March 10, 2025 • 37 mins
Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review games of the weekend and news of the week.
In this episode, key games and outcomes in the Big Ten, Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and NCHC are examined, with special attention given to underdog victories and their implications for the upcoming semifinals and NCAA tournament. The hosts also delve into the complexities of the Pairwise rankings and what teams need to do to secure their spots. Special mentions include Jeff Jackson's 600th win and, sadly, the conclusion of AIC's program.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour
Times are approximate:
00:15 Introduction and sponsorship
00:42 Big Ten upsets and highlights
04:06 Big Ten semifinals preview
06:28 Atlantic Hockey playoff drama
12:47 CCHA playoff recap and upcoming games
16:06 ECAC playoff overview
18:31 Hockey East playoff scenarios
21:17 NCHC playoff matchups and predictions
25:46 Pairwise bubble analysis
38:37 Closing remarks and notables
In this episode, key games and outcomes in the Big Ten, Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East, and NCHC are examined, with special attention given to underdog victories and their implications for the upcoming semifinals and NCAA tournament. The hosts also delve into the complexities of the Pairwise rankings and what teams need to do to secure their spots. Special mentions include Jeff Jackson's 600th win and, sadly, the conclusion of AIC's program.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour
Times are approximate:
00:15 Introduction and sponsorship
00:42 Big Ten upsets and highlights
04:06 Big Ten semifinals preview
06:28 Atlantic Hockey playoff drama
12:47 CCHA playoff recap and upcoming games
16:06 ECAC playoff overview
18:31 Hockey East playoff scenarios
21:17 NCHC playoff matchups and predictions
25:46 Pairwise bubble analysis
38:37 Closing remarks and notables
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to us.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Echo Weekend Review for Monday, March tenth, twenty twenty five.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one
Frozen four April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get
your tickets at NCAA dot com slash Frozen four. I'm
at Trevsker alongside Jim Connolly and Derek Schooley. It was
(00:37):
a crazy weekend, well, few upsets, lots of overtime, and
a lot to get to. And let's start out with
the big ten. Penn State got the road upset of
Michigan in a two game sweep, six to five in
overtime and five to two, and that was maybe a
mild upset, but it was a three game series that
(00:57):
delivered the biggest upset of the year. Number seven seed
Notre Dame knocked out number two Minnesota three to two
on Friday for Jeff jackson six hundredth win, then a
four to two loss on Saturday, then a four to
one win on Sunday. And despite that, Bob Motsko was
happy with how his team played, except for digging out
of a two two goal hole all the way through
(01:20):
and then it was Ohio State needing three games, but
they knocked off number six seed Wisconsin three to two
on Sunday. Before we get back to the other game.
What a heartbreaker that had to be for Wisconsin. They're
up one to nothing, there's an empty net for Ohio State.
A mised attempt in the last minute could have made
it nothing and made it a sweep for Wisconsin. They
(01:42):
end up losing in overtime and then lose on Sunday.
But the Minnesota loss, the Minnesota upset, really stands pretty
large right now.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I thought it was great theater all weekend, made for
a great Sunday. I had three TVs going going back
and forth between the Atlantic Hockey Game threes, the Big
Ten Game threes, and great day for college hockey. Not
a great day for obviously Minnesota. They just chased the
game the whole time. In Game three, they didn't do
(02:17):
a great job of getting up. I thought they'll played
him at times. And then you go to the other
game where Wisconsin's just back and forth and it went
right down to the last minute, getting a late goal
with the goalie pulled to make it three to two,
and like you said, Mayor, the sweep on on Saturdays.
(02:40):
It was a great weekend of college hockey, and I
think it's just a prelude to the moving forward in
the playoffs and the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
Crazy is the only way I can describe the Big
Ten when I think about their playoffs this weekend. You
mentioned that Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Wisconsin unable to close
that one out on Saturday, and the Ohio State gets
it done on Sunday, and.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Then Minnesota just shocked me this.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
I thought Minnesota might have been the best team in
the country coming into the playoffs, and they ran into
a Notre Dame team that found the reset button. They
did not have a good second half, There's no two
ways about it. I guess they had wins over Michigan
and Minnesota and maybe those gave them some confidence. I
think they also won one over Wisconsin in the second half.
(03:30):
But you can tell, and we saw this. We're going
to get to this in other conferences. But teams that
were playing for their coach this weekend did pretty good.
Teams that their coach has announced it his retirement and
they knew that losing this weekend was the end. That
was a pretty good motivator. We saw it with Army,
(03:51):
we saw it with Cornell as well. Jeff Jackson lives
to see another day and also gets to number six hundred.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
What a nice plateau that is.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
But a semi final of the Big Ten, I just
don't think that any of us saw coming.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Let's talk a little bit about those semi finals before
we move on to other conferences. You've got number seven
Notre Dame at number one Michigan State and number five
Penn State at number three Ohio State.
Speaker 6 (04:17):
I think that actually becomes a really difficult game for
Michigan State. They had the weekend off, which coaches I
get at this time of year you love, but you've
also now not played playoff hockey and you're gonna come
against a team that's played three playoff games already. They
had to win two really tough playoff games on the road.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Now they're going back on the road.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
This is it's a good scenario for Notre Dame. You're
still playing with the house's money. You're still motivated to
try to keep this going as long as you can.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
For your coach. Michigan State should be a heavy favorite here, but.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
It's one of those things where I think Notre Dame
was a pig underdog this weekend.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
They relished that role, and you got.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think Michigan State correct me ivery marongas Jeff Jackson's
alma mater, so I think you throw a little intrigue
in that. And then you got Penn State, who are
you believe is the hottest one of the hottest, if
not the hottest team in the nation right now, and
one game anything can happen, Like you said, playing with
houses money, and you go back to the old saying
(05:20):
why not us? And you'll think that with Ohio State
or with Notre Dame, you think that with Penn State,
why not US?
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Very intriguing matchup. Now one game no two out.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Of three, you're if you're not fresh, if you're not ready,
you could be ablemated quickly.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
I think that's what makes this Big Ten playoff format
so difficult, is.
Speaker 6 (05:43):
That you feel like you got a big advantage for
not having to play that first weekend, But now you
get into a one game elimination scenario against a team
that's already a little bit playoff season. So I think
that the Big Ten has one of the tougher plays
off fourmats nobody really gets favorite, even the number one seed.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And Ohio State and Penn State.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Ohio State's now like a ninety nine percent probability of
being in the tournament the NCAAs and Penn State ninety
seven percent. Whichever team wins, that pretty much locks it
up for them. So you've got the Big Ten title
and you've got the NCAA's on the line there. So
that'll be interesting and we will get into more of
the pairwise later on in the podcast Atlantic Hockey. Three
(06:30):
of the c's series needed three games, and in the
end it was holy Cross Sacred Heart an army who
emerged on Sunday. Meanwhile, Bentley swept Gnisias. I want to
start there, two more shutouts for Connor Hasley. He leads
the nation with ten shutouts, yet he's not a Richter finalist.
And I know a few players or a few coaches,
(06:51):
a few fans around Atlantic Hockey or saying, boy, couldn't
we have gotten him in there too, Not to take
away from holy Cross as Thomas Gaale, but building a
great team starts building out around the net, and Hasley
has been superb this season. Four nothing and two nothing
over Canacious a terrific weekend for Bentley.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah, there's a team that's part of those shutouts. He's
a very good goaltender. We beat him in playoffs last
year and he's rebounded from that. Obviously he catches the
other way, but he's a solid goaltender. Between him and Gaale,
those are the two best in Atlantic hockey by far.
