Steve C. is right. I forgot to mention that the Alaskas play
virtually everything at home (UAA has 10 home, zero away vs
the WCHA and UAF is 9/2 with the CCHA). And I consider that
important, too.
 
I thought about putting some sort of home/away factor back
in for the WCHA/CCHA Ranks, but decided against it.
 
No, I do not think a team is going to throw games to avoid
the Seawolves. But back when UAA was 4-0 vs. the WCHA, I was
not so sure. Now that UAA is losing, they appear to be a
middle-of-the-road team and not worth avoiding. But my job is
not to decide if a team should lose on purpose or not--
I just add up the numbers and let others decide.
 
Ask last year's Harvard squad how much their regular season
crown was worth when the selections were made. They lost their
first round league play-off game, which hurt quite a bit. I
see many other possible parallels. The major difference this
season, however, is the lack of an independent bid. I would say
that all 4 regular season winners will get bids, simply because
there is one more bid to hand out, but weirder things have
happened before!
 
Keith