Cornell played fantastic hockey this weekend to capture their 2nd consecutive ECAC Tournament championship. On Saturday I made a comment that if certain other games went the right way, Cornell could be seeded significantly higher. One game I said was necessary was for BU to beat UNH. I had it backwards -- if UNH had won HE, Cornell would be rated #6 in the PWR. Here's why: First, note that BU and Cornell both have 13 PWR points: Rk Team GP W- L- T Win% Rk RPI Rk PWR 1 Michigan 40 33- 3- 4 0.8750 1 | 0.6279 1 | 20 2 Clarkson 36 27- 9- 0 0.7500 2 | 0.6001 2 | 19 3 North Dakota 40 28-10- 2 0.7250 4 | 0.5882 4 | 18 4 Minnesota 40 27-12- 1 0.6875 7 | 0.5809 5 | 16 5 New Hampshire 38 28-10- 0 0.7368 3 | 0.5908 3 | 15 6 Vermont 35 22-10- 3 0.6714 10 | 0.5786 6 | 14 7 Maine 32 21-10- 1 0.6719 9 | 0.5639 10 | 14 8 Boston University 38 24- 8- 6 0.7105 6 | 0.5772 8 | 13 9 Cornell 33 20- 8- 5 0.6818 8 | 0.5700 9 | 13 10 Miami 37 26-10- 1 0.7162 5 | 0.5772 7 | 12 11 Denver 39 23-12- 4 0.6410 11 | 0.5543 12 | 10 12 Colorado College 41 23-14- 4 0.6098 15 | 0.5601 11 | 9 13 Michigan State 38 22-12- 4 0.6316 12 | 0.5474 13 | 9 Now, let's look at the Cornell-BU comparison: SAT AM (before Championships) Boston University vs Cornell RPI 0.5700 1 0.5626 0 L20 13- 4- 3 1 11- 5- 4 0 TUC 4- 6- 1 0 7- 6- 2 1 H2H 0 0 COP 8- 3- 2 1 10- 5- 2 0 ============================================ PTS 3 1 (note: BU's 20th game ago was a W, Cornell's was a T) SUN AM (current) OR...if BU lost: Boston University vs Cornell RPI 0.5772 1 0.5700 0 <.5700 0 =.5700 1 L20 13- 4- 3 1 12- 5- 3 0 12- 5- 3 0 12- 5- 3 0 TUC 5- 6- 1 0 8- 6- 2 1 4- 7- 1 0 8- 6- 2 1 H2H 0 0 0 0 COP 8- 3- 2 1 11- 5- 2 0 8- 3- 2 1 11- 5- 2 0 ======================================================================= PTS 3 1 1 2 In other words, if UNH won, Cornell would have won the comparison and had 14 PWR points. Since the win the comparisons against Maine and Vermont, they would be #6 overall, #3 in the east: Raw East Rank Team PWR Rank 1E Clarkson 2 2E New Hampshire 4 or 5 3E Cornell 6 4E Vermont 7 5E Boston U. 9 6E Michigan St. 13 What's my point? Well, I have two. First, it shows just how big the HE win was for BU: #2E vs #5W. Second, the #3W team is going to have its hands full. Don't be surprised to see Cornell advance at least one round. They're a hot team, playing a team they've seen before. Granted, Miami has beaten Cornell once this season and they're a super team, but I predict Cornell's "playoff" experience will pull them through. I also have a question: what disadvantage, if any, does the #6 seed have as the "visiting" team? -- from: LTJG Kenneth A. Pavelle, NOAA NOAA, National Weather Service Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center My Homepage: http://www.abrfc.noaa.gov/kap.html "Its hard to predict anything, especially the future" -- Yogi Berra HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.