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East Regional: Providence, RI
#1 Quinnipiac vs. #4 Canisius
#2 Boston College vs. #3 Union
Northeast Regional: Manchester, NH
#1 UMass Lowell vs. #4 Wisconsin
#2 New Hampshire vs. #3 Denver
West Regional: Grand Rapids, MI
#1 Minnesota vs. #4 Yale
#2 North Dakota vs. #3 Niagara
Midwest Regional: Toledo, OH
#1 Notre Dame vs. #4 St. Cloud State
#2 Miami vs. #3 Minnesota State-Mankato
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So, Brian pretty much put it best when he tweeted:
Boston College hockey just won the lottery.
— BC Interruption (@bcinterruption) March 25, 2013
BC trips up and loses in the Hockey East semifinals and gets by far the best possible regional draw it could have hoped for.
For starters -- we're staying east. That's a big enough deal as it is. This was all because the committee wanted to improve attendance as much as possible. It's pretty weird thinking "Boston College" and "Best Attendance Draw" in the same thought, isn't it? But That's How We Do in college hockey.
The committee did what many thought was unlikely in messing with bracket integrity quite a bit. Instead of the perfect 1-8-9-16 bracket for the 1 seed, it was 1-6-12-16.
Beyond just being in Providence, the Eagles have to be absolutely thrilled with the teams in their region.
First up is Union College. Union is one of the teams that is on a bit of a hot streak, having won the ECAC Championship this weekend against Brown, but their 6-game winning streak has come against teams ranked 29th, 49th, 24th, 24th, 13th (okay) and 20th in KRACH. Not to mention they have the worst strength of schedule of any team ranked in the top 20 in KRACH -- 40th in the country.
Second worst strentch of schedule of the top 20? Well, that would be Quinnipiac, the #1 seed in the Providence regional. BC fans again should be thrilled that this is the #1 seed they are matched up with.
Quinnipiac mathematically clinched its #1 overall seed long before they were eliminated early from the ECAC tournament by Brown.
Poor Quinnipiac. After blazing through the middle part of their schedule that have put up some stinkers against bad teams. Recent losses to Brown, Harvard (LOL), Cornell, and St. Lawrence have to have the Eagles feeling pretty good.
And lol Canisius.
More on the other regions as the week goes on. For now, BC may not be feeling unbeatable like we did at this point last season -- but we were certainly given a bracket that we can make some noise out of.