But I was not surprised to see two shutouts again
(07:35):
by Bentley, and I wasn't surprised to see three series
go to game three.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
If you would have picked that, I knew that AI.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
C would be a tough out. Obviously, Army at a Niagara.
Two overtime games in that series both ended on a
power play goal by Army, and then you move forward
the other Sacred Heart Air Force gave them all they
can handle, and like I said, great theater. Three game threes,
(08:06):
three TVs going watching they were all tied at one point,
very late, and I think I texted you Ed said,
this is great hockey right now, and it was. I
think an upset was not shocking to me in the
Army series because they were so close. An Army obviously
(08:26):
very hot, and you would play for Brian Riley and
the other ones. One't that surprised me either. That just
shows you the parody of Atlantic hockey.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
When the holy Cross Aic game, replay was huge. In
that game, AIC had looked to go up three to
two and Bill Riga challenged and it wasn't a challenge
on the goal.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
There was nothing there on that.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
A bit earlier in the play at the other end
of the ice, AIC goaltender Chase Clark had it was
a slash. It was five minutes slash, but it was
it was a yes, cup check is the right turn
on that? And they went back and looked at it.
That took the goal off and gave a five minute
power play, which ended up getting interrupted by another two
(09:12):
minute penalty the other way. But what a turn of
events there. I've got to think that between a close
game on Saturday and then on Sunday that the holy
Cross has to feel really fortunate to get out of
that series.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah, you also had a gold dislot in that five
minute major on holy Cross, so there was a lot
going on.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
There was seven minutes intrigue, let's put it that.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Way in that game where you were questioning if things
were going to stand, if things weren't going to stand.
It was a weird series, and like you said, holly
Cross needs to be very fortunate thanking their lucky stars,
going to church today, all of that, because it was
the AIC game all they can handle.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
I would say that every year somewhere in the country
we get one of these playoffs series where a favorite
really they survive, but they don't do it with these.
They struggle to get out of a first round and
then we sometimes see that same team go and cruise
the rest of the way. Sometimes you just have those
early especially if you haven't been there a lot. Holy
(10:21):
Cross they've been to some finals, I know that recent years,
but they haven't won championships. And this is not a
program that's at the top. This isn't what AIC or
rit has been in the last decade. This is a
team that's still getting used to being the favorite, and
I think that with that sometimes you go through some
(10:44):
growing pains.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
They survived it, now I don't.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
I'm not going to try to say that this is
now going to be two easy weekends and holy Cross
can punch their tickets to the tournament.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
We've seen too many upsets this weekend.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
But I do think that you sometimes go through these
kind of tournament growing pains if you will.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
And you got Army again. You got Army planned for
Brian Riley's career.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Holy Cross that's an intriguing matchup as well.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, and just looking quickly at those so you've got
Army at holy Cross. I would not overlook Army at all.
I think they have been terrific the second half of
the season, and now holy Cross has shown that they
may have some vulnerabilities that could be looked at. I'm
sure they'll be looking at a lot of video and
trying to see what worked for ai C. Meanwhile, Bentley
(11:32):
at Sacred Heart probably like the Army or like the
Sacred Heart Air Force series, that's probably going to be
a big goaltender battle.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
And I think the fact that these are not single
elimination games probably changes this a little bit. If you're
pure the higher seed and one mistake on the first
night can cost you in a single elimination scenario, it's
just different. So I think that there's a little bit
more cushion here for these two higher seats, but we'll
(12:04):
see what they can do with them.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
I don't think that there's much difference between these four
teams that are still remaining though. You got Bethley, who
we just talked about having all the shutouts going on
the road to Sacred Heart. That's not a there's not
a lot of travel involved in any of these series.
It's all and there's not a massive big thing for
Sacred Heart is they found a way to get out
(12:28):
of the first route and they've been getting upset year
after year. Niagara had their number big time back to
back years, and I don't think there's much of a
difference between these four teams. You could pull one out
of a hat and say that they're going to win,
and that doesn't surprise me one bet.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Let's turn to the CCHA.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Minnesota State, Saint Thomas and Bowling Green all swept their series,
but it took a game yesterday for number seven Bimigi
State to upset first year up starts Augustana three to
two in overtime on Sunday, And so that is going
to bring up Bowling Green at Saint Thomas and Bamigie
(13:09):
at Minnesota State, and that's a huge rivalry there. And
it's the final season in the CCHA for Saint Thomas
before they defect to the NCCHC and yes, I used
that word, but that's okay. How about that series and
prospects on those upcoming games.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
I think that.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
Augustana goes into that whole great team, great season, not
a lot of experience playing in these scenarios, and they
ran into a team in Bimigie State that has a
great playoff experience. Tom Saratri has led his team over
the years to some really big games, whether it be
(13:49):
in conference or NCAA tournament. He's experienced coach and I
think that's what Augustana ran into. I thought that the
comfort level for Minnesota State this weekend in getting by
as the number one seed, does this not feel like
the old Minnesota State team. They're just they're locking things down,
They're not giving up a lot of goals. They're finding
(14:11):
ways to score in these games, at least from the outside,
look comfortable.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
You're going to bring the goalie back from Minnesota State
with all the shutouts, and that was going to play
in the NHL.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
I think you're you're right of the money.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
And I think if we look at this, I wouldn't
look past Bowling Green though. Bowling Green's been that team
that has been just sleepy. They they're not sleepy, but
people are sleeping on them. And I think I wouldn't
look past Bowling maybe a Bowling Green man Cato final.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
So that's where it's coming down to. And I think
that you're looking at it.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
These are going to be some good games, and that's
playoff hockey and East I talked about AMIDGI. They've been
the finals the last couple of years and they're playing
off ready and it'll be in. It'll be a great
weekend in the cch that's for sure.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
By the way, Bowling Green they are the host in Toledo,
so if they were to win the c Championship, that
could really throw a brench at the committee seating the NCAA, tournal.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Am, Putton State and Alentown that one.
Speaker 6 (15:20):
I've already put it in. They're so close that I
I've already started factoring that in mentally. I think adding
at the last second though, Bowling Green could really move
things around. But it maybe they don't at the same time.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And those CCHA games or single elimination and just about
anything can happen in one of those funny bounds of
five minute major and the game can go completely the
other direction.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
In Minnesota. State's got to win, right, They've got to.
They're not getting in if they don't win. Correct.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, they're too far outside our bubble right now at
numbers deserve bubble out of bubble exactly. It's a brick wall.
It's a gate that can be locked. Let's turn to
the ECAC. The league's single elimination opening round had all
four favorites win, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth all advancing,
(16:16):
and that brings up some really interesting semi finals. Now,
maybe the top two seeds not as interesting with number
eight Brown at number one Quinnipiac and number seven Harvard
at number two Clarkson, but the other two games are
really pretty fascinating to me. The other two semi final rounds.
Number six Cornell at number three Coal Gate. They're not
(16:39):
like the huge traditional IVY League rivalry, but they're not
that far apart, and they're travel partners, so there is
a rivalry there. And number five Dartmouth at number four Union.
Both Dartmouth and Union have had pretty good seasons and
that one is going to be pretty terrific.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
I would expect, Yeah, good for the top seeds this weekend,
having no real trouble marching through the opening round of
the playoffs. But you're right at I think that the
semi finals, I'm sorry, the quarterfinals here are pretty compelling.
I look at that Colgate Cornell series as the one
that I really circle and it's the end for Mike Shaper.
