With six conference championship games left to play Saturday, things are fairly simple in terms of which teams will get into the Division I men’s NCAA hockey tournament.
You can check out all the possibilities with our PairWise Predictor.
But first, a rundown of the games that are being played Saturday night:
Atlantic Hockey: Air Force vs. American International, 7:30 p.m. ET.
Big Ten: Michigan at Minnesota, 7 p.m. CT.
CCHA: Bemidji State at Minnesota State, 6 p.m. CT.
ECAC Hockey: Harvard vs. Quinnipiac, 7:30 p.m. ET.
Hockey East: Connecticut vs. Massachusetts, 7 p.m. ET.
NCHC: Minnesota Duluth vs. Western Michigan, 7:30 p.m. CT.
Who’s in?
Seven of the 12 teams playing Saturday are already guaranteed a spot in the tournament even if they don’t gain the automatic bid: Minnesota State, Michigan, Western Michigan, Minnesota, Quinnipiac, Minnesota Duluth and UMass.
Five other teams also are in: Denver, North Dakota, Notre Dame, St. Cloud State and Michigan Tech.
Who can still get in as an at-large team?
Three teams are waiting on Saturday’s results to see if their spot in the PairWise is good enough to get in: UMass Lowell (13th), Northeastern (14th) and Ohio State (15th).
How do championship games impact the teams waiting?
Four spots are open. One will be taken by the Atlantic Hockey winner, Air Force or AIC. The three others depend on the results of the CCHA, ECAC Hockey and Hockey East championship games.
The only way in for Bemidji State, Harvard and UConn is to win the championship and get the automatic bid.
If one of them wins, Ohio State is left out. If two win, Ohio State and Northeastern are left out. If all three win, Ohio State, Northeastern and UMass Lowell are left out.
What about the No. 1 seeds?
Minnesota State, Michigan and Western Michigan have three of the four No. 1 regional seeds locked up.
The fourth will be either Minnesota or Denver. It’ll be the Gophers if they win the Big Ten championship. Otherwise, it’ll be the Pioneers.
