Matchup against Notre Dame next week, game winner will be first to have 2 Big Ten conference playoff championships.
I assume no matter what happens both are in the NCAA Championships with Ohio State, so 3 Big Ten teams will go IMO.
Currently, Notre Dame is tied for #14 and PSU #16 in pairwise. The winner is in the tournament, I think the loser goes home. Only 2 B1G teams make the tournament, especially with Atlantic Hockey taking one of the 16 slots with an automatic bid.
Currently, Notre Dame is tied for #14 and PSU #16 in pairwise. The winner is in the tournament, I think the loser goes home. Only 2 B1G teams make the tournament, especially with Atlantic Hockey taking one of the 16 slots with an automatic bid.
You aren't taking into account that PSU just beat #6 Ohio State. That would surely keep us at 16 even with a loss to #14 ND. In fact, we would probably still move up a spot or two.
I think ND needs the win more if anyone, then didn't beat a ranked team in the semis.
I think ND needs to decide what conference they want to be in. Are y’all satisfied? Lol
Having ND play hockey in the B1G has been good for the conference. Last year, the conference had 4 teams in the tournament and three teams in the Frozen Four.
Yeah, PSU and ND flipped places overnight, but it doesn't really matter. The winner is going to the NCAAs, the loser is going home. Atlantic Hockey tournament champion takes the #16 slot as an automatic qualifier and it's also likely that one or two more lower ranked teams get in as automatic qualifiers. Look at the Pairwise Probability Matric on CHN.
https://www.collegehockeynews.com/ratings/probabilityMatrix.php
I've only been following college hockey since Penn State went Division 1, but I've been reading and watching since then. Some of the traditional college hockey powers have struggled over the past few years. BU and BC were pretty bad this year. UMass, a team that had only made the NCAA once in the past, was the Hockey East regular season champion and is a No. 1 regional seed. Northeastern, a team that has also traditionally struggled, won the Hockey East tournament. Other traditional powerhouses (UMinn, Michigan, Wisco, Michigan State, NoDak) have also struggled recently. These schools still seem to be getting more of NHL draft picks than other schools, but being drafted by an NHL team doesn't ensure success.
Penn State starting Division 1 hockey and the B1G sponsorship of men's hockey changed the landscape. Some panicked and others saw it as an opportunity. Another new conference (NCHC) formed with the best teams from two other conferences (WCHA and CCHA). The CCHA dissolved and the WCHA reorganized with the remaining teams and one independent (Alabama-Huntsville). That's of course when ND went to Hockey East. Many fans from other schools (including established B1G hockey schools) resent Penn State for starting a hockey program and the B1G for sponsoring hockey. I see a parallel to when Penn State joined the B1G for football and other sports. The fans of B1G schools were upset that their cozy 10-team league was violated. The eastern schools that always played Penn State in football and other sports were also unhappy. Back to hockey, there's a writer named Paula Weston on uscho.com that is always dreaming back to the glory days of the CCHA. People are always giving her a rough time about it. Sometimes I wonder if they are trolling her or she is trolling them.
The down years for BU/BC/UMinn/Mich etc. are probably not a long term trend because there are lots of NHL prospects in Minn/Mass/Mich and traditional powerhouses tend to attract talent. Someone made the observation that if you heard three Minnesota schools were the three top seeds in the NCAAs as has happened this year, then you would expect UMinn would be among them. UMinn didn't even make the tournament this year.
I've only been following college hockey since Penn State went Division 1, but I've been reading and watching since then. Some of the traditional college hockey powers have struggled over the past few years. BU and BC were pretty bad this year. UMass, a team that had only made the NCAA once in the past, was the Hockey East regular season champion and is a No. 1 regional seed. Northeastern, a team that has also traditionally struggled, won the Hockey East tournament. Other traditional powerhouses (UMinn, Michigan, Wisco, Michigan State, NoDak) have also struggled recently. These schools still seem to be getting more of NHL draft picks than other schools, but being drafted by an NHL team doesn't ensure success.
Penn State starting Division 1 hockey and the B1G sponsorship of men's hockey changed the landscape. Some panicked and others saw it as an opportunity. Another new conference (NCHC) formed with the best teams from two other conferences (WCHA and CCHA). The CCHA dissolved and the WCHA reorganized with the remaining teams and one independent (Alabama-Huntsville). That's of course when ND went to Hockey East. Many fans from other schools (including established B1G hockey schools) resent Penn State for starting a hockey program and the B1G for sponsoring hockey. I see a parallel to when Penn State joined the B1G for football and other sports. The fans of B1G schools were upset that their cozy 10-team league was violated. The eastern schools that always played Penn State in football and other sports were also unhappy. Back to hockey, there's a writer named Paula Weston on uscho.com that is always dreaming back to the glory days of the CCHA. People are always giving her a rough time about it. Sometimes I wonder if they are trolling her or she is trolling them.
The down years for BU/BC/UMinn/Mich etc. are probably not a long term trend because there are lots of NHL prospects in Minn/Mass/Mich and traditional powerhouses tend to attract talent. Someone made the observation that if you heard three Minnesota schools were the three top seeds in the NCAAs as has happened this year, then you would expect UMinn would be among them. UMinn didn't even make the tournament this year.
It's just people who hate change... if it wasn't PSU, it was going to be another Big Ten school to start up hockey.
Although technically correct to say that if some other B1G school had started up hockey then they would have been blamed for it, none did and thus the vitriol was directed our way. I'm hoping that Illinois makes a commitment to hockey soon. I'd also like to see the B1G schools with women's ice hockey expand. It's interesting to note that there are no D-1 women's ice hockey programs in the state of Michigan. For years, Red Berenson was partially blamed for this. He retired two years ago and there's still no talk of starting a program at Michigan.
