Here is What I Believe after Friday’s games.
Group A
Teams that are in (11):
Canisius/Mercyhurst winner
Brown/Union winner
Colorado College/Wisconsin winner
Quinnipiac
Minnesota
Miami
Boston College
Massachusetts-Lowell
North Dakota
New Hampshire
Denver
Group B
Teams that need to win the tournament to get in (9):
Ohio State
Michigan
Boston University
Canisius/Mercyhurst
Brown/Union
Colorado College/Wisconsin
Group C
Teams that are on the bubble but can also get in with losses (2):
Notre Dame (mathematically can still be eliminated by winning on Saturday but losing on Sunday)
Yale (a win on Saturday guarantees Yale’s at-large bid)
Group D
Teams that are on the bubble and waiting (4):
Niagara
Western Michigan
St. Cloud State
Minnesota State
Group E
Teams eliminated on Friday (4):
Robert Morris
Connecticut
Rensselaer
Providence
The cutoff line is now at 13, as 14-16 could be occupied by the automatic bids from Atlantic Hockey, ECAC Hockey and the WCHA.
The possible cutoff line still remains at 11, because all conferences can have autobids coming from outside the top 16 of the PWR.
The number of at-large bids left: 3-5
The number of No. 1 seeds left: 2
Quinnipiac is locked in at 1 and Minnesota at 2. If Miami and Massachusetts-Lowell win one game, they will lock up the other two No. 1 seeds. The only other teams left that can get to a No. 1 seed are Boston College and Notre Dame.
To sum it all up, there are six teams left to take between three and five spots. One of Notre Dame, Yale, Niagara, Minnesota State, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan will definitely not get in. And there could be two more joining that team.