(17:20):
But you're going to look across at the other side
and you have Mike Carter on the other side. Pretty new,
but says as as veteran and as fresh a rivalry
as you can get.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
In terms of the.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
Coaches, I think Dartmouth the Union probably is a pretty
good one as well. These are two teams that maybe
we didn't follow enough this season. Union to me their
second half in the way that they moved up getting
into that top four spot, they took me by surprise
a little bit. So that's a fun one to watch
as well. It's the Shaeffer caltdown. Just like we talked
(17:51):
about Jeff Jackson and Brian Riley all of that. It
was good to see that Cornell got away got out
of that first Sharm game because it was at some points, yeah,
I was flipping back around at different games and next
to you know, they got two really quick ones in
the third period and then held on for a five
minute major at the end. But if you're talking about
(18:14):
two really good hockey teams that are going to play
each other in Cornell and Colgate, probably Cornell beat up
by the the injury bug and then you got Colgate
who gets a buy once again must see TV.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
This weekend, two leagues ended their regular season. Boston College
repeats as Hockey East regular season champ. It's the nineteenth
time they've done that. Main loss on Friday, UMass and
BC beat Merrimac on Saturday, but the main loss clinched
it for BC. Actually a tough weekend on the road
(18:48):
in Amherst for Maine. So as we look at Hockey
East playoffs, BC main, BU and Yukon get home ice
in the quarterfinals. Providence finished fifth and they get a bye.
And so Wednesday's opening UND number eleven Vermont is at
number six you Mass, number ten New Hampshire, which finished
well is at number seven U Mass lowl, and number
(19:09):
nine Northeastern at number eight. Merrimack with a quarterfinal Friday,
Providence at Yukon and then the other three on Saturday.
That single elim eliminet is pretty interesting. But what about
the weekend, and what do we see in the playoffs
here in Hockey East.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
I think, as as tight as everything was all year,
you entered Saturday night or Saturday and all the top
four seeds had already been decided. Everything was for positioning
down the bottom. It ended up being a close race,
but not that close at the top.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Close race in certain places.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
What you end up with, though, are five teams that
get buys, and all five of those teams enter the
postseason knowing that they have their NCAA tournament.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Hope sowed up you Mass they'll play on Wednesday.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
If they get past Wednesday, I think that'll show up
their tournament. But they're pretty close as well. They're better
than ninety nine percent to get in everybody else that
plays on Wednesday. Vermont, New Hampshire, Lowell, Northeastern, Merrimack. They're
looking to win the Hockey's Championship to have a shot
at the NCAA's. Interestingly, the quarter final round will get
(20:22):
played Friday and Saturday, but the teams that already know
they're playing each other, so that's providence. In yukon the
four or five, they'll actually play at night before on Friday.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
And then the other three games will be on Saturday.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
So big weekend coming up for Hockey East Hockey as
they get into their playoffs. But the final weekend of
the regular season was not as probably consequential as we
expected it to be.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
And you're also going into single emination games here. Now
that's the difference between Hockey East. You don't have that buffer,
you don't have the two out of three game series,
and that I think that favors the It favors the
lower seats a little bit in the one game because
you only have to get up for one game and
there's not a whole lot of travel and there's not
(21:09):
a back to back. So I think that you're going
to see it upset, and just depends which one it's
going to be, but I think you're going to see
an upset in Hockey East and.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
In the NCCHC.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
The final weekend obviously settled where everybody's going to play.
Omaha got the final home ice spot, splitting the weekend
with North Dakota, so North Dakota is fifth and those
two teams will play each other in Omaha this coming weekend.
Denver swept Colorado College both ends of that home and
home series to finish in third. So this is what
(21:44):
the semi finals look like. In the NCCHC. You've got
number eight Saint Cloud State at number one, Western Michigan
number seven, Minnesota Duluth at number two, Arizona State number six,
Colorado College at number three, Denver another series with a
second straight weekend, and as im Echion number five North
Dakota the number four Omaha.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
I love the second straight weekend as a team that
just had to do it. We played at end of
the year of the Air Force and then I had
to play in the playoffs. It brings a lot of
intrigue to the weekend. You don't have as much preparation.
You've seen the teams, you've seen everything that they have,
and these games this past weekend were for something, so
it wasn't like people held back. I think you're going
(22:26):
to see maybe one of those second straight weekends go
to three games. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw
all of them in at least those two series go
to three games, because of how close they are in
the last weekend, how close they were into playing, knowing
(22:47):
their systems, all of that, and I also I'm going
to pick an up set somewhere. I think there's going
to be an upset. I think it's going to come
from those second straight weekend series.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
The higher seed upside, I should say.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
By the way, anybody paying attention to Denver, here we
go again. As we get to the postseason. They're playing
their best hockey five out of the last six they've wanted,
very far away from when they lost four or five,
getting swept by Arizona State, losing to Colorado College on
the road, and losing to Western all those that's all
in the past. Denver is now the Denver that opened
(23:22):
this season with the long winning streak. This is the
team I watched that pretty much that whole series against
Colorado College this weekend, and CC played great hockey, and
Denver still was the better team and found a way
both nights to get the victories. I think that Denver
(23:43):
scares me probably the most in the NCCHC. And the
other one too is Saint Cloud State's your number eight seed.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Here.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
Saint Cloud State, at times this year I thought was
a very good team. Now, Western Michigan your reward for
becoming the numberumber one seed winning the regular season in
the NCAA se is to play a team that year
in year out is usually a pretty powerful team in
the NCAA C and Saint Cloud.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
And a healthy Saint Cloud State now too as they
get into the playoffs. With that, we're going to take
a break and when we come back, we'll talk about
the pair wise bubble and whether it's a bubble or not.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one
Frozen four April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
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Speaker 1 (24:41):
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Speaker 5 (25:02):
So that's frozen, fool.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Welcome back to us Echo Weekend Review. The pair wise
bubble is really not so much of a bubble. It's
really a case of only a couple teams that can
play themselves in but Jim, you spent a lot of
time looking at this as you do bracketology. It looks
like it's going to be It looks like it's shaping
up to be an easier situation for the committee as
(25:31):
things come together. But there are a couple of teams
below the bubble with less than a two percent chance
of getting in Arizona State and UMass Low. They pretty
much have to win their conference tournament or a whole
ton of things have to fall their way. It's surprising
to me with Arizona State nineteen wins, a pretty good schedule,
(25:52):
but just where the wins happen and where somewhere in
overtime really has made the difference.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
They were beat up.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
They were beat up at the beginning, and they played
without Lucia's the whole first half. I think that you're
looking at a team that's completely different now. But you
are what your record says you are, and everybody deals
with injuries, So I think that you're looking at it
a team where they were hoping that Ohio State got
knocked out, because I think that would have really helped them.
(26:21):
Obviously happened.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
Yeah, I think right now this is the strangest bubble
i've ever seen. With two weeks left before championship weekend,
you don't really have a bubble. If you're in the
tournament right now. If you're in the top fourteen, you're in.
There's two teams that are going to get in just
based on autobids, ones from Atlanta Cockey, ones from the
(26:44):
CHA Nobody else can play.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Their way in.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
But you can almost say that for everybody, lowl technically
can play their way in. If they were to get
to the championship game in Hockey East and lose, there's
still a one percent chance, but they even then they
have to play certain teams. Same thing goes for the
Arizona State. They can get to the NCC championship game, lose,
but it's still one percent. These are so minute we
(27:08):
can't even really focus on it. So I think it's
really just talking about teams that are inside the bubble
that can still get eliminated. For what it's worth, I'm
I feel like it's almost time to cut that down
to just two teams. Quinnipiac and Michigan didn't do themselves favors.
