Deron wrote, in part .. >In my estimation, with *no* upsets in the big three conferences, Maine >will have to be at least 10th without needing to win the Hockey East >Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. Higher than that would be >ideal. It's unlikely for an ECAC team and improbable for *any* MAAC team to break into the top 10(*), given the current ratings. One MAAC team *will* be selected, so #12, if not a tournament champion, *will* stay home. Same can be said for the ECAC, so #11 will stay home. (Deron's logic is good! :-)). (*): OK, Clarkson is currently 10th, but I don't think that will last through the league tournaments! But there are always upsets, so a ranking of 8 or 9 will probably be required. 8th & 9th now? PC & UNH! DB wrote, in part.. >Without a doubt, we MUST win the HE tournament... I don't think so. I think we MUST win 3 or 4 points this weekend and then do well in the HEA tournament. I just ran the RPI calculation for Maine beating PC twice ... and we would jump to 9th, just ahead of PC, entering the league tournaments (I haven't recalculated PWR). 3 points from PC moves us only to #11. So I think *2* wins over PC is critical for NCAA selection, should we not win the HEA Tournament Championship. But no one but the current top-6 (MiState, NoDak, BC, MN, StCld, Mich) should feel very secure ... performance in the league tournaments will be critical for everyone else. And Deron wrote, in part.. >What we do know is this, a sweep of the Friars next weekend will have us >no lower than 3rd-place in HE and if UNH loses just a point, 2nd-place, >which would always help our chances at advancing in the HE Tournament. It >is starting to look like Maine is going to have to put together a good >run, if not win the HE Tournament, to make it into the NCAA's. Yep. Scoring only 1 goal in the 2nd UML and MC games could make one a bit pessimistic about "a good run", but that is what's needed. By the way, some were worrying about home ice in the HEA quarter-finals. In case you missed it, it's *almost* wrapped up. Maine is tied for 3/4 with 25 points. BU and UML have 21 points. UML has only 1 game remaining, so cannot catch us. BU needs wins vs MC and BC (and 2 Maine losses vs PC) to reach 25 points and gain the final home-ice berth, as they beat Maine on the 2nd tie-breaker (head-to-head is 1-1-1, conference wins 11-10). Go Blue! cheers, wayne Wayne T. Smith [log in to unmask] Old Town Landing The College Hockey lists, Hockey-L and Hockey3 at http://lists.Maine.edu/