With Selection Sunday looming, crucial conference title games and bubble teams battle for precious NCAA tournament bids. Who's in? Who's out?
Las Vegas awaits all college hockey enjoyers, as we’re now five days from Selection Sunday. Bracketology predictions are everywhere to attempt to pinpoint who’s in and out of a narrow 16-team tournament.
@CollegePuckNXT on X does a great job at helping fans get a perspective of where teams in the tournament picture will be seated, as well as decipher who sneaks in and grabs the final spots, while others watch from the bubble and hope they get a bounce to go their way.
A look at Monday’s bracketology below:
This is based upon projected conference winners as well as the NPI index for at-large bids, seen here on the NCAA website.
UConn holds that last at-large spot, and they will have a chance to boost their resume with the Hockey East semifinals and potential championship being played at TD Garden this weekend. Any team that wins its conference is automatically inked into the tournament.
The list of teams that are in the picture skating on thin ice includes the mentioned Huskies, Wisconsin, and UMass, another team still alive among the four left in the Hockey East.
Wisconsin, on the other hand, has quite a dilemma, as the team they were steamrolled by in the first round of the Big Ten tournament is now at a chance of stealing the Big Ten auto-bid.
Ohio State, which has had a rollercoaster season, now finds itself in tournament talks after routing Wisconsin, followed by an overtime thriller over Michigan State in the semifinals. The Buckeyes will match up with good friend Michigan on Saturday night for the Big Ten title, an incredible run, catching fire as the five seed in a talented pool.
Along with Ohio State, other teams on the bubble will practically need to win their conference to get in. Clarkson and Princeton aren’t far from that in the ECAC, as well as Boston College and Merrimack in the Hockey East.
Minnesota State will have a chance to go back-to-back in the CCHA against the losing side of the Mason Cup final last year, in St. Thomas. There is a chance the CCHA could have two bids if Minnesota State wins and St. Thomas somehow remains in an at-large spot.
Looking into the current listed matchups, a lot of them scream unpredictability with first-time matchups on the season. There will definitely be familiarity in the regional finals, with plenty of conference foes doubling up before if we were to get matchups like Western Michigan-Denver, Michigan-Penn State, or Providence-UMass. Only time will tell.
Nothing is guaranteed for a handful of programs that will be anxiously awaiting their fate come Selection Sunday.