They're now have no control. They don't play another game.
(27:29):
They have to hope that they get back inside the
cut line or stay inside the cut line.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Quinnipiac, they control their destiny.
Speaker 6 (27:36):
If they can get to the ECC finals, they're probably fine,
but they can't slip. There's not a lot of room
for them. Everybody else, and I'm going to include Penn
State is I know Penn State's technically only ninety seven percent,
but that's really close to end.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
They're just about in.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
They can lose this weekend in my opinion, and still
probably get in only one more loss for these teams.
Anybody that's not playing a two out of three series
this weekend too, don't forget. You only have a chance
for one more loss on your resume.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
So it's strange.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
We've never been in a situation where there really isn't
a bubble here, and we're really talking about two teams,
Michigan and Quinnipiac.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
They will be only replaced by teams winning the championship
playing their way in.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
And I'd have to look at what it would take,
but quinnipiack what happens if Quinnipiac wins two out of
three games and has a loss in there to Brown,
that is not going to.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Help doesn't help, certainly doesn't help. But oh, that's so dynamic.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
We'd have to actually look at those numbers next Monday
to see where we are.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
So Michigan just has to sit there and helping. You
also got to ask the question and if they had
won one of those games, whether they would be in
a better position maybe at thirteen or twelve.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
That's another thing that goes yes, certainly if Michigan had
found a way not to get swept, that would have
helped their pair wise case as well.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Right now, this is it's pretty dire for Michigan.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
I think every coach in school that you can say it,
you just want to be in control. And now they've
handed control back to everybody else that's still playing.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, they've lost their they've lost what in their own hands,
their destiny, their fate, whatever.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
They can't control it.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
They just got to sit here as a coach that
was on a bubble at one point way back, when
you just sit and watch and you hope and you
get your fingers crossed and toes cross and everything that
it goes the right way.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
You're this is a weird year.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
You're talking nobody unless you win your tournament outside the
top seventeen, and you're even Minnesota State, and we talked
about them, they don't control it. You got Arizona State,
moull still have a little bit of a chance, but
they still got to win out.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
There's a messed up scenario this year, and I don't
think that this is the way that it was supposed
to be. What happened to the bubble and all of that,
and hoping everything that was going to happen. It's a
I don't know. I think this is going to use.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
This is going to give the people that want the
NPI or.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
The new that the women are using, however you want
to call it.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
This is going to give them fuel the fire here
of trying to figure out a new way to a
new mouse trap.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yeah, my whole argument with that. And don't I totally agree.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
I was going to say that if you didn't, that
this will force the conversation more about pair wise is wrong,
it doesn't work, it's broken. I'd love to see the
NPI's numbers right now. I wouldn't be surprised if we're
in the exact same situation there. What has happened here
is you've had two conferences basically dominate Hockey East and
the Big Ten, and that has left us with three
(30:51):
conferences that are basically in a single bit situation in
the n which is not much better shape. They're probably
what do we have the three teams for the NCAAC
right now? And there was a point where we could
have and maybe we're.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Still in that point.
Speaker 6 (31:07):
I didn't really run these numbers going in, but where
the Big Ten could have had six out of seven
teams in their tournament in the tournament from their conference,
here we are we have two teams that just dominated.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
That's not something that happens every year.
Speaker 6 (31:22):
Usually we're looking at four or five conferences that are
sending multiple teams to this tournament.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
But if you're also you talked about Michigan not controlling
anything in sitting around waiting. Every team's got one of
those weekends, every team's got one of those games. This
had to happen. You just you can't look at this
going it was this weekend for Michigan. There's other stuff
that happened. We talk about your games in October affecting
(31:50):
there's other stuff that happened. As much as you say, hey,
they got beat by Penn State, they got this they
got that. There's other games of that mix that really
hurt Michigan to put them where they are, and other
games that hurt Arizona State, other games that hurt Loll.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Loll was pretty comfortably in at one point.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
So you look at some different scenarios and everybody's going
to have those games.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
They went back.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Why would you finish one point out of a higher
playoff spot because you gave up a goal with twelve
seconds left, you gave up an overtime loss.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
There's you didn't score on the shootout.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
There's little things that you want batht that really affect
your season.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
When we look at it right now, there are eight
teams that are one hundred percent in BC, Michigan State,
Maine in Minnesota, Western Michigan, BU Connecticut, and Province Providence
and then MSS is all but a lot that weekend
against Maine really nice things for them. So you've got
six teams ninety seven percent chance of six teams in
(32:57):
from Hockey East. You've got four teams likely in from
the Big ten because both Ohio State and Penn State
right now are at about Penn State at ninety six
percent in Ohio State at ninety nine percent. So ten
of the teams come from those two leagues, three more
from ECAC, Atlantic Hockey and CCHA, leaving at most three
(33:22):
four the NCCHC which right now would stand at Western Michigan,
Denver and.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Maybe who else gets it. It's just really is crazy.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
Yeah, I don't think I expected the NCC as a
nine team conference only get two teams in.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
That's probably the one that changed the most this year.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
We've seen the CCHA being on the verge of a
single bit. We've seen the ECAC on a verge of
a single bit before. Obviously Atlantic has had that.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
We haven't.
Speaker 6 (33:53):
We haven't seen two teams out of the nc season
inception that I can remember. By Army doesn't help. The
team didn't win a league game this year. That does
twenty seven in a.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
Row, right. That brought down the overall conference RPI for
the NCAC. But there's other teams, there's other teams. They
just didn't.
Speaker 6 (34:17):
This is a conference that perennially has been in the
six thirty six to fifty winning percentage interconference play.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
This year they finish.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
Just looking at it now, NCH finished with five eight
six win percentage.
Speaker 5 (34:34):
That's a that's enough of a drop.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
If you're thinking that you win sixty five percent of
your games typically and you're only winning fifty eight percent,
that's a big drop.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Okay, So I'm going to ask you a question we
didn't have on our rundown, and you can duck it
if you like. Is this the beginning of a trend
for the NCCHC. Is this a league with the Division
two institutions that are in it, and even a Division
three in colle Ardo College. Is this one we're trying
to be able to compete on the big stage with
(35:04):
the power fives? Is going to be more difficult in
an era of name, image and likeness and transfer portal
and all that stuff.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
No, No, okay, No, Yeah, I think it's a good
I think it's a good extrapolation of data and where
you can go with it.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
But I don't think so.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
No, there's too much strength among these teams, too much pride. No,
they won't let this conference go downhill and lean on
the We don't have the resources, we don't have the ability.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
That these teams are too strong.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
And too much talent.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Really, we're heading into a season an off season where
there's going to be way too many players chasing way
too few positions.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
By the way, can I tease one thing? Because they
come out tomorrow Tuesday. Bracketology comes out every Tuesday. I
have already put the framework together for it, and I
will just tell you.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
I'm not gonna tell you anything more.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
I'm just gonna tease this with Allentown, Pennsylvania right now
is the region of death.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
That's all I'm gonna tell you. I'll leave it there.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
All we know is penn State is there, and we'll
find out who the other three are in Jim's prognostication
in Bracketology on Tuesday. I guess with that, we'll wrap
things up.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Before you end.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
Ed before you end, I'm gonna throw a teaser there
or a final note. Congratulations to Jeff Jackson six hundred
and a C.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
All Right, we didn't really talk and dubt about it, but.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Sad to see another program go under and play the
last game.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
But congratulations Derek.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Lying on everything he did there, you couldn't have You
couldn't write that script any better for what he's done
today I see.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
This episode has been sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division One.
