The hockey bracket is out and is largely as projected. Michigan goes to Allentown, where they will take on Colgate in the first round and the winner of Penn State/Michigan Tech if they should advance.
Getting Colgate in the first round is a major win. Michigan should be naturally bracketed with Pairwise #14 Merrimack. But since ECAC member Quinnipiac is the overall #2, two other ECAC teams are on the four line, and the committee did not want to flip the Atlantic Hockey winner away from overall #1 Minnesota, Quinnipiac has to play Merrimack and Michigan gets a bid thief. Colgate is #25 in Pairwise and #31 in KRACH, another ranking system that most think is superior to the modified RPI that dominates Pairwise.
The second round matchup nominally gives Michigan an easier path than they've strictly earned since they get #8 Penn State instead of #6 SCSU, but KRACH has almost no gap between SCSU, BU, and Penn State. Harvard would have been the best draw on the two line, per KRACH. Tech is 10th, FWIW.
Michigan plays in the late game on Friday, at 8:30 Eastern. The regional final is Sunday at 6:30.
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lhglrkwg
March 19th, 2023 at 7:32 PM ^
About as good a draw as you could hope for. We got a bid stealer and then the other two teams arent too terrifying I guess
These games should all be played at Yost but I suppose Im just preaching to the choir again
Joined: 07/03/2008
MGoPoints: 65260
JonnyHintz
March 19th, 2023 at 8:48 PM ^
Most projections I saw had Minnesota State instead of Michigan Tech, and I don’t mind that trade off at all.
Joined: 01/11/2015
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k.o.k.Law
March 19th, 2023 at 7:40 PM ^
I am leery of how many PSU fans will be there.
However, we were not intimidated by the Gopher throng last night.
And we know all about PSU.
Like MSU hoop, UM hockey peaking at the right time.
Hoping I can make a trip to Tampa for the Frozen Four.
Joined: 08/12/2011
MGoPoints: 4317
stephenrjking
March 19th, 2023 at 10:17 PM ^
To be honest, it’s probably a wash for Michigan at worst. I, too, don’t like playing in a neutral non-neutral road venue, but a decent fan presence can actually be a useful tool to help the team mentally. Some of the big upsets in the hockey tournament seem to at least partly be influenced by a superior team playing flat in an environment that doesn’t feel at all like a big time game.
Joined: 03/15/2012
MGoPoints: 20120953
SF Wolverine
March 19th, 2023 at 8:03 PM ^
Guys EARNED a good draw with the win over Minny. Good on them. Much prefer a bracket with PSU than OSU. Win and advance!
Joined: 10/04/2010
MGoPoints: 16484
Grampy
March 19th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^
Good draw, particularly from the 3rd 1-seed perspective. Stick to your knitting and the frozen four beckons. I also prefer drawing Quinnipiac over Minnesota in the first round of the frozen four. I’d just as soon see the Gophers in the finals if I have to at all. First, though, there’s a lot of business to take care of. Go Blue and make Warde’s decision that much more obvious.
Joined: 06/29/2012
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swn
March 19th, 2023 at 8:48 PM ^
Mmm Allentown PA. Went once. Wouldn't return.
Joined: 08/29/2017
MGoPoints: 5609
the_dude
March 19th, 2023 at 9:13 PM ^
I really like the way we are playing right now after going through the B1G tourney. The conference is very tough, the exact opposite of men's basketball, and after the Wisconsin series we took it to OSU and beat Minnesota on their home ice.
This draw is everything we could have asked for and we would only play Denver or Minnesota again for the title.
LFG!
Joined: 09/01/2010
MGoPoints: 419
guthrie
March 19th, 2023 at 9:52 PM ^
So if UM and PSU both advance, they play in Allentown, PA.
I'm not at all knowledgeable about college hockey but this seems very odd. UM finished with a better overall record, finished higher in the national rankings, finished higher in the Big Ten rankings, and beat PSU 3 out of 4.
This seems . . . let's say flawed.
Joined: 09/23/2009
MGoPoints: 2044
I Bleed Maize N Blue
March 19th, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
We won too much at Yost back in the day, so the NCAA moved tourney games to "neutral" sites. Schools can bid to host, PSU is the host at Allentown. Either Warde doesn't care enough about hockey, or it's too much initiative to arrange for boosters to support U-M to host at, say, Toledo.
Joined: 09/27/2008
MGoPoints: 41321
lhglrkwg
March 20th, 2023 at 6:43 AM ^
My assumption is the program asks for us to bid local regionals because surely they are well aware of how much New England teams benefit from it but there are some hurdles keeping it from happening. No one wants to host and risk Michigan missing? Financial issues? I dunno
Joined: 07/03/2008
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JonnyHintz
March 20th, 2023 at 4:51 AM ^
It’s no different than a middle seed team being placed in a regional that’s in the vicinity of their school in basketball. It’s also a 2 1/2-3 hour drive from State College to Allentown.
Joined: 01/11/2015
MGoPoints: 38639
stephenrjking
March 19th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
There’s no easy draw. You can get an ideal draw and then Air Force’s goalie stops 50 shots or Cornell traps you to death and it’s over.
