BC Interruption - BC Women’s Hockey NCAA Quarterfinal vs. Ohio State - March 16, 7 PM - Full CoverageA Boston College Eagles Community.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47285/bci-fave.png2021-03-16T22:37:02-04:00http://www.bcinterruption.com/rss/stream/220979422021-03-16T22:37:02-04:002021-03-16T22:37:02-04:00BC Women’s Hockey Overwhelmed By Ohio State 3-1, Ending Season
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<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/womens-hockey-at-boston-univer/savannah-norcross-hunts-the-pu/3546/28393" target="_blank">BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>The Eagles fell to a better team</p> <p id="3bxgpF">Boston College Women’s Hockey came into tonight’s NCAA quarterfinal with Ohio State as a pretty heavy underdog, but there was still that feeling that the Eagles, who spent most of the season finding a way to win games, would be able to put up a fight against the WCHA’s Buckeyes. That was true for a little while, but while the Eagles held an early lead, it was Ohio State that took over the game over the final two periods on their way to <a href="http://hockeyeastonline.com/women/boxclassic21.php?wbc_osu1.m16">a 3-1 win over the Eagles</a>, ending BC’s season and advancing the Buckeyes to the Frozen Four.</p>
<p id="Hj5Hdf">The game started with a high level of physicality, and that really seemed to benefit Boston College in the opening 20 minutes. Shot totals were low at just 5 apiece, but it was the Eagles who had the better chances, for the most part. Eventually it was BC who got on the scoreboard first with a quick wrist shot from Savannah Norcross halfway through the period, giving the Eagles the 1-0 lead.</p>
<p id="4hrJhA">BC fans were feeling pretty good during that first intermission, but unfortunately, that would be the high-water mark of the game for the Eagles. From that point on, Ohio State dominated possession and outshot the Eagles 43-8 over the final two periods — freaking yikes — but despite that, the Eagles stayed in the game for quite some time. </p>
<p id="bq6Cwe">It wasn’t until there were just three minutes and change remaining in the second period that the Buckeyes found the tying goal to make it 1-1, and they followed it up with another goal with 36 seconds to play in the second period to take the lead at 2-1 going into the second intermission. BC goalie Abbey Levy put her team on her shoulders in the second in which the Eagles were outshot a whopping 27-4, but the Buckeyes broke through in the end.</p>
<p id="QzDCjH">BC got things slightly more evened out in the third, but Ohio State still strongly controlled possession and the Eagles struggled to get opportunities to tie the game. Finally, the Buckeyes scored a third goal with 6 and a half minutes to play that proved to be the dagger, and 3-1 was your final.</p>
<p id="YENAd7">Boston College played pretty well this season relative to expectations, finishing a clear second in Hockey East behind juggernaut Northeastern, knocking off the top ranked Huskies during the regular season and advancing to the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid. This was roughly the midway point in BC’s rebuild, and the Eagles should really take a step forward next year with only one senior graduating and an elite freshman class joining the team. Hopefully a new year and a fresh start with things more back to normal will allow the Eagles to make that next step.</p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/16/22335225/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-overwhelmed-by-ohio-state-buckeyes3-1-ending-seasonGrant Salzano2021-03-16T13:00:00-04:002021-03-16T13:00:00-04:00NCAA Women’s Hockey National Committee Chair Anita Brenner Talks Tourney Selection
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<img alt="NCAA HOCKEY: MAR 19 Women’s - Division I Championship - Wisconsin v Clarkson" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xRh5Xwre1WiOCQo2NvgmZ-ROMEY=/0x196:3271x2377/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68975844/657033838.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Some interesting insight into this year’s NCAA committee process</p> <p id="Pe9hBO"><em>This year’s NCAA Women’s Hockey Tournament selection show </em><a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/10/22322270/ncaa-womens-hockey-tournament-bracket-revealed-frozen-four-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey"><em>was quite a bit more exciting than usual</em></a><em>. With no Pairwise to lean on to help set the bracket, the committee had to rely largely on subjectivity and was given a lot of flexibility on how to select teams to the tournament field and rank the seeds. We reached out to NCAA Women’s Hockey National Committee Chair Anita Brenner for some insight into how the selection process works and how the committee set the 2021 tournament field.</em></p>
<p id="FUNhHh"><strong>BC Interruption:</strong> Thanks so much for taking the time to dive into the process for us. I think there’s a lot of interest out there in seeing how the process works. First off, I would definitely be interested in knowing, just in a general sense, how the group actually sets the field from a procedural standpoint — is it that each position in the bracket (#1, #2, #3) is individually voted on, or does each member submit a 1-8 ballot USCHO-Poll-style, or is it just something the depends on the given year?</p>
<p id="HphAyo"><strong>Anita Brenner: </strong>Each Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) provided the National Committee with a ranking of their region, and of the national field. East and West RACs include coaches and National committee members from all four AQ conferences. </p>
<p id="sfpXzk"><em>[Ed. Note:] The committee members are listed publicly in each year’s </em><a href="https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/icehockey/nc/women/2020-21NCWIH_PreChampsManual.pdf"><em>tournament pre-championship manual</em></a><em>. </em><br><br><em>This year’s national committee members consisted of:</em><br><em>Anita Brenner (chair), Deputy Director of Athletics, Cornell</em><br><em>Katie Crowley, Head Coach, Boston College</em><br><em>Kate McAfee, Associate Commissioner, Hockey East</em><br><em>Paul Flanagan, Head Coach, Syracuse</em><br><em>Josh Berlo, Director of Athletics, Minnesota-Duluth</em><br><br><em>The East Regional Advisory Committee consisted of:</em><br><em>Katie Crowley (chair), Boston College</em><br><em>Anita Benner, Cornell</em><br><em>Matt Desrosiers, Clarkson</em><br><em>Kate McAfee, Hockey East</em><br><em>Thomas O’Malley, Sacred Heart</em><br><br><em>The West Regional Advisory Committee consisted of:</em><br><em>Paul Flanagan (chair), Syracuse</em><br><em>Josh Berlo, Minnesota-Duluth</em><br><em>Paul Colontino, Robert Morris </em><br><em>Shelley Looney, Lindenwood</em><br><em>Nadine Muzerall, Ohio State</em><br><br>The National committee reviewed the RPI and other data with Tim Danehy [statistician at collegehockeystats.net] to determine relevant data in a year with almost no cross-conference competitive results. NCAA staff provided the committee with comparative data on selection criteria for each team under consideration. National committee members solicited feedback from conference commissioners on the strength of teams under consideration in their league. Each committee member came to the selection meeting prepared with extensive notes. </p>
<p id="HfdDOT">During selection, committee members with a team under consideration were only permitted to provide factual information about their own team and were required to leave the meeting during discussion of that team. Information was shared for each committee member to make his/her own conclusion. It was not a process where the committee tried to reach a consensus.</p>
<p id="Lh55Ve">All votes to put teams into the field or to seed teams in the field are done via an online secret ballot using the same NCAA selection/bracketing software used by the D-I Men’s and Women’s basketball selection committees. The committee began the selection meeting at 11 a.m. on Selection Sunday, took a break to watch the end of the ECAC and WCHA conference championship games, and then worked right up to (and slightly after) the 7 p.m. deadline to complete the bracket. </p>
<p id="xPD7Hi"><strong>BCI: </strong>There was a lot of concern out there about the fact that two bubble teams on the committee got their teams into the tournament field. Could you speak to how far in advance the committee is chosen, as well as what the procedure is during deliberations when a committee member’s team is being voted upon/discussed? </p>
<p id="NYh3Fz"><strong>AB: </strong>The committee is a combination of five members: Four from D-I, one from D-II, and three must be administrators. Appointments are for four years, begin/end in August and are staggered across years and East/West regions. </p>
<p id="OIbSEi">As I mentioned above, committee members can only provide factual information for their own team. We cannot vote for/rank our own teams. At several points during the selection committee discussion, member(s) left the videoconference so the others could speak freely. </p>
<p id="Lb1Pp5">My experience is that committee reps are far more vocal and comfortable speaking about institutions other than their own throughout the season. Any speculation that committee reps can orchestrate their team’s inclusion or ranking in the field is off point. It’s not the case, and would require an absence of integrity of everyone involved. </p>
