Hockey conferences typically don't line up well with other sports conference, so didn't know of a better place to drop this one.

The field was announced last night and seems to be seeded fairly well. A couple of surprises in there for sure, but nothing all that crazy. It did see the unfortunate situation where a team had to back out of the tournament due to COVID after winning their conference (St Lawrence, would have been their first tournament since the 90s I think. Their coach was the one who tested positive). The end result was I believe Notre Dame getting in, since the runner up of their conference would have been in anyway.

Here's the bracket. Wish they had less white space in it so it could be a better shot, but didn't find any other good versions to begin with.



North Dakota earned the #1 overall seed, but it might actually be a bad thing since they need to face AIC in the first round. AIC managed to knock off the #1 overall seed in the 2019 bracket and they're hoping to do it again. They've become a nice little powerhouse in western MA.

BC gets to take on forever hated rival Notre Dame in the first round. Should be a BC victory as they're the much better team, but never put it past a team with that kind of history to be able to knock off a 1 seed.

I personally feel like Wisconsin and Minnesota will have the easiest first games as 1 seed. Wisconsin also has a chance this year to be national Champs in both Men's and Women's having taken the crown in Women's over the weekend.

The 2 seeds, I'm obviously a UMass guy. But after taking our first ever Hockey East championship this year, and after being able to reload in the post-Makar years, it's actually not a bad bet. Played some really good hockey this year, and I'm hoping to be able to see Wisconsin in the second round.

BU is a weird one, having played so little this year due to COVID. What they did do in the games was pretty incredible though - managed to beat the other 2 Hockey East teams on multiple occasions, as well as some other good teams in the conference.

Quinnipiac is always a tough out - they're the only one I feel alright about in terms of facing a school with "Minnesota" in their name.

Michigan's got a tough game with Duluth there. Duluth has made 3 consecutive Frozen 4s and is the current defending champion (albeit from 2 years ago when they beat us pretty emphatically).



Hoping for a second consecutive Championship game for UMass (but with a different result this time)!

Bemidji is always a tough win, they may not have the highest skill level, but they typically have good goalies and great defense. UND always seems to have tight games with them every year.

Hoping to see Mankato finally get their first win. As overall #1 seed, not super excited to see either Michigan or UMD as a potential second game matchup.

Potential for UND/Gophers championship! Best thing about this bracket.

St. Lawrence didn't deserve a playoff spot anyways, IMO. Gotta feel for the coach though.

Notre Dame getting in is annoying IMO. Hard to justify anyone for that spot with lack of non conf games though, but I would have like to see Bowling Green. Big Ten just hasn't been that dominant, but at the same time ya can't really justify WCHA having more teams in than them. I also hate ND almost as much as I hate the Big Ten.

Question, with hockey being a NCAA championship that typically makes a profit, does anyone know if NCAA pays out any $$ for tournament wins? I think it would be low, but it makes money most years so I'm curious. Guessing the answer is no, but I couldnt find any answers that were definitive.

I actually have no idea about the payouts here. I know two of the regions will have fans in attendance, (15% and 25% capacity I believe) and that both are/will be sold out though.

My favorite thing about the bracket is that BU and BC (if they both win) would need to play each other before the Frozen Four. I don't want both of them to make it because it's fun to watch them not win. I wouldn't complain about an all Hockey East Championship game though. If UMass wins it would be nice to knock off an oldschool rival that historically thinks down on us in the process.

https://twitter.com/USCHO/status/1375124969726836743

Notre Dame made it in because St. Lawrence had a COVID forfeit. Now they've forfeited because of COVID as well. And because of that BC gets a free trip to the second round.

(03-22-2021 12:26 PM)nodak651 Wrote:  Question, with hockey being a NCAA championship that typically makes a profit, does anyone know if NCAA pays out any $$ for tournament wins? I think it would be low, but it makes money most years so I'm curious. Guessing the answer is no, but I couldnt find any answers that were definitive.

(03-23-2021 09:32 AM)e-parade Wrote:  I actually have no idea about the payouts here. I know two of the regions will have fans in attendance, (15% and 25% capacity I believe) and that both are/will be sold out though.

Only the Men's Basketball tournament revenues are used to award conferences with money per win. As Sally Jenkins mentioned in her column last week, there is no distribution for the Women's tournament or any other championship as the ESPN NCAA championship broadcast contract covers all championships. Any profits are distributed through the other line items the NCAA uses, such as:
Academic Enhancement Fund
Academic Performance Fund
Conference Grants
Special Athlete Assistance Fund

2019 D-1 Revenue Distribution PDF

(03-25-2021 06:07 PM)Renandpat Wrote:  

(03-22-2021 12:26 PM)nodak651 Wrote:  Question, with hockey being a NCAA championship that typically makes a profit, does anyone know if NCAA pays out any $$ for tournament wins? I think it would be low, but it makes money most years so I'm curious. Guessing the answer is no, but I couldnt find any answers that were definitive.

(03-23-2021 09:32 AM)e-parade Wrote:  I actually have no idea about the payouts here. I know two of the regions will have fans in attendance, (15% and 25% capacity I believe) and that both are/will be sold out though.

Only the Men's Basketball tournament revenues are used to award conferences with money per win. As Sally Jenkins mentioned in her column last week, there is no distribution for the Women's tournament or any other championship as the ESPN NCAA championship broadcast contract covers all championships. Any profits are distributed through the other line items the NCAA uses, such as:
Academic Enhancement Fund
Academic Performance Fund
Conference Grants
Special Athlete Assistance Fund

2019 D-1 Revenue Distribution PDF

Thanks! Good stuff.


