At Large bids in, Bracket and Rankings Announced

The first eight teams were easy.  All of the conferences had automatic qualifiers for the champions.  Those teams were Norwich (ECAC East), Wentworth (ECAC Northeast), Plymouth State (MASCAC), Milwaukee School of Engineering (MCHA), Gustavus Adolphus (MIAC), Amherst (NESCAC), St. Norbert (NCHA), and Plattsburgh (SUNYAC).  The three remaining teams in the 11-team field were to be selected as at-large bids.  Looking at the latest set of rankings, those shouldn't have been hard to figure out.

Oswego ended the regular-season run ranked number one in the nation.  They lost that distinction when they were defeated in the SUNYAC Championship Game by Plattsburgh, but they were still an easy choice for the first at-large bid.  Looking at the rest of the rankings, it appeared pretty easy to pick them as well.  The committee apparently wanted to take one team out of the East and one out of the West, and in that case the rankings are clear:  Adrian at number six (West), and Castleton at number seven (East). 

But alas, that's not what happened.  Adrian was snubbed in favor of St. Thomas, who were ranked eighth and were still a solid pick, albeit undeserving.  But then Castleton was snubbed in favor of Elmira, ranked 13th.  13th?  How the hell did Elmira get a bid?  Once again the NCAA selecting committee has proven itself as incompetent at the worst level.  Just to prove a point, every Oswego State Lakers hockey fan was sitting on pins and needles all day yesterday until the selections were announced at 9:30, and that was the number one team in the nation until then, because of the randomness, biases, and general incompetency of the NCAA selection committee.

I suppose it is important to note that Norwich has a representative on the selection committee, and that person (Michael McShane) probably did everything in his power to keep other ECAC East teams out of the NCAA Tournament.  And that's right folks, Castleton plays in the ECAC East and has basically emerged as Norwich's biggest and most relevant rival over the past two seasons.  Having said that, I don't really have an explanation for St. Thomas over Adrian.  The Bulldogs got screwed.

The first round of the playoffs begin on March 7, but the Lakers - despite their at-large status - have been byed into the quarterfinals where they will face Elmira (that's right) at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego, New York on March 10.  It's amazing to me that not only did Elmira get an at-large bid that they didn't deserve, they got ranked highly enough by the NCAA to get a bye into the quarterfinals.

All of the relevant information on the NCAA Tournament can be seen here.  In addition, the schedule and results can be viewed here as the tournament progresses.  The quarterfinal results (quarterfinals take place on March 10) can be viewed here as the road to the Frozen Four continues.

Lakers lose Heartbreaker to Plattsburgh; Season now in Jeopardy

The Lakers lost a heart-breaker in the SUNYAC Championship game last night to the Plattsburgh Cardinals in a game that could end their season.  Oswego went into the game sitting in a strong first place in the SUNYAC and had breezed through the playoffs up until last night.  Plattsburgh was in a strong second place and had had trouble in the playoffs, getting taken to triple overtime last week at home against Buff State.

In a game that matched two strong defensive teams with two excellent D-I transfer goalies and great penalty kills, the first period went by scoreless.  Oswego got the scoring started at 9:15 in the second period when Jon Whitelaw scored on a five-on-three power play from an assist by Paul Rodrigues.  Plattsburgh struck back at 18:49 in the second when Jared Docking scored on a power play with assists from Nick Jensen and Paul Puglisi.

Tied at one in the third, Plattsburgh took a lead at 4:33 on a goal by Mike Grace with an assist from Matt MacLeod.  The Cardinals sealed the deal at 8:26 in the third on a second goal by Jensen with an assist from Kyle Kudroch.  Oswego started a comeback only seven seconds later when Kyle Badham scored on an unassisted goal at 8:33, but were stifled by Platty's defense the rest of the way.

Plattsburgh out-shot Oswego 27 to 17.  Mathieu Cadieux went 15 for 17 in the net for Plattsburgh while Andrew Hare went 24 for 27 in the net for the Lakers.  Both teams demonstrated a characteristically-strong penalty kill, and Oswego essentially lost the game when they went one-for-five on power plays against the Cardinals, and their only power-play-goal came on a five-on-three power play.  Plattsburgh only had two power plays and scored on one of them. 

With the win and the SUNYAC crown Plattsburgh receives an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament which will culminate in the Frozen Four at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York on March 16 and 17.  They are in line to be ranked as the number two or three team in the East bracket. 

Oswego will now have to rely on an at-large bid from the NCAA if they have any hopes of continuing their season in the NCAA tournament.  Currently ranked number one in the nation, that bid should be all-but ensured, but the keywords in that statement are "all" and "but."  The number-one ranked team usually makes it into the tournament but stranger things have happened and you can never trust the at-large bid selecting committee.  Last season Castleton was ranked in prime position to receive an at-large bid but were snubbed in favor of Neumann, who were ranked seven positions lower than the Spartans at the time.  In addition, the well-known Oswego bias on the NCAA selecting committee could prevent them from receiving a bid into the tourney.

NCAA at-large bids, playoff rankings, and brackets will be announced tonight at 9:30.

Oswego Ranked No. 1 in NCAA East Poll

NCAA East Rankings: February 15, 2012

1. Oswego
2. Norwich
3. Amherst

4. Plattsburgh
5. Elmira
6. Manhattanville
7. Utica
8. Castleton
9. Bowdoin
10. Neumann
11. Middlebury
12. Hobart
13. Wesleyan
14. Williams
15. Fredonia