Bracketology Is Back!

After an award winning year doing last year’s bracketology (ok, not a winning year but I did get linked by Puck Daddy a couple times so I’ll call it a win) it’s time for year #2. Before we get started, a couple things to keep in mind:

1. This is a projection of how I think the field will look at the date of its announcement, not how it would look if the season ended today

2. Tournament site hosts must be in the regional they host. This year’s hosts are: Holy Cross, RPI, Notre Dame and Minnesota

3. #1 seeds are ranked 1-4, much like the NCAA basketball tournament

4. Intraconference matchups in the first round are avoided, unless 5 teams from one conference make it.

Alright, let’s hit it. From west to east.

St. Paul

1. Denver

2.Bemidji State

3. North Dakota

4. RIT

Fort Wayne

1. Miami

2. Minnesota-Duluth

3. Boston College

4. Cornell

Albany

1.Wisconsin

2. New Hampshire

3. Michigan State

4. Yale

Worcester

1. St Cloud State

2. Ferris State

3. UMass

4. Colorado College

Alright let’s see what we have..UMass is rated considerably higher in the Pairwise right now than I have them, but after their second half swoons over the past couple years I can’t in good faith put them that high right now. I had a pretty tough time thinking up the 4th #1 seed, finally deciding on St. Cloud State over Bemidji because of the possibility for the Huskies to move into #1 territory with a strong showing in the WCHA playoffs.

At first glance it doesn’t look like any bracket is too stacked, and it doesn’t look like any is a complete walkthrough, which is another big key I wanted to avoid.

My projected Frozen Four from this week’s brackets is quite boring: 1. Denver, 1. Miami, 1. Wisconsin and 4. Colorado College.