February 24, 2025 • 46 mins
Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) with Dan Rubin (@DanRubin12) sitting in for Derek Schooley review games of the weekend and news of the week.
They start with Michigan State's struggles against Penn State and Minnesota's surge in the Big Ten. They highlight the Pairwise implications for teams like Quinnipiac, UMass Lowell, and Penn State, as well as Western Michigan's first regulation loss in the NCHC. The episode also explores the championship races in Hockey East, where Boston College leads, and the ECAC, with Quinnipiac and Clarkson vying for the top spot.
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
00:54 Michigan State's tough weekend
01:16 Big Ten standings and Penn State's rise
06:50 Holy Cross wins a share of AHA
13:05 Minnesota State's CCHA title
16:57 Western Michigan's NCHC challengers
20:38 Hockey East showdown
26:43 ECAC title race
30:13 PairWise Bubble analysis
47:23 Conclusion and sign-off
They start with Michigan State's struggles against Penn State and Minnesota's surge in the Big Ten. They highlight the Pairwise implications for teams like Quinnipiac, UMass Lowell, and Penn State, as well as Western Michigan's first regulation loss in the NCHC. The episode also explores the championship races in Hockey East, where Boston College leads, and the ECAC, with Quinnipiac and Clarkson vying for the top spot.
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
00:54 Michigan State's tough weekend
01:16 Big Ten standings and Penn State's rise
06:50 Holy Cross wins a share of AHA
13:05 Minnesota State's CCHA title
16:57 Western Michigan's NCHC challengers
20:38 Hockey East showdown
26:43 ECAC title race
30:13 PairWise Bubble analysis
47:23 Conclusion and sign-off
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 (00:14):
Welcome to us Echo Weekend Review from Monday, February twenty fourth,
twenty twenty five. This episode is 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 slash Frozen four. I'm at trefsger alongside Jim Connolly
and sitting in for Derek Schooley today, Dan Rubin, Hi, Dan,
(00:40):
you know how this all works.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Right, guys?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Thanks for yeah, thanks for sullying this podcast by bringing
me on it. I hope to not do as bad
a job as I know I'm probably expected to do
in Derek's place.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Now we share that sentiment. It was a tough weekend
for number one Michigan State. I'm starting to wonder if
number one in the poll is like being on the
cover of Sports Illustrated. The tied Penn State on Friday,
losing the shootout, so they picked up one point and
then fell three to two on Saturday. So one point
(01:12):
weekend at month for Michigan State. Meanwhile, Minnesota swept Ohio State,
so the Gophers are in first in the Big Ten.
And they control their own destiny when they head to
Penn State this weekend. Meanwhile, Michigan State is heading to
Notre Dame. Now, I know we were talking all along.
We've been talking since the beginning of the season that
Ohio State was a hot hand coming.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Into the weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But Penn State, which started out zher to eight in
the Big Ten, is the team to watch right now.
Fifteenth in the pair wise and a chance to pick
up some position because they're playing good teams. They're one
spot behind the cut line U Mass lowells at fourteen
Quinnipiac thirteen. That first of all, would make the committee
(01:56):
very happy to have Penn State in the tournament because
they're the host of the Allentown region and all of
a sudden, attendance gets a lot better.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Yeah, if you've read my bracketology column for the last
six weeks, that's probably been the number one thing I
harp on every week is that attendance without a Penn
State is going.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
To be pretty tough.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I thint the two closest teams we could get to
Allentown in the field I've tried to place there most weeks,
and that's Yukon in Quinnipiac, so not exactly close. I
think that's two and three hours for those two teams
to get there. So the thought that you could get
the host team in the region would be wonderful. All
(02:38):
that said, anybody else concerned about Michigan State. This is
a team that just seemed like they were on autopilot
for so long, and we I didn't want to ever
crown them the Big Ten champions. But when you looked
at the two schedules coming down the Stretch Street and
them in Minnesota, we were more concerned about the Ohio
(02:59):
State series from Minnesota than we were about anything on
Michigan State schedule. Minnesota takes care of business six points
in the weekend, no problem, and then you have Michigan
State taking the big dip. Now they're likely it seems
like it's going to be very difficult for them to
win the regular season title. It feels like it's Minnesota
is to lose right now. I didn't see this coming,
(03:21):
did you add?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
No?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
In fact, I was thinking back as you were talking
about that to what Derek Schoolly said to us last week,
which is that maybe having a little bit of adversity
at this part of the season gets you refocused. I'm
sure not only is there some bravado taken off the
social media for the weekend, but also maybe a little
sobering attitude there and maybe an idea that maybe we
(03:48):
aren't invincible. It could end up benefiting down the road
for the Spartans.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
I would just want it to be would have wanted
it to be a couple weeks sooner, and I think
it was back at the beginning of February when they
split with Michigan, but the two weeks ago before this
series happened. I am a little afraid that it's happening
a little later in the season. I'm all for a
bit of adversity, but I think about the other number
(04:16):
one seeds and what they've maybe gone through, specifically Boston
College around the beam pot. They had a bounce back
weekend pretty quick and quieted all of the questions Michigan State.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
The questions are.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Getting a little bit louder, and while that doesn't translate
to maybe Michigan State bottoming out and falling out of
a number one seed or anything like that, I'm a
little concerned with this past weekend because it felt like
Penn State was the right get right weekend for them,
and it didn't happen. So now they're in a get
right weekend against Notre Dame, but going into the postseason,
(04:49):
the get right weekend is also against a team that
they're going to face a lot tougher teams before the
Big Ten tournament's over, So I think there are going
to be questions hanging around Michigan State for a little
while after this one.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
I think this has been a tough stretch for Michigan
State too, a lot of road games in the second
half that doesn't help. But I think you said it
Dan that you want to see teams go through adversity
and bounce back. If anything, we're seeing Michigan State bounce
the wrong direction.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So I'm really concerned for the Spartans.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
This has been a fantastic season all the way since
the first weekend.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I'd hate to see things start to unravel.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
Right now, they're still a really good position, going to
be top two in the Big Ten when all is
said and done, probably top ten, top two in the
pair wise when all is said and done.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
All that said, trophies.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Are what you're now looking for if you're Michigan State
and that those take good consecutive efforts, whether it's four
or three or how many camera games you have to
win to win your championship, league championship, national championship. They've
got to find a way to start putting these wins together.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And the Gophers now going to Pegoula Ice Arena at
Penn State, a hostile environment, a great, great environment there
for the home fans.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Watch out for Penn.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
State to spoil things a little bit for the Gophers
and maybe pick up more than their share of points
this weekend.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
They're playing well enough, right and this is the storyline
that we've looked at ken Penn State do it, and
we'll get into it a little later than the show
as we look at the pairwise bubble. But they've taken
some massive steps in the second half as Penn State.
If there's a team that is deserving of probably playing
their way into the tournaments in the Alliance right now.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
In a couple of conferences, regular season champions were crowned
or at least partially crowned, and I'll get into that
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
There was a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Of a backtrack on the announcement. There was a little
bit of a backtrack on the announcement. Holy Cross has
won at least a share of the Atlantic Hockey Crown
and they are the number one seed in the tournament.
They're tied with Sacred Heart and they play a game
tonight Monday Night. It's a makeup against AIC that goes
back to I think it was December when AIIC, in
(07:19):
the second game of a series had no goaltenders able
to go. Originally it was marked down as a forfeit,
and then the league made arrangements to make up the
game today. Fortunately, it doesn't affect any playoffs scheduling. I
know we were going into the weekend thinking that there
were teams that were going to have to figure out
how to get out to air Force after games on
Monday night, but that settled. But otherwise it'll be a
(07:43):
tie with Sacred Heart if Holy Cross doesn't pick up
any points in the game tonight. Interestingly enough, for AIC,
it was last weekend. They played their last home game
Friday night, and now they are hosting a playoff game.
They had to scramble to find a place to play it.
(08:04):
Booked long in advance, Disney on Ice is at Mass
Mutual Center in downtown Springfield, with performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, so no place to squeeze it in. AIC
has arranged it with Army. The game they will host
against rit will be at Tate Rink at six oh
five on Friday night, So a lot of scrambling in
(08:24):
the last few days to make that happen.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Yeah, first off, let me take my hat off to
Holy Cross. What a fantastic stretch run they put together
to at least share it, to at least durn a
share of the championship, and hopefully they can get that
at least at point tonight to get an out right crown.