<p id="coipXg"><strong>BCI: </strong>Was there an added focus this year to avoid interconference matchups in the first round given we didn’t get any in the regular season and flights weren’t an issue, and did that factor into determining each team’s numerical seed or did it just kind of turn out that that’s how it worked out this year? We noticed that all 8 teams were seeded this year instead of the top 4.</p>
<p id="Xkt1A9"><strong>AB: </strong>The committee’s focus was on the integrity of the bracket. Avoiding of conference matchups in the second-round was a secondary concern. </p>
<p id="5K5KNP"><strong>BCI:</strong> We saw in the pre-championship manual that there were many pieces of criteria being considered this year (the individual pieces of Pairwise and RPI, for example). Is there any insight you can provide as to what was the most important criteria(s) considered was, in particular (a) to compare teams within the same conferences and (b) teams from different conferences? </p>
<p id="7Uutrk"><strong>AB: </strong>Again, the committee was not looking to build consensus. Each of us voted on our own evaluation of the selection criteria and of the results. </p>
<p id="rM6ZT8"><strong>BCI: </strong>Two pieces of speculation on how teams were selected were that (a) the committee may not have felt comfortable putting more than half of one conference into half the tournament slots (the WCHA) when they had never mathematically earned that privilege before when using the Pairwise, and (b) that the CHA earning two tournament bids was an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence given, again, that under the Pairwise, no CHA team had ever earned two bids. Are you able to speak to whether these considerations factored into the discussion? </p>
<p id="uTiIhr"><strong>AB:</strong> The number of teams from any conference was not a factor. </p>
<p id="yRz8yN"><strong>BCI:</strong> One of the huge surprises was the selection of UMD into the field vs. Minnesota, particularly given that UMD was in all the way up at #5 and Minnesota missed the field entirely. The surprise is largely because in just about all the individual Pairwise and RPI criteria (head to head, strength of schedule, record vs. common opponents, even RPI when looking within the WCHA itself), Minnesota was higher. Can you share what the committee considered to have UMD above Minnesota? </p>
<p id="Kl0UXg"><strong>AB: </strong>Committee deliberations are private, and I don’t know how others voted. For me, Duluth and Minnesota have the same number of wins, Duluth in fewer games. Minnesota had a harder schedule; Duluth found a way to beat Wisconsin in the stretch. There’s lots more to it but those are a few things that stood out to me. </p>
<p id="L5MGxJ"><strong>BCI: </strong>The last at-large spot in particular was a big surprise, with Providence getting into the field over Minnesota and Penn State. Anything you are able to share regarding the deliberations over that last spot? </p>
<p id="3AEsjS"><strong>AB: </strong>Those teams and others were part of challenging discussion about the at-large bids. For me, Penn State was firmly in the mix prior to the conference championship weekend. but Providence finished the regular season 3rd in Hockey East and made it to the championship game at their tournament. </p>
<p id="Cp7G7E"><em>We want to thank Anita for taking the time to answer some questions for us after what was definitely a surprising Selection Sunday. The NCAA quarterfinals continue this afternoon in Erie, PA as Providence College takes on Wisconsin at 2pm EDT, with Boston College and Ohio State wrapping up the opening round at 7pm EDT!</em></p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/16/22333314/ncaa-womens-hockey-national-committee-chair-anita-brenner-ncaa-tournament-bracket-frozen-fourGrant Salzano2021-03-16T10:55:00-04:002021-03-16T10:55:00-04:00BC Women’s Hockey vs. Ohio State, NCAA Quarterfinal: Final Thoughts & Predictions
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<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/ncaa-womens-hockey-vs-ohio-sta/ryan-little/3213/20525" target="_blank">Rich Gagnon, BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>Embrace being the underdog</p> <p id="91bXuA">We interrupt this major 24 hours in BC Men’s Basketball history for some NCAA tournament hockey!</p>
<p id="Lm8Ftw">It’s been over two weeks now since Boston College Women’s Hockey has been on the ice, but we’re pretty lucky we’re even getting another game. Before the Eagles faced off against UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinals, the thought didn’t even cross my mind that that could have been the last game of the season. The regular season had just ended, BC was playing pretty well, and I don’t think many of us really considered that the season might have been over just like that.</p>
<p id="8m4eg8">But despite getting blown out by UConn all those days ago, things fell just right in the other conference tournaments to give the Eagles a spot in the national tournament. It’s pretty obvious <em>now</em> that every game would be the last game of the season... so you can bet BC will be playing like it.</p>
<p id="sQMXU6"><strong>WHO</strong></p>
<p id="9DQLpR">No. 6 Boston College Eagles (14-5-0, 14-4-0 WHEA)<br>vs. No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-6-0, 11-5-0 WCHA)</p>
<p id="GWmGoU"><strong>WHAT</strong></p>
<p id="REmUFz">The NCAA Quarterfinals — Single Elimination</p>
<p id="ouG7KF"><strong>WHERE</strong></p>
<p id="b8hKUr">Erie Insurance Arena<br>Erie, PA</p>
<p id="EefIfQ"><strong>WHEN</strong></p>
<p id="7mNyE9">Tuesday, March 16th, 2021<br>7:00pm EDT</p>
<p id="JvTlfU"><strong>HOW TO WATCH</strong></p>
<p id="7k6hZN">The NCAA is streaming all of the quarterfinal games for free on their website. <a href="https://www.ncaa.com/game/5799575">Here</a> is a direct link to the BC game.</p>
<p id="yocs7p"><strong>LAST TIME OUT</strong></p>
<p id="pYgDlr">Boston College last played on February 28th and <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/2/28/22306422/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-east-tournament-final-score-5-1-loss-to-uconn-huskies-pain">got roasted pretty badly</a> in a 5-1 loss to UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinals. BC had won all 5 previous meetings against the Huskies earlier in the season, but they just didn’t have it in game number six. It was extremely “ ”.</p>
<p id="lvJd88">Ohio State had a far more respectable end to their WCHA season, falling in overtime to Wisconsin in the championship game after launching Minnesota-Duluth into the sun in the semifinal. The Buckeyes have just been rock-solid all season and they finished the year strong. </p>
<p id="fHGvRT">These two teams have only ever faced off once before, in the 2018 NCAA quarterfinals where their roles were reversed. BC came into the game as a moderate favorite, but was upset 2-0 by the Buckeyes at Conte Forum on the strength of a strong opening two periods by Ohio State and elite goaltending from Kassidy Sauvé.</p>
<p id="TB5M70"><strong>PROJECTIONS</strong></p>
<p id="iA1rlc">As this is each team’s first interconference matchup this year, we don’t have the ability to use KRACH or GRaNT to give point spreads or odds. So in <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/15/22330816/2021-ncaa-womens-hockey-tournament-preview-womens-frozen-four-northeastern-wisconsin-ohio-state">my tournament preview</a> I just decided to wing it:</p>
<p id="UWXwJI"><em>Salzano’s Line: Ohio State -250</em><br><em>Over/Under: 4.0</em></p>
<p id="s9aqkj">For entertainment purposes only, of course.</p>
<p id="HASTuj"><strong>THIS WEEK’S STORYLINE</strong></p>
<p id="L7PBHd"><em>Embrace The Underdog Role. </em>Not like you really <em>need </em>a compelling storyline — it’s the national tournament, after all — but this game has a throwback feel for the Eagles. Back In My Day™, the Eagles made the tournament most seasons, but were usually quarterfinals underdogs. Despite BC’s habit of underperforming as a favorite, they often seem to outplay their ranking when being the lower ranked team, especially in the postseason. There must be something to playing with that mindset for the Eagles. This year alone, Boston College knocked off #1 Northeastern, so you know they’ve got it in them to take an upset win.</p>
<p id="7mXvLU">More recent followers of the team may not recall, but BC’s run of excellence all started with the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history in 2007. That Boston College team <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqe3RAkD0Qo">pulled off the quarterfinal upset</a> against — oh yeah, baby — the #3 ranked team in the country.</p>
<p id="anFCvM"><strong>THE BIG QUESTION</strong></p>
<p id="8x6luA"><em>Who’s got the goalie? </em>Whether or not the Eagles are able to pull this off will come entirely down to whether goaltender Abbey Levy can outduel her Buckeye counterpart. No pressure, buddy. Ohio State is a weird team offensively, taking a ton of shots but not really scoring many goals. They’re 3rd in shot margin nationally, but just 11th in goal margin. </p>
<p id="sDP9DT">That’s the sort of style of play that, in the right circumstances, is conducive to a goaltender looking like a world-beater. Levy, who started the year in a starting rotation with Maddy McArthur and Kelly Pickreign but who has since seized the starting job with both hands, has already put up some of those kinds of performances in the second half of the season, and in her limited action has one of the best save percentages and goals against averages in the country. She definitely could do it.</p>
<p id="BuZKNk"><strong>GAME TIME MEAL OF THE WEEK</strong></p>
