As of this morning, the following teams would be in the NCAA Tournament if the season ended today based on the NPI and conference standings. Please note that projected conference tournament winners are
in italics and are projected by current in-conference point percentage:
- Michigan
- Dartmouth
- Wisconsin
- North Dakota
- Michigan State
- Denver
- Minnesota-Duluth
- Penn State
- Harvard
- Minnesota State
- Augustana
- Western Michigan
- Quinnipiac
- Boston College
- Holy Cross
- Bemidji State
First Four Out: Cornell, Providence, Northeastern, UConn
The selection committee avoids in-conference matchups in the first round and tends to place the one seeds in their closest geographic region. As hosts of their respective regionals, Denver (Loveland Regional) and Holy Cross (Worcester Regional) will automatically be assigned to their regionals should they make the NCAA Tournament.
With these stipulations in mind, the projected tournament would look like this:
Worcester Regional
- Dartmouth vs. Holy Cross
- Michigan State vs. Harvard
Albany Regional
- Michigan vs. Bemidji State
- Penn State vs. Harvard
Loveland Regional
- North Dakota vs. Quinnipiac
- Denver vs. Augustana
Sioux Falls Regional
- Wisconsin vs. Boston College
- Michigan State vs. Western Michigan
Bemidji State (No. 25 in NPI) currently has the highest point percentage in the CCHA, earning them a spot in this week’s projected field. Minnesota State dropped both of its games against Augustana last weekend to bump them down to second in the conference by point percentage. The conference currently has three teams in the field.
North Dakota took over first place in the NCHC with a sweep of Omaha, extending its win streak to seven. Denver’s split with St. Cloud State bumped them down to second place. North Dakota and Denver will meet only twice in the regular season, with both games in Grand Forks. The two teams have separated themselves from the pack early on, but there is still lots of hockey to be played.
Dartmouth fell in overtime against New Hampshire for its first loss of the season. The Big Green are still the top dogs in the ECAC, but they ceded the No. 1 spot in the NPI to Michigan. Idle Harvard and Quinnipiac join Dartmouth from the ECAC.
All four of the Big Ten teams in the field were idle last weekend. Michigan took over the No. 1 spot, and Michigan State jumped up to No. 5, but the conference race remains unchanged.
Boston College is the only projected team from Hockey East this week, but Providence, Northeastern, and UConn are all on the bubble early on. There is no clear top team in this conference, although Boston College has won eight of its last nine games after a 2-4-1 start.