Very deserved by Bill Riagan and his staff. I've really
(08:50):
enjoyed dealing with it. Eric laying out at a I see,
he's one of the honest coaches.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
He's done a lot.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I think it might have been Dan, you and I
last night were talking a text message and I think
I said, I feel like he's done so much with
smoking mirrors, somebody else in Vegas should probably give him
a show. He's such a magician with what he's been
able to do out there, and this further kind of
underscores the smoking mirrors. You need this is a coach
(09:20):
that led his team to some championships, made the Ncublea Tournament,
won a game, knocked off the number one seed in
the Ncublea Tournament, and did so with You never knew
that that program had an absolute shoes string budget unless
you were around it, and you didn't know that that
program bought tooth and nail just to play its games
sometimes because the Mass Mutual Center was such a difficult
(09:43):
place to schedule with having a professional team. I we're
gonna miss ai See college hockey will miss them, and
they will miss Eric Lang. I hope he ends up
with a with a head coaching job at the Division
one level again because he has proven what he can
do programs.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
But this just underscored.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
It's almost like on the way out, Aic had to
show what a kind of institutional mess they are one
last time.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
We For years, I used to look at aice in
Atlanta Cockey and say they're going to knock somebody off,
like they're just going to hand you that loss that
you just can't take in January or February. And that
was back before Eric was the head coach, back with
Gary Wright.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
They're just played the game the right way.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Gary Wright graduated as players, and there were things about
the AIC program that you said, we're greater than wins
and losses. And bear in mind they lost a lot
back in those days. They lost a ton of games
back in the old days. They never finished out a
last or second to last place or third delug whatever
it winds up being.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
They just were never hosting hockey games in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
And then Eric Playing comes along and they changed the
budget around a bit, but it's still as much as
we want to say, they change around the budget, you
give them resources. We never really understood, oh, you're right,
unless you were around the program how he needed to
make it work.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And we look at the AA.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
And finding having this happen, like you said, underscores the
mess that he had to deal with. From a two
sided standpoint, you still feel incredibly awful for the players,
the coaches, the people who work around the program, the
people who are involved with the hockey program. While also
then understanding that what he did to build a winner
(11:32):
was not because of things. It was necessarily in spite
of things, and I think maybe even enhances his reputation
as a program builder.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
It doesn't make you want to see AI c go away.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I'd rather them try to figure it out and stick
around after thirty years of his Division I program, But
it is the powers that are over the program outside
of practice, outside.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Of playing in games.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Is truly unfortunate that this happens to a team that
I think deserves a heck of a lot better and
just couldn't couldn't quite put it together in some of
those areas. I hope that at the risk of at
the risk of rooting for a teeth with Ed on
this podcast, I wouldn't mind seeing a se make the
trip make the trip to eastern Massachusetts before this playoffs over,
(12:18):
just for one last go round with them. But I
suppose I can't really throw that one down too badly.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, you're entitled to your opinion. I want to say
about Eric lying. You know, there are some coaches openings
coming up this year. Some are filled in advance. There
are some openings, and I'm not going to name any programs,
but if you have a program that has been just
below where it should be, and you can bring in
a dynamic coach like Eric who also understands where to
(12:48):
find players where other people are missing them, especially what
he did there with the European.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Route for Aic.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I think he could take a program to the next level,
and I think people will looking for that. Let's look
at the other league that settled things, and that was
Minnesota State. They won the CCHA still a weekend of
play remaining, but the Mavericks can finish with a winning
percentage of no lower than six sixty seven. So Augustana
(13:17):
at six twenty five can't catch them because they have
no more CCHA games left. Bowling Green Michigan Tech can't
catch man Cato either, So a terrific season for Minnesota
State and a well deserved crown there, even it's been
a weird year where they had to go by winning
percentage because Augustana didn't have a full schedule.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, I'm glad to see that you put your shoes
back on after taking them off to do the math
ed and the advocates that is back there figuring out
winning percentages and all of that sort of stuff. This
is strange, but I'm glad this is not something that
you have to deal with on a year and year
out basis. You know, give it to Don Lucia for
(14:01):
finding a solution, getting a season played and having August
stander as a full fledged member to their league. Gay
are going to be a good thing for the CCHA
going forward. But congratulations to Minnesota State again. This team
finds ways to win this championship, and they do it.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Year in year out.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Even when you feel like it might be a down year,
Minnesota State founds and finds a way to bounce back.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
And he had there always at the top.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
There'll be a tough team in this tournament likely to
take the ccha's auto bit.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
But put forward some exciting playoffs and.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
I mentioned Augustana that would be a team that would
be fun to see in Bowling Green, Michigan Tech, but Mitchie.
Those are all teams that probably have a shot of
pulling off the upset.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
But this feels like it's Minnesota States to lose.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
I suppose that's the problem facing the CCHA right now,
is that it's Minnesota States to lose. And I know
Bimidgi had won championship since the CCHA reformed and the
WCCHA realigned and all that, but there's a at the
end of the day, it doesn't matter how much you
push a team if they still win it. I suppose
it's a good thing and we talked about this a
(15:15):
little bit about ECAC, which is still in doubt. Is
if you have a conference and you're trying to catch
a team and you put a little bit of pressure
on them, that's all well and good, but somebody still
has to figure out a way to overtake them. And
like I said, with the exception of a one year hiatus,
when Bimigi took over and won the regular season championship
(15:36):
in the in the CCHA, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
It was regular season championship.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
If BMIDGII won that at least it turns into a
situation where Minnesota State it's still their league, and so
Augustana gave them the nice run with the scheduling works.
He's still just got to play the games that you're handed.
It's not whether it's whether the format. Like you said,
Don hou Chiam did a great job coming up with
a system, and you play the system. There is no
(16:01):
asterisk in my book to anyone winning anything but Bowling
Green and Michigan Tech same idea. Neither of them can
catch Minikatos. So it's back to the drawing board next
year until someone can figure out a way to unseat them.
Hats off that Minnesota State still figures out a way
to do it in a league that started to pressure
them but didn't quite overtake them.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, let's compliment Luke's Strand on that people were talking
when he got hired as head coach when Hastings went
to Wisconsin that, oh, now's the time where Minnesota State
falls back into the pack, and that has not been
the case. So a terrific job there in his second
season behind the bench.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Year one wasn't easy, but here they are back to
being a twenty win team. They reached at this point
the season just eight losses. This is this is what
Minnesota State was for so many years under Mike Castings,
and Luke Strands brought them right back.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Western Michigan may have missed an opportunity in the NC.
They just got two out of six points against Arizona State,
a five to three loss Friday, four to three overtime
win on Saturday. They're close to clinching, but they need
three out of twelve points. That's not a tall order, hopefully,
but Arizona State, Omaha, North Dakota, and Denver all can
(17:20):
technically mathematically catch Western Michigan. So that's going to be
a fun race to watch in the NCCHC.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
By the way, there's something I left out as I
was putting together notes of this. That was Western Michigan's
first regulation loss all season in the NCCHCOF Friday night
regulation loss to Arizona State. That's really impressive. This has
been a great run by the Broncos and Pat Verschweilers.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
They're on the precipice right now.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
I'm sure they would have liked to have just swept
this weekend, taken the whole thing down, but here they are.
You've got two weekends left. They've got such a comfortable lead,
you feel like they're going to close it out, and
now it's just what do you do next? Can Western
Michigan make the run for the NCAAC tournament. That's we've
(18:13):
always known that's a really tough tournament to play. And
you've got obviously, you've got the defending national champion there.
You've got basically a North Dakota team that is playing
its best hockey right now, at least over the last
few weekends.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Plenty of other teams.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Saint Cloud State has gone through the worst stretch they've
ever had, but hey, they just got to win this
weekend heading into the playoffs. I just don't feel no
disrespect to Miami. Maybe you take them out. I don't
feel like there's another team in the NCC that you
can just right off going into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
And going back to the point about Michigan State, and
I suppose it helps that Western has only lost one
game in regulation. Is that you looked at Michigan State,
take what happened or what we're saying, which is now
it's three weekends where they've to absorb the loss and
you're up against a bit of your struggle. But you
don't want to have that struggle, right, That's what we
were just saying, or you'd like to have it a
(19:11):
little bit earlier. And because it hasn't really happened to Western,
there's still time with two weekends left, and specifically that
North Dakota is is coming up next and is at home,
that now you have a chance to prove your your
get right. Like you if they come out and they
take points from North Dakota, which make you said, Jim's
(19:32):
playing unbelievable hockey right now, then it's a moot point.
Like we're still talking about Western Michigan as being the
NCCHD favorite. They lose both games, We're not going to
know anything until the postseason because Miami is the last
team left. So I think what I really like Western
The last couple of weeks, I had them either right
around the two spot in my poll even before Boston
(19:53):
College was knocked out, had them kind of playing their
way up into that top echelon. And while they they
missed an opportunity this weekend against Arizona State, they were
on the road in a tough place to play, a
unique environment that we know causes problems for everybody. I
think they'll be fine, and for me, maybe it's the
race for second that's gonna be even better than what's
(20:13):
going on with Western. You get all these teams still
jockeying for spaces. If Arizona State slips next thing, you know,
you've got al Mahak creeping in on them. You got
what two points separating third from fifth. So it's gonna
be a it's gonna be wild. That's what the NCCHC
wanted and when they added Arizona State, and.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's gonna be even more competitive than it's been. It's
gonna be great.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Two more leagues to look at BC picked the right
weekend to post a sweep in Hockey East, getting past
Vermont six three and four to one. Meanwhile, Main lost
in overtime to Yukon on Friday. Yukon has had Main's
number this season, which is interesting. But with that BC
has opened up a five point lead in Hockey East.
(20:58):
There's still only three team games with a chance to
win the Hockey East Boston College, Maine in Boston University,
and only BC or Main can be the top seed
because BC has the tiebreaker over Maine and BU. And
BU by the way, I'm sure Dan, you would not
feel bad for me mentioning that you said to go
with that upset in Northeastern with a five to one
(21:21):
win on Friday night over BU. That didn't help things
for the Terriers. But BC's going to be the overall
winner for number one this week in the uscho dot
Com Pole for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Look, I go back to I don't even chalk up
the loss to U Mass as being necessarily a bad
loss for BC coming out of the bepot, the emotion
of it. You have to play four days later you
lose a game at home to a U maass team
that was playing out of its mind trying to win
those extra road points. I think we said that even
heading into the weekend. We were talking about things last week.