<p id="js6nVe"><em>Tums Ultra Strength: Assorted Berries</em></p>
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<p id="QXDAXy">When you’re faced with 60 minutes of agita, you need to have the old standby handy to get you through the evening. In this case, it’s the national tournament, so I recommend classing it up a bit and going with the assorted berries variety pack. </p>
<p id="KScpc9">Sure, any old flavor will do the trick, but the assorted berries are a nice change-of-pace to give your evening that little something extra. Treat yourself; you’ve earned it.</p>
<p id="Ejl4ym"><strong>GAME TIME SONG OF THE WEEK</strong></p>
<p id="VoHMqt"><em>Måneskin — Zitti e Buoni (Shut Up & Be Good)</em></p>
<div id="qW7M7V"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QN1odfjtMoo?rel=0" style="border: 0; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" allow="encrypted-media; accelerometer; clipboard-write; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"></iframe></div></div>
<blockquote><p id="UY3yUE"><strong>Scusami, ma ci credo tanto</strong><br> <em>Sorry, but I believe so much</em><br><strong>Che posso fare questo salto</strong><br> <em>That I can make this jump</em><br><strong>Anche se la strada è in salita</strong><br> <em>Even though the road is uphill</em><br><strong>Per questo ora mi sto allenando</strong><br> <em>This is why I’m training now</em></p></blockquote>
<p id="KwkoRE">Your favorite women’s hockey writer is on a big Italian Music kick lately, and I discovered this song yesterday — just in time to use for this game’s Song of the Week. Most Italian pop songs I’ve come across have a big dance-on-the-beach vibe to them, but this song... errr, does not. </p>
<p id="yzER7Z">This song won Italy’s most prestigious music festival last week and will represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. It’s a real banger and has a hell of a riff. This is a serious pre-game pump-up jam. Enjoy.</p>
<p id="OYAvwM"><strong>PREDICTION</strong></p>
<p id="mqrjJT">This is a trendy upset pick over on the USCHO forum, and I guess it could happen. A few things would need to go BC’s way for the Eagles to pull out the win. As I said earlier, Abbey Levy is the key to the whole thing happening, and she’s had games this year where if she plays like that again, BC is at least going into the third period with a puncher’s chance. </p>
<p id="0BSukw">Ohio State is undoubtedly the much better team, but I can’t shake the feeling that BC is going to go into this game and put up an admirable battle. My brain says the Buckeyes probably win this one, but my heart says the Eagles at least take it to overtime. I’ll say it’s <strong>Ohio State 2-1 in OT</strong>... but BC might have some grit left in them yet.</p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/16/22332746/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-ohio-state-buckeyes-ncaa-tournament-final-thoughts-frozenfourGrant Salzano2021-03-16T07:50:10-04:002021-03-16T07:50:10-04:00FIVE GOOD MINUTES: Talking Buckeye Women’s Hockey With Longtime OSU Supporter pgb-ohio
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YNGYo9_B-WJDoWAIWJoDkW-zB2A=/0x4:3000x2004/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68973611/MAR_10_2018_BC_0237.0.jpg" />
<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/ncaa-womens-hockey-vs-ohio-sta/makenna-newkirk/3213/20528" target="_blank">Rich Gagnon, BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>Getting to know BC’s NCAA quarterfinal opponent</p> <p id="OIrgyI"><em>Boston College Women’s Hockey takes on #3 Ohio State University tonight at 7:00pm EDT for the NCAA quarterfinals. We wanted to get to know BC’s opponent, so we connected with a longtime Ohio State Women’s Hockey supporter to get their perspective on the game. Our friend pgb-ohio, as he’s known on the USCHO forums, is about as knowledgeable as they come from following the Buckeyes’ squad, and he was kind enough to answer some questions for us.</em></p>
<p id="LtdiRs"><strong>BC Interruption: </strong>BC and Ohio State have only faced off once all-time — a 2-0 decision to the Buckeyes in the 2018 NCAA quarterfinals in which Ohio State pretty handily controlled the first two periods of the game before leaning on Kassidy Sauvé in the third. How is this year’s Ohio State team different from that squad? </p>
<p id="TWkmEn"><strong>pgb-ohio: </strong>Well, a 3rd Period surge by the talented Eagles squad in that game was to be expected. But yes, Kassidy carried a heavy load during her time with the Buckeyes, and I do recall that being the case in the third period of the first meeting. The current Buckeye ‘D’ Corps function cohesively, and perhaps is a bit deeper than 2018. Of course you can’t really replace a Jincy Dunne. You take the players you do have, and maximize their strengths.</p>
<p id="2qZ1eI">It goes without saying that Andrea Braendli is a fine goalie who is perfectly capable of being the difference maker in any game. But just maybe these Buckeyes don’t have to “lean on her” to quite the same extent the team leaned on Kassidy.</p>
<p id="WuS2v0"><strong>BCI: </strong>Is there a different feeling for the Buckeyes coming into this game as a favorite compared to three years ago as a slight underdog? Just speaking as a BC fan, I can tell you my stress level is... well, about the same, honestly, but it’s always at a 12 out of 10 for me for these things regardless of the circumstances.</p>
<p id="Hk0GZS"><strong>pgb: </strong>Not really. In the college hockey world, BC is a brand name you instantly respect. Playing in NCAA tournament games is never going to get old. And let’s face it, we never get enough East/West match-ups — in any season. Never mind the pandemic.</p>
<p id="kyIvXs">Now when it comes to putting together challenging non-conference schedules in normal years, Coach Muzzerall does it as well as anyone in the country. We’ve been to nice places before. Regardless, OSU vs. BC is a special match-up, period. </p>
<p id="0oPLqT"><strong>BCI:</strong> Blogger and friend of the site <a href="https://twitter.com/TitleIXHockey">TitleIXHockey</a> gave a <a href="https://twitter.com/TitleIXHockey/status/1369465645176295426">“Too Brief Characterization” of each team in the field</a> and summarized Ohio State as “Shots not goals.” Diving into the national stats, that looks to be surprisingly accurate. The Buckeyes are 3rd in the country in shot margin, but just 11th in goal margin. We didn’t get much of a chance to watch the western games this year (<a href="https://media2.giphy.com/media/14smAwp2uHM3Di/200.gif">shout out to FloHockey and their $30 streams</a>) — so how would you characterize the Buckeyes’ game plan? Is it just “shoot whenever possible,” or have teams been successful keeping OSU to the perimeter, or what’s the deal with that?</p>
<p id="jpxBXz"><strong>pgb: </strong>I don’t believe we’re trying to emulate the offense employed by the Penn State Men’s Hockey Program. This year’s stats stem largely from the top-heavy nature of the schedule. As just one example, Wisconsin is capable of keeping any opponent on the perimeter. One way to attack that is take shots when available, then crash the net and play for second chances. Maybe the conversion rate suffers, but as long as you score 1 more goal than the other guys, OK.</p>
<p id="LURr0h">Also note that the Buckeyes put up nice goal totals against Bemidji & Minnesota State. The finishing skills are there. </p>
<p id="JsSO9P"><strong>BCI:</strong> You guys <a href="https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Final.pdf">launched Minnesota-Duluth into the sun</a> in the WCHA semifinals. Was that fun?</p>
<p id="uYFCt3"><strong>pgb: </strong>That was one night that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JasiSpmfsU">Daddy never took the T-Bird away</a>. </p>
<p id="XwI0Ql"><strong>BCI:</strong> You’ve had your share of rough losses this year as well, though, with 4-0 and 5-0 losses early on to Minnesota and Wisconsin respectively. I guess you can throw in the totally bizarre 7-4 loss at the end of January as well, though that game was tied halfway through the third. What happened there?</p>
<p id="ppf9Fl"><strong>pgb: </strong>I don’t expect to see any games like that in the NCAA tournament, at least involving the Buckeyes. The time-honored two game series often generates odd splits, where one game is close and the other not. </p>
<p id="ljErSk"><strong>BCI:</strong> With COVID locking teams into conference-only schedules, how do you think that might affect the Buckeyes in the postseason? Does it feel more like Ohio State is battle tested, or do 14 games (!!) against Wiconsin, Minnesota, and Minnesota-Duluth start to take their toll?</p>
<p id="hDwevK"><strong>pgb: </strong>Battle-tested? Yes. Fatigued? No. I’ll bet every player on the Buckeye team wishes she had the opportunity to play more games this year.</p>
<p id="QPM05r">Before the UMD game, Coach Muzz theorized that the Buckeyes might hit the ice like just-released caged animals. Of course a contrarian might have predicted a rusty start after a three week layoff. Coach knew best.</p>
<p id="Fsylwx"><strong>BCI:</strong> It’s Wednesday morning and you’re writing up a “<a href="https://fanforum.uscho.com/forum/college-hockey/women-s-college-hockey/36796-ohio-state-buckeyes-2020-2021-unfinished-business?p=3638129#post3638129">Three Stars Of The Game”</a> on USCHO for this matchup. Who are you writing up, and what’d they do to earn it?</p>
