The Division III Men's Ice Hockey NCAA Tournament bracket has been announced! Oswego has received an at-large bid and has been byed into the Quarterfinals.
The action begins with the First Round on Wednesday, March 9. Bowdoin and Neumann face off in the Sid Watson Arena in Brunswick, Maine at 7:00 PM. The winner of this game will face Oswego at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego, New York in the Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 PM.
First Round action continues as Wisconsin-Superior and Hamline face off at the Siinto S. Wessman Arena in Superior, Wisconsin on Wednesday, March 9 at 8:00 PM. The winner of this game will face St. Norbert at the Cornerstone Community Center in De Pere, Wisconsin in the Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 12 at 8:00 PM.
The First Round concludes with Norwich and Curry facing off at Kreitzberg Arena in Northfield, Vermont on Wednesday, March 9 at 7:00 PM. The winner of this game will face Plattsburgh at the Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh, New York on Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 PM.
Adrian and Elmira have both received byes into the Quarterfinals and will face each other at Arrington Ice Arena in Adrian, Michigan on Saturday, March 12 at 7:00 PM. This is a borderline violation of the NCAA by-laws as Adrian is a west coast team and Elmira, which plays in the ECAC West, is basically an east coast team. The NCAA can get away with this, however, by citing an obscure rule which limits travel (Adrian, Michigan is actually closer to Elmira, New York than to either Superior, Wisconsin or De Pere, Wisconsin), and based upon the fact that the ECAC West is basically an independent conference and doesn't have much pull in the grand scheme of things as far as the NCAA is concerned.
There was one notable snub in the 11-team field, as is to be expected given the obvious biases of the selecting committee. Castleton, which appeared locked in as they were ranked no lower than fifth for most of the season, did not receive an at-large bid. They were snubbed in favor of Wisconsin-Superior. It is important to note that Castleton plays in the ECAC East and Norwich, also of the ECAC East, had a representative on the selecting committee. Norwich had their hands full with Castleton all year and they obviously had a strong team, being ranked fifth by the NCAA upon completion of the ECAC East tournament and fourth by USCHO. Clearly, Norwich kept Castleton out of the dance. This also gave the field four teams in the west and only seven in the east, although since Elmira is now being treated as a west coast team it's now more like six and five. After all, if Elmira beats Adrian they'll be treated like a team that came out of the west in the Frozen Four. The Castleton snubbing has defeinitely created a debacle.
This is all we know right now! We won't be sure about who's going to the Frozen Four in Minneapolis until the conclusion of the Quarterfinals. The bracket can be viewed here.
Lets' go Lakers!!!!!
I had a feeling the NCAA would put 4 West teams(SNU, Adrian, Hamline, & UWS)and 7 East teams (Oswego, Plattsburgh, Elmira, Curry, Bowdoin, & Neumann) in the Tournament. Castleton was the clear snub this year. I agree with the NCAA's 4/7 split, but I would have put Castleton in instead of Neumann. Castleton finished the year 22-4-1 compared to Neumann with an overall record of 14-8-5, the worst record in the tournament. Castleton was ranked higher than Neumann in regluar season polls and ranked one spot higher in the NCAA East ranking. Interested note: Neumann head coach Dominick Dawes is a Norwich Alum (04').
ReplyDeleteThis year's bracket matchups are a little screwy. The NCAA was clearly trying to split up the top two teams in each region (East: 1. Oswego & 2. Plattsburgh; West: 1. St. Norbert & 2. Adrian) for some reason instead of having a true East vs. West matchup in the National Championship. This favors Oswego as they have the easiest road to the title game, but hurts Elmira who has to travel 455 miles to face Adrian.