ST. PAUL, Minn. — The last day before Selection Sunday is upon us. And, once again, UMD is playing.
While there isn’t a ton of drama left over who will make the NCAA Tournament, there is plenty of uncertainty regarding who will go where. As I sit at Xcel Energy Center and await the Wild vs Chicago game, I have been able to get UMD into a bunch of regionals without much trouble.
Here’s one way to get UMD to Loveland with No. 1 seed Denver, as an example.
What do things look like right now? Well, I’m glad you asked.
No. 1 seeds: Minnesota State, Michigan, Western Michigan, Denver
No. 2 seeds: Minnesota, North Dakota, Quinnipiac, UMD
No. 3 seeds: Notre Dame, St. Cloud State, UMass, Michigan Tech
No. 4 seeds: UMass-Lowell, Northeastern, Ohio State, AHA champ (either AIC or Air Force)
Who can play their way in on Saturday (besides the aforementioned AHA championship game, which involves two teams outside the top 16)? Again, glad you asked.
Connecticut faces UMass in Boston for the automatic bid out of Hockey East. UConn is 18th in the PairWise, so the Huskies need to win this game to extend their season. Meanwhile, Harvard will play Quinnipiac in Lake Placid for the ECAC autobid (Harvard is the only team from the ECAC besides Quinnipiac that has a chance to get in; if the Bobcats win, that will be a one-bid league). And Bemidji State can get in by upsetting Minnesota State at a sold-out barn in Mankato for the CCHA title.
Those three teams are the only ones in “major conferences” that are still playing and have not secured their NCAA spots.
So in that regard, there really isn’t a ton of drama for Saturday. The biggest intrigue, in my mind, surrounds a couple different things:
- Where will teams land in the final rankings? UMD will be a No. 2 regional seed, no matter what, as the Bulldogs can’t finish higher than fifth or lower than eighth. But Western Michigan, Denver, and Minnesota are three teams battling for two spots on the No. 1 line (just one example).
- Per the championship manual, the selection committee is charged with maintaining listed priorities, which are “competitive equity, financial success and the likelihood of a playoff-type atmosphere at each regional site.” For the first time, however, regionals are three days in length. And it comes in a year where more than half the bracket will be flying to regionals, no matter where they end up going. How does the selection committee deal with the “playoff-type atmosphere” portion of these priorities? There’s only so much movement that can happen (you can’t, for example, put multiple teams on the same seed line at one regional).
Trying to draw this up right now, which is fruitless, it would seem the best path for the committee is to try to get as many of the eastern teams into eastern regionals as possible.
I would guess either UMass or UMass-Lowell go to Worcester, if not both if they stay on different seed lines. Northeastern and Quinnipiac are in play to go to Albany or Allentown, as well. There are three eastern regionals, so if the committee dares about trying to drive attendance, it will make sure these four teams are spread out among those three cities.
Last year, they just drew the bracket. Given the uncertainy about fan travel with the extra day tacked on to the regionals, it seems like that might be the best option here as well. But I’m not the committee, and neither is last year’s committee. We’ll see what they decide. Bracket reveal Sunday at 5:30pm on ESPNU.
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Off what might have been its best defensive performance of the season Friday night, it might just take a similar effort for the Bulldogs to claim the NCHC postseason title for a third time in five tries (2017, 2019 previous). Western Michigan is a team that plays on its toes possibly better than anyone in the country. The Broncos’ speed can be a huge problem and will be if the Bulldogs don’t play the same kind of game they played on Friday.
Western rode two Ty Glover goals to a 4-2 win over North Dakota in the semifinals Friday. Glover and Hugh Larkin struck in the second period to put WMU on top 3-1, and the Broncos were able to hold on from there for WMU’s first Frozen Faceoff win.
Discipline will be huge for UMD. In the four prior meetings, the Broncos had 20 power plays, an average of five per game. Western scored four times, which isn’t an awful percentage in a small sample, but this is a fire that UMD can’t play with. UMD coach Scott Sandelin talked before both weekend series against Western about how good the Broncos’ power play is, featuring a lot of older guys who have played a lot of minutes together. High skill level, guys like Ronnie Attard and Michael Joyaux who know how to run a power play.
(By the way, UMD has conceded 32 power plays in the last ten games, an average of 3.2 per game that is much more palatable for all involved.)
Winner gets the trophy. Pregame at 7pm on KDAL, starting with the montage.
And here’s one more reminder: The UMD women play for a national championship Sunday afternoon. We’ve got that for you on KDAL, pregame at 2:45 ahead of a 3pm puck drop in Pennsylvania. #CouchHockey returns and we’re excited about it.
UPDATED WITH LINES
No changes either way for the title game.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Roth – Gilling – Laderoute
Cates – Jacques – Bender
Olson – James – Biondi
Mylymok – Loney – Loheit
UMD defense
Anderson – Roehl
Kaiser – Gotz
Gallatin – Kelley
Lellig
UMD goalies
Fanti – Stejskal – Patt
Western Michigan forwards
Frank – Worrad – Gallant
Glover – Sasson – Polin
Hillebrand – Grainger – Passolt
Rome – Washe – Wendt
Larkin
Western Michigan defense
Fulp – Attard
Fiedler – Joyaux
Hilsendager – Bauer
Kucharek
Western Michigan goalies
Bussi – Hawryluk – Aslanidis
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