So the doomsday scenario happened today. Duluth could have won. Duluth lost. Clarkson could have won. Clarkson lost. Providence could have won. Providence lost. Northeastern could have just won Friday. Northeastern lost. Any of those things could have happened and we could be sleeping easy with Northeastern heading to an eastern regional tonight. Instead, we’re going to be sitting up until noon and praying for the NCAA to save us. I’m gonna do a full bracketology run here just to show everyone what’s happening
The Field:
1 St. Cloud State
2 Notre Dame
3 Cornell
4 Ohio State
5 Denver
6 Mankato
7 Providence
8 Michigan
9 Northeastern
10 Clarkson
11 Penn State
12 Duluth
13 Boston University
14 Princeton
15 Michigan Tech
16 Air Force
Location:
St. Cloud goes to Sioux Falls because duh.
Notre Dame is subjective but let’s say they go to Allentown becaue it’s closest
Cornell goes to Bridgeport (It’s like 40 miles closer than Worcester)
Ohio State goes to Worcester because they have to
This gives:
Sioux Falls
1 St. Cloud State 16 Air Force
8 Michigan 9 Northeastern
Allentown
2 Notre Dame 15 Michigan Tech
7 Providence 11 Penn State
Bridgeport
3 Cornell 14 Princeton
6 Mankato 10 Clarkson
Worcester
4 OSU 13 BU
5 Denver 12 Duluth
There are two conference games there, Denver vs. Duluth and Cornell vs. Princeton. We fix those by swapping 5 Denver for 6 Mankato and 14 Princeton for 13 BU, respectively.
Thus:
Sioux Falls
1 St. Cloud State 16 Air Force
8 Michigan 9 Northeastern
Allentown
2 Notre Dame 15 Michigan Tech
7 Providence 11 Penn State
Bridgeport
3 Cornell 13 BU
5 Denver 10 Clarkson
Worcester
4 OSU 14 Princeton
6 Mankato 12 Duluth
Providence then swaps with Denver to help Bridgeport and keep them home. Do you swap NU with Duluth to save Worcester? I think you have to. That regional is an attendance mess otherwise. I hope they do. I sincerely hope they do. I am not going to South Dakota. If it was swapping a 9 for a 10 or something, like the Providence swap, it would be an easy decision. But it’s a 9 and a 12. That’s as bad as it gets. There’s gonna be a ton of reservations about doing that. The college hockey media seems to be split about 50/50 on it. May the committee save us.