(21:56):
So then you come back in Amherston, you win that
game for to one, You come out, you win two
against Vermont up there in Burlington. PC's fine. Things are
just fine in Chestnut Hill. There's nothing absolutely whatsoever to
worry about in a league that is one the best
league in college hockey right now.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
That is that league top to bottom.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
The teams that are involved in there are playing on
another planet. And you have BC holding a five point
lead over Maine, even though Maine has that quote game
in hand. I'm looking at I'm looking at the standings,
and I'm just seeing BC head and shoulders above where
those teams are right now, and the rest of the
league is still head and shoulders over everybody else, regardless
if Maine loses to Yukon, regardless of BU loses to Northeastern.
(22:43):
You have teams that are playing for their lives and
their seating, and it's a lot of fun to watch
because these teams on a We mentioned it about about
the Big ten any given day, any given game. This
is this is almost like watching the NHL at this point,
get get fire it up. This is phenomenal hockey being
played out.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
I think right now when I look at Boston College
and I've seen them play a lot and boy, the
most of any team in hockey's this year. They have
the best skill top to bottom. If there's one team
that's close to them, it's Main. You can say what
you want about BEU or Providence, do you mass Low
(23:26):
or Yukon and Yukon I got to see them on
Friday against me and playing really well. All that said,
I feel like Maine is the one team that can
push BC the most, and I don't think that they're
playing their best hockey yet.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Talking with Ben Borrow over the last.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Week, he agrees he knows that this team has another
gear and they showed it on Friday. They their power play,
which has struggled, was excellent. Scored two power play goals,
but that was it. Their offense didn't have the zip
that it had had the weekend before into the third
period against you and h to pull out the win.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Up in the Border Battle games.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
I feel like this main team has the ability to
catch BC, has the ability to beat BC in the playoffs,
but they've got to play their best.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
They haven't shown that in recent weeks.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
And that's the point, is that you're looking at the
teams underneath them and they've got talent. And then you
have a team like bu that was starting to put
together team hockey that it hadn't been playing all year.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
The same thing with Connecticut, where Connecticut's been playing.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Good, better team hockey like they're playing some of the
best team hockey in the country. Providence, same idea, U
mess goals down on the bubble. They've had some struggles,
but yeah, being able to take the team aspect in
using these guys together, adding the right components even be
you losing, like we've talked about it a lot with
adding the right goaltender and Mikyleie you Goorov, but getting
(24:53):
the defense to fuse together and play well, that's a
huge component when you're looking at hockey because BC's talent
is so otherworldly.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
If you can find the.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Right second and third lines to play together in the
right matchup and sop it up a defense and substitute
your lines the right way, make your changes with last
change at the right moment, you can assume it accounting
for BC having the last changes at the top seed,
you can come up with a lineup in a game
plan that can punch both BC and Made in the mouth.
And I am blown away sometimes when I watch some
(25:26):
of these games, like even the way Yukon's been playing,
the way even Northeastern played against BU over the weekend
and then Saturday BU won that one, and even the
fire at that Northeastern kind of showed at the end
of the game at Matthews same idea, like it's there
is team hockey being played underneath the talent.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Let's turn the easy as where there is a bit
of a two horse race heating up Quinnipiac and Clarkson.
Clarkson twenty wins now quietly creeping up to that the
Bobcats have a four point lead over Clarkson with two
games left.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
They face one another on Friday.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
It's a three hundred and fifty mile ish bus trip
from Connecticut up to New York State's North Country, and
they'll be at Clarkson on Friday night against each other.
Then the second night, Quinnipiac will make the short trip
over to Canton to take on Saint Lawrence on Saturday,
while Clarkson will host Princeton. I don't know if the
(26:24):
Bobcats will give up four points on the weekend, but boy,
that's going to be a barn burner at ChIL on
Friday night.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
The schedule makers win here, getting Quinnipiac and Clarkson playing
in the final weekend of the regular season, that's a
fantastic game.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I don't know this is Quinnipiac's to lose.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
They're likely as long as they can go in on
Friday night and take any points, they'll win.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
But they're in great position.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
You just need a couple of points out of this
weekend to at least lock in a share of the
regular season title.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
This is what Quinnipiac does well. They win regular season championships.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah, they haven't lost a regulation game since January, in
a month when they lost to Connecticut. I don't think
they've lost a regulation game in the conference since the
second half started. So this is a team that for
all of the knocking on ECAC this year about being
(27:31):
a one bid league and being a down year for ECAC,
here we are same ideas as the CCHA. This was
supposed to be the year I picked it. I said
Quinnipiac was not going to win the league this year.
I said Cornell was going to win, what was going
to finish first? And here we are in late February
(27:51):
and Quinnipiac is in first place, ready to win a
Cleary Cup. That is how many times is this going
to happen that you're going to look at Quinnipiac say nope,
this is the year.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
This is the year.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
This is the second time in the five years I've
been covering this league for us that I've said this
is the year that Quinnipiac is gonna get knocked out.
And they're not like, that's just stop picking against Quinnipiac, Dan,
that's this is just.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
What they do.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
And therefore I'm not really worried about it. Even on
Friday at Clarkson, Yes, Child's a phenomenal environment for a
home team and the loudest goal horn on God's Green creation.
It's a great place for a whole ice advantage. Not
really worried about Quinnipiac going in there Princeton. Maybe Princeton
probably going to get probably gonna lose that game, But
(28:34):
I don't worry about Quinnipiac going in on a Friday
and losing badly and then costing themselves.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
On Saturday at Saint Lawrence, We're going to take a break.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
We'll come back and take a quick look at the
pair Wise Bubble, which moves from week to week. This
episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division One Frozen
Fourth April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
The NCAA Men's Frozen four the pinnacle of men's collegiate
ice hawk Any.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Question, Professor, NCAA Men's Hockey is back.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Are we ready?
Speaker 6 (29:15):
You prepared to hype your squad for all three periods?
Bring glory home to your kid? Oh, you're ready.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
It's Frozen four times.
Speaker 6 (29:25):
The NCAA Men's Frozen Fool April tenth and twelfth, twenty
twenty five and Saint Louis Buy your seas today at
NCAAA dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
SU's Frozen Fool.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
We're back with usc CHO weekend review the pair Wise Bubble.
Sometimes you think it's going to be locked in, and
then you realize what comes up to the last game
and the last day of the playoffs in the conferences,
and there'll still be some fourth decimal place or further
out movement. It shouldn't surprise us to see some movement
(30:00):
round the edge of it. Quinnipiac, they've won four straight.
They're seven to one to zero in their last eight games.
They've moved all the way up to thirteenth. That's not safe,
but that's a little more comfortable than being on the
outside looking in. But it could mean that Quinnipiac might
not have to win the ECAC Tournament to make the
NCAA field. And you're talking about vetting against Quinnipiac year
(30:23):
after year, Dan in our previous segment, But they have
not always had the best track record when they've won
the regular season when it comes to the postseason, and
it looks like maybe they can get away with making
it to the championship game and still getting in.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Yeah, I think the things need to break the right way.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
I would venture that they would need to play Clarkson
in the championship and Clarxon being around eighteen or seventeen
right now in the pairwise actually helps ECAC get the
second bid because Clarson could work its way up with
a win over Quinnipiac this weekend and start to find
it's way closer to the bubble.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Not that they'd be in an at large bid.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
But you start looking at what the ECAC Tournament is
putting together, and all of a sudden, you got a
two horse race. Now, the key is to not lose
to the ten seed when you host them in the quarterfinals,
or lose to the twelve seed. If Yale comes out
of the first round for whatever reason, then you gotta
(31:24):
play them. Don't lose that series to Yale, and don't
lose I remember a bunch of years ago they lost
to Brown in two out of three games and lost
two straight.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
So don't lose them. There's a lot that happens in
the bubble, and is it Quinnipiac.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
They'll they'll be a factor that they might not win
the league, but they'll I still can't picture them working
their way losing one of those games that'll drop them
down at twenty because they lost to team somewhere in
the forties league. They'll whether or not that formulate the
second team. Well, we're going to see what happens with
Penn State some of the other teams sitting around the babble.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Let's just some quick mouth here.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
There's three teams within eight one thousands of a percentage
point in the RPI that separate. That's Quinnipiac, U mass LOL,
and Penn State. Quinnipiac inside the bubble, you mass LIL
inside the bubble, Penn State right on the outside looking in.
Penn State's two ten thousands per a percentage point behind
(32:21):
U mass little six ten thousands of percentage point behind Quinnipiac.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Let's just put that in perspective. What is that? That
is probably the.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
Difference between a tie and an overtime win, or a
tie and an overtime loss.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
This isn't win or loss.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
This is so this is barely you're talking about when
you get into the sixty seven percent of a home
win or a sixty seven percent of a road win
or something like that, these numbers are so razor thin
that there's not a lot.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Of room for anybody to lose.
