Things are a little crazier than before.

The 14th tournament bid goes to Harvard over Providence. Ohio State also
replaces Denver as the 13th team.

Once the tournament is set, Minnesota and St. Cloud gain points for dropping
their losses to Dartmouth; North Dakota gets the point for their loss to
Providence.

This ties Minnesota with BU, but BU wins the HTH comparison. BU #4,
Minnesota #5.

BC (#6) wins the HTH comparison with Maine (#7).

There's now a circular tie for #9 with North Dakota, Michigan, MSU-Mankato,
so this is where the RPI is invoked, to place those teams in that order.

#1 seeds: CC, Cornell, UNH, BU (host).

#2 host is Minnesota at Minneapolis
#3 host is Michigan at Ann Arbor
Providence is hostless.

#1 seeds draft home sites: #4 BU at home in Worcester, #1 CC is
closest to Minneapolis, #2 Cornell is closest to Providence, #3UNH is left
with Ann Arbor.

#2's left are BC, Maine and Ferris - it's clear that Ferris can't play
Michigan, so they could be either in Providence or Minneapolis. Maine and BC
are not restricted (and essentially interchangeable), so give lower-ranked
Maine the "tougher" path through Ann Arbor. It's not clear how to place BC
and Ferris, so let's put higher seed BC against the lower #1 seed, BU.

#3's left are the three WCHA teams; ND, MSUM, SC. Since one of them would
play Minnesota, this doesn't work. So switch OSU and SC, placing OSU in
Minneapolis. Put higher-ranked ND up against lower-ranked Ferris in
Providence.

#4 Harvard must avoid Cornell, so put them in Worcester, and St. Cloud goes
to Ann Arbor.

Another option on the #3 problem is to flip-flop Ferris and North Dakota,
which would allow ND to take the #2 seed in Ann Arbor, keeping Maine in
Providence (and hence potentially improving attendance).

Providence: #2 Cornell vs. Mercyhurst (MAAC), #8 Ferris vs. #9 ND
Worcester: #4 BU vs. #14 Harvard, #6 BC vs. #11 MSU-Mankato
Ann Arbor: #3 UNH vs. #12 SC, #7 Maine vs. #10 Mich
Minneapolis: #1 CC vs. Alabama-Huntsville (CHA), #5 Minn vs. #13 OSU

Somehow this is what Maine "deserves" for their slip-up against UMass, the
spot in the tournament that nobody really wants, followed by a potential
rivalry match-up against UNH.

And how about that "Beanpot Bracket" for BU: Harvard, then BC.

Patrick Abegg