Jayson Moy of U.S. College Hockey Online is putting MSU in the Worcester regional, taking on New Hampshire, with Minnesota and Boston College also there. A couple of upsets there and could there be another multiple-overtime game between the Mavericks and the Gophers? Inside College Hockey's Mike Eidelbes also puts MSU in the Northeast against UNH, but with Denver and Clarkson. Finally College Hockey News managing editor and apparent PucKato reader Adam Wodon has MSU as likely in the tournament.
I'm wondering what scenarios would put the Mavericks in Madison, making for easy travel for fans (and media members).
3 comments:
I think Madison is nearly impossible at this point. If Michigan or Miami wins the CCHA tournament, they're likely the number one overall seed, and would get placed in Madison, since it is closest to their home. One of Michigan or Miami will be at least number two in the country by the end of the weekend, meaning the Mavs would have to be somewhere between number 7 and number 10 to be placed there, which is impossible at this point.
About the only scenario I came up with that put the Mavs in Madison is this: Michigan loses both games of the CCHA tournament and falls to 5th in the country. Citing attendance concerns, the committee puts number one overall Miami in Albany, and puts number 4 North Dakota in Madison.(Even though Oxford is about two hours closer to Madison than Grand Forks, who knew?). North Dakota would play whoever finished 13th, while number 5 Michigan would draw number 12 Minnesota State.
But at this point, I'll take whatever we can get, as long as they're actually in the tournament.
With scenarios being as complex as they are this weekend, it seems like the only sure rooting interest for Minnesota State this weekend would be against Notre Dame.
I am curious as to the fate of the winner of the Minnesota-St. Cloud Final Five play in game tomorrow night: The winner could be subjected to two more losses (Semis and then the third place game Sunday afternoon) and could ultimately be in a better position by losing on Thursday night.
If you take the Mavs' NCAA bid for granted, their NCAA tournament performance could ultimately be helped by taking a weekend off after such a brutal four-games-in-three-nights series with the Gophers last weekend.
so what do maverick fans need to be rooting for to make the tournament?
Post a Comment