With Minnesota winning the WCHA, let's see what happens. I've tried a 5-3-1 and a 3-2-1 bonus points and it did not change the seedings, nor did the MAAC champion matter.
Here are the bands:
1st seeds: Cornell, CC, Minnesota, UNH
2nd seeds: BU, Maine, Ferris State, BC
3rd seeds: Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio State, Harvard
4th seeds: Mankato, St. Cloud, MAAC, Wayne State
With 2 East and 2 West top seeds, nobody has to travel. I want to avoid conference championship repeats as much as possible, so #1's are as follows:
Worcester: Cornell
Providence: UNH
Ann Arbor: CC
St. Paul: Minnesota
With 3 East and 1 West teams, one East team gets shipped out. BC, the #8 seed, is the logical choice. Ferris has to go to St. Paul to avoid meeting Michigan.
Worcester: Cornell, BU
Providence: UNH, Maine
Ann Arbor: CC, BC
St. Paul: Minnesota, Ferris
For # 3 seeds, we have the exact opposite of the #2's. One Western team goes east. Ohio State is the lowest ranked #3 western seed, so they go East.
Worcester: Cornell, BU, Ohio State
Providence: UNH, Maine, Harvard
Ann Arbor: CC, BC, Michigan
St. Paul: Minnesota, Ferris, NoDak
For the #4's, both at-large teams are WCHA, so they go East. The final regionals are:
Worcester: Cornell, BU, Ohio State, St. Cloud
Providence: UNH, Maine, Harvard, Mankato
Ann Arbor: CC, BC, Michigan, MAAC
St. Paul: Minnesota, Ferris, NoDak, Wayne State
Why did Harvard go to Providence? I wanted to avoid a "Beanpot" matchup and have BU & Harvard play somebody they're not familiar with. Otherwise, unless the committee has a weird bonus point system, it looks fairly cut and dry. Wayne State could go to Ann Arbor. It is a heck of a lot closer and would give Ann Arbor two "home" teams.
BTW, conference breakdowns:
WCHA: 5
HEA: 4
CCHA: 3
ECAC: 2
CHA: 1
MAAC: 1
Joe LaCour
Clarkson '77 & '78
We're on a Roll in 03-04
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