Because they lost the decisive Game 3 to Notre Dame in the first round of the Big Ten hockey quarterfinals March 9, the Gophers were forced to sit and watch as the conference tournaments played out and other teams jockeyed for NCAA tournament positioning. After that loss, Minnesota sat at No. 4 in the PairWise Ratings, which projected the Gophers as the last No. 1 seed and likely targeted for the Fargo Regional.
Two weeks later, the Gophers (25-10-4) still likely are bound for Fargo but as a No. 2 seed.
That’s because Western Michigan’s Alex Bump scored 22 seconds into the second overtime, giving the Broncos a 4-3 victory over Denver in the final of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center. The win cemented Western Michigan at the No. 4 spot in the PairWise and the Gophers at No. 5.
The NCAA will announce its 16-team tournament field at 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU. Based on the results of the six conference tournaments, which award automatic NCAA berths to the winners, and the PairWise, which the NCAA uses to pick its 10 at-large teams and seed the tourney, the field can be projected.
The six conference tournament champions are: Minnesota State Mankato (CCHA), Maine (Hockey East), Cornell (ECAC), Bentley (Atlantic Hockey), Michigan State (Big Ten) and Western Michigan (NCHC). The 10 at-large teams became set Friday night when North Dakota’s loss to Western Michigan in the NCHC semifinals secured an at-large spot for Penn State.
The NCAA uses a serpentine system with the PairWise to fill its bracket, with No. 1 facing No. 16, No. 2 vs. No. 15, No. 3 vs. No. 14, etc. The four regionals are in Fargo (Thursday, Saturday), Toledo, Ohio (Thursday, Saturday), Manchester, N.H. (Friday, Sunday) and Allentown, Pa. (Friday, Sunday). Winners advance to the NCAA Frozen Four on April 10 and 12 in St. Louis.
Here’s what a bracket projection would look like before adjustments to adhere to selection committee rules:
First draft
Manchester, N.H., Regional