Speaker 5 (32:58):
That said, if Quinnipiac can move themselves up, pick up
a couple of wins this weekend, get through their quarterfinal round,
and the ECAC Playoffs, get to Lake Placid, I feel
at that point they'll have cemented themselves enough so that
they could lose the semi final or a final there
and still qualify.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
For the tournament. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
I think the last point just to throw in there,
is that ahead of it and without having the numbers
in front of me, is that Mass having U Mass
role in a home and home I think is also
going to play a part because if they cannibalize each
other in any way, shape or form, that opens a
window for Quinnipiac to win its last two games and
maybe move up one spot and gain themselves a little
(33:40):
bit of extra safety. You Mass having Maine the last
week also when Quinnipiac wouldn't be playing because of the
first round. If you Mass does not win those games,
which if you're looking at it and saying Maine is
for U Mass like you're just picking the home favorite,
that also keeps Quinnipiac. The strength of schedule is a
(34:02):
greater opportunity for teams like Lowell and you Mass, but
it is a benefit to Quinnipiac that they're playing teams
that they should expectedly be.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
We mentioned U Mass Lowell. They're two five and zero
in their last seven games. They've dropped the fourteenth just
inside the bubble. U Mass lolls. Odds though, have dropped
from ninety three percent to make the postseason in the
NCAA down to forty seven percent. U Mass has moved
ahead of them over the last two weekends, and they're
(34:32):
going to have a home and home this weekend.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
How many times the same show can we talk about
two teams that are going to play this weekend that
it just seems perfect? Are you Mass and U Mass Low?
Schedule makers again they win big weekend though for both
of these teams. Are You Mass They've played themselves in
the win on the road at Boston College week Go
Friday that helped them go, that went a long way,
(34:59):
and then taking points at New Hampshire kept them inside
the bubble, if not solidifying you Mass Low, they've gone
the other way that the loss to Providence in regulation,
a game they had a two to one lead and
the third period lost four to two.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
That one really hurts.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
That would have been a road wind almost could have
really short things up for the river Hawks. Instead, Now
they're less than fifty to fifty to make this tournament,
just below that of forty seven. They don't have any
room or error at this point. They need to take
a lot of points and we're not talking about splitting weekends.
(35:35):
I think that the river Hawks are going to have
to somehow get to the Garden, and between now and then,
I don't think that they can lose four out of
their loss or whatever, I'm sorry, four games left. I
think they can't lose three out of their lost four.
They've got to find a way to win three out
of their lost four regulation sorry, regular season games.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
The positive in there is that they're playing two teams
tames over the last four games of the regular season
that I think benefit them.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
I tend to throw look, Lowell plays U Mass Amherst.
It's a big deal.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
It's to have them this late in the season with
something on the line, I think is a really big
deal for two teams that yeah, U Mass Lowell obviously
going into a game, any game against U Mass a
really big deal. So I think that helps from a
rivalry standpoint, and then being able to play the last
games of the season against UNH. Like I said, I know,
(36:30):
it's more of a strength of schedule, but being able
to play a team that has battled the lost bug
a bit is a big advantage in there as well.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Arizona State they took four out of six points in
the standings this weekend against Western Michigan. They fell in
the pairwise and this is where some of the pairwise
math and some of the RPI math comes. In those
home games, a home win for Arizona State really counts
as eight tenths of a win, and getting a third
of that overtime is really zero point eight times a third,
(37:03):
so a little over a quarter. So that is an
impact right there. There's a little quality win bonus that's
figured in there too, but it shows that especially you
get late in the season, the quality of the points
in the NCCHC may not have as much impact as
they've had in other years, as the non league winning
percentage is down a bit in the NCCHC. And it's
(37:25):
also because by the time you get to this part
of the season, it's one thirtieth of your schedule, so
the individual impact is not as big. But that's why
some of the fun in doing the numbers may not
line up with what you may think makes sense because
of the wins and Jim, you spent a lot of
time on that with our bracketology. That's just one of
(37:49):
the things that happens because of all the little fudge
numbers that are built into the whole thing.
Speaker 5 (37:55):
This isn't really Arizona State being punished for taking four
or six points. This is just the teams around them
doing even better than they did this weekend. And I
just highlighted how razorin things are right around the bubble
right now. Arizona State, you throw them right in there.
They're in a mathematical juggernaut as well, So there's plenty
(38:19):
of math that will seem screwy even though it's correct
as we go. But I'm sure as a coaching staff,
Arizona State sitting there saying, well, we played really well
this weekend. We did extremely well against a very good team,
and we have nothing to show up in the pairwise.
If anything, we've gone the other direction. It's not over
for Arizona State. They it's just it really is a
(38:42):
tough climb. They just find themselves below. If you could
make the bubble into kind of two tier gers, they're
on the second tier of the pairwise bubble, and that
is just far enough. They're going to have to be
almost unblemished down the stretch here.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
And it doesn't help that they're chasing down Penn State,
and they're chasing down one of the U masses, and
they're chasing down Quinnipiac.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Essentially for that last spot.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
It just doesn't help where the teams that they have
to play and the fact those teams play each other
in some capacity, or Penn State's playing phenomenal hockey like,
things just don't work out the way you want it to.
You can't, Like I said, you have to play the
games that you're aligned, and there's that. You said, it's
one thirtieth of a schedule, but then you got to
come back to those games in October.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Maybe matter a little bit more. Want to think that
they do.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
It's whether or not they can get out of the
bubble is one thing.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
I still think that finishing in an.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
Advantageous spot in the NCCHC will help them out. A
big run going into the postseason would help. But like
you said, a second tier underneath is just the math
doesn't line up right.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Now Penn State.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
You talk about Penn State, they're nine to one in
three in their last thirteen games. They've made the biggest
move of late, moving from twenty eighth back in the
middle of January too. Right now at the latter part
of February, they're number sixteen and knocking on the door
of an at large bid. Now there's an example of
playing some good teams. They've got to be helped a lot,
(40:14):
you would think, especially if they can pick up a
win or maybe four or five points against Minnesota coming
in to see them this weekend, that could help them up,
help them out a bit, especially how razor thin the
margins are right now.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
I think at this point it is the same at
the same advantage of seeing for Hockeys teams in the
Big Ten. Whoever you play, a loss isn't as bad
of a loss. A win is a really good win
because you've had such out of conference success in both
Big Ten and Hockeys. Those teams anytime they play a
(40:50):
league game they're moving up or they're staying the same.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
It's hard to move down to the pairwise.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
So Penn State going nine to one in three in
this stretch, they've really bolstered their resume. They moved themselves up.
This weekend, you're talking about having Minnesota twice.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
You pull off a win there, get four.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Points out of the weekend, even get a second game
to overtime. This is a Penn stateen that could take
a huge jump here. If they get up into that
twelve eleven range, you can almost lock them in the tournament.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
Yeah, and I think that's the biggest issue for teams
that are seeing what Penn State's doing, is you're again
one of the umasses, or even if you're Michigan, you're
a little concerned with how well Penn State, you have
to be, has been playing lately, because not that I
think Michigan is necessarily going to drop out, but they
could push back if Penn State goes on a run.
(41:46):
And that aligns a bit with the fact that, like
you said, the Big Ten, you win a game and
you're getting all these quality points, and you're getting all
these points involved with the way the math breaks down,
I wouldn't want to be reliant on Penn State losing
a game right now. So it goes back to being
able to control your own destiny and make sure you're
winning games just to get in at this point like
(42:08):
you're in, because you can't bank on those teams behind
you losing games to anybody, Like everybody's playing for their
lives right now, so you can only control You got
to control what's in front of you.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
And lastly, Clarkson, they probably have to win the EZAC
tournament to make it. They already have twenty games and
could finish with as many as twenty five wins and
miss the tournament, which is not heard of very often.
I can't think of one off the top of my head.
I know that we've seen Arizona State as an independent
get up into some pretty high wins and not make
(42:42):
the tournament. You got to wonder with Clarkson whether they're
going to look back and say, oh, we lost the
second game of the season to a ten win team
from Atlantic Hockey. Is that the difference between getting an
at large or not? Those games in October? Like Dan said,
they all matter every game. We always say it way
back at the beginning of the season. It's just reality
(43:04):
that you have to be ready.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
To go from the jump, and when you aren't, that's
when painful situations arise. I'm trying to find other teams
that have gotten even close to this number.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
I know that Colorado College.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
I'm just looking it up back in nineteen ninety four
they had twenty three.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Wins and missed the NCAA tournament. That that might be
the most. I got one. You got one. I got
one because I distinctly remember it.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Twenty sixteen, it was Michigan Tech twenty three, nine and
five lost to Farris State in the WCHA semifinal and
missed the tournament because Farris State won the league and
they were the sixteen team and the pair wise, I
think going into the postseason they were around I want
to say thirteen.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
They were right at the bubble line.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
They beat Alaska at home in the playoffs and swept
them and then to Ferris and Ferris was so far
down that the number twelve team in our poll missed
the tournament altogether. In Minnesota State was so far out
of it. They had tied for the top seed in
the WHA post season, but Minnesota State I think was
(44:16):
down around twenty six or twenty seven in the pairwise.
But that Michigan Tech team went on a blister at
the end of the year. They were I think they
lost I actually pulled it up. They lost one game
after the first of the year.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
That year.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
They had lost to Michigan right before the year ended
in the GLI.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Then they beat Connecticut and they went on a run.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
They lost to Bamigi and losing to Bimigi on the
road was like the last day and I'm like, how
the heck did they lose to Bimigi because I remember
watching Next beat them by seven the next night, and
that was when I was watching some late night out
and out in the Midwest, and that Farris game when
they lost one nothing it was over twenty three to
(45:01):
nine and five and.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Missed the postseason. They gave up a goal to a
far State with eight minutes to go in the game.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
Yeah, but we still don't have somebody at twenty four
or twenty five that's ever lost, is the point? Yeah, Yeah,
it would be pretty unprecedented, but they I think they do.
They have to win the ECAC Tournament Clarks and does.
