Many of you may have been asleep last night by the time that Nolan Renwick redirected Charlie Russell’s shot-pass at 11:02 of the second overtime period to send Maine past Northeastern to the Hockey East title game.
Three teams that began the weekend on the bubble actually saw their odds of making the NCAA tournament increase. Northeastern was one of the six teams that are bubble busters this weekend, so their elimination reduces the number of scenarios where team outside the PairWise bubble can win the championship (and the autobid) from three to two.
Arizona State or North Dakota can still win the NCHC tournament and Dartmouth, Clarkson and Cornell can all win ECAC in Lake Placid. Any of those two results would bounce Michigan from the field.
Should both tournaments deliver a cutline mover, the second team out varies.
If Quinnipiac beats Cornell this evening in Lake Placid, they’ll secure their bid. But a loss brings in a 7% chance for the Bobcats to miss the field.
While the hopes for Michigan, Penn State and Quinnipiac improved on Thursday night, Michigan won’t know its fate on Friday as the either Clarkson or Dartmouth, teams that could bump Michigan, will reach the ECAC final.
One other note from Friday: with the wins, both UConn and Maine keep hopes alive of being a number one seed. Should both team creep into the top four in the PairWise (that would require Western Michigan to lose in the NCHC tournament) and thus earn No. 1 seeds in an NCAA regional, that will eliminate a lot of the problems created in this week’s Bracketology that shifted the AHA champion away from Boston College, the top overall seed.
Plenty of still figure out and Friday will give us a lot of clarity.
