When I first checked USCHO, their brackets remained 1E-2W and 1W-2E.
For a while, their site was inaccessible (must be all those Las Vegas
bookies
setting up the morning line) and the NCAA site was empty. Now I see that
the NCAA site
has 1E-2E and 1W-2W and USCHO has changed their brackets to match.
McDonald is right. This guarantees a final of east vs. west. It also
guarantees that the
one and only east vs. west matchup will occur in the finals and not before.
I can understand why they wanted to minimize travel for the regional
(actually
I don't understand it; it's senseless) but regardless, once you have the 2
winners from the
east and west regionals in the same building, what sense does it make to
keep the east and west
separate until the finals. As a fan, I'm very disappointed in this turn of
events. If I were
able to go to Worcester or St. Paul, I'd be outraged.