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This was what the 2010 NCAA D-III men's hockey bracket looked like? What might this year's look like? |
The Bracketology article gives a breakdown of the tournament and selection criteria, including the new for 2014 "Win-Loss Percentage. during the last 25% of the season" (something that obviously is hurting Williams right now). The article assumes the current leaders of the seven automatic qualifiers, including Trinity, will win their respective conference tournaments.
The eighth automatic qualifier, a hybrid automatic/at-large bid, goes to Pool B. Pool B had its definition changed this year to include one of the conference winners from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Atheletic Conference (WIAC) and the ECAC West. There used to be eight automatic qualifier conferences and the ECAC West, but the formation of the WIAC by defectors from Northern Colelgiate Hockey Association (NCHA) led the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA) and the NCHA to merge under the NCHA banner. This left seven automatic qualifiers, and two conferences with memberships too small to earn an outright automatic qualifer: the six team ECAC West and the five team WIAC. In the current Bracketology , UW-Stevens Point (WIAC) beats out Utica (ECAC-W) for the Pool B bid.
The final three "at-large" bids make for the most fighting, fun and conjecture of the weeks leading up to the field being sent on Sunday, March 9th. In the current Bracketology, Adrian and Plattsburgh get the first two Pool C bids, leaving Babson and Williams to duke it out for the third spot. Despite Williams beating Babson head-to-head,the Beavers beat out the Ephs, especially with the new winning percentage in the last 1/4 of the season criterion.
With the field set, the question is where are the teams seeded? Seeding is important, as a good seed gets you a bye into the Quarterfinals, meaning you don't have to play a first round game. Last year, Bowdoin had to host a first round game, in which they easily beat UMass-Dartmouth before heading to Utica for the Quarterfinals in which they lost to the Pioneers. In the current Bracketology, Trinity gets a bye into the Quarterfinals where they would host the winner of Geneseo/Babson.
And now for a caveat: while Bracketology is fun, it is important to remember that these are just projections and they will almost certainly change as more games are played and upsets in the conference tournaments occur. Hockey is played on ice, remember, not in smoke-filled selection rooms or on spreadsheets.
Below is the final seeding projections and match-ups from D3hockey.com's first Bracketology:
First Round
7E Salem State @ 2E Plattsburgh State
6E Nichols @ 3E Norwich
5E Geneseo State @ 4E Babson
Quarterfinals
4W St. Thomas @ 1W St. Norbert
3W UW-Stevens Point @ 2W Adrian
Geneseo State/Babson @ 1E Trinity
Nichols/Norwich v. Salem State/Plattsburgh State
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