I was happy to be paired with Quinnipiac *last* season, and it looked great right up until the moments when the team nearly suffered an all-time choke… and it could be argued (I tend to believe this) that the breakdown spooked Mel enough that he changed his gameplan against Denver to prevent the mistakes in the Q game, directly contributing to the offense’s struggles.
All that said, hard to imagine a better bracket than this. Colgate is not one of the worrisome type 4 seeds. And Penn State is a concern—they won’t be intimidated by Michigan since they’re very familiar with us, and they can punish Portillo or the defense if either has a bad day—but they’re at worst the fourth most worrying team to play from the B1G for Michigan this year, and not a worse matchup than one of the other 2s.
And, for distant hopes of a national title, being on the opposite side of the bracket from Minnie and Denver is huge.
Michigan could be toast by Friday night. But anything can happen in the tournament, and it’s more favorable to happen with a bracket like this.
Joined: 03/15/2012
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Sambojangles
March 19th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
All other criticisms of the NCAA hockey regional format are legitimate, but I'd like to add one more: the doubleheader model brought over from the basketball tournament doesn't really work with hockey. The games are 50% longer, plus there is a possibility of marathon overtime. Unlike with basketball, I don't think that fans want to sit through 6+ hours of college hockey in a cold, mostly empty rink, not to mention the people watching on TV.
If they must keep the 4-team regionals, I'd recommend the first round games happening on consecutive nights and the second round on the third night. Have the 1-4 game first so the higher seed gets extra rest if they advance. They could be staggered to have 4 games on Thursday, 8 on Friday, 6 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday.
I'm sure there is a logistical reason this can't happen: it's an extra day of the fixed costs of having the games, with limited additional ticket sales to make up for it.
Joined: 12/15/2008
MGoPoints: 9776
Alton
March 20th, 2023 at 9:49 AM ^
Interestingly, that's how they used to do the Frozen Four (back before it was called the Frozen Four): Semifinal #1 on Thursday, Semifinal #2 on Friday, Championship game on Saturday.
The problem was that it came to be perceived as a massive advantage for the Thursday semifinalists. From 1967 to 1989, the Thursday winner was 17-6 against the Friday winner in championship games. They went to the current format (both semifinals on Thursday) in 1990.
Joined: 07/05/2008
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drjaws
March 20th, 2023 at 12:23 AM ^
Go Blue. Beat the … *checks notes* … tooth paste.
whoops. I mean beat the Raiders
Joined: 02/26/2014
MGoPoints: 31952
gbdub
March 20th, 2023 at 12:50 AM ^
I’d definitely rather have this regional than Denver’s or Qunnipiac’s. Seems like a favorable draw. Of course, single elimination hockey is dumb so who knows.
Joined: 02/16/2010
MGoPoints: 22787
MTechblUe
March 20th, 2023 at 7:47 AM ^
The Regional Locations are Crazy Dumb.
3 of the regions are within 5hrs of each other, and none particularly close to a major airport but it takes 8hrs to drive from Ann Arbor to Allentown...the closest one.
Are Michigan cities not doing enough to push to host?
It's even more frustrating when BOTH my teams are in the same region...and a day trip to see them is crazy talk.
Joined: 03/20/2023
MGoPoints: 6
stephenrjking
March 20th, 2023 at 8:49 AM ^
Few places on the internet have documented the absurdity of the regional system with more vigor than Mgoblog and the various users here.
It’s not an issue of places local to the west “pushing” enough. It’s the absurdity of applying a neutral site solution that works in the east where all the schools are ~2 hours from each other (basically all eastern regionals take place in the same 5 cities that are all 2.5 hours or less of a drive from each other) and trying to apply it to the west, which has larger fanbases and terrific ingrained hockey culture but spreads the schools over much larger distances.
The closest regional to Tech, by my recollection, was Green Bay. Tech didn’t make it that year, and neither did host Wisconsin. Result: Michigan made it and brought a very respectable contingent of 1000 or so fans, including me and my family, but it was still basically empty.
Attempts in places like GR and Toledo have not worked well. The places tend to lose money.
Joined: 03/15/2012
MGoPoints: 20120953
pmorgan
March 20th, 2023 at 10:19 AM ^
A bit of bid thievery indeed. That said, Colgate have not been cupcakes going 6 / 4 against other tourney teams this year, so Michigan needs to bring the intensity of their recent games.
Colgate vs. Merrimack: 0 / 5 Loss
Colgate vs. Merrimack: 5 / 3 Win
Colgate vs. Quinnipiac: 2 / 3 Loss
Colgate vs. Harvard: 6 / 4 Win
Colgate vs. Quinnipiac: 3 / 2 Win
Colgate vs. Harvard: 4 / 5 Loss (OT)
Colgate vs. Cornell: 2 / 3 Loss
Colgate vs. Cornell: 4 / 4 T/SWW
Colgate vs. Quinnipiac: 2 / 1 Win/ OT (ecac tourney)
Colgate vs. Harvard: 3 / 2 Win (ecac tourney)
Joined: 02/07/2022
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Hotel Putingrad
March 20th, 2023 at 6:07 PM