The WCHA playoffs are combining with the Pairwise to make for some odd
situations.  As I read it, the number-one seeds are pretty much set, except
that Minnesota can overtake UMD for the last #1 seed if they meet and
defeat UMD in the WCHA Final Five.
The UMD/UMn comparison:

Minnesota-Duluth vs Minnesota
.5715           0 RPI 1         .5739
8-9-2 .4737     0 TUC 1         .6346 15-8-3
17-11-2 .6000   0 COp 1         .7069 20-8-1
4-0-0           4 H2H 0         0-4-0
                4 TOT 3

A Minnesota victory over UMD would push the points to 4 apiece, winning by
RPI tie-breaker.  (Of course, all this hangs on the slim RPI lead, so I'd
be mighty curious to see if John Whelan's what-if calculator backs this
up.)  So, it seems that UMD's NCAA seeding would be better served if they
*lost* tonight's game against Minnesota-State Mankato, ensuring that they
solidify this position.

Assuming UMD does win the series against Mankato tonight, the WCHA Final
Five pairings will depend on the outcome of the Anchorage/Wisconsin
game.  If Anchorage wins, Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth will face each
other Friday night in a WCHA semi-final that would most likely decide the
final #1 seed in the NCAAs.

If Wisconsin and Duluth both win tonight, they will meet Friday afternoon
in the WCHA semi.  Minnesota would need to get past the Thursday night
play-in game to get their desired shot at playing Duluth and turning around
the comparison.  Assuming they do this, they would need to meet (and beat)
Duluth in either the championship or third-place game.  If Duluth loses the
Friday afternoon semifinal to Wisconsin, the Gophers would then be in a
situation where their NCAA seeding might be better served by losing the
semi-final to North Dakota so that they could get into the third-place game
against Duluth.

-Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!

PS:  Obligatory allegiance info.  See above.  I discovered this list in the
summer of 1991 when I was a grad student at Minnesota.  Exchanged what
turned out to be the first of hundreds of emails with Carol White and met
her for lunch one summer day.  Later Erik Biever and I each had to do a
double-take in an elevator on the St. Paul campus before recognizing each
other without Gopher-ears and hardhat (respectively).  I've attended every
Frozen Four since (including the ones when they were not yet called "Frozen
Four" -- remember "Phinal Phour"?)