They could get right to the bubble. I think if
they won out and then lost. But it's tough to
have such a You don't see a lot of twenty
(45:29):
five win teams that are fighting for their postseason.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Like, that's what, Let me try it again.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
That's going to wrap things up here for this edition
of US Echo Weekend Review. This episode has been sponsored
by the NCAA Men's Division One. Frozen four April tenth
and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get your tickets now at Encom.
Slash Frozen four for Jim Connelly, for Dan Rubin, sitting
in for Derek Schooley. I'm Ed Trevsker and this has
(45:59):
been usch A weekend review
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to us Echo Weekend Review from Monday, February twenty fourth,
twenty twenty five. This episode is 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 slash Frozen four. I'm at trefsger alongside Jim Connolly
and sitting in for Derek Schooley today, Dan Rubin, Hi, Dan,
(00:40):
you know how this all works.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Right, guys?
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Thanks for yeah, thanks for sullying this podcast by bringing
me on it. I hope to not do as bad
a job as I know I'm probably expected to do
in Derek's place.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Now we share that sentiment. It was a tough weekend
for number one Michigan State. I'm starting to wonder if
number one in the poll is like being on the
cover of Sports Illustrated. The tied Penn State on Friday,
losing the shootout, so they picked up one point and
then fell three to two on Saturday. So one point
(01:12):
weekend at month for Michigan State. Meanwhile, Minnesota swept Ohio State,
so the Gophers are in first in the Big Ten.
And they control their own destiny when they head to
Penn State this weekend. Meanwhile, Michigan State is heading to
Notre Dame. Now, I know we were talking all along.
We've been talking since the beginning of the season that
Ohio State was a hot hand coming.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Into the weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But Penn State, which started out zher to eight in
the Big Ten, is the team to watch right now.
Fifteenth in the pair wise and a chance to pick
up some position because they're playing good teams. They're one
spot behind the cut line U Mass lowells at fourteen
Quinnipiac thirteen. That first of all, would make the committee
(01:56):
very happy to have Penn State in the tournament because
they're the host of the Allentown region and all of
a sudden, attendance gets a lot better.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Yeah, if you've read my bracketology column for the last
six weeks, that's probably been the number one thing I
harp on every week is that attendance without a Penn
State is going.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
To be pretty tough.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
I thint the two closest teams we could get to
Allentown in the field I've tried to place there most weeks,
and that's Yukon in Quinnipiac, so not exactly close. I
think that's two and three hours for those two teams
to get there. So the thought that you could get
the host team in the region would be wonderful. All
(02:38):
that said, anybody else concerned about Michigan State. This is
a team that just seemed like they were on autopilot
for so long, and we I didn't want to ever
crown them the Big Ten champions. But when you looked
at the two schedules coming down the Stretch Street and
them in Minnesota, we were more concerned about the Ohio
(02:59):
State series from Minnesota than we were about anything on
Michigan State schedule. Minnesota takes care of business six points
in the weekend, no problem, and then you have Michigan
State taking the big dip. Now they're likely it seems
like it's going to be very difficult for them to
win the regular season title. It feels like it's Minnesota
is to lose right now. I didn't see this coming,
(03:21):
did you add?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
No?
Speaker 2 (03:24):
In fact, I was thinking back as you were talking
about that to what Derek Schoolly said to us last week,
which is that maybe having a little bit of adversity
at this part of the season gets you refocused. I'm
sure not only is there some bravado taken off the
social media for the weekend, but also maybe a little
sobering attitude there and maybe an idea that maybe we
(03:48):
aren't invincible. It could end up benefiting down the road
for the Spartans.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
I would just want it to be would have wanted
it to be a couple weeks sooner, and I think
it was back at the beginning of February when they
split with Michigan, but the two weeks ago before this
series happened. I am a little afraid that it's happening
a little later in the season. I'm all for a
bit of adversity, but I think about the other number
(04:16):
one seeds and what they've maybe gone through, specifically Boston
College around the beam pot. They had a bounce back
weekend pretty quick and quieted all of the questions Michigan State.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
The questions are.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
Getting a little bit louder, and while that doesn't translate
to maybe Michigan State bottoming out and falling out of
a number one seed or anything like that, I'm a
little concerned with this past weekend because it felt like
Penn State was the right get right weekend for them,
and it didn't happen. So now they're in a get
right weekend against Notre Dame, but going into the postseason,
(04:49):
the get right weekend is also against a team that
they're going to face a lot tougher teams before the
Big Ten tournament's over, So I think there are going
to be questions hanging around Michigan State for a little
while after this one.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
I think this has been a tough stretch for Michigan
State too, a lot of road games in the second
half that doesn't help. But I think you said it
Dan that you want to see teams go through adversity
and bounce back. If anything, we're seeing Michigan State bounce
the wrong direction.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So I'm really concerned for the Spartans.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
This has been a fantastic season all the way since
the first weekend.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
I'd hate to see things start to unravel.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
Right now, they're still a really good position, going to
be top two in the Big Ten when all is
said and done, probably top ten, top two in the
pair wise when all is said and done.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
All that said, trophies.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Are what you're now looking for if you're Michigan State
and that those take good consecutive efforts, whether it's four
or three or how many camera games you have to
win to win your championship, league championship, national championship. They've
got to find a way to start putting these wins together.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
And the Gophers now going to Pegoula Ice Arena at
Penn State, a hostile environment, a great, great environment there
for the home fans.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Watch out for Penn.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
State to spoil things a little bit for the Gophers
and maybe pick up more than their share of points
this weekend.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
They're playing well enough, right and this is the storyline
that we've looked at ken Penn State do it, and
we'll get into it a little later than the show
as we look at the pairwise bubble. But they've taken
some massive steps in the second half as Penn State.
If there's a team that is deserving of probably playing
their way into the tournaments in the Alliance right now.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
In a couple of conferences, regular season champions were crowned
or at least partially crowned, and I'll get into that
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
There was a little bit.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Of a backtrack on the announcement. There was a little
bit of a backtrack on the announcement. Holy Cross has
won at least a share of the Atlantic Hockey Crown
and they are the number one seed in the tournament.
They're tied with Sacred Heart and they play a game
tonight Monday Night. It's a makeup against AIC that goes
back to I think it was December when AIIC, in
(07:19):
the second game of a series had no goaltenders able
to go. Originally it was marked down as a forfeit,
and then the league made arrangements to make up the
game today. Fortunately, it doesn't affect any playoffs scheduling. I
know we were going into the weekend thinking that there
were teams that were going to have to figure out
how to get out to air Force after games on
Monday night, but that settled. But otherwise it'll be a
(07:43):
tie with Sacred Heart if Holy Cross doesn't pick up
any points in the game tonight. Interestingly enough, for AIC,
it was last weekend. They played their last home game
Friday night, and now they are hosting a playoff game.
They had to scramble to find a place to play it.
(08:04):
Booked long in advance, Disney on Ice is at Mass
Mutual Center in downtown Springfield, with performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday
and Sunday, so no place to squeeze it in. AIC
has arranged it with Army. The game they will host
against rit will be at Tate Rink at six oh
five on Friday night, So a lot of scrambling in
(08:24):
the last few days to make that happen.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Yeah, first off, let me take my hat off to
Holy Cross. What a fantastic stretch run they put together
to at least share it, to at least durn a
share of the championship, and hopefully they can get that
at least at point tonight to get an out right crown.
