If UND wanted to stay close to home, they should have won the conference tournament. SCSU has earned the shorter trip to the X.
And, congrats to Ferris, and best of luck in the tournament
like co-champions or #1 seeds?Time to make everyone think on a Monday...
I'm trying to figure out when was the last time the WCHA regular season champion(s) did not make the NCAA tourney field. As a Tech fan of course Colorado College 1993-94 comes to mind for me since we were pretty much the root cause of them missing out. However has it happened since (other than 2015-16)?
Ryan J
I hope the Bulldogs find a way to clean up their game a little before next weekend. They got the one check from behind call against the Mavs, but there were four boarding calls on the weekend that could easily have been called as majors. St. Cloud will be very difficult to contain with a power play that clicks around 29% if there's a lot of penalty time to kill.
FSU averages 20 seconds/game more penalty time than MTU in conference play.I hope the Bulldogs find a way to clean up their game a little before next weekend. They got the one check from behind call against the Mavs, but there were four boarding calls on the weekend that could easily have been called as majors. St. Cloud will be very difficult to contain with a power play that clicks around 29% if there's a lot of penalty time to kill.
Any word on the status of Chad MacDonald?
Well it is what it is. The operant question ought to be, are those 4 other teams deserving, and I would say they were. Same for Duluth, were they deserving, and based on the second half yes.Tech was a top-16 bubble team, but I really don't have an issue with the tourney field other than UMD and maybe BU. UMD barely had a winning record and clearly got a ton of benefit from the circular logic of the NCHC teams playing with themselves all season and boosting each others QWB. I think that value either needs to be capped or can only be earned for non-conference games. As for Hockey East, five is a little much when your 5th team is the conference tourney champ.
Ryan J
Or as we'll call it in the history books, three loses to the conference tourney champion...It's hard to justify Tech being in with three losses to the number 30 team
Tech was a top-16 bubble team, but I really don't have an issue with the tourney field other than UMD and maybe BU. UMD barely had a winning record and clearly got a ton of benefit from the circular logic of the NCHC teams playing with themselves all season and boosting each others QWB. I think that value either needs to be capped or can only be earned for non-conference games. As for Hockey East, five is a little much when your 5th team is the conference tourney champ.
Ryan J
I feel your pain. I really do. Had big plans on seeing Tech play this weekend (wherever they wound up).
Across the board, the NCHC had a better NC record and that's what matters. If we want more than one team to qualify next year, the answer is pretty simple... Win more NC games, especially against the tougher conferences. We can claim that our conference is just as good (and in any given game we can win), but night in, night out, across the season, they were the stronger conference this year. I have no issue with UMD making it because they did play that tougher schedule.
Some schools are already having trouble booking the additional dates created by going to Alaska twice. An additional four open dates could leave WCHA schools playing themselves as NC opponents. The WCHA schools don't have the warchest available to throw money at Eastern schools for one-and-dones. And I can't think of any WCHA schools who could demand 2-for-1's from ECAC/HE/AHA schools.But PWR and the like fail because schedules are so insular. If the WCHA wants more teams in the postseason, we need to drop to 24 league games.
GFM
if you went to 12 teams and played 24 conference games, everyone could play everyone 2x and rival 4x to get to 24?But PWR and the like fail because schedules are so insular. If the WCHA wants more teams in the postseason, we need to drop to 24 league games.
GFM
But PWR and the like fail because schedules are so insular. If the WCHA wants more teams in the postseason, we need to drop to 24 league games.
GFM
Just curious but what would happen to the pair wise if the WCHA just refused to play non-conference games? I know there are great math minds here who might be able to answer me. Thanks
We have enough teams to play a full schedule with everyone.