Brian: And just like that, a season ends in 44 seconds.
I can't think of a more painful way to have your season - and for Anthony Aiello, Tim Filangieri, Tim Kunes, Kyle Kucharski, Brock Bradford, Benn Ferriero, and Andrew Orpik, a college career - end so abruptly. We watched the game at Hairy Monk in NYC and Boston College and York's boys gave Boston University all they had, which was good enough for nearly 50 of the 60 minutes. And just like that, a three goal span of 44 seconds ended the Eagles season.
Boston University then went on to beat UMass-Lowell 1-0 in the Hockey East championship game for their seventh tournament championship.
The NCAA selection committee announced the pairings for the 2009 NCAA men's hockey tournament, and predictably BC was not one of the 16 teams. Likely one game and one goal too short. From Hockey East, Boston University is the No. 1 overall seed and will play in the Northeast regional in Manchester, NH, along with the No. 3 seeded New Hampshire Wildcats. Northeastern earns the No. 2 seed and has to go to Grand Rapids, MI. Finally, Vermont also earned a No. 3 seed and plays in the East regional in Bridgeport, CT.
Ohio State was the last at-large team in the tournament, as the Buckeyes finished the regular season with a PairWise ranking good for a tie for 15th. If this was the NCAA men's basketball tournament, you would say that Boston College was in the "First Four Out" category along with Wisconsin, Minnesota and St. Lawrence.
What seems somewhat curious is that some of the at-large teams failed to go deep into their own conference tournaments. In Hockey East, Lowell and BC swept Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively, on the road in the Hockey East quarterfinals, yet UVM and New Hampshire are "Dancing" while the River Hawks and the Eagles are staying home.
In the CCHA, both Ohio State and Miami (OH) lost in the CCHA quarterfinals to Alaska and Northern Michigan, respectively, but both the Buckeyes and the Red Hawks are rewarded for their CCHA tournament mediocrity with NCAA tournament berths.
In the WCHA, Minnesota-Duluth became the first team to participate in the 4 v. 5 play-in game and take the conference championship, defeating Denver 4-0. Yet UMD only earned the 2nd seed in the Midwest/Minneapolis region, a region where - get this - Denver is the No. 1 seed. If the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds advance, UMD will be forced to defeat Denver once again to advance to the Frozen Four.
To make matters worse, each of these conference tournaments take on different formats. The WCHA - like Hockey East - has 10 teams but has an entirely different conference playoff format, with all 10 teams playing in a best-of-three opening round before the "Final Five" play in a play-in game + semifinal + final and third place game format. ECAC also has a third place game, which gives teams another opportunity to improve their PairWise rankings.
The two bloggers at Coming Down the Pipe! go off on this issue of who goes to the tournament and who stays home. They claim it makes no sense that UMass-Lowell and Boston College should be left out of the NCAA tournament's field of 16 while Vermont and New Hampshire make the tournament. There doesn't seem to be any emphasis placed on how you are playing at the end of the season in the conference tournament. And the confusion over the conference tournament formats makes the whole thing even more complicated.
Jeff, I know you don't follow college hockey as closely as I do, but think of this situation in the context of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Possibly to a fault, the men's selection committee plays too much emphasis on the season-ending conference tournaments in determining who makes the field of 65. Should a similar emphasis be placed on play in the season-ending conference tournaments in men's ice hockey? Or is the PWR ranking system and NCAA selection committee criteria OK as is in your book?
Jeff: Does the R in PWR stand for ranking? If so, wouldn't it just be PWR system, not Pair Wise Ranking ranking system? But back to the question, the criteria is OK as it is. It's OK, not perfect, but not bad either because at least it is predictable. The Eagles knew they needed to win at least one more game to get in. They didn't and so they're not. I have no problem with that. If the selection system were going to be improved, late season play should be emphasized and conference tournament runs should enable teams to get into the tournament just as in basketball. You want the 16 teams in the tournament that have the best chance of winning it. Right now, Boston College would've had a better chance of winning the tournament than some of the teams selected.
Brian: I agree that you want the best 16 teams in the country to be in the tournament. The problem is that there are 3 really good conferences (Hockey East, CCHA and WCHA), 1 so-so conference (ECAC) and two really bad conferences (CHA, Atlantic Hockey) that get auto bids.
Things will get a little better next season as this is the last year that College Hockey America will exist. That will mean one less auto bid for a conference that hardly ever does anything in the NCAAs and one more at-large berth.
This probably all sounds like sour grapes but I think it says something when you look at the number of teams from each conference that received berths to the NCAA tournament. Only 4 Hockey East teams make the NCAAs when Hockey East was clearly the best conference in the country this year. Four teams are the same number of teams that the CCHA got into the tournament. The WCHA gets three bids, the ECAC gets two, Atlantic Hockey gets one and College Hockey America gets one.
Also, it is a bit frustrating to have two teams from the same conference in the same regional. I would have serious gripes with the seedings if I was New Hampshire or Minnesota-Duluth, who have to go through conference opponent's Boston U. and Denver to reach the Frozen Four. All the selection committee had to do was shuffle around Boston U. and Denver to keep a max of 1 team from Hockey East, CCHA and the WCHA in each regional.