Very deserved by Bill Riagan and his staff. I've really
(08:50):
enjoyed dealing with it. Eric laying out at a I see,
he's one of the honest coaches.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
He's done a lot.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I think it might have been Dan, you and I
last night were talking a text message and I think
I said, I feel like he's done so much with
smoking mirrors, somebody else in Vegas should probably give him
a show. He's such a magician with what he's been
able to do out there, and this further kind of
underscores the smoking mirrors. You need this is a coach
(09:20):
that led his team to some championships, made the Ncublea Tournament,
won a game, knocked off the number one seed in
the Ncublea Tournament, and did so with You never knew
that that program had an absolute shoes string budget unless
you were around it, and you didn't know that that
program bought tooth and nail just to play its games
sometimes because the Mass Mutual Center was such a difficult
(09:43):
place to schedule with having a professional team. I we're
gonna miss ai See college hockey will miss them, and
they will miss Eric Lang. I hope he ends up
with a with a head coaching job at the Division
one level again because he has proven what he can
do programs.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
But this just underscored.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
It's almost like on the way out, Aic had to
show what a kind of institutional mess they are one
last time.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
We For years, I used to look at aice in
Atlanta Cockey and say they're going to knock somebody off,
like they're just going to hand you that loss that
you just can't take in January or February. And that
was back before Eric was the head coach, back with
Gary Wright.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
They're just played the game the right way.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Gary Wright graduated as players, and there were things about
the AIC program that you said, we're greater than wins
and losses. And bear in mind they lost a lot
back in those days. They lost a ton of games
back in the old days. They never finished out a
last or second to last place or third delug whatever
it winds up being.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
They just were never hosting hockey games in the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
And then Eric Playing comes along and they changed the
budget around a bit, but it's still as much as
we want to say, they change around the budget, you
give them resources. We never really understood, oh, you're right,
unless you were around the program how he needed to
make it work.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And we look at the AA.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
And finding having this happen, like you said, underscores the
mess that he had to deal with. From a two
sided standpoint, you still feel incredibly awful for the players,
the coaches, the people who work around the program, the
people who are involved with the hockey program. While also
then understanding that what he did to build a winner
(11:32):
was not because of things. It was necessarily in spite
of things, and I think maybe even enhances his reputation
as a program builder.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
It doesn't make you want to see AI c go away.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I'd rather them try to figure it out and stick
around after thirty years of his Division I program, But
it is the powers that are over the program outside
of practice, outside.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Of playing in games.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
Is truly unfortunate that this happens to a team that
I think deserves a heck of a lot better and
just couldn't couldn't quite put it together in some of
those areas. I hope that at the risk of at
the risk of rooting for a teeth with Ed on
this podcast, I wouldn't mind seeing a se make the
trip make the trip to eastern Massachusetts before this playoffs over,
(12:18):
just for one last go round with them. But I
suppose I can't really throw that one down too badly.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, you're entitled to your opinion. I want to say
about Eric lying. You know, there are some coaches openings
coming up this year. Some are filled in advance. There
are some openings, and I'm not going to name any programs,
but if you have a program that has been just
below where it should be, and you can bring in
a dynamic coach like Eric who also understands where to
(12:48):
find players where other people are missing them, especially what
he did there with the European.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Route for Aic.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I think he could take a program to the next level,
and I think people will looking for that. Let's look
at the other league that settled things, and that was
Minnesota State. They won the CCHA still a weekend of
play remaining, but the Mavericks can finish with a winning
percentage of no lower than six sixty seven. So Augustana
(13:17):
at six twenty five can't catch them because they have
no more CCHA games left. Bowling Green Michigan Tech can't
catch man Cato either, So a terrific season for Minnesota
State and a well deserved crown there, even it's been
a weird year where they had to go by winning
percentage because Augustana didn't have a full schedule.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
Yeah, I'm glad to see that you put your shoes
back on after taking them off to do the math
ed and the advocates that is back there figuring out
winning percentages and all of that sort of stuff. This
is strange, but I'm glad this is not something that
you have to deal with on a year and year
out basis. You know, give it to Don Lucia for
(14:01):
finding a solution, getting a season played and having August
stander as a full fledged member to their league. Gay
are going to be a good thing for the CCHA
going forward. But congratulations to Minnesota State again. This team
finds ways to win this championship, and they do it.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Year in year out.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Even when you feel like it might be a down year,
Minnesota State founds and finds a way to bounce back.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
And he had there always at the top.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
There'll be a tough team in this tournament likely to
take the ccha's auto bit.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
But put forward some exciting playoffs and.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
I mentioned Augustana that would be a team that would
be fun to see in Bowling Green, Michigan Tech, but Mitchie.
Those are all teams that probably have a shot of
pulling off the upset.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
But this feels like it's Minnesota States to lose.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
I suppose that's the problem facing the CCHA right now,
is that it's Minnesota States to lose. And I know
Bimidgi had won championship since the CCHA reformed and the
WCCHA realigned and all that, but there's a at the
end of the day, it doesn't matter how much you
push a team if they still win it. I suppose
it's a good thing and we talked about this a
(15:15):
little bit about ECAC, which is still in doubt. Is
if you have a conference and you're trying to catch
a team and you put a little bit of pressure
on them, that's all well and good, but somebody still
has to figure out a way to overtake them. And
like I said, with the exception of a one year hiatus,
when Bimigi took over and won the regular season championship
(15:36):
in the in the CCHA, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
It was regular season championship.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
If BMIDGII won that at least it turns into a
situation where Minnesota State it's still their league, and so
Augustana gave them the nice run with the scheduling works.
He's still just got to play the games that you're handed.
It's not whether it's whether the format. Like you said,
Don hou Chiam did a great job coming up with
a system, and you play the system. There is no
(16:01):
asterisk in my book to anyone winning anything but Bowling
Green and Michigan Tech same idea. Neither of them can
catch Minikatos. So it's back to the drawing board next
year until someone can figure out a way to unseat them.
Hats off that Minnesota State still figures out a way
to do it in a league that started to pressure
them but didn't quite overtake them.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, let's compliment Luke's Strand on that people were talking
when he got hired as head coach when Hastings went
to Wisconsin that, oh, now's the time where Minnesota State
falls back into the pack, and that has not been
the case. So a terrific job there in his second
season behind the bench.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Year one wasn't easy, but here they are back to
being a twenty win team. They reached at this point
the season just eight losses. This is this is what
Minnesota State was for so many years under Mike Castings,
and Luke Strands brought them right back.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Western Michigan may have missed an opportunity in the NC.
They just got two out of six points against Arizona State,
a five to three loss Friday, four to three overtime
win on Saturday. They're close to clinching, but they need
three out of twelve points. That's not a tall order, hopefully,
but Arizona State, Omaha, North Dakota, and Denver all can
(17:20):
technically mathematically catch Western Michigan. So that's going to be
a fun race to watch in the NCCHC.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
By the way, there's something I left out as I
was putting together notes of this. That was Western Michigan's
first regulation loss all season in the NCCHCOF Friday night
regulation loss to Arizona State. That's really impressive. This has
been a great run by the Broncos and Pat Verschweilers.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
They're on the precipice right now.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
I'm sure they would have liked to have just swept
this weekend, taken the whole thing down, but here they are.
You've got two weekends left. They've got such a comfortable lead,
you feel like they're going to close it out, and
now it's just what do you do next? Can Western
Michigan make the run for the NCAAC tournament. That's we've
(18:13):
always known that's a really tough tournament to play. And
you've got obviously, you've got the defending national champion there.
You've got basically a North Dakota team that is playing
its best hockey right now, at least over the last
few weekends.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Plenty of other teams.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Saint Cloud State has gone through the worst stretch they've
ever had, but hey, they just got to win this
weekend heading into the playoffs. I just don't feel no
disrespect to Miami. Maybe you take them out. I don't
feel like there's another team in the NCC that you
can just right off going into the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
And going back to the point about Michigan State, and
I suppose it helps that Western has only lost one
game in regulation. Is that you looked at Michigan State,
take what happened or what we're saying, which is now
it's three weekends where they've to absorb the loss and
you're up against a bit of your struggle. But you
don't want to have that struggle, right, That's what we
were just saying, or you'd like to have it a
(19:11):
little bit earlier. And because it hasn't really happened to Western,
there's still time with two weekends left, and specifically that
North Dakota is is coming up next and is at home,
that now you have a chance to prove your your
get right. Like you if they come out and they
take points from North Dakota, which make you said, Jim's
(19:32):
playing unbelievable hockey right now, then it's a moot point.
Like we're still talking about Western Michigan as being the
NCCHD favorite. They lose both games, We're not going to
know anything until the postseason because Miami is the last
team left. So I think what I really like Western
The last couple of weeks, I had them either right
around the two spot in my poll even before Boston
(19:53):
College was knocked out, had them kind of playing their
way up into that top echelon. And while they they
missed an opportunity this weekend against Arizona State, they were
on the road in a tough place to play, a
unique environment that we know causes problems for everybody. I
think they'll be fine, and for me, maybe it's the
race for second that's gonna be even better than what's
(20:13):
going on with Western. You get all these teams still
jockeying for spaces. If Arizona State slips next thing, you know,
you've got al Mahak creeping in on them. You got
what two points separating third from fifth. So it's gonna
be a it's gonna be wild. That's what the NCCHC
wanted and when they added Arizona State, and.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's gonna be even more competitive than it's been. It's
gonna be great.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Two more leagues to look at BC picked the right
weekend to post a sweep in Hockey East, getting past
Vermont six three and four to one. Meanwhile, Main lost
in overtime to Yukon on Friday. Yukon has had Main's
number this season, which is interesting. But with that BC
has opened up a five point lead in Hockey East.
(20:58):
There's still only three team games with a chance to
win the Hockey East Boston College, Maine in Boston University,
and only BC or Main can be the top seed
because BC has the tiebreaker over Maine and BU. And
BU by the way, I'm sure Dan, you would not
feel bad for me mentioning that you said to go
with that upset in Northeastern with a five to one
(21:21):
win on Friday night over BU. That didn't help things
for the Terriers. But BC's going to be the overall
winner for number one this week in the uscho dot
Com Pole for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Look, I go back to I don't even chalk up
the loss to U Mass as being necessarily a bad
loss for BC coming out of the bepot, the emotion
of it. You have to play four days later you
lose a game at home to a U maass team
that was playing out of its mind trying to win
those extra road points. I think we said that even
heading into the weekend. We were talking about things last week.
(21:56):
So then you come back in Amherston, you win that
game for to one, You come out, you win two
against Vermont up there in Burlington. PC's fine. Things are
just fine in Chestnut Hill. There's nothing absolutely whatsoever to
worry about in a league that is one the best
league in college hockey right now.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
That is that league top to bottom.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
The teams that are involved in there are playing on
another planet. And you have BC holding a five point
lead over Maine, even though Maine has that quote game
in hand. I'm looking at I'm looking at the standings,
and I'm just seeing BC head and shoulders above where
those teams are right now, and the rest of the
league is still head and shoulders over everybody else, regardless
if Maine loses to Yukon, regardless of BU loses to Northeastern.
(22:43):
You have teams that are playing for their lives and
their seating, and it's a lot of fun to watch
because these teams on a We mentioned it about about
the Big ten any given day, any given game. This
is this is almost like watching the NHL at this point,
get get fire it up. This is phenomenal hockey being
played out.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
I think right now when I look at Boston College
and I've seen them play a lot and boy, the
most of any team in hockey's this year. They have
the best skill top to bottom. If there's one team
that's close to them, it's Main. You can say what
you want about BEU or Providence, do you mass Low
(23:26):
or Yukon and Yukon I got to see them on
Friday against me and playing really well. All that said,
I feel like Maine is the one team that can
push BC the most, and I don't think that they're
playing their best hockey yet.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Talking with Ben Borrow over the last.