Frozen four, April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Get your tickets now at ncaa dot com. Frozen four
for Jim Connolly, for Derek Schooley. I'm Ed Trefsker and
this has been usc CHO Weekend Review
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to us.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Echo Weekend Review for Monday, March tenth, twenty twenty five.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one
Frozen four April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get
your tickets at NCAA dot com slash Frozen four. I'm
at Trevsker alongside Jim Connolly and Derek Schooley. It was
(00:37):
a crazy weekend, well, few upsets, lots of overtime, and
a lot to get to. And let's start out with
the big ten. Penn State got the road upset of
Michigan in a two game sweep, six to five in
overtime and five to two, and that was maybe a
mild upset, but it was a three game series that
(00:57):
delivered the biggest upset of the year. Number seven seed
Notre Dame knocked out number two Minnesota three to two
on Friday for Jeff jackson six hundredth win, then a
four to two loss on Saturday, then a four to
one win on Sunday. And despite that, Bob Motsko was
happy with how his team played, except for digging out
of a two two goal hole all the way through
(01:20):
and then it was Ohio State needing three games, but
they knocked off number six seed Wisconsin three to two
on Sunday. Before we get back to the other game.
What a heartbreaker that had to be for Wisconsin. They're
up one to nothing, there's an empty net for Ohio State.
A mised attempt in the last minute could have made
it nothing and made it a sweep for Wisconsin. They
(01:42):
end up losing in overtime and then lose on Sunday.
But the Minnesota loss, the Minnesota upset, really stands pretty
large right now.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I thought it was great theater all weekend, made for
a great Sunday. I had three TVs going going back
and forth between the Atlantic Hockey Game threes, the Big
Ten Game threes, and great day for college hockey. Not
a great day for obviously Minnesota. They just chased the
game the whole time. In Game three, they didn't do
(02:17):
a great job of getting up. I thought they'll played
him at times. And then you go to the other
game where Wisconsin's just back and forth and it went
right down to the last minute, getting a late goal
with the goalie pulled to make it three to two,
and like you said, Mayor, the sweep on on Saturdays.
(02:40):
It was a great weekend of college hockey, and I
think it's just a prelude to the moving forward in
the playoffs and the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (02:50):
Crazy is the only way I can describe the Big
Ten when I think about their playoffs this weekend. You
mentioned that Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Wisconsin unable to close
that one out on Saturday, and the Ohio State gets
it done on Sunday, and.
Speaker 5 (03:06):
Then Minnesota just shocked me this.
Speaker 6 (03:09):
I thought Minnesota might have been the best team in
the country coming into the playoffs, and they ran into
a Notre Dame team that found the reset button. They
did not have a good second half, There's no two
ways about it. I guess they had wins over Michigan
and Minnesota and maybe those gave them some confidence. I
think they also won one over Wisconsin in the second half.
(03:30):
But you can tell, and we saw this. We're going
to get to this in other conferences. But teams that
were playing for their coach this weekend did pretty good.
Teams that their coach has announced it his retirement and
they knew that losing this weekend was the end. That
was a pretty good motivator. We saw it with Army,
(03:51):
we saw it with Cornell as well. Jeff Jackson lives
to see another day and also gets to number six hundred.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
What a nice plateau that is.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
But a semi final of the Big Ten, I just
don't think that any of us saw coming.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Let's talk a little bit about those semi finals before
we move on to other conferences. You've got number seven
Notre Dame at number one Michigan State and number five
Penn State at number three Ohio State.
Speaker 6 (04:17):
I think that actually becomes a really difficult game for
Michigan State. They had the weekend off, which coaches I
get at this time of year you love, but you've
also now not played playoff hockey and you're gonna come
against a team that's played three playoff games already. They
had to win two really tough playoff games on the road.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Now they're going back on the road.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
This is it's a good scenario for Notre Dame. You're
still playing with the house's money. You're still motivated to
try to keep this going as long as you can.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
For your coach. Michigan State should be a heavy favorite here, but.
Speaker 6 (04:52):
It's one of those things where I think Notre Dame
was a pig underdog this weekend.
Speaker 5 (04:56):
They relished that role, and you got.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I think Michigan State correct me ivery marongas Jeff Jackson's
alma mater, so I think you throw a little intrigue
in that. And then you got Penn State, who are
you believe is the hottest one of the hottest, if
not the hottest team in the nation right now, and
one game anything can happen, Like you said, playing with
houses money, and you go back to the old saying
(05:20):
why not us? And you'll think that with Ohio State
or with Notre Dame, you think that with Penn State,
why not US?
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Very intriguing matchup. Now one game no two out.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Of three, you're if you're not fresh, if you're not ready,
you could be ablemated quickly.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
I think that's what makes this Big Ten playoff format
so difficult, is.
Speaker 6 (05:43):
That you feel like you got a big advantage for
not having to play that first weekend, But now you
get into a one game elimination scenario against a team
that's already a little bit playoff season. So I think
that the Big Ten has one of the tougher plays
off fourmats nobody really gets favorite, even the number one seed.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And Ohio State and Penn State.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Ohio State's now like a ninety nine percent probability of
being in the tournament the NCAAs and Penn State ninety
seven percent. Whichever team wins, that pretty much locks it
up for them. So you've got the Big Ten title
and you've got the NCAA's on the line there. So
that'll be interesting and we will get into more of
the pairwise later on in the podcast Atlantic Hockey. Three
(06:30):
of the c's series needed three games, and in the
end it was holy Cross Sacred Heart an army who
emerged on Sunday. Meanwhile, Bentley swept Gnisias. I want to
start there, two more shutouts for Connor Hasley. He leads
the nation with ten shutouts, yet he's not a Richter finalist.
And I know a few players or a few coaches,
(06:51):
a few fans around Atlantic Hockey or saying, boy, couldn't
we have gotten him in there too, Not to take
away from holy Cross as Thomas Gaale, but building a
great team starts building out around the net, and Hasley
has been superb this season. Four nothing and two nothing
over Canacious a terrific weekend for Bentley.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah, there's a team that's part of those shutouts. He's
a very good goaltender. We beat him in playoffs last
year and he's rebounded from that. Obviously he catches the
other way, but he's a solid goaltender. Between him and Gaale,
those are the two best in Atlantic hockey by far.
But I was not surprised to see two shutouts again
(07:35):
by Bentley, and I wasn't surprised to see three series
go to game three.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
If you would have picked that, I knew that AI.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
C would be a tough out. Obviously, Army at a Niagara.
Two overtime games in that series both ended on a
power play goal by Army, and then you move forward
the other Sacred Heart Air Force gave them all they
can handle, and like I said, great theater. Three game threes,
(08:06):
three TVs going watching they were all tied at one point,
very late, and I think I texted you Ed said,
this is great hockey right now, and it was. I
think an upset was not shocking to me in the
Army series because they were so close. An Army obviously
(08:26):
very hot, and you would play for Brian Riley and
the other ones. One't that surprised me either. That just
shows you the parody of Atlantic hockey.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
When the holy Cross Aic game, replay was huge. In
that game, AIC had looked to go up three to
two and Bill Riga challenged and it wasn't a challenge
on the goal.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
There was nothing there on that.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
A bit earlier in the play at the other end
of the ice, AIC goaltender Chase Clark had it was
a slash. It was five minutes slash, but it was
it was a yes, cup check is the right turn
on that? And they went back and looked at it.
