A big and belated congratulations go out to the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers for pulling off three of the unlikeliest victories in recent college hockey history. The Chargers came back from four goals down in the first period to beat fellow Cinderella Robert Morris 5-4 in the 1st OT of the CHA Championship. They will obviously have the unenviable task of facing the #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

More of the bizzarities of the Pairwise will rare their head over this week as Adam points out in his Bracket ABC’s including interesting scenarios involving my beloved Clarkson Golden Knights. It is a realistic possibility that they could jump into a #1 seed depending on how SCSU and UNH do this weekend, yet even as a #1 seed, they would not be guaranteed the Rochester regional (which is about a three hour drive and full of alumni.) This is another odd case where some fans are rooting for their seeding to drop just a little bit (but still win out in the ECACHL’s of course) so they don’t get shipped out to Manchester. This should NOT be the case, but we will see how it plays out.

Something in my gut as me worried about the selection show on Sunday. After the controversy with Denver and Colorado College flipping on a non-Pairwise decision, I have some hope that someone will just say Clarkson should be in Rochester regardless if they’re the #5. But I’m more worried about some sort of subjective decision on the bubble, and I’m even more concerned about how the bonus may play into that. As always we assume that the bonus is .003. Here’s the scenarios as of right now:

Bonus added: .002-.004
Last 3 In: St. Lawrence, Maine, Miami
Last 3 Out: Michigan Tech, Dartmouth, Denver

Bonus added: .005
Last 3 In: Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Miami (Maine moved up to 11)
Last 3 Out: St. Lawrence, Dartmouth, Denver

While I don’t see a .005 happening, my bigger concern is what happens if if just a thousandth of a point becomes the difference after this weekend’s games. The bonus determines the team, someone complains on the committee (especially if the bonus changes from last year), then the things may deteriorate into subjective reasoning. SLU had an easier schedule, Michigan Tech had a losing record most of the season, etc etc etc. Very scary. I truly hope the PWR breaks cut and dry, or the longest forum thread of our era may occur.

Just a friendly reminder not to get to excited about where your team stands in the Pairwise until the end of the night. As much fun as it is to watch your team jump four spots or if you scream in terror watching your team drop six spots, until that game out West is over with, you’re just freaking yourself out.

Big games today. Alaska-Anchorage tries to keep its NCAA hopes alive against Minnesota after pulling a Game 2 upset last night. SCSU attempts to advance to the Final Five against a stingy Minnesota-Duluth team.

Four teams are fighting for their NCAA tournament lives as Colorado College and Michigan Tech try to inch their way to the happy side of the bubble. The loser is done for the year, the winner still has hope.

In College Hockey America a team with a losing record will advance to the NCAA tournament as the string of upsets continue. Robert Morris (14-18-2) will take on Alabama-Huntsville (12-19-3) for the CHA’s Championship and the auto-bid that comes with it at 3:00 ET. The teams have split the season series 3-3. The game will be televised on CSTV. Keep in mind, no PWR ramifications here in terms of either team becoming a TUC.

It was the biggest game of the year, and with Niagara getting bounced by Alabama-Hunstville (and what a story that would be with the CHA’s future hanging in the balance) so much for Niagara and the TUC cliff.

Michigan State and St. Lawrence are happy recipients, but still need to keep winning. Niagara’s loss also shifted the PWR at the top too, sorting out the tie at the top, bumping North Dakota up and doing a few other wild things.

Game on!

Lots of outstanding hockey last night, including a bunch of upsets. If you haven’t taken a look at CHN’s Tourney Watch be sure to take a look and catch up what happened around the league.

As many of us are doing, we head straight over to the Pairwise to see what’s going on. Who is in, who is out.

Most of the hockey world has been basing their PWR on the assumption that there will be a PWR bonus of .003 added for quality road wins. Here’s where things is frighteningly scary.. a PWR bonus of .002 will leave drastically switch things up thanks to Niagara perilously leaving on the edge of the TUC Cliff, which could effect a lot of seedings and some NCAA berths. Lets how for controversy’s sake they choose a nice round number like 0.0025… that way everyone can scream when they find out Niagara would become a TUC at 0.0026…

If there was no bonus, and no upset champions:
Last two in: UMass, St. Lawrence
Last two out: Maine, Michigan Tech

If there was a .003 bonus, and no upset champions:
Last two in: UMass, Michigan State
Last two out: Michigan Tech, St. Lawrence
*Niagara now a TUC

If there was a .002 bonus, and no upset champions:
Last two in: Denver, UMass
Last two out: St. Lawrence, Michigan Tech
*Niagara no longer a TUC

So, despite the fact that the playoffs are gearing up, it’s been a quiet week for us here as we’re rabidly anticipating the games ahead, and I believe every outlet has already shown you ever possible projection possible. Because the PWR is an objective system, I find quiet joy in scoreboard watching, listening to webcasts, and reading forum score updates especially in the first two rounds. While most teams can get it done on the ice themselves, some are at the hands of games that in any other sport would be declared meaningless. Can you imagine how many people would actually watch a Cubs / Pirates game in September or a Flyers / Kings game in late April if it meant their team would make the playoffs? This is one of the oddities and the best things about College Hockey. As much as some people hate it, that Wayne State game is going to mean something, there’s a reason to watch and care.

