but I'd rather rely on programs like North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha which have historically traveled very well.

With 5 WCHA teams in there is a likely chance of a WCHA first round match up as the rules permit it.
But they can avoid it without unduly messing up the bracket. In fact, I'd argue that it gets a very strong bracket from an attendance perspective.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Miami, Denver, Notre Dame all in Manchester? What happens when UNH bows out in the first round again?

Well, it would be kinda empty, but I don't see Merrimack filling the place, do you? Or Union? The teams that travel well are needed more elsewhere and wouldn't travel that well to the east coast, I don't think. Besides which, you get one game with UNH regardless, which I think would be enough to get a successful regional.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

I also disagree with what you got if Denver wins. My best balance of no first round intraconference matchups, attendance, and bracket integrity is this:

<b>Bridgeport</b>
1. Yale
8. Union
10. Western Michigan
16. Air Force

<b>Green Bay</b>
2. Boston College
7. Michigan
9. Minnesota-Duluth
14. Colorado College

<b>St. Louis</b>
3. North Dakota
6. Merrimack
12. Nebraska-Omaha
15. Rensselaer

<b>Manchester</b>
4. Miami
5. Denver
11. Notre Dame
13. New Hampshire

I got this only doing swaps to get rid of first round intraconference matchups, though the particular swaps I did were strongly influenced by attendance considerations.

What do you anticipate the attendance in St Louis would be?
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

ND has not turned out well for regionals, at least not in the western Michigan / northern Indiana area. Maybe St. Louis would be different, but I'd rather rely on programs like North Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha which have historically traveled

Historically? This is UNO's 2nd NCAA appearance.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Well, it would be kinda empty, but I don't see Merrimack filling the place, do you? Or Union? The teams that travel well are needed more elsewhere and wouldn't travel that well to the east coast, I don't think. Besides which, you get one game with UNH regardless, which I think would be enough to get a successful regional.

Merrimack brought an impressive amount of people to their first Hockey East final since 1998. I'm sure they would bring a pretty **** good amount of people in their first NCAA tournament since the 80s.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Merrimack brought an impressive amount of people to their first Hockey East final since 1998. I'm sure they would bring a pretty **** good amount of people in their first NCAA tournament since the 80s.

This. It's a 50-minute drive from N. Andover to Manchester. Merrimack will bring fans, plain and simple.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

What do you anticipate the attendance in St Louis would be?

I don't know, but with North Dakota and UNO there, you have two teams that travel well and, in the case of Nebraska-Omaha, it's not <em>that</em> far away. You could swap Michigan in there, but then tUMD would be the only team with any prospect of attendance in Green Bay.

If you don't mind screwing with the bracket a bit, you can swap BC/Michigan with UND/Merrimack. It'd probably be better attendance in Green Bay. I don't think it'd be <em>better</em> attendance in St. Louis, but it might not be worse. I haven't added up the "bracket power" for the two alternatives; if they think that the overall bracket balance is better served by doing that, I think they would do it, otherwise, I'm not convinced the marginal attendance gains justify doing it.

Edit: Now that I've worked it out, I do think they'd do something like this instead. It makes for a much flatter bracket power.
<b>St. Louis</b>
2. Boston College
7. Michigan
12. Nebraska-Omaha
14. Colorado College
(power is 34, vs. 32 before)

<b>Green Bay</b>
3. North Dakota
6. Merrimack
9. Minnesota-Duluth
15. Rensselaer
(power is 33, vs. 36 before)
 
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Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

I don't know, but with North Dakota and UNO there, you have two teams that travel well and, in the case of Nebraska-Omaha, it's not <em>that</em> far away. You could swap Michigan in there, but then tUMD would be the only team with any prospect of attendance in Green Bay.

If you don't mind screwing with the bracket a bit, you can swap BC/Michigan with UND/Merrimack. It'd probably be better attendance in Green Bay. I don't think it'd be <em>better</em> attendance in St. Louis, but it might not be worse. I haven't added up the "bracket power" for the two alternatives; if they think that the overall bracket balance is better served by doing that, I think they would do it, otherwise, I'm not convinced the marginal attendance gains justify doing it.

Where are you getting that UNO travels well? This is their second trip to the NCAAs...their previous trip was in 2006 when they were beaten 9-2 in Worcester. I think the attendance in Worcester (which wasn't off the charts) can be attributed to the presence of BC and BU, not a team from Nebraska.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Omaha is as close to St. Louis as Boston is to Buffalo.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Where are you getting that UNO travels well? This is their second trip to the NCAAs...their previous trip was in 2006 when they were beaten 9-2 in Worcester. I think the attendance in Worcester (which wasn't off the charts) can be attributed to the presence of BC and BU, not a team from Nebraska.

Regular season, they brought a bunch of people up to Notre Dame. I dunno, would they still travel for a regional that's an eight hour drive, on a week's notice? Seems like a better gamble that many. I'm not remotely sold on Notre Dame as a draw in St. Louis, but maybe I'm selling our casual fans short.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Regular season, they brought a bunch of people up to Notre Dame. I dunno, would they still travel for a regional that's an eight hour drive, on a week's notice? Seems like a better gamble that many. I'm not remotely sold on Notre Dame as a draw in St. Louis, but maybe I'm selling our casual fans short.

You may be correct about Notre Dame, but the NCAA gets stars in its eyes when thinking about the Golden Domers and their army of alumni. Of course, most of those alumni couldn't care less about hockey, but the NCAA expects them to turn out in droves anyway.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Here's my bracket prediction: Manchester Regional: Yale/ New Hampshire & Merrimack/ Notre Dame, St. Louis Regional: Miami/CC & Michigan/Omaha. The winners of these regionals would meet at Frozen Four. Green Bay Regional: N. Dakota/RPI & Denver/W. Michigan, Bridgeport Regional: BC/Air Force & Union/UMD with the Green Bay winner meeting the Bridgeport winner in St Paul.
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

But all this debate about the hypothetical Denver win bracket is rendered moot, and we're left with this:

<b>Bridgeport</b>
1. Yale
8. Union
9. Minnesota-Duluth
16. Air Force

<b>Green Bay</b>
2. North Dakota
7. Denver
10. Western Michigan
15. Rensselaer

<b>St. Louis</b>
3. Boston College
5. Michigan
12. Nebraska-Omaha
14. Colorado College

<b>Manchester</b>
4. Miami
6. Merrimack
11. Notre Dame
13. New Hampshire

(Bracket powers are 34 across the board... doesn't get flatter than that.)
 
Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Adam Wodon:

Bridgeport
1. Yale vs. 16. RIT
8. Union vs. 9. Minnesota-Duluth

St. Louis
3. Boston College vs. 14. Colorado College
6. Merrimack vs. 11. Notre Dame

Manchester
4. Miami vs. 13. New Hampshire
5. Michigan vs. 12. Nebraska-Omaha

Green Bay
2. North Dakota vs. 15. Rensselaer
7. Denver vs. 10. Western Michigan

Edit: Not sure how he gets RIT in there :p
 
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Re: Too early for the PWR? Princeton and Brown say no!

Jayson Moy

East Regional (Bridgeport, Conn.)
16 Air Force vs. 1 Yale
9 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 8 Union

Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.)
13 New Hampshire vs. 4 Miami
11 Notre Dame vs. 6 Merrimack

Midwest Regional (Green Bay, Wis.)
15 Rensselaer vs. 2 North Dakota
10 Western Michigan vs. 7 Denver

West Regional (St. Louis)
14 Colorado College vs. 3 Boston College
12 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 5 Michigan
 
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