That took the goal off and gave a five minute
power play, which ended up getting interrupted by another two
(09:12):
minute penalty the other way. But what a turn of
events there. I've got to think that between a close
game on Saturday and then on Sunday that the holy
Cross has to feel really fortunate to get out of
that series.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah, you also had a gold dislot in that five
minute major on holy Cross, so there was a lot
going on.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
There was seven minutes intrigue, let's put it that.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Way in that game where you were questioning if things
were going to stand, if things weren't going to stand.
It was a weird series, and like you said, holly
Cross needs to be very fortunate thanking their lucky stars,
going to church today, all of that, because it was
the AIC game all they can handle.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
I would say that every year somewhere in the country
we get one of these playoffs series where a favorite
really they survive, but they don't do it with these.
They struggle to get out of a first round and
then we sometimes see that same team go and cruise
the rest of the way. Sometimes you just have those
early especially if you haven't been there a lot. Holy
(10:21):
Cross they've been to some finals, I know that recent years,
but they haven't won championships. And this is not a
program that's at the top. This isn't what AIC or
rit has been in the last decade. This is a
team that's still getting used to being the favorite, and
I think that with that sometimes you go through some
(10:44):
growing pains.
Speaker 5 (10:44):
They survived it, now I don't.
Speaker 6 (10:46):
I'm not going to try to say that this is
now going to be two easy weekends and holy Cross
can punch their tickets to the tournament.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
We've seen too many upsets this weekend.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
But I do think that you sometimes go through these
kind of tournament growing pains if you will.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
And you got Army again. You got Army planned for
Brian Riley's career.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Holy Cross that's an intriguing matchup as well.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, and just looking quickly at those so you've got
Army at holy Cross. I would not overlook Army at all.
I think they have been terrific the second half of
the season, and now holy Cross has shown that they
may have some vulnerabilities that could be looked at. I'm
sure they'll be looking at a lot of video and
trying to see what worked for ai C. Meanwhile, Bentley
(11:32):
at Sacred Heart probably like the Army or like the
Sacred Heart Air Force series, that's probably going to be
a big goaltender battle.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
And I think the fact that these are not single
elimination games probably changes this a little bit. If you're
pure the higher seed and one mistake on the first
night can cost you in a single elimination scenario, it's
just different. So I think that there's a little bit
more cushion here for these two higher seats, but we'll
(12:04):
see what they can do with them.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
I don't think that there's much difference between these four
teams that are still remaining though. You got Bethley, who
we just talked about having all the shutouts going on
the road to Sacred Heart. That's not a there's not
a lot of travel involved in any of these series.
It's all and there's not a massive big thing for
Sacred Heart is they found a way to get out
(12:28):
of the first route and they've been getting upset year
after year. Niagara had their number big time back to
back years, and I don't think there's much of a
difference between these four teams. You could pull one out
of a hat and say that they're going to win,
and that doesn't surprise me one bet.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Let's turn to the CCHA.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Minnesota State, Saint Thomas and Bowling Green all swept their series,
but it took a game yesterday for number seven Bimigi
State to upset first year up starts Augustana three to
two in overtime on Sunday, And so that is going
to bring up Bowling Green at Saint Thomas and Bamigie
(13:09):
at Minnesota State, and that's a huge rivalry there. And
it's the final season in the CCHA for Saint Thomas
before they defect to the NCCHC and yes, I used
that word, but that's okay. How about that series and
prospects on those upcoming games.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
I think that.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
Augustana goes into that whole great team, great season, not
a lot of experience playing in these scenarios, and they
ran into a team in Bimigie State that has a
great playoff experience. Tom Saratri has led his team over
the years to some really big games, whether it be
(13:49):
in conference or NCAA tournament. He's experienced coach and I
think that's what Augustana ran into. I thought that the
comfort level for Minnesota State this weekend in getting by
as the number one seed, does this not feel like
the old Minnesota State team. They're just they're locking things down,
They're not giving up a lot of goals. They're finding
(14:11):
ways to score in these games, at least from the outside,
look comfortable.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
You're going to bring the goalie back from Minnesota State
with all the shutouts, and that was going to play
in the NHL.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
I think you're you're right of the money.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
And I think if we look at this, I wouldn't
look past Bowling Green though. Bowling Green's been that team
that has been just sleepy. They they're not sleepy, but
people are sleeping on them. And I think I wouldn't
look past Bowling maybe a Bowling Green man Cato final.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
So that's where it's coming down to. And I think
that you're looking at it.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
These are going to be some good games, and that's
playoff hockey and East I talked about AMIDGI. They've been
the finals the last couple of years and they're playing
off ready and it'll be in. It'll be a great
weekend in the cch that's for sure.
Speaker 6 (15:07):
By the way, Bowling Green they are the host in Toledo,
so if they were to win the c Championship, that
could really throw a brench at the committee seating the NCAA, tournal.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
Am, Putton State and Alentown that one.
Speaker 6 (15:20):
I've already put it in. They're so close that I
I've already started factoring that in mentally. I think adding
at the last second though, Bowling Green could really move
things around. But it maybe they don't at the same time.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
And those CCHA games or single elimination and just about
anything can happen in one of those funny bounds of
five minute major and the game can go completely the
other direction.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
In Minnesota. State's got to win, right, They've got to.
They're not getting in if they don't win. Correct.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, they're too far outside our bubble right now at
numbers deserve bubble out of bubble exactly. It's a brick wall.
It's a gate that can be locked. Let's turn to
the ECAC. The league's single elimination opening round had all
four favorites win, Harvard, Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth all advancing,
(16:16):
and that brings up some really interesting semi finals. Now,
maybe the top two seeds not as interesting with number
eight Brown at number one Quinnipiac and number seven Harvard
at number two Clarkson, but the other two games are
really pretty fascinating to me. The other two semi final rounds.
Number six Cornell at number three Coal Gate. They're not
(16:39):
like the huge traditional IVY League rivalry, but they're not
that far apart, and they're travel partners, so there is
a rivalry there. And number five Dartmouth at number four Union.
Both Dartmouth and Union have had pretty good seasons and
that one is going to be pretty terrific.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
I would expect, Yeah, good for the top seeds this weekend,
having no real trouble marching through the opening round of
the playoffs. But you're right at I think that the
semi finals, I'm sorry, the quarterfinals here are pretty compelling.
I look at that Colgate Cornell series as the one
that I really circle and it's the end for Mike Shaper.
(17:20):
But you're going to look across at the other side
and you have Mike Carter on the other side. Pretty new,
but says as as veteran and as fresh a rivalry
as you can get.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
In terms of the.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
Coaches, I think Dartmouth the Union probably is a pretty
good one as well. These are two teams that maybe
we didn't follow enough this season. Union to me their
second half in the way that they moved up getting
into that top four spot, they took me by surprise
a little bit. So that's a fun one to watch
as well. It's the Shaeffer caltdown. Just like we talked
(17:51):
about Jeff Jackson and Brian Riley all of that. It
was good to see that Cornell got away got out
of that first Sharm game because it was at some points, yeah,
I was flipping back around at different games and next
to you know, they got two really quick ones in
the third period and then held on for a five
minute major at the end. But if you're talking about
(18:14):
two really good hockey teams that are going to play
each other in Cornell and Colgate, probably Cornell beat up
by the the injury bug and then you got Colgate
who gets a buy once again must see TV.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
This weekend, two leagues ended their regular season. Boston College
repeats as Hockey East regular season champ. It's the nineteenth
time they've done that. Main loss on Friday, UMass and
BC beat Merrimac on Saturday, but the main loss clinched
it for BC. Actually a tough weekend on the road
(18:48):
in Amherst for Maine. So as we look at Hockey
East playoffs, BC main, BU and Yukon get home ice
in the quarterfinals. Providence finished fifth and they get a bye.