<p id="7YOq8J"><strong>pgb: </strong>Emma Maltais, Liz Schepers, and Tatum Skaggs are each terrific hockey players in their own right, and yet the value of the top line exceeds the sum of its parts. They genuinely enjoy playing together. As seniors, they’ve been at it a while. They’re adaptable. Example: Try to keep Emma from scoring goals, and she’ll beat you with assists. </p>
<p id="M34801">None of these women will be done with hockey after this tournament, but this week will almost certainly be their last chance to play together as a line. I say that they rise to the occasion, and one or more of them earn Stars.</p>
<p id="s5oret"><strong>BCI:</strong> Last question — give me a quick period-by-period synopsis of how you see this game going down, and what does the scoreboard show at the end of the night?</p>
<p id="9Fg1Xf"><strong>pgb: </strong>Can’t say. <em>[Ed. Note: Booooo!] </em> I haven’t seen BC play one minute of hockey this year, mostly due to the pandemic. Unlike many observers, I never assume that the opposing team’s effort is a constant. So I’ll be fascinated to see the Eagles play, but admit I don’t know what to expect.</p>
<p id="wu8vDC">I will say this much. The Eagles should expect the Buckeyes to play fast, and to have each other’s backs. They’re a true team, and they’re tough to play against. </p>
<p id="3narlA">Will that work for planting seeds of doubt? Either way, thanks for the opportunity to participate.</p>
<p id="ib11Og"><em>Thanks very much to pgb-ohio for taking the time to answer some questions for us as we get to know the Ohio State women’s hockey team! Puck drop for #6 Boston College vs. #3 Ohio State will be at 7:00pm EDT, with </em><a href="https://www.ncaa.com/game/5799575"><em>a free live stream at NCAA.com</em></a><em> showing the game. Be sure to tune in as the Eagles look to advance to their first Frozen Four since 2017!</em></p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/16/22333397/five-good-minutes-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-ncaa-tournament-ohio-state-buckeyes-q-and-aGrant Salzano2021-03-15T08:00:00-04:002021-03-15T08:00:00-04:002021 NCAA Women’s Hockey Tournament Preview
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<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/womens-hockey-vs-northeastern/olivia-finocchiaro-battles-for/3535/28263" target="_blank">BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>One of the most intriguing brackets in years</p> <p id="G0yUGV">The final week of the NCAA Women’s Hockey season is upon us! The strangest season we’ve ever had led to <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/10/22322270/ncaa-womens-hockey-tournament-bracket-revealed-frozen-four-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey">the most shocking bracket reveal we’ve ever had</a>, but thanks to the complete absence of interconference games we’ve got a very poor idea of how teams from different leagues match up. Fortunately, the women’s hockey tournament committee blessed us with four non-conference games in the quarterfinals, giving us matchups that have a lot of intrigue and should produce a really fun tournament to watch.</p>
<p id="Gk1efg">This is a pretty tough field to predict, particularly once you get to the Frozen Four. Northeastern comes in as the top seed, but they only grabbed the spot from Wisconsin a couple weeks back. Ohio State is sitting right behind them both in third, but they’ve already proven they’re every bit the peer of the Badgers thanks to a 2-2 regular season split before falling in overtime in the WCHA championship game. </p>
<p id="SPjWeb">But the top teams aren’t invincible, and they have their flaws. It’s a pretty popular trope in these previews, but if one of those teams in the bottom half of the bracket pulled out three wins, it truly wouldn’t be a shocker this season.</p>
<p id="VJ7Wfd">All quarterfinal games will be played at the site of the Frozen Four due to COVID, which should make for a fun week of games. It takes away the home ice advantage for the top seeds, but neutral site matchups are more fun anyway, and plus it lets all eight teams that earned a spot in the tournament be part of the event in a year where even more of a commitment was required of the players than usual.</p>
<p id="hPvBK7"><strong>No. 8 Robert Morris Colonials (16-7-1, 11-7-1 CHA)</strong><br><strong>vs. No. 1 Northeastern Huskies (20-1-1, 17-1-1 WHEA)</strong></p>
<p id="aFEJpp"><strong>Erie Insurance Arena, Erie PA</strong><br><strong>Monday, March 15th, 2021</strong><br><strong>2:00pm EDT</strong></p>
<p id="jJAi5y">The bad news for Northeastern is that of all the teams in the field, Robert Morris probably gets the most “Home Ice Advantage” of this tournament as the only team located in western Pennsylvania (although it should mentioned that despite being “close” to Erie, they’re still two hours away... anyone who’s ever driven through PA will tell you that the state is just way too big). They’ve also just played three straight games in this very rink, so they’re more familiar with the bounces here than any other team.</p>
<p id="VnWLgm">The good news for Northeastern, though, is that the Huskies get the lowest ranked team in the field. We don’t know where the Colonials would be in the Pairwise this year, since it doesn’t really make sense to calculate with no non-conference games, but they were certainly not going to be in the tournament without earning the CHA autobid. That’s a big advantage for Northeastern that the other top seeds won’t have.</p>
<p id="UGuNmK">The Huskies have a totally stacked roster, with the nation’s top goaltender (by a lot), top defender (by a lot), and top scoring forward all firing at all cylinders. Aside from playing Providence a few times (<a href="https://nuhuskies.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/stats/2020-21/providence-college/boxscore/11078">and</a> <a href="https://nuhuskies.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/stats/2020-21/providence-college/boxscore/10738">absolutely</a> <a href="https://nuhuskies.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/stats/2020-21/providence-college/boxscore/10737">nuking</a> <a href="https://nuhuskies.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/stats/2020-21/providence-college/boxscore/10823">them</a> at every opportunity), Northeastern’s had a pretty easy schedule in the second half, and while they’ve totally laid waste to everyone they’ve faced off against, we don’t yet know what they’ll have for a top team.</p>
<p id="Q4OjsD">Robert Morris plays some wide open hockey (their games feature a whopping 66.88 combined shots), which sounds fantastic and super fun except for the fact that Northeastern routinely eats teams up that try to skate with them (see: College, Providence). </p>
<p id="tSQa0b"><em>Salzano’s Line: Northeastern -600</em><br><em>Over/Under: 5.5</em><br><em>Prediction: I hate to be the bearer of bad news for Robert Morris, but I cannot even fathom the Colonials riding a run-and-gun style to an upset of Northeastern. I am inclined to give these tournament teams the benefit of the doubt in their ability to put up a good fight, but this is a matchup nightmare. I like </em><em><strong>Northeastern 5-1</strong></em><em> in this game.</em></p>
<p id="BSxp74"><strong>No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (11-6-0, 11-5-0 WCHA)</strong><br><strong>vs. No. 4 Colgate Raiders (15-6-1, 8-4-0 ECAC)</strong></p>
<p id="rQ1cKg"><strong>Erie Insurance Arena, Erie PA</strong><br><strong>Monday, March 15th, 2021</strong><br><strong>7:00pm EDT</strong></p>
<p id="hYmt3Y">Like most 4/5 games, this one should be a real treat. So much to watch for here. You’ve got Duluth, who was a pretty controversial selection into the field in the first place, a historical power with five national titles to their credit but who have been playing third-fiddle to Wisconsin and Minnesota for over a decade now, looking to make a statement that they belong in the tournament. You’ve got Colgate, an upstart program <a href="https://www.uscho.com/stats/history/colgate/womens-hockey/2020-2021/">that kind of came out of nowhere a few years ago</a> and kinda-sorta won their kind-sorta league this year for the first time, who seem to be really good but who have sputtered a bit down the stretch. </p>
<p id="ulgEEi">Of all eight teams in the field, these are the two we probably have the least idea of just how good they are. Colgate’s record in the mini-ECAC doesn’t blow you away, except when you consider the fact that their three league opponents (Quinnipiac, St. Lawrence, and Clarkson) all flirted with the top ten at some point this season. But with such a small sample of opponents, they are tough to figure out — especially since they’re on a not-particularly-impressive 5-5-0 stretch to close out the year.</p>
<p id="IGKAbM">Minnesota-Duluth is another enigma. It’s hard to tell just what the committee saw in them to put them into the tournament over Minnesota, but they’ve at least got a couple statement wins to their credit, going 1-1-0 each against #2 Wisconsin and #3 Ohio State in the regular season. The two problems with the Bulldogs, though, are (1) they played a <em>ton</em> of games against the very-not-good bottom of the WCHA, and (2) when they are bad, they are very bad. Their two-game season series against last-place Bemidji saw them score just one goal in a weekend split, and their last game was a 7-2 torching at the hands of Ohio State that UMD fans would probably like to pretend never happened.</p>