It's game day today! If anyone can't wait for the weekend to start watching some college sports, the action starts at 1PM. ND continued the B1G tournament woes by losing before the puck was even dropped, so everyone will get to see if #4 overall seed Wisconsin can reverse the curse and make it to round 2.

The latter 3 games should all be great as well. Duluth is trying to three-peat the championship but have a big time team to get by first.

UMass vs. Lake Superior might end up being a goalie masterclass of a game. Lindberg for UMass has a 1.46 GAA (#2 in the NCAA) and a .940 SV% (#1). Mitens for Lake Superior has a 1.86 (#7 in NCAA) GAA and a .933 SV% (#5 in NCAA).

And then there's the top seed North Dakota against always tough AIC.


Should be a fun day of hockey. Hopefully you all can enjoy some of it!

Is the tourney always 16 teams? I don’t see any of these games on tv.

(03-26-2021 08:41 AM)esayem Wrote:  Is the tourney always 16 teams? I don’t see any of these games on tv.

Yes.

FRIDAY:
Wisconsin-Bemidji is on ESPN2 at 1:00.
Duluth-Michigan is on ESPNU at 4:00.
UMass-Lake State is on ESPNU at 6:30.
NoDak-AIC is streaming only at 9:30.

SATURDAY:
St. Cloud-BU is on ESPNEWS at 1:00.
The East Regional Final is on ESPNU at 5:00.
Minnesota State-Quinnipiac is streaming only at 5:00.
Midwest Regional Final is on ESPNU at 7:30.
Minnesota-Omaha is on ESPNU at 10:00.

SUNDAY:
Northeast Regional Final is on ESPN2 at 5:30.
West Regional Final is on ESPN2 at 8:00.

Semis are on ESPN2 on 4/8, Final is on ESPN at 7:00 on Saturday 4.10.

Anyone care about the Women's Frozen Four? Who's the class of their Ivy League equivalent?

(03-26-2021 10:06 AM)Erictelevision Wrote:  Anyone care about the Women's Frozen Four? Who's the class of their Ivy League equivalent?

Not sure what you mean by the second question actually. But if you're asking what league the Ivy is in for Women's, it's the ECAC like with Men's. Clarkson seems to be the typical team to beat in there.

For the first one, UMass doesn't have a women's program because...reasons?...so I'm not as apt to follow. However the Women's championship was already decided, with Wisconsin beating Northeastern in OT.

E-Parade: thanks for the answers! :). Are any of the schools (other than Harvard) that are normally considered Ivy League strong in women's hockey?

(03-26-2021 10:39 AM)Erictelevision Wrote:  E-Parade: thanks for the answers! :). Are any of the schools (other than Harvard) that are normally considered Ivy League strong in women's hockey?

Cornell is fairly good for both Men's and Women's actually (as one of my coworkers who went to Cornell loves to point out). I think the were going to be the #1 seed in the tournament (NCAA, not just ECAC) last year prior to it being cancelled. Princeton is also a good one for Women's hockey.

The women's tournament already happened this year.

Hockey East- Northeastern(auto), Boston College, Providence
WCHA- Wisconsin (auto), Ohio State, Minnesota-Duluth
ECAC- Colgate (auto)
CHA- Robert Morris (auto)

Wisconsin beat Northeastern in overtime for the title. Typically the ECAC would also be multi-bid, but only four teams played the season.

Michigan is out now due to COVID Restrictions.

Wisconsin not looking sharp at all, especially defensively.

Both Michigan and Notre Dame out, maybe they're hooking up more than they lead us to believe? Get well boys, take care of yourselves!

The B1G is having a complete collapse here. Jesus.

(03-26-2021 09:17 AM)ccd494 Wrote:  

(03-26-2021 08:41 AM)esayem Wrote:  Is the tourney always 16 teams? I don’t see any of these games on tv.

Yes.

FRIDAY:
Wisconsin-Bemidji is on ESPN2 at 1:00.
Duluth-Michigan is on ESPNU at 4:00.
UMass-Lake State is on ESPNU at 6:30.
NoDak-AIC is streaming only at 9:30.

SATURDAY:
St. Cloud-BU is on ESPNEWS at 1:00.
The East Regional Final is on ESPNU at 5:00.
Minnesota State-Quinnipiac is streaming only at 5:00.
Midwest Regional Final is on ESPNU at 7:30.
Minnesota-Omaha is on ESPNU at 10:00.

SUNDAY:
Northeast Regional Final is on ESPN2 at 5:30.
West Regional Final is on ESPN2 at 8:00.

Semis are on ESPN2 on 4/8, Final is on ESPN at 7:00 on Saturday 4.10.

Thanks!

UMass is taking too many penalties (up to 6 so far), but still up 4-1.

North Dakota is not messing around either. Already up 2-0 in the first over AIC. Hoping AIC can at least make it interesting up there.

3 games to start the day that are MN vs. Northeast teams. 1st one went to St. Cloud over BU. Next 2 started at the same time and are both going the same way. UMass up two on Bemidji and Quinnipiac up 2 on MN State.

St. Cloud gets BC next, a team that won the Hockey East regular season and that has yet to play in the tournament thanks to Notre Dame being DQd. The winner of the UMass Bemidji game moves on to the frozen 4.

North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth in 4th OT