Speaker 5 (23:43):
Week, he agrees he knows that this team has another
gear and they showed it on Friday. They their power play,
which has struggled, was excellent. Scored two power play goals,
but that was it. Their offense didn't have the zip
that it had had the weekend before into the third
period against you and h to pull out the win.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
Up in the Border Battle games.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
I feel like this main team has the ability to
catch BC, has the ability to beat BC in the playoffs,
but they've got to play their best.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
They haven't shown that in recent weeks.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
And that's the point, is that you're looking at the
teams underneath them and they've got talent. And then you
have a team like bu that was starting to put
together team hockey that it hadn't been playing all year.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
The same thing with Connecticut, where Connecticut's been playing.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
Good, better team hockey like they're playing some of the
best team hockey in the country. Providence, same idea, U
mess goals down on the bubble. They've had some struggles,
but yeah, being able to take the team aspect in
using these guys together, adding the right components even be
you losing, like we've talked about it a lot with
adding the right goaltender and Mikyleie you Goorov, but getting
(24:53):
the defense to fuse together and play well, that's a
huge component when you're looking at hockey because BC's talent
is so otherworldly.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
If you can find the.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
Right second and third lines to play together in the
right matchup and sop it up a defense and substitute
your lines the right way, make your changes with last
change at the right moment, you can assume it accounting
for BC having the last changes at the top seed,
you can come up with a lineup in a game
plan that can punch both BC and Made in the mouth.
And I am blown away sometimes when I watch some
(25:26):
of these games, like even the way Yukon's been playing,
the way even Northeastern played against BU over the weekend
and then Saturday BU won that one, and even the
fire at that Northeastern kind of showed at the end
of the game at Matthews same idea, like it's there
is team hockey being played underneath the talent.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Let's turn the easy as where there is a bit
of a two horse race heating up Quinnipiac and Clarkson.
Clarkson twenty wins now quietly creeping up to that the
Bobcats have a four point lead over Clarkson with two
games left.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
They face one another on Friday.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
It's a three hundred and fifty mile ish bus trip
from Connecticut up to New York State's North Country, and
they'll be at Clarkson on Friday night against each other.
Then the second night, Quinnipiac will make the short trip
over to Canton to take on Saint Lawrence on Saturday,
while Clarkson will host Princeton. I don't know if the
(26:24):
Bobcats will give up four points on the weekend, but boy,
that's going to be a barn burner at ChIL on
Friday night.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
The schedule makers win here, getting Quinnipiac and Clarkson playing
in the final weekend of the regular season, that's a
fantastic game.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
I don't know this is Quinnipiac's to lose.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
They're likely as long as they can go in on
Friday night and take any points, they'll win.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
But they're in great position.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
You just need a couple of points out of this
weekend to at least lock in a share of the
regular season title.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
This is what Quinnipiac does well. They win regular season championships.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah, they haven't lost a regulation game since January, in
a month when they lost to Connecticut. I don't think
they've lost a regulation game in the conference since the
second half started. So this is a team that for
all of the knocking on ECAC this year about being
(27:31):
a one bid league and being a down year for ECAC,
here we are same ideas as the CCHA. This was
supposed to be the year I picked it. I said
Quinnipiac was not going to win the league this year.
I said Cornell was going to win, what was going
to finish first? And here we are in late February
(27:51):
and Quinnipiac is in first place, ready to win a
Cleary Cup. That is how many times is this going
to happen that you're going to look at Quinnipiac say nope,
this is the year.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
This is the year.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
This is the second time in the five years I've
been covering this league for us that I've said this
is the year that Quinnipiac is gonna get knocked out.
And they're not like, that's just stop picking against Quinnipiac, Dan,
that's this is just.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
What they do.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
And therefore I'm not really worried about it. Even on
Friday at Clarkson, Yes, Child's a phenomenal environment for a
home team and the loudest goal horn on God's Green creation.
It's a great place for a whole ice advantage. Not
really worried about Quinnipiac going in there Princeton. Maybe Princeton
probably going to get probably gonna lose that game, But
(28:34):
I don't worry about Quinnipiac going in on a Friday
and losing badly and then costing themselves.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
On Saturday at Saint Lawrence, We're going to take a break.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
We'll come back and take a quick look at the
pair Wise Bubble, which moves from week to week. This
episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division One Frozen
Fourth April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
The NCAA Men's Frozen four the pinnacle of men's collegiate
ice hawk Any.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Question, Professor, NCAA Men's Hockey is back.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Are we ready?
Speaker 6 (29:15):
You prepared to hype your squad for all three periods?
Bring glory home to your kid? Oh, you're ready.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
It's Frozen four times.
Speaker 6 (29:25):
The NCAA Men's Frozen Fool April tenth and twelfth, twenty
twenty five and Saint Louis Buy your seas today at
NCAAA dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
SU's Frozen Fool.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
We're back with usc CHO weekend review the pair Wise Bubble.
Sometimes you think it's going to be locked in, and
then you realize what comes up to the last game
and the last day of the playoffs in the conferences,
and there'll still be some fourth decimal place or further
out movement. It shouldn't surprise us to see some movement
(30:00):
round the edge of it. Quinnipiac, they've won four straight.
They're seven to one to zero in their last eight games.
They've moved all the way up to thirteenth. That's not safe,
but that's a little more comfortable than being on the
outside looking in. But it could mean that Quinnipiac might
not have to win the ECAC Tournament to make the
NCAA field. And you're talking about vetting against Quinnipiac year
(30:23):
after year, Dan in our previous segment, But they have
not always had the best track record when they've won
the regular season when it comes to the postseason, and
it looks like maybe they can get away with making
it to the championship game and still getting in.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
Yeah, I think the things need to break the right way.
Speaker 4 (30:43):
I would venture that they would need to play Clarkson
in the championship and Clarxon being around eighteen or seventeen
right now in the pairwise actually helps ECAC get the
second bid because Clarson could work its way up with
a win over Quinnipiac this weekend and start to find
it's way closer to the bubble.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
Not that they'd be in an at large bid.
Speaker 4 (31:03):
But you start looking at what the ECAC Tournament is
putting together, and all of a sudden, you got a
two horse race. Now, the key is to not lose
to the ten seed when you host them in the quarterfinals,
or lose to the twelve seed. If Yale comes out
of the first round for whatever reason, then you gotta
(31:24):
play them. Don't lose that series to Yale, and don't
lose I remember a bunch of years ago they lost
to Brown in two out of three games and lost
two straight.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
So don't lose them. There's a lot that happens in
the bubble, and is it Quinnipiac.
Speaker 4 (31:39):
They'll they'll be a factor that they might not win
the league, but they'll I still can't picture them working
their way losing one of those games that'll drop them
down at twenty because they lost to team somewhere in
the forties league. They'll whether or not that formulate the
second team. Well, we're going to see what happens with
Penn State some of the other teams sitting around the babble.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Let's just some quick mouth here.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
There's three teams within eight one thousands of a percentage
point in the RPI that separate. That's Quinnipiac, U mass LOL,
and Penn State. Quinnipiac inside the bubble, you mass LIL
inside the bubble, Penn State right on the outside looking in.
Penn State's two ten thousands per a percentage point behind
(32:21):
U mass little six ten thousands of percentage point behind Quinnipiac.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Let's just put that in perspective. What is that? That
is probably the.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
Difference between a tie and an overtime win, or a
tie and an overtime loss.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
This isn't win or loss.
Speaker 5 (32:37):
This is so this is barely you're talking about when
you get into the sixty seven percent of a home
win or a sixty seven percent of a road win
or something like that, these numbers are so razor thin
that there's not a lot.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Of room for anybody to lose.
Speaker 5 (32:58):
That said, if Quinnipiac can move themselves up, pick up
a couple of wins this weekend, get through their quarterfinal round,
and the ECAC Playoffs, get to Lake Placid, I feel
at that point they'll have cemented themselves enough so that
they could lose the semi final or a final there
and still qualify.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
For the tournament. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
I think the last point just to throw in there,
is that ahead of it and without having the numbers
in front of me, is that Mass having U Mass
role in a home and home I think is also
going to play a part because if they cannibalize each
other in any way, shape or form, that opens a
window for Quinnipiac to win its last two games and
maybe move up one spot and gain themselves a little
(33:40):
bit of extra safety. You Mass having Maine the last
week also when Quinnipiac wouldn't be playing because of the
first round. If you Mass does not win those games,
which if you're looking at it and saying Maine is
for U Mass like you're just picking the home favorite,
that also keeps Quinnipiac. The strength of schedule is a
(34:02):
greater opportunity for teams like Lowell and you Mass, but
it is a benefit to Quinnipiac that they're playing teams
that they should expectedly be.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
We mentioned U Mass Lowell. They're two five and zero
in their last seven games. They've dropped the fourteenth just
inside the bubble. U Mass lolls. Odds though, have dropped
from ninety three percent to make the postseason in the
NCAA down to forty seven percent. U Mass has moved
ahead of them over the last two weekends, and they're
(34:32):
going to have a home and home this weekend.