And so Wednesday's opening UND number eleven Vermont is at
number six you Mass, number ten New Hampshire, which finished
well is at number seven U Mass lowl, and number
(19:09):
nine Northeastern at number eight. Merrimack with a quarterfinal Friday,
Providence at Yukon and then the other three on Saturday.
That single elim eliminet is pretty interesting. But what about
the weekend, and what do we see in the playoffs
here in Hockey East.
Speaker 6 (19:25):
I think, as as tight as everything was all year,
you entered Saturday night or Saturday and all the top
four seeds had already been decided. Everything was for positioning
down the bottom. It ended up being a close race,
but not that close at the top.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Close race in certain places.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
What you end up with, though, are five teams that
get buys, and all five of those teams enter the
postseason knowing that they have their NCAA tournament.
Speaker 5 (19:56):
Hope sowed up you Mass they'll play on Wednesday.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
If they get past Wednesday, I think that'll show up
their tournament. But they're pretty close as well. They're better
than ninety nine percent to get in everybody else that
plays on Wednesday. Vermont, New Hampshire, Lowell, Northeastern, Merrimack. They're
looking to win the Hockey's Championship to have a shot
at the NCAA's. Interestingly, the quarter final round will get
(20:22):
played Friday and Saturday, but the teams that already know
they're playing each other, so that's providence. In yukon the
four or five, they'll actually play at night before on Friday.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
And then the other three games will be on Saturday.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
So big weekend coming up for Hockey East Hockey as
they get into their playoffs. But the final weekend of
the regular season was not as probably consequential as we
expected it to be.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
And you're also going into single emination games here. Now
that's the difference between Hockey East. You don't have that buffer,
you don't have the two out of three game series,
and that I think that favors the It favors the
lower seats a little bit in the one game because
you only have to get up for one game and
there's not a whole lot of travel and there's not
(21:09):
a back to back. So I think that you're going
to see it upset, and just depends which one it's
going to be, but I think you're going to see
an upset in Hockey East and.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
In the NCCHC.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
The final weekend obviously settled where everybody's going to play.
Omaha got the final home ice spot, splitting the weekend
with North Dakota, so North Dakota is fifth and those
two teams will play each other in Omaha this coming weekend.
Denver swept Colorado College both ends of that home and
home series to finish in third. So this is what
(21:44):
the semi finals look like. In the NCCHC. You've got
number eight Saint Cloud State at number one, Western Michigan
number seven, Minnesota Duluth at number two, Arizona State number six,
Colorado College at number three, Denver another series with a
second straight weekend, and as im Echion number five North
Dakota the number four Omaha.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
I love the second straight weekend as a team that
just had to do it. We played at end of
the year of the Air Force and then I had
to play in the playoffs. It brings a lot of
intrigue to the weekend. You don't have as much preparation.
You've seen the teams, you've seen everything that they have,
and these games this past weekend were for something, so
it wasn't like people held back. I think you're going
(22:26):
to see maybe one of those second straight weekends go
to three games. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw
all of them in at least those two series go
to three games, because of how close they are in
the last weekend, how close they were into playing, knowing
(22:47):
their systems, all of that, and I also I'm going
to pick an up set somewhere. I think there's going
to be an upset. I think it's going to come
from those second straight weekend series.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
The higher seed upside, I should say.
Speaker 6 (23:01):
By the way, anybody paying attention to Denver, here we
go again. As we get to the postseason. They're playing
their best hockey five out of the last six they've wanted,
very far away from when they lost four or five,
getting swept by Arizona State, losing to Colorado College on
the road, and losing to Western all those that's all
in the past. Denver is now the Denver that opened
(23:22):
this season with the long winning streak. This is the
team I watched that pretty much that whole series against
Colorado College this weekend, and CC played great hockey, and
Denver still was the better team and found a way
both nights to get the victories. I think that Denver
(23:43):
scares me probably the most in the NCCHC. And the
other one too is Saint Cloud State's your number eight seed.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Here.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
Saint Cloud State, at times this year I thought was
a very good team. Now, Western Michigan your reward for
becoming the numberumber one seed winning the regular season in
the NCAA se is to play a team that year
in year out is usually a pretty powerful team in
the NCAA C and Saint Cloud.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
And a healthy Saint Cloud State now too as they
get into the playoffs. With that, we're going to take
a break and when we come back, we'll talk about
the pair wise bubble and whether it's a bubble or not.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one
Frozen four April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
The NCAA Men's Frozen four, the pinnacle of men's collegiate
ice hawk Any.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Question, Professor, NCAA Men's Hockey is back.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
Are we ready? You prepared to.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Hype your squad for all three periods? Bring glory home
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Speaker 2 (24:52):
Oh you're ready.
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It's Frozen four.
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Tome the NCAA Men's Frozen four April tenth and twelfth,
twenty twenty five, and st buy your seats today at
NCAAA dot com.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
So that's frozen, fool.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Welcome back to us Echo Weekend Review. The pair wise
bubble is really not so much of a bubble. It's
really a case of only a couple teams that can
play themselves in but Jim, you spent a lot of
time looking at this as you do bracketology. It looks
like it's going to be It looks like it's shaping
up to be an easier situation for the committee as
(25:31):
things come together. But there are a couple of teams
below the bubble with less than a two percent chance
of getting in Arizona State and UMass Low. They pretty
much have to win their conference tournament or a whole
ton of things have to fall their way. It's surprising
to me with Arizona State nineteen wins, a pretty good schedule,
(25:52):
but just where the wins happen and where somewhere in
overtime really has made the difference.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
They were beat up.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
They were beat up at the beginning, and they played
without Lucia's the whole first half. I think that you're
looking at a team that's completely different now. But you
are what your record says you are, and everybody deals
with injuries, So I think that you're looking at it
a team where they were hoping that Ohio State got
knocked out, because I think that would have really helped them.
(26:21):
Obviously happened.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
Yeah, I think right now this is the strangest bubble
i've ever seen. With two weeks left before championship weekend,
you don't really have a bubble. If you're in the
tournament right now. If you're in the top fourteen, you're in.
There's two teams that are going to get in just
based on autobids, ones from Atlanta Cockey, ones from the
(26:44):
CHA Nobody else can play.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Their way in.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
But you can almost say that for everybody, lowl technically
can play their way in. If they were to get
to the championship game in Hockey East and lose, there's
still a one percent chance, but they even then they
have to play certain teams. Same thing goes for the
Arizona State. They can get to the NCC championship game, lose,
but it's still one percent. These are so minute we
(27:08):
can't even really focus on it. So I think it's
really just talking about teams that are inside the bubble
that can still get eliminated. For what it's worth, I'm
I feel like it's almost time to cut that down
to just two teams. Quinnipiac and Michigan didn't do themselves favors.
They're now have no control. They don't play another game.
(27:29):
They have to hope that they get back inside the
cut line or stay inside the cut line.
Speaker 5 (27:34):
Quinnipiac, they control their destiny.
Speaker 6 (27:36):
If they can get to the ECC finals, they're probably fine,
but they can't slip. There's not a lot of room
for them. Everybody else, and I'm going to include Penn
State is I know Penn State's technically only ninety seven percent,
but that's really close to end.
Speaker 5 (27:52):
They're just about in.
Speaker 6 (27:54):
They can lose this weekend in my opinion, and still
probably get in only one more loss for these teams.
Anybody that's not playing a two out of three series
this weekend too, don't forget. You only have a chance
for one more loss on your resume.
