This post will contain a run-down of all the conference tiebreakers. For the ECACHL and WCHA, who conclude play next weekend, I’ll run down who would win some of the key tiebreakers for playoff seedings. I’ll wait until next week to discuss Hockey East and the CHA.
ECACHL
St. Lawrence vs. Harvard (2nd-3rd place) — St. Lawrence swept Harvard.
Colgate vs. Princeton (4th-5th place) — Princeton won the first head-to-head meeting, and the teams play again in Friday. If Colgate were to even the head-to-head series, the Raiders would be guaranteed to finish ahead of the Tigers anyway. Due to a superior record against the top 4, Colgate would also win tiebreakers against Harvard or SLU if either team collapsed this weekend, and the Raiders swept.
Princeton vs. Yale (5th-6th place) — If Yale beats Harvard and Dartmouth on the road, that would give Yale a better record vs. the top four than Princeton, so the Bulldogs could catch the Tigers, if the Tigers were swept.
Yale vs. Clarkson (6th-7th place) — If Yale gets swept by Harvard and Dartmouth, and Clarkson beats RPI and Union (which is actually the outcome the current standings would predict), then Clarkson would win the tiebreaker for 6th place via better record vs. top 4 or top 8.
Clarkson vs. RPI (7th-8th place)– RPI won the first meeting. If Clarkson wins the second meeting, the Knights would finish ahead of RPI anyway.
RPI vs. Brown (8th-9th place) — Because Brown took three points from RPI this season, the Bears are still alive, barely. They merely have to win at Dartmouth and at Harvard, and hope RPI gets swept by Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
List of Tiebreakers
1. Comparison of results of league games between tied teams (head to head).
2. Comparison of results of league games played against the top four teams.
3. Comparison of results of league games against the top eight teams.
4. Goal differential in league head-to-head competition.
5. Goal differential in games against top four teams.
6. Goal differential in games against top eight teams.
WCHA
UMD vs. Minnesota (2nd-3rd place) — Minnesota won the first two meetings, and is two points behind UMD in the standings. So the Gophers would take second place with three points in their remaining two games against the Bulldogs, while UMD would take second with at least a split.
OSU vs. Minnesota State (4th-5th place) — OSU swept the first meetings, so the Buckeyes would get the WCHA’s 4th spot with a split.
Bemidji State (6th place) — The Beavers lost the head-to-head series against the Mavericks. They split the series with OSU, but lose out to the Buckeyes on total goals in those games.
List of Tiebreakers
1. Head to head competition during the regular season
2. The most WCHA wins during the regular season.
3. The team having the least number of goals scored against it in the 4-game [head-to-head] series.
4. The team having the greatest “winning margin” during the [WCHA] regular season.
Hockey East
List of Tiebreakers
1. Head-to-head results between the tied teams
2. Number of wins in conference play
3. Best record against the first-place team(s), then the second-place team(s), then the third-place team(s), and so on
4. Coin flip
CHA
List of Tiebreakers
1. The best record in head-to-head competition among the teams involved during conference play.
2. The most wins in conference play.
3. The fewest goals allowed in conference games played between the teams involved.
4. The fewest goals against in all conference games played.
5. Best goal differential in conference games played between the teams involved.
6. Best goal differential in all conference games played.
