As Greg pointed out, Vermont's lead over Clarkson in the PWR is anything but rock-solid. (Note that with UNH's loss to Maine, Clarkson has already moved past UNH into line for the second bye in the East!) In detail, looking at the top of the up-to-date PWR <http://uscollegehockey.com/pwr/pwr.cgi>: Rk Team GP W- L- T Win% Rk RPI Rk PWR 1 Michigan 32 27- 2- 3 0.8906 1 | 0.6258 1 | 21 2 Vermont 28 18- 7- 3 0.6964 7 | 0.5978 2 | 20 3 North Dakota 32 22- 8- 2 0.7188 3 | 0.5864 5 | 19 4 Clarkson 28 20- 8- 0 0.7143 4 | 0.5892 4 | 18 We see that the only differences between Vermont's and Clarkson's comparisons are: Vermont beats North Dakota, North Dakota beats Clarkson, Vermont beats Clarkson. Examining those individual comparisons from <http://uscollegehockey.com/pwr/comparisons.txt>: North Dakota vs Vermont RPI 0.5864 0 0.5978 1 L20 14- 4- 2 1 12- 5- 3 0 TUC 12- 6- 2 1 10- 6- 2 0 H2H 0 0 COP 4- 2- 2 0 2- 1- 0 1 ============================================ PTS 2 2 (Vermont wins based on higher RPI) Clarkson vs North Dakota RPI 0.5892 1 0.5864 0 L20 15- 5- 0 0 14- 4- 2 0 TUC 9- 6- 0 0 12- 6- 2 1 H2H 0 0 COP 1- 2- 0 0 3- 0- 1 1 ============================================ PTS 1 2 Clarkson vs Vermont RPI 0.5892 0 0.5978 1 L20 15- 5- 0 1 12- 5- 3 0 TUC 8- 5- 0 0 9- 5- 2 1 H2H 1 1 COP 15- 5- 0 1 13- 5- 3 0 ============================================ PTS 3 3 (Vermont wins based on higher RPI) Those are all one criterion away from going the other way, since Vermont's are decided on the basis of RPI and the NoDak only beats Clarkson by one criterion; if that were tied, Clarkson would win. Noting that Clarkson and NoDak are currently tied in last 20, an edge in that would give Clarkson the comparison. Clarkson has at least six games left, eight if they sweep a playoff series, and they are 11-1 in their last 12, while NoDak is 8-4, so it's likely that the Knights will end up with a better last 20 record than the Sioux. And as Greg said, a win over Vermont in the playoffs would tip the scales in *that* comparison. John Whelan, Cornell '91 <[log in to unmask]> <http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jtw16960/jshock.html> Cornell Men's Ice Hockey: 1996-7 Ivy League Champions WE WANT MORE! WE WANT THE ECAC! HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.