Speaker 5 (34:36):
How many times the same show can we talk about
two teams that are going to play this weekend that
it just seems perfect? Are you Mass and U Mass Low?
Schedule makers again they win big weekend though for both
of these teams. Are You Mass They've played themselves in
the win on the road at Boston College week Go
Friday that helped them go, that went a long way,
(34:59):
and then taking points at New Hampshire kept them inside
the bubble, if not solidifying you Mass Low, they've gone
the other way that the loss to Providence in regulation,
a game they had a two to one lead and
the third period lost four to two.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
That one really hurts.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
That would have been a road wind almost could have
really short things up for the river Hawks. Instead, Now
they're less than fifty to fifty to make this tournament,
just below that of forty seven. They don't have any
room or error at this point. They need to take
a lot of points and we're not talking about splitting weekends.
(35:35):
I think that the river Hawks are going to have
to somehow get to the Garden, and between now and then,
I don't think that they can lose four out of
their loss or whatever, I'm sorry, four games left. I
think they can't lose three out of their lost four.
They've got to find a way to win three out
of their lost four regulation sorry, regular season games.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
The positive in there is that they're playing two teams
tames over the last four games of the regular season
that I think benefit them.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
I tend to throw look, Lowell plays U Mass Amherst.
It's a big deal.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
It's to have them this late in the season with
something on the line, I think is a really big
deal for two teams that yeah, U Mass Lowell obviously
going into a game, any game against U Mass a
really big deal. So I think that helps from a
rivalry standpoint, and then being able to play the last
games of the season against UNH. Like I said, I know,
(36:30):
it's more of a strength of schedule, but being able
to play a team that has battled the lost bug
a bit is a big advantage in there as well.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Arizona State they took four out of six points in
the standings this weekend against Western Michigan. They fell in
the pairwise and this is where some of the pairwise
math and some of the RPI math comes. In those
home games, a home win for Arizona State really counts
as eight tenths of a win, and getting a third
of that overtime is really zero point eight times a third,
(37:03):
so a little over a quarter. So that is an
impact right there. There's a little quality win bonus that's
figured in there too, but it shows that especially you
get late in the season, the quality of the points
in the NCCHC may not have as much impact as
they've had in other years, as the non league winning
percentage is down a bit in the NCCHC. And it's
(37:25):
also because by the time you get to this part
of the season, it's one thirtieth of your schedule, so
the individual impact is not as big. But that's why
some of the fun in doing the numbers may not
line up with what you may think makes sense because
of the wins and Jim, you spent a lot of
time on that with our bracketology. That's just one of
(37:49):
the things that happens because of all the little fudge
numbers that are built into the whole thing.
Speaker 5 (37:55):
This isn't really Arizona State being punished for taking four
or six points. This is just the teams around them
doing even better than they did this weekend. And I
just highlighted how razorin things are right around the bubble
right now. Arizona State, you throw them right in there.
They're in a mathematical juggernaut as well, So there's plenty
(38:19):
of math that will seem screwy even though it's correct
as we go. But I'm sure as a coaching staff,
Arizona State sitting there saying, well, we played really well
this weekend. We did extremely well against a very good team,
and we have nothing to show up in the pairwise.
If anything, we've gone the other direction. It's not over
for Arizona State. They it's just it really is a
(38:42):
tough climb. They just find themselves below. If you could
make the bubble into kind of two tier gers, they're
on the second tier of the pairwise bubble, and that
is just far enough. They're going to have to be
almost unblemished down the stretch here.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
And it doesn't help that they're chasing down Penn State,
and they're chasing down one of the U masses, and
they're chasing down Quinnipiac.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Essentially for that last spot.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
It just doesn't help where the teams that they have
to play and the fact those teams play each other
in some capacity, or Penn State's playing phenomenal hockey like,
things just don't work out the way you want it to.
You can't, Like I said, you have to play the
games that you're aligned, and there's that. You said, it's
one thirtieth of a schedule, but then you got to
come back to those games in October.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Maybe matter a little bit more. Want to think that
they do.
Speaker 4 (39:34):
It's whether or not they can get out of the
bubble is one thing.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
I still think that finishing in an.
Speaker 4 (39:41):
Advantageous spot in the NCCHC will help them out. A
big run going into the postseason would help. But like
you said, a second tier underneath is just the math
doesn't line up right.
Speaker 3 (39:52):
Now Penn State.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
You talk about Penn State, they're nine to one in
three in their last thirteen games. They've made the biggest
move of late, moving from twenty eighth back in the
middle of January too. Right now at the latter part
of February, they're number sixteen and knocking on the door
of an at large bid. Now there's an example of
playing some good teams. They've got to be helped a lot,
(40:14):
you would think, especially if they can pick up a
win or maybe four or five points against Minnesota coming
in to see them this weekend, that could help them up,
help them out a bit, especially how razor thin the
margins are right now.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
I think at this point it is the same at
the same advantage of seeing for Hockeys teams in the
Big Ten. Whoever you play, a loss isn't as bad
of a loss. A win is a really good win
because you've had such out of conference success in both
Big Ten and Hockeys. Those teams anytime they play a
(40:50):
league game they're moving up or they're staying the same.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
It's hard to move down to the pairwise.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
So Penn State going nine to one in three in
this stretch, they've really bolstered their resume. They moved themselves up.
This weekend, you're talking about having Minnesota twice.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
You pull off a win there, get four.
Speaker 5 (41:08):
Points out of the weekend, even get a second game
to overtime. This is a Penn stateen that could take
a huge jump here. If they get up into that
twelve eleven range, you can almost lock them in the tournament.
Speaker 4 (41:22):
Yeah, and I think that's the biggest issue for teams
that are seeing what Penn State's doing, is you're again
one of the umasses, or even if you're Michigan, you're
a little concerned with how well Penn State, you have
to be, has been playing lately, because not that I
think Michigan is necessarily going to drop out, but they
could push back if Penn State goes on a run.
(41:46):
And that aligns a bit with the fact that, like
you said, the Big Ten, you win a game and
you're getting all these quality points, and you're getting all
these points involved with the way the math breaks down,
I wouldn't want to be reliant on Penn State losing
a game right now. So it goes back to being
able to control your own destiny and make sure you're
winning games just to get in at this point like
(42:08):
you're in, because you can't bank on those teams behind
you losing games to anybody, Like everybody's playing for their
lives right now, so you can only control You got
to control what's in front of you.
Speaker 2 (42:19):
And lastly, Clarkson, they probably have to win the EZAC
tournament to make it. They already have twenty games and
could finish with as many as twenty five wins and
miss the tournament, which is not heard of very often.
I can't think of one off the top of my head.
I know that we've seen Arizona State as an independent
get up into some pretty high wins and not make
(42:42):
the tournament. You got to wonder with Clarkson whether they're
going to look back and say, oh, we lost the
second game of the season to a ten win team
from Atlantic Hockey. Is that the difference between getting an
at large or not? Those games in October? Like Dan said,
they all matter every game. We always say it way
back at the beginning of the season. It's just reality
(43:04):
that you have to be ready.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
To go from the jump, and when you aren't, that's
when painful situations arise. I'm trying to find other teams
that have gotten even close to this number.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
I know that Colorado College.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
I'm just looking it up back in nineteen ninety four
they had twenty three.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Wins and missed the NCAA tournament. That that might be
the most. I got one. You got one. I got
one because I distinctly remember it.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Twenty sixteen, it was Michigan Tech twenty three, nine and
five lost to Farris State in the WCHA semifinal and
missed the tournament because Farris State won the league and
they were the sixteen team and the pair wise, I
think going into the postseason they were around I want
to say thirteen.
Speaker 3 (43:53):
They were right at the bubble line.
Speaker 4 (43:56):
They beat Alaska at home in the playoffs and swept
them and then to Ferris and Ferris was so far
down that the number twelve team in our poll missed
the tournament altogether. In Minnesota State was so far out
of it. They had tied for the top seed in
the WHA post season, but Minnesota State I think was
(44:16):
down around twenty six or twenty seven in the pairwise.
But that Michigan Tech team went on a blister at
the end of the year. They were I think they
lost I actually pulled it up. They lost one game
after the first of the year.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
That year.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
They had lost to Michigan right before the year ended
in the GLI.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Then they beat Connecticut and they went on a run.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
They lost to Bamigi and losing to Bimigi on the
road was like the last day and I'm like, how
the heck did they lose to Bimigi because I remember
watching Next beat them by seven the next night, and
that was when I was watching some late night out
and out in the Midwest, and that Farris game when
they lost one nothing it was over twenty three to
(45:01):
nine and five and.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Missed the postseason. They gave up a goal to a
far State with eight minutes to go in the game.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
Yeah, but we still don't have somebody at twenty four
or twenty five that's ever lost, is the point? Yeah, Yeah,
it would be pretty unprecedented, but they I think they do.
They have to win the ECAC Tournament Clarks and does.
They could get right to the bubble. I think if
they won out and then lost. But it's tough to
have such a You don't see a lot of twenty
(45:29):
five win teams that are fighting for their postseason.
Speaker 3 (45:33):
Like, that's what, Let me try it again.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
That's going to wrap things up here for this edition
of US Echo Weekend Review. This episode has been sponsored
by the NCAA Men's Division One. Frozen four April tenth
and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get your tickets now at Encom.
Slash Frozen four for Jim Connelly, for Dan Rubin, sitting
in for Derek Schooley. I'm Ed Trevsker and this has
(45:59):
been usch A weekend review
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.