<p id="BxvltN"><em>Salzano’s Line: Pick ‘Em</em><br><em>Over/Under: 4.5</em><br><em>Prediction: Two polar opposites here. One team with a weak schedule but who pulled out a couple great wins against elite opponents, and one team who didn’t play a single bad team all season but who doesn’t really have any statement wins. This game could be anything from a 5-1 Colgate win to a 5-1 Duluth win to a 1-0 overtime stalemate and it wouldn’t surprise me. My gut says one team shows up and the other doesn’t, though, leading to a 3 goal win for the victors. I flipped a coin and it came up Colgate, so we’ll call it </em><em><strong>a 4-1 win for the Raiders</strong></em><em>... but don’t show up in my mentions if this game goes in the total opposite direction, because it absolutely might.</em></p>
<p id="xmmN2m"><strong>No. 7 Providence College Friars (12-7-1, 11-6-1 WHEA)</strong><br><strong>vs. No. 2 Wisconsin Badgers (14-3-1, 12-3-1 WCHA)</strong></p>
<p id="pBnXx1"><strong>Erie Insurance Arena, Erie PA</strong><br><strong>Tuesday, March 16th, 2021</strong><br><strong>2:00pm EDT</strong></p>
<p id="706pgU">Providence?! Based on their lack of a selection-show-reaction video on the team’s Twitter account, I’m guessing they were probably as surprised as the rest of us to see themselves in the bracket. But hey, cool! Some new blood. That’s fun.</p>
<p id="UnrwvV">Unfortunately, Providence gets matched up with Wisconsin, who along with Northeastern have been the consensus #1 and #2 teams in the country for a few months now. Still, Wisconsin isn’t the <em>oh, man, wow, Wisconsin </em>they usually are at the top of the rankings. Maybe it’s just because this year is weird, but the Badgers seem to have more flaws than usual. Their goaltending in particular has been just okay, and while some of that can be attributed to playing a really tough schedule this year, the fact is they’ve been allowing some goals when they’re historically a team that can lock things down. </p>
<p id="UDDu6G">Skater-wise, they’ve really been carried by Patty Kazmaier finalist Daryl Watts this season. Below the high-wattage of that top line, though, the firepower becomes a bit easier to manage. Don’t get me wrong here — the Badgers won the brutal WCHA this season, they’ve been #1 or #2 in the rankings all year, and <em>they are Wisconsin</em>. But you can see the exhaust vent in this Death Star, so to speak.</p>
<p id="v0Lq0J">Providence... Well, they’re in the tournament, that’s for sure. Somehow. What an unexpected paragraph to have to write. Pretty much their entire tournament resume consists of being 2-1 against Boston College this season, with those two wins coming way back in November and the Eagles looking the better team for about the first 40 minutes of both games anyway. </p>
<p id="Cp41Qx">The Friars were just totally vaporized by Northeastern in four games this year by a combined score of 19-3. Just about the only consolation PC can take out of those contests is that the Huskies were probably playing <a href="https://twitter.com/Salzano14/status/1345825769449263106">prettyyyyy angry</a> in those games, and they won’t have that problem against Wisconsin. The Friars also played with an extremely short bench in the second half of the year (so short that there were rumors that Providence was going to end their season early at one point). How deep their bench is will go a long way towards determining how much of a fight the Friars can put up.</p>
<p id="YdPo2o"><em>Salzano’s Line: Wisconsin -375</em><br><em>Over/Under: 4.5</em><br><em>Prediction: This wouldn’t be the biggest upset we’ve ever seen in the women’s tournament, but it would be up there. If we assume that Providence has a full roster (a tough assumption to make, but let’s assume so anyway), there’s a possibility that their talented goaltender Sandra Abstreiter could make some big stops to keep this one a tight game late. I’d be foolish to predict a PC win, but I think this one’s going to be tighter than a lot of folks out west will want to give the Friars credit for. I like </em><em><strong>Wisconsin </strong></em><em>here, but only </em><em><strong>by a score of 3-1</strong></em><em>.</em></p>
<p id="w06fm5"><strong>No. 6 Boston College Eagles (14-5-0, 14-4-0 WHEA)</strong><br><strong>vs. No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-6-0, 11-5-0 WCHA)</strong></p>
<p id="GXyINX"><strong>Erie Insurance Arena, Erie PA</strong><br><strong>Tuesday, March 16th, 2021</strong><br><strong>7:00pm EDT</strong></p>
<p id="xStJGe">BC was a pretty good fit for the #6 seed in the tournament field, and despite having to sweat out Selection Sunday after <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/2/28/22306422/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-east-tournament-final-score-5-1-loss-to-uconn-huskies-pain">a horror show of a Hockey East quarterfinal</a>, the Eagles ended up having a little breathing room to get into the bracket. What’s nice about this year’s iteration of Boston College Women’s Hockey is that for the most part, they’ve played better than the sum of their parts, and have done a great job of digging deep and finding wins despite missing a lot of players over the last several weeks due to COVID protocols.</p>
<p id="Hxcqjq">Unfortunately, they stumbled at the end of the year, dropping a game to Boston University in the last weekend of the regular season and then having the aforementioned roasting at the hands of UConn in the Hockey East tournament. BC probably would have been looking at a top 5 seed had that not happened — or maybe even a #4 seed, if Colgate could have fallen in the ECAC tournament — but ifs, buts, candy, nuts, etc. The fact of the matter was they started slipping, and here we are.</p>
<p id="mg4DFY">A pleasant surprise with the Eagles over the second half of the year has been the play of transfer goaltender Abbey Levy, who has quietly put up some of the best goaltending numbers in the country since grabbing the #1 spot in what started as a rotation and is capable of stealing games.</p>
<p id="q83pjt">Unfortunately, while BC gets to avoid both #1 Northeastern and #2 Wisconsin, there’s a pretty good case to be made that Ohio State is of the same caliber of both those teams. The Buckeyes were 2-2 against Wisconsin in the regular season and took the Badgers to overtime in the WCHA Championship. They’re really good, and I would easily put them in the group of teams that I’d deem the favorites to win the whole tournament.</p>
<p id="siw5Wd">Statistically, though, Ohio State is... kind of weird. They fire off a <em>ton</em> of shots, but their scoring isn’t what you’d expect — they’re 3rd in shot margin, but only 11th in goal margin. I don’t really know why that is, though we have an interview with an Ohio State supporter that will post soon where I asked them that question, so maybe we’ll find out. </p>
<p id="6krPCS">It almost feels like this game is the 2018 game but with a flipped script. In 2018, Ohio State had the hot goalie, and they came in not as a really great team but as a good, cohesive unit, but came in as an underdog. This year, BC has the goalie, BC hasn’t been playing its best but has been playing good team hockey, and BC comes in as the underdog. Ohio State will almost definitely outshoot the Eagles in this game, but I have a hunch that won’t tell the whole story.</p>
<p id="bKy2Ox"><em>Salzano’s Line: Ohio State -250</em><br><em>Over/Under: 4.0</em><br><em>Prediction: This is a trendy upset pick over on the USCHO forum, and I guess it could happen. A few things would need to go BC’s way for the Eagles to pull out the win. Abbey Levy is the key to the whole thing happening, and she’s had games this year where if she plays like that again, BC is at least going into the third period with a puncher’s chance. Ohio State is undoubtedly the much better team, but I can’t shake the feeling that BC is going to go into this game and put up an admirable battle. Of course, the Eagles have historically done pretty well in the tournament as underdogs, so that could be where that feeling comes from. My brain says the Buckeyes probably win this game, but my heart says the Eagles at least take it to overtime. I’ll say it’s </em><em><strong>Ohio State 2-1 in OT</strong></em><em>... but the Eagles might have some grit left in them yet.</em></p>
<p id="pgJXqe"><em><strong>Frozen Four Predictions:</strong></em></p>
<p id="Kyknxe"><em><strong>Northeastern over Colgate 3-1 (ENG): </strong></em><em>Colgate is a tougher matchup for Northeastern than Robert Morris is (even putting aside relative team talent), and rock-solid teams can really make Northeastern work for it, but I think the Huskies have the firepower to outlast the Raiders.</em></p>
<p id="AYwm3N"><em><strong>Ohio State over Wisconsin 3-2: </strong></em><em>The Badger/Buckeye seesaw flips back the other way this time around in what has been one of the most fun season-long duels in recent memory.</em></p>
<p id="jzODqW"><em><strong>NORTHEASTERN OVER OHIO STATE 2-1: </strong></em><em>I just love the Huskies this year. It hurts watching them outshine BC, but they are just a thrill and a half. I know they didn’t really have the competition this season that Ohio State did, but Northeastern truly just has all the pieces to the puzzle. It’s not even a matter of firepower here in the final — it’s just that the Huskies have the top line, they have the depth, they have the D, and they have the goaltending that will wear out even the best that the WCHA can throw at them. I hope they do it; they are right up there with 2016 Boston College as the most complete teams Hockey East has ever put into the tournament.</em></p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/15/22330816/2021-ncaa-womens-hockey-tournament-preview-womens-frozen-four-northeastern-wisconsin-ohio-stateGrant Salzano2021-03-10T08:00:00-05:002021-03-10T08:00:00-05:00Yeah, The NCAA Women’s Hockey Bracket Really Is Something. Let’s Talk About It.