Speaker 5 (28:08):
So it's strange.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
We've never been in a situation where there really isn't
a bubble here, and we're really talking about two teams,
Michigan and Quinnipiac.
Speaker 5 (28:18):
They will be only replaced by teams winning the championship
playing their way in.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
And I'd have to look at what it would take,
but quinnipiack what happens if Quinnipiac wins two out of
three games and has a loss in there to Brown,
that is not going to.
Speaker 5 (28:32):
Help doesn't help, certainly doesn't help. But oh, that's so dynamic.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
We'd have to actually look at those numbers next Monday
to see where we are.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
So Michigan just has to sit there and helping. You
also got to ask the question and if they had
won one of those games, whether they would be in
a better position maybe at thirteen or twelve.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
That's another thing that goes yes, certainly if Michigan had
found a way not to get swept, that would have
helped their pair wise case as well.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Right now, this is it's pretty dire for Michigan.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
I think every coach in school that you can say it,
you just want to be in control. And now they've
handed control back to everybody else that's still playing.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Yeah, they've lost their they've lost what in their own hands,
their destiny, their fate, whatever.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
They can't control it.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
They just got to sit here as a coach that
was on a bubble at one point way back, when
you just sit and watch and you hope and you
get your fingers crossed and toes cross and everything that
it goes the right way.
Speaker 5 (29:33):
You're this is a weird year.
Speaker 4 (29:38):
You're talking nobody unless you win your tournament outside the
top seventeen, and you're even Minnesota State, and we talked
about them, they don't control it. You got Arizona State,
moull still have a little bit of a chance, but
they still got to win out.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
There's a messed up scenario this year, and I don't
think that this is the way that it was supposed
to be. What happened to the bubble and all of that,
and hoping everything that was going to happen. It's a
I don't know. I think this is going to use.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
This is going to give the people that want the
NPI or.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
The new that the women are using, however you want
to call it.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
This is going to give them fuel the fire here
of trying to figure out a new way to a
new mouse trap.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
Yeah, my whole argument with that. And don't I totally agree.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
I was going to say that if you didn't, that
this will force the conversation more about pair wise is wrong,
it doesn't work, it's broken. I'd love to see the
NPI's numbers right now. I wouldn't be surprised if we're
in the exact same situation there. What has happened here
is you've had two conferences basically dominate Hockey East and
the Big Ten, and that has left us with three
(30:51):
conferences that are basically in a single bit situation in
the n which is not much better shape. They're probably
what do we have the three teams for the NCAAC
right now? And there was a point where we could
have and maybe we're.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Still in that point.
Speaker 6 (31:07):
I didn't really run these numbers going in, but where
the Big Ten could have had six out of seven
teams in their tournament in the tournament from their conference,
here we are we have two teams that just dominated.
Speaker 5 (31:20):
That's not something that happens every year.
Speaker 6 (31:22):
Usually we're looking at four or five conferences that are
sending multiple teams to this tournament.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
But if you're also you talked about Michigan not controlling
anything in sitting around waiting. Every team's got one of
those weekends, every team's got one of those games. This
had to happen. You just you can't look at this
going it was this weekend for Michigan. There's other stuff
that happened. We talk about your games in October affecting
(31:50):
there's other stuff that happened. As much as you say, hey,
they got beat by Penn State, they got this they
got that. There's other games of that mix that really
hurt Michigan to put them where they are, and other
games that hurt Arizona State, other games that hurt Loll.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Loll was pretty comfortably in at one point.
Speaker 4 (32:10):
So you look at some different scenarios and everybody's going
to have those games.
Speaker 5 (32:14):
They went back.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
Why would you finish one point out of a higher
playoff spot because you gave up a goal with twelve
seconds left, you gave up an overtime loss.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
There's you didn't score on the shootout.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
There's little things that you want batht that really affect
your season.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
When we look at it right now, there are eight
teams that are one hundred percent in BC, Michigan State,
Maine in Minnesota, Western Michigan, BU Connecticut, and Province Providence
and then MSS is all but a lot that weekend
against Maine really nice things for them. So you've got
six teams ninety seven percent chance of six teams in
(32:57):
from Hockey East. You've got four teams likely in from
the Big ten because both Ohio State and Penn State
right now are at about Penn State at ninety six
percent in Ohio State at ninety nine percent. So ten
of the teams come from those two leagues, three more
from ECAC, Atlantic Hockey and CCHA, leaving at most three
(33:22):
four the NCCHC which right now would stand at Western Michigan,
Denver and.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
Maybe who else gets it. It's just really is crazy.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
Yeah, I don't think I expected the NCC as a
nine team conference only get two teams in.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
That's probably the one that changed the most this year.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
We've seen the CCHA being on the verge of a
single bit. We've seen the ECAC on a verge of
a single bit before. Obviously Atlantic has had that.
Speaker 5 (33:52):
We haven't.
Speaker 6 (33:53):
We haven't seen two teams out of the nc season
inception that I can remember. By Army doesn't help. The
team didn't win a league game this year. That does
twenty seven in a.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
Row, right. That brought down the overall conference RPI for
the NCAC. But there's other teams, there's other teams. They
just didn't.
Speaker 6 (34:17):
This is a conference that perennially has been in the
six thirty six to fifty winning percentage interconference play.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
This year they finish.
Speaker 6 (34:29):
Just looking at it now, NCH finished with five eight
six win percentage.
Speaker 5 (34:34):
That's a that's enough of a drop.
Speaker 6 (34:37):
If you're thinking that you win sixty five percent of
your games typically and you're only winning fifty eight percent,
that's a big drop.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Okay, So I'm going to ask you a question we
didn't have on our rundown, and you can duck it
if you like. Is this the beginning of a trend
for the NCCHC. Is this a league with the Division
two institutions that are in it, and even a Division
three in colle Ardo College. Is this one we're trying
to be able to compete on the big stage with
(35:04):
the power fives? Is going to be more difficult in
an era of name, image and likeness and transfer portal
and all that stuff.
Speaker 6 (35:13):
No, No, okay, No, Yeah, I think it's a good
I think it's a good extrapolation of data and where
you can go with it.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
But I don't think so.
Speaker 6 (35:24):
No, there's too much strength among these teams, too much pride. No,
they won't let this conference go downhill and lean on
the We don't have the resources, we don't have the ability.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
That these teams are too strong.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
And too much talent.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Really, we're heading into a season an off season where
there's going to be way too many players chasing way
too few positions.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
By the way, can I tease one thing? Because they
come out tomorrow Tuesday. Bracketology comes out every Tuesday. I
have already put the framework together for it, and I
will just tell you.
Speaker 5 (36:03):
I'm not gonna tell you anything more.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
I'm just gonna tease this with Allentown, Pennsylvania right now
is the region of death.
Speaker 5 (36:10):
That's all I'm gonna tell you. I'll leave it there.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
All we know is penn State is there, and we'll
find out who the other three are in Jim's prognostication
in Bracketology on Tuesday. I guess with that, we'll wrap
things up.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Before you end.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
Ed before you end, I'm gonna throw a teaser there
or a final note. Congratulations to Jeff Jackson six hundred
and a C.
Speaker 5 (36:34):
All Right, we didn't really talk and dubt about it, but.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
Sad to see another program go under and play the
last game.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
But congratulations Derek.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Lying on everything he did there, you couldn't have You
couldn't write that script any better for what he's done
today I see.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
This episode has been sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division One.
Frozen four, April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Get your tickets now at ncaa dot com. Frozen four
for Jim Connolly, for Derek Schooley. I'm Ed Trefsker and
this has been usc CHO Weekend Review
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