I’ll post a link to the pretty bracket when it’s put up, but for now, here’s the pairings:
First Round:
Adrian at St. Norbert
St. Thomas at Gustavus
Curry at Elmira
Quarterfinals:
Curry/Elmira winner at Norwich
Bowdoin at Oswego
Plattsburgh at Middlebury
St. Thomas/Gustavus vs. Adrian/St. Norbert
Reaction:
– The good news for the West is that it got four teams in. The bad news is that while I thought the two games out West would be quarterfinals, instead they are first round games, meaning only one team gets through to Lake Placid. The committee wanted to give both Oswego and Norwich first round byes, since I think both were above SNC in the criteria. But doing so also gave Middlebury and Bowdoin a bye and not SNC.
– Elmira? Wow. First time in 26 seasons that the ECAC West champion, if eligible, did not get an NCAA bid. Here’s the criteria:
Elmira vs Manhattanville
WIN 0.6731 0 0.7500 1
OWP 0.5539 1 0.4785 0
OOP 0.5047 0 0.5109 1
H2H 2- 2- 0 0 2- 2- 0 0
COP 12- 4- 0 0 12- 2- 1 1
RNK 5- 6- 1 1 3- 5- 1 0
IMHO, too close to call. I think the ECAC West title should have been the deciding factor.