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vU9HZKVaeKOJ30dqufPc8y0aUeE=/0x0:2000x1333/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68940768/QUA_0152.0.jpg" />
<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/womens-hockey-vs-merrimack/jillian-fey-takes-a-face-off-a/3540/28333" target="_blank">BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>We won’t have a selection show like that ever again</p> <p id="mXRfeH">The NCAA Women’s Hockey Tournament selection show was Sunday night, and it certainly provided some serious entertainment value. Absent objective, hard-and-fast criteria with which to select teams for the field, the committee was left with total subjectivity as their only way to assign the four at-large spots and to seed the eight team NCAA tournament bracket. I didn’t think the women’s hockey world would ever miss the Pairwise, but wow, it sure seems like the women’s hockey world misses the Pairwise!</p>
<p id="naq0MF">Now that we’ve had a couple days to digest what happened, let’s talk about it. Here is the field with how the committee set the bracket, in the order that the matchups were revealed:</p>
<p id="b5iorK"><strong>No. 8 Robert Morris vs. No. 1 Northeastern</strong><br><strong>No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth vs. No. 4 Colgate</strong><br><br><strong>No. 6 Boston College vs. No. 3 Ohio State</strong><br><strong>No. 7 Providence College vs. No. 2 Wisconsin</strong></p>
<p id="aJEcld">RMU vs. NU was as expected. The Huskies had pretty firmly grabbed the #1 seed before blitzing their way to the Hockey East title, and Robert Morris was the bottom seed after their upset win in the CHA tournament.</p>
<p id="jUcgzJ">We had our first real surprise with the reveal of the second matchup. Based on just about any numerical method of ranking teams within conferences, Minnesota was ranked above Minnesota-Duluth. The Gophers were higher in WCHA KRACH, higher in WCHA RPI, and were 2-0-0 against the Bulldogs on the season. Make no mistake, both teams were sweating it out as members of the pack vying for the final spots, but most of us doing bracketologies were pretty sure the Gophers would slide into the field in fifth as the top team among those on the bubble.</p>
<p id="Jc9GEx">Minnesota head coach Brad Frost <a href="https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sports/hockey/6922558-Women%E2%80%99s-hockey-Gophers-shocked-to-be-left-out-of-NCAA-field">spoke with the media late Sunday night</a>, and he, like many of us, knew that something was afoot when he saw Minnesota-Duluth, instead slotted in at #5:</p>
<blockquote><p id="VYxCMO">When the Bulldogs were announced as the five seed against No. 4 Colgate, Frost’s stomach dropped. “The Colgate coach texted before the pairings were announced and said we’ll see ya next week,” Frost said. “I thought we’d be the 5 seed. I’ve been doing this 21 years and I thought we were right there in the five spot.”</p></blockquote>
<p id="IeszRu">The bracket was being revealed pretty quickly, so at least for me watching, the implications of Duluth being #5 weren’t quite felt right away. The third matchup to be revealed was pretty ho-hum with BC paired with Ohio State <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/7/22318470/ncaa-womens-hockey-bracketology-nailbiter-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-fans-frozen-four">as we expected</a>, but if anything the lack of a curveball at this juncture only served to hammer home the point that something surprising was going to come in the final reveal.</p>
<p id="N4jUrG">With Northeastern at #1, we knew Wisconsin would be slotting in at #2 as the home team in the final pairing. But with Minnesota somehow still missing from the screen and only one at-large spot left to be unveiled, a hundred thoughts just kind of crashed into everyone’s frontal lobe all at once.</p>
<p id="Ci4I84"><em>“Huh, Duluth at #5? Wow... Wait, so, Minnesota’s gotta be... what, the #7 then? But wait, that means they’d have to be paired with Wisconsin like they are every season... No, there’s absolutely no way the committee would have done that in this year of all years... So... wait... Oh my God, Minnesota’s going to miss the tournament, aren’t they?! Wow, good for Penn S...</em></p>
<p id="Yk9CC7"><em>...PROVIDENCE?!?!?!?!”</em></p>
<p id="Ng6RAu">I realize a lot of you don’t follow women’s hockey, but this was as big of a selection show shocker as you will ever see. Minnesota missing the field alone would have been wild enough. That would be the equivalent of a men’s hockey team — and the bluest of blue-bloods, no less! — being ranked eighth in the polls and missing the sixteen team tournament without a single unexpected autobid taking the place of an at-large. It’s even more stunning when you consider the fact that the Gophers have never missed the tournament under Brad Frost, and they’ve made the field every season dating back to 2006-07 and won the whole thing four times in that span.</p>
<p id="OT5X54">A lot of the surprise in the bracket came from the fact that Providence was seemingly put into the tournament head to head over Minnesota, but I would argue that that’s not really the case. As we posited in our bracketology on Sunday afternoon, <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/7/22318470/ncaa-womens-hockey-bracketology-nailbiter-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-fans-frozen-four">Providence was definitely in the conversation</a> — we had them as the second team out — behind Penn State (and, obviously, Minnesota). Knowing the politics of how these things tend to shake out after following the sport for the last 15 years, it seems clear that there were two factors at play here, and two decisions made based on those factors:</p>
<p id="4Ta1QW">1a) First, it seems obvious that the committee — as they have for the entire history of women’s hockey as an NCAA-sponsored sport — did not feel comfortable having the WCHA represent half the tournament field, regardless of its perceived strength. That means that...</p>
<p id="pfBhqT">1b) ...a choice was made between the two WCHA bubble teams, UMD and Minnesota.</p>
<p id="XgI2Q9">I’ve been on record for the last few days saying that the Gophers should have been in over the Bulldogs, and I stand by that now:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">UMD is in the tournament as the #5 seed, while Minnesota, who was ahead of UMD in both intra-WCHA KRACH and intra-WCHA RPI, and was 2-0-0 against Duluth, misses the field entirely. That's the craziest thing I've ever seen in this tournament which has a history of crazy-ass things</p>— Grant Salzano (@Salzano14) <a href="https://twitter.com/Salzano14/status/1368744741010083846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2021</a>
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<p id="jlP4bJ">Having said that, both teams were squarely on the bubble. There’s also been quite a lot of chatter coming from out west about how Minnesota didn’t deserve to be in the tournament field. When Minnesota’s own fans are saying things like <em>“</em><a href="https://fanforum.uscho.com/forum/college-hockey/women-s-college-hockey/3619577-minnesota-gopher-women-s-hockey-20-21?p=3646071#post3646071"><em>Put Minnesota out of its misery and do not select this team for the tournament. Please</em></a><em>,”</em> it does give you a bit of a chuckle to see the outrage when the committee actually up and did it.</p>
<p id="ZmOY7q">Obviously nobody’s saying we should use the rantings of an angry fan on USCHO to set the tournament field, but from what I’ve heard behind the scenes from some well-connected folks out west, there are plenty of WCHA administrators who have been privately saying the same things.</p>
<p id="lUW7Sa">2a) The second point that was made clear on Sunday is that committee was not convinced that the CHA, which has never been even close to strong enough to warrant getting two teams into the field, was somehow out of nowhere that much better this one year when they didn’t have to play any other conferences (except for Syracuse, who, surprise, lost both games). That mean’s that...</p>
<p id="x5PSq8">2b) ...the choice to put Providence into the field was probably one in which the Friars were considered head to head against Penn State, not Minnesota.</p>
<p id="BhcF45">If you figure that the committee just didn’t feel comfortable putting in four WCHA teams, then the choice came down to the next two teams on the bubble, Penn State and Providence. CHA fans will argue with you until they’re blue in the face that the conference is better than its reputation, but the fact is that this year, of all years, the committee wasn’t given any evidence to go on to suggest that the conference finally improved enough relative to the rest of the conferences to warrant a second bid. That would have left the final at-large bid to fall to Providence... and there was your bracket.</p>