After last night’s action in Hockey East, UNH righted the ship and blanked Providence, giving a sigh of relief to the fans at the Whitt. BC blanked Northeastern, and the big one, Vermont takes Game #1 from Boston University 3-2. Big time ramifications, as tonight’s game goes into must win for BU. A Terrier loss tonight, puts BU on the bubble, with a bunch of teams around them that have the potential to make noise in the playoffs and are just fractions off in the RPI. A couple of comparison flips, maybe an upset champion in one of the leagues, and some people are staying home.

Don’t forget the D-III tournament is underway with Middlebury and Bethel advancing to 2nd round games that will be played on Saturday. Middlebury, Manhattanville, St. Norbert and Oswego are all hosting quarterfinal matchups this weekend, and the NCAA Women’s Tournament gets under way as well!

Don’t forget, just because we’re working our way up to the D-I Men’s Tournament that there’s not a lot of great hockey going on elsewhere.

In Division III, the brackets are set, and the puck drops tomorrow for the Men as surprse SUNYAC champion Fredonia takes on defending national champion Middlebury, and Bethel faces Wisconsin-River Falls. Quarterfinal matchups open up on Saturday. Here the bracket plus you may want to check out Chris Lerch’s blog. He does an admirable job at keeping up with the D3 game, trying to take you through their Pool A, B’s and c’s, NCAA rankings and all of that good stuff. The finals are at Wessman Arena in Wisconsin.

The women are set to go as well in both Division I and Division III. The Division I bracket contains one of the most powerhouse lineups I’ve ever seen, including the 33-1-4 defending champions Wisconsin and 32-1-3 Mercyhurst. The record of the teams in the tournament: 216-42-25. The Frozen Four takes place in Lake Placid, one of the best hockey tournament towns in the country if not the world. Division III has seven teams, including an undefeated Plattsburgh State team who will host the championships, and will wait for the first-round to clear up before knowing their opponents. RIT is in as well leading to a hugely successful season for both the Men’s and Women’s teams.

Lots of good hockey to go around, with broadband viewing available at many of the venues. Get out the door and do it up!

To all you fans of teams in the 8-13 places in the Pairwise, don’t get too comfortable.. Just because a couple of losses might not bump you below 14th, doesn’t mean a conference tournament champion won’t come from below that spot. An upset here or there and they might be taking the top twelve!

Man the Pairwise is fun.

I jumped into the comments of a recent post on Western College Hockey taking some to task for not wanting to help teams like Bemidji State for the wrong reasons. Good to see Chris and The Rink Rat on the same side as well.

Bottom line for me is, worrying about conference strength especially in terms of PWR and KRACH when making scheduling decisions or who should be in is a recipe for disaster in college hockey. This is currently forced upon teams and creates a huge gap of the haves and have-nots. Sooner or later, someone will have to step up and begin to bring all of NCAA Hockey into balance, or will risk having the same sort of situation as college football, where to give any “second tier” team a chance, they’ll need a special provision. I think there’s an opportunity to fix this somewhere and raise the level of hockey across the board.

It’s time to band behind the schools that want to stay in college hockey, and those who want to join the ranks and bring up the game as a whole. I only wish there were more schools that wanted to pour time, money and effort into being successful college squads.

Speaking of the PWR. Lots of interesting things to look at. Who would’ve thought RIT was going to play such a role this season. The Tigers are tip-toeing the 25 spot on the RPI despite, and despite being ineligible for the post-season, these last few games could flip some comparisons for teams above them. RIT is also hunting for its first banner at the Division I level as they try to capture the Atlantic Hockey regular season title. All eyes are also on the Western Michigan / LSSU series. Western sits in 24th in the RPI and LSSU is in 27th. The cliff could make a big difference this year.

Teams 12 through 20 on the PWR. It’s do or die time. It’s already the playoffs for these teams, a loss this weekend makes every game in the playoffs a must win. The Vermont / BU and Wisconsin / Michigan Tech series are looking pretty threatening for all involved. BU can take a couple of bullets, but the other three it’s go time. This group includes St. Lawrence who with a win will seal the ECACHL conference championship. Regardless of that accomplishment, they still need help in the playoffs to get that bid.

While everyone is looking at the bubble, there’s a phenomenal matchup at the top of the heap with Minnesota and St. Cloud going at it. SCSU is coming off a rough 1-2-2 stretch, but is still in the hunt for that #1 seed. If they can take three points from the Gophers, they’ll be well on their way. A huge test for both teams just a couple of weeks before the playoffs.

Both North Dakota and Denver want to come away with no less than a split this weekend. Both are middle of the PWR pack, and a sweep would definitely put extra pressure on the loser heading into the end of the season.