Hard to find a team I like in this year's tournament, especially with Boston U. and Notre Dame receiving No. 1 seeds. I feel obligated to root for Hockey East, but since I can't stand BU, New Hampshire or Northeastern, I'm going to back Vermont. Oh yeah, and Bemidji State, because they don't have a shot in hell. Go Beavers!
| BU | 1 | - | 1 | 6x6 | Zach Cohen (10) (John McCarthy, David Warsofsky) | 11:01 | ||
| BU | 2 | - | 1 | 6x6 | Brian Strait (2) (John McCarthy) | 11:22 | ||
| BU | 3 | - | 1 | 6x6 | GW | Colin Wilson (15) (Jason Lawrence, Chris Higgins) | 11:45 | |
I can't think of a more painful way to have your season - and for Anthony Aiello, Tim Filangieri, Tim Kunes, Kyle Kucharski, Brock Bradford, Benn Ferriero, and Andrew Orpik, a college career - end so abruptly. We watched the game at Hairy Monk in NYC and Boston College and York's boys gave Boston University all they had, which was good enough for nearly 50 of the 60 minutes. And just like that, a three goal span of 44 seconds ended the Eagles season.
Boston University then went on to beat UMass-Lowell 1-0 in the Hockey East championship game for their seventh tournament championship.
The NCAA selection committee announced the pairings for the 2009 NCAA men's hockey tournament, and predictably BC was not one of the 16 teams. Likely one game and one goal too short. From Hockey East, Boston University is the No. 1 overall seed and will play in the Northeast regional in Manchester, NH, along with the No. 3 seeded New Hampshire Wildcats. Northeastern earns the No. 2 seed and has to go to Grand Rapids, MI. Finally, Vermont also earned a No. 3 seed and plays in the East regional in Bridgeport, CT.
Ohio State was the last at-large team in the tournament, as the Buckeyes finished the regular season with a PairWise ranking good for a tie for 15th. If this was the NCAA men's basketball tournament, you would say that Boston College was in the "First Four Out" category along with Wisconsin, Minnesota and St. Lawrence.
What seems somewhat curious is that some of the at-large teams failed to go deep into their own conference tournaments. In Hockey East, Lowell and BC swept Vermont and New Hampshire, respectively, on the road in the Hockey East quarterfinals, yet UVM and New Hampshire are "Dancing" while the River Hawks and the Eagles are staying home.
In the CCHA, both Ohio State and Miami (OH) lost in the CCHA quarterfinals to Alaska and Northern Michigan, respectively, but both the Buckeyes and the Red Hawks are rewarded for their CCHA tournament mediocrity with NCAA tournament berths.
In the WCHA, Minnesota-Duluth became the first team to participate in the 4 v. 5 play-in game and take the conference championship, defeating Denver 4-0. Yet UMD only earned the 2nd seed in the Midwest/Minneapolis region, a region where - get this - Denver is the No. 1 seed. If the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds advance, UMD will be forced to defeat Denver once again to advance to the Frozen Four.
To make matters worse, each of these conference tournaments take on different formats. The WCHA - like Hockey East - has 10 teams but has an entirely different conference playoff format, with all 10 teams playing in a best-of-three opening round before the "Final Five" play in a play-in game + semifinal + final and third place game format. ECAC also has a third place game, which gives teams another opportunity to improve their PairWise rankings.
The two bloggers at Coming Down the Pipe! go off on this issue of who goes to the tournament and who stays home. They claim it makes no sense that UMass-Lowell and Boston College should be left out of the NCAA tournament's field of 16 while Vermont and New Hampshire make the tournament. There doesn't seem to be any emphasis placed on how you are playing at the end of the season in the conference tournament. And the confusion over the conference tournament formats makes the whole thing even more complicated.
Jeff, I know you don't follow college hockey as closely as I do, but think of this situation in the context of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Possibly to a fault, the men's selection committee plays too much emphasis on the season-ending conference tournaments in determining who makes the field of 65. Should a similar emphasis be placed on play in the season-ending conference tournaments in men's ice hockey? Or is the PWR ranking system and NCAA selection committee criteria OK as is in your book?
Jeff: Does the R in PWR stand for ranking? If so, wouldn't it just be PWR system, not Pair Wise Ranking ranking system? But back to the question, the criteria is OK as it is. It's OK, not perfect, but not bad either because at least it is predictable. The Eagles knew they needed to win at least one more game to get in. They didn't and so they're not. I have no problem with that. If the selection system were going to be improved, late season play should be emphasized and conference tournament runs should enable teams to get into the tournament just as in basketball. You want the 16 teams in the tournament that have the best chance of winning it. Right now, Boston College would've had a better chance of winning the tournament than some of the teams selected.
Brian: I agree that you want the best 16 teams in the country to be in the tournament. The problem is that there are 3 really good conferences (Hockey East, CCHA and WCHA), 1 so-so conference (ECAC) and two really bad conferences (CHA, Atlantic Hockey) that get auto bids.
Things will get a little better next season as this is the last year that College Hockey America will exist. That will mean one less auto bid for a conference that hardly ever does anything in the NCAAs and one more at-large berth.
This probably all sounds like sour grapes but I think it says something when you look at the number of teams from each conference that received berths to the NCAA tournament. Only 4 Hockey East teams make the NCAAs when Hockey East was clearly the best conference in the country this year. Four teams are the same number of teams that the CCHA got into the tournament. The WCHA gets three bids, the ECAC gets two, Atlantic Hockey gets one and College Hockey America gets one.
Also, it is a bit frustrating to have two teams from the same conference in the same regional. I would have serious gripes with the seedings if I was New Hampshire or Minnesota-Duluth, who have to go through conference opponent's Boston U. and Denver to reach the Frozen Four. All the selection committee had to do was shuffle around Boston U. and Denver to keep a max of 1 team from Hockey East, CCHA and the WCHA in each regional.
Hard to find a team I like in this year's tournament, especially with Boston U. and Notre Dame receiving No. 1 seeds. I feel obligated to root for Hockey East, but since I can't stand BU, New Hampshire or Northeastern, I'm going to back Vermont. Oh yeah, and Bemidji State, because they don't have a shot in hell. Go Beavers!