<p id="2fwKZn">Now, there’s one last point to make about this whole situation. Taking issue with whether or not the WCHA should have gotten a fourth bid or whether the CHA should have gotten a second bid is totally fine and absolutely part of a good-faith debate over the process. But a lot of the anger about the bracket has spilled over into conspiracy theories...</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Meanwhile in Minnesota... they’re finding fraud <a href="https://t.co/FYsWYmFQLb">https://t.co/FYsWYmFQLb</a> <a href="https://t.co/HmdtUjv0oO">pic.twitter.com/HmdtUjv0oO</a></p>— BC Interruption (@bcinterruption) <a href="https://twitter.com/bcinterruption/status/1369094978220290055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2021</a>
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<p id="eNqf5H">...and in some cases, fans and commentators directing their anger toward individual members of the committee. That’s where you leave the realm of constructive debate. </p>
<p id="KdVHQG">First and foremost, coaches and administrators representing schools under consideration (so, Katie Crowley of BC and Josh Berlo of Minnesota-Duluth) are not allowed to be part of the discussion regarding their own teams’ selection. That alone should be enough to nip this in the bud.</p>
<p id="ZsyG01">In particular, the ire on Twitter and USCHO and elsewhere suggesting Katie Crowley’s bias toward her own team is the reason the Eagles are in the tournament is a little nuts. Obviously we’re going to put in a defense of Coach Crowley here as a BC website, but before all this went down, a strong majority of prognosticators were pretty on board with BC being one of the teams that would get in, once there weren’t any surprises other than Penn State.</p>
<p id="tgLq6U">And while I get the frustration with UMD being in over Minnesota, an individual member — especially one such as Josh Berlo who isn’t even allowed to advocate for UMD — is not the whole committee, and lest we forget, there’s been plenty of grousing coming from out west (and even some coming from the Twin Cities in particular) about how the Gophers didn’t deserve to be in the field.</p>
<p id="ULe6tN">Fans and the like pointing their frustration at any one committee member in particular is really not justified and it’s unnecessarily personal. This was a committee-selected bracket, and for all we know, Coach Crowley or AD Berlo or any other member of that committee could have been arguing in the minority on any particular decision. Furthermore, it’s also pretty crass and offensive to suggest, as plenty have, that these members didn’t take their jobs seriously or couldn’t put aside their biases to set a field unlike they do any other year. </p>
<p id="hb9PJi">Let’s not act like the prevailing factors at hand here (a perceived disrespect of the WCHA and CHA, in their own ways) were something unique to this season’s selection process. If anything, seeing the WCHA and CHA get slighted like they do every year is just further evidence that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s always been the case even in normal seasons that the committee will not go out of its way to treat the CHA as an equal or to treat the WCHA like an exceptional conference. The only difference this season is that without the Pairwise, the stakes were higher because we were talking about tournament selection and not just seeding.</p>
<p id="F5pTdX">So, yeah, this bracket was a stunner. Yeah, the Gophers probably should have been in over Duluth. Yeah, it would have been a feel-good story to see Penn State and the CHA get an at-large after the Nittany Lions’ great year. But it’s not great seeing frustrations over how the field turned out morph into personal vendettas against the folks tasked with making what were almost certainly excruciating decisions, especially in a year without a Pairwise to make things black and white.</p>
<p id="pl1Ev7">You can disagree with the decisions made all you want, but in the one year where selection was going to be subjective, this was the one season where your team should have made sure to take it out of the committee’s hands and win their conference to get in. Someone was going to be upset about getting left out no matter what. </p>
<p id="ZnnJNg">This year was tough, there’s no doubt about it. But at least we’ll have the Pairwise back next year to set the field like normal <a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-womens-hockey/2016/3/7/11172772/exclusive-ncaa-womens-hockey-tourmament-frozen-four-boston-college-minnesota-wisconsin">where the committee never, ever, ever makes any controversial decisions</a>.</p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/10/22322270/ncaa-womens-hockey-tournament-bracket-revealed-frozen-four-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockeyGrant Salzano2021-03-07T21:03:05-05:002021-03-07T21:03:05-05:00BC Women’s Hockey Selected To NCAA Tournament, Will Play #3 Ohio State
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<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/womens-hockey-vs-merrimack/the-eagles-celebrate-a-goal-ag/3540/28320" target="_blank">BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>The Eagles are back in the national tournament!</p> <p id="89RHee">Boston College Women’s Hockey had to sweat out a long weekend of conference tournament games after falling to UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinals, but it all worked out in the end as the Eagles will make their return to the NCAA tournament!</p>
<p id="tnCFLm"><a href="https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/7/22318470/ncaa-womens-hockey-bracketology-nailbiter-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-fans-frozen-four">We suspected</a> — but didn’t know for sure — that the Eagles had a good enough resume to sneak into the field as a bubble team, and that turned out to be true. Boston College will face off against the #3 seed, Ohio State, who fell in a tough overtime matchup against Wisconsin for the WCHA title this afternoon. It’s an opportunity for redemption for BC, as the Buckeyes knocked the Eagles out of the tournament at home in the 2018 quarterfinals.</p>
<p id="fNgBRA">Here’s how the NCAA tournament field shook out:</p>
<p id="qsGt26"><strong>Robert Morris vs. (1) Northeastern</strong><br><strong>Providence (?!?!?!?) vs. (2) Wisconsin</strong><br><strong>Boston College vs. (3) Ohio State</strong><br><strong>Minnesota-Duluth vs. (4) Colgate</strong></p>
<p id="LupMhG">All tournament games, including the quarterfinals, will take place in Erie, PA. The quarterfinals will take place on Monday and Tuesday, March 15th and 16th, with the semifinals taking place on Thursday, March 18th, and the championship game on Saturday night, March 20th.</p>
<p id="f00OaC">We’ll have more to preview BC’s matchup as the week goes on!</p>
https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/7/22318668/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-selected-to-ncaa-tournament-will-play-ohio-state-buckeyesGrant Salzano2021-03-07T16:45:45-05:002021-03-07T16:45:45-05:00NCAA Women’s Hockey Bracketology: A Nailbiter For BC Fans
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IzLU9XuKgZXBvFiv0yVoJEI_uUc=/317x0:2048x1154/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68926550/Photo_Dec_11__2_01_24_AM.0.jpg" />
<figcaption><a class="ql-link" href="https://bceagles.com/galleries/womens-ice-hockey/womens-hockey-vs-northeastern/hannah-bilka-skates-to-the-puc/3535/28259" target="_blank">BC Athletics</a></figcaption>
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<p>Being on the bubble with no Pairwise is NO FUN!</p> <p id="gNzmRq">Boston College Women’s Hockey had an early exit from the Hockey East tournament with a rough 5-1 loss to UConn in the quarterfinals, but there’s hope that the season isn’t quite over just yet for Katie Crowley’s squad. </p>
<p id="trfVfM">The Eagles needed a lot of things to go their way this weekend, but it looks like BC got most of the results they needed to at least be in the discussion. With Colgate just now earning the ECAC championship, the only surprise auto-bid into the NCAA tournament field is going to be Robert Morris out of the CHA. That’s not the <em>ideal</em> result for the Eagles, but it at least puts Penn State, who was solidly in the field before losing in the CHA semifinals, back into the list of bubble teams hoping to get an invitation to Erie, PA next week.</p>
