Since RPICH historically has been a good predictor if the NC$$ Tournament
picks/seedings in the past, I thought it might be fun to look at the current
seeds (as extracted from this week's posting) heading into the play-offs:
 
EAST                      WEST
------------------------------------------
Boston Univ.      1       Michigan
New Hampshire     2       Minnesota
Harvard           3       Wisconsin
Maine             4       Lake State
UM-Lowell         5       W. Michigan
N'Eastern         6       N. Michigan
RPI               7       Michigan State
Clarkson          8       Colorado College
 
Some comments/observations:
 
*  Maine is obviously the Wild Card in the East (with ripple effects into
     the West as well).  If the Committee does indeed select the Black
     Bears, it makes it that much more difficult for N'Eastern, CC, MSU
     and NMU who have much lower RPICH numbers ....
 
*  The ECAC is likely to get only two spots: Harvard and either RPI/Clarkson.
     An Engineer victory on Friday would just about lock up a spot, as they'd
     then have a 3-0 head-head record vs. the Golden Knights.  A Clarkson
     victory, however, may not itself be enough to displace RPI unless
     they can go on to win the ECAC Title outright ....
 
*  UNH currently holds a 3-1 head-head advantage over UM-Lowell, so a victory
     Friday would solidify their grip on a 2-4 East seed, their actual seed
     dependent on what the Crimson do in Lake Placid.  Given the head-head
     advantage, UML might also have to win the HE Title outright to slip
     ahead of the Wildcats for a higher East seed ....
 
*  It appears N'Eastern will have to at least split this weekend to ensure
     themselves a spot, and even that might not be enough dependent on the
     Maine Factor and the outcome of games at the Joe.  There's no way five
     HE teams will be selected, and they'll be outside looking in if Maine
     is the 4th HE team chosen ....
 
*  N. Michigan had best not stumble against Jamie Ram and MTU as Colorado
     did, since they'll likely need every opportunity to get some victories
     against quality opponents in the Tournament to boost their RPICH Nos ....
 
*  The four bottom-most West seeds listed above would appear to be jockeying
     for 2 spots, with W. Michigan having an edge (I think) vs. MSU in head-
     head this year.  Record against the higher seeded teams is a factor
     also; how do MSU and WMU fare against LSSU and Michigan (well we KNOW
     the Spartans have the Wolverines number :-)  Unless MSU advances deep
     into the Tournament, they could end up like Georgia Tech in the round-
     ball Tournament (3 wins vs. Duke/NC wasn't enough to get them in).
 
*  The top 8 seeds (well, there's the Maine Factor again) appear to be
     looking to improve their positions in the NC$$ Tournament based on
     their relative success in their respective conference tournaments.
     No one wants to face Lacher/LSSU early on, so the better one does to
     avoid the Lakers until deep into the Tournament, the better :-)
 
  Better/more informed comments than mine certainly welcome; try to be civil
if you flame .... Good Luck to all the Tournament participants this weekend !!
 
  Cheers from Maryland - Jim