<p id="Acdcmp">Unfortunately, without a Pairwise to use this year to lock-in the field, the selection committee is going to have to be completely subjective in setting the bracket. Let’s at least start with the programs we know for sure are into the 8 team field:</p>
<p id="hsku4Z"><strong>Hockey East Champion: Northeastern</strong><br><strong>WCHA Champion: Wisconsin </strong><s><strong>/ Ohio State</strong></s><br><strong>ECAC Champion: Colgate</strong><br><strong>CHA Champion: Robert Morris</strong></p>
<p id="asD0Of"><s>As of this posting, the WCHA final is still being played between Wisconsin and Ohio State, but as those two teams are currently sitting in a rock-solid #2 and #3 in the polls, we can safely assume both will make it.</s><strong> Wisconsin wins the WCHA in overtime.</strong></p>
<p id="XgFi2o">That leaves us with three open spots for about six or so teams still in the hunt. They’ve all got warts, so let’s just break the teams down in order of who it feels like has the best case.</p>
<p id="cjH98Q">Keep in mind, this is all subjective and one man’s opinion. Again, we don’t have a Pairwise to definitively say who will be in.</p>
<p id="K1Iuuf"><strong>Minnesota (WCHA): IN</strong></p>
<p id="icW2AL">The Gophers have had a dreadful year by their own standards... which is to say a year most programs would kill to have. They don’t have any bad losses, and they do have a couple wins over tournament teams — but a whole lot of losses to those teams, too. They’re 2-4-0 against Ohio State and 0-3-1 against Wisconsin. They’re also 2-0-0 against Duluth, who’s sitting a bit below the Gophers on the bubble as well. That’s a solid enough resume, and seems to be better than the teams below them, so while a lot of folks out west think Minnesota should be out, I expect the Gophers to be in the field.</p>
<p id="dKAOxo"><strong>Boston College (WHEA): IN</strong></p>
<p id="jWqdxT">We’re biased, obviously, but we think Boston College may be on the right side of the bubble here. The Eagles don’t have any losses to terrible teams, and they are the only team to have beaten #1 Northeastern this season — that’s a big check mark on the resume. Unfortunately, the Eagles do have a pretty big blemish to their record in their awful 5-1 loss to UConn in the Hockey East quarterfinals. None of the other bubble teams had to play a quarterfinal game, so BC has the distinction of having the worst conference tournament of anyone involved here, but their larger body of work, I think, should have them in.</p>
<p id="TMApxv"><strong>Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA): LAST TEAM IN</strong><br><strong>Penn State (CHA): FIRST TEAM OUT</strong></p>
<p id="C9QgdY">Duluth and Penn State feel like the teams battling for the final tournament spot, and it’s a real coin flip, to me, on who gets in. Either one getting in would break the mold for how the tournament gets set: the WCHA has never gotten four teams into the field, and the CHA has never gotten two.</p>
<p id="6vHD2u">These are two polar-opposite resumes. On the one hand, Duluth played some good teams and was able to knock them off a couple times. They split 1-1 with Ohio State and 1-1 with Wisconsin, though they did go 0-2 against the Gophers. The rest of their schedule was pretty soft, and they do have a brutal loss to Bemidji, who was very not good.</p>
<p id="PKNefR">Penn State, on the other hand, won a ton of games this year... but didn’t have a single game against a top 10 team. Their loss in the CHA semifinals complicated things, because they looked like they might not just be in the field, but possibly not be higher than the 8 seed. But they lost, so here we are. </p>
<p id="KVQo3N">I am more inclined to give the spot here to the team that has proven they can beat a top team rather than a team that just doesn’t have much of a resume, but given that Penn State had the best year of any CHA team in years (though, again, they didn’t have to play any teams from other conferences), I wouldn’t quibble with the committee putting in the Nittany Lions over the Bulldogs as a reward for such a season, especially when it would make the bracket a bit cleaner for non-conference matchups, and especially since having half the teams in the field be from the same conference is kind of lame (sorry, WCHA fans).</p>
<p id="AmIgYl"><strong>Providence (WHEA): OUT</strong><br><strong>St. Lawrence (ECAC): OUT</strong><br><strong>Clarkson (ECAC): OUT</strong></p>
<p id="cHPjMU">The Friars, Saints, and Golden Knights are the only three teams with much of an argument otherwise to get in. </p>
<p id="G1IXZI">Providence mostly gets considered here on the strength of their 2-1 record against Boston College, but they were blown to bits four times by a very angry Northeastern team in the second half of the year, and that combined with a so-so remaining resume means they just aren’t there.</p>
<p id="UZejr6">St. Lawrence had a super-hot end to the year, knocking off Clarkson four times in a row to advance to the ECAC championship game and only losing by one to Colgate. Unfortunately, SLU just didn’t do enough outside of that run. Their season started super late, and they’re below .500 at 6-7-0. A whopping 10 of their 13 games were against Colgate and Clarkson, so that’s a lot better than it looks, but it’s a limited resume.</p>
<p id="BWKoFh">Clarkson looked to have a good shot to get in for most of the season, but they totally fell apart at the end of the year. Their season ended with four straight losses to St. Lawrence, and their already-not-good 8-10-1 record was bolstered by playing a couple games against LIU of the NEWHA conference. A month ago I’d have told you they would have had a shot, but certainly not now.</p>
<p id="vzXgb1">With your eight teams selected, now you’ve got to deal with seeding — and while that’s less stressful of an exercise than deciding who gets in, it’s just as subjective. This is how I’d seed them if I were in charge:</p>
<p id="Mbw6PO"><strong>(1) Northeastern (WHEA Champion)</strong><br><strong>(2) Wisconsin (WCHA Champion)</strong><br><strong>(3) Ohio State</strong><br><strong>(4) Colgate (ECAC Champion)</strong><br><strong>Minnesota</strong><br><strong>Boston College</strong><br><strong>Minnesota-Duluth</strong><br><strong>Robert Morris</strong></p>
<p id="C0oKQ7">Only the top 4 are “seeded,” so to speak, but with no flights to worry about (the whole tournament will take place in Erie, PA), that doesn’t matter as much as it usually does.</p>
<p id="WvhRSp">That would give us a bracket of:</p>
<p id="Pma1pj"><strong>Robert Morris @ (1) Northeastern</strong><br><strong>Minnesota-Duluth @ (2) WCHA Champ (UW/OSU)</strong><br><strong>Boston College @ (3) WCHA Runner-Up (OSU/UW)</strong><br><strong>Minnesota @ (4) Colgate</strong></p>
<p id="hiQ0DE">Flights are no issue, as we said, so can we make these matchups any better? </p>
<p id="fc4kbz">There have been virtually zero non-conference games this season, so we suspect the committee will align the bracket to give all non-conference matchups if teams are at least close. We have one non-conference matchup with Duluth @ Wisconsin/Ohio State, but the only way we could reasonably get rid of it would be to send Robert Morris to the WCHA champion. That could happen if the committee decides Wisconsin is #1, but I don’t see that happening since there’s a big difference between Duluth and Robert Morris and you’d like to protect the top seed. I suspect the committee would keep the bracket as-is for that reason.</p>
<p id="ZC4uZV">Of course, if Penn State is in the field instead of Duluth, well, we’d have four non-conference matchups with perfect bracket integrity! What a dream!</p>
<p id="djktCr">We could always be totally wrong here, obviously. Now we just have to sit and wait. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will take place at <a href="http://NCAA.com">NCAA.com</a> at 9pm EST tonight.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NCAAWHockey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NCAAWHockey</a> selection show is TONIGHT!<br><br> <a href="https://t.co/PpFoty7UdF">https://t.co/PpFoty7UdF</a> <a href="https://t.co/nTk7E7aija">pic.twitter.com/nTk7E7aija</a></p>— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/NCAAIceHockey/status/1368654379654463491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2021</a>
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https://www.bcinterruption.com/boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey/2021/3/7/22318470/ncaa-womens-hockey-bracketology-nailbiter-boston-college-bc-eagles-womens-hockey-fans-frozen-fourGrant Salzano