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Here is something that I noticed.

Currently the only Big 10 in the Top 16 pairwise is Minnesota. Currently Minnesota is 2nd in the Big 10 and Michigan State is #1 in the Big 10. MSU barely has a winning record and it's pairwise is in the 30s. What if MSU and Minnesota meet in the Big 10 championship and MSU wins. MSU would get the automatic bid. I don't see Minnesota dropping from the Pairwise 16. That would take one bid way and hurt BG chances. If BG were to lose a game to Northern and then lose in the Frozen Five or whatever it's called that gives BG 2 more losses and I believe will drop them to #15. (#16 if anyone but Minnesota wins the Big 10).

Are there any other teams that could gain the automatic bid that are outside the Top 16 that would hurt BG chances. 2 losses really hurt our Pairwise ranking and puts us on the bubble. We don't need any upsets in the conference tournaments.

Any team winning their conference tournament that isn't already ahead of BG in the Pairwise will hurt BG's chances of getting in. At this point, I'm of the mindset that anything short of winning the tournament and BG isn't getting in.

gmartin wrote:Here is something that I noticed.

Currently the only Big 10 in the Top 16 pairwise is Minnesota. Currently Minnesota is 2nd in the Big 10 and Michigan State is #1 in the Big 10. MSU barely has a winning record and it's pairwise is in the 30s. What if MSU and Minnesota meet in the Big 10 championship and MSU wins. MSU would get the automatic bid. I don't see Minnesota dropping from the Pairwise 16. That would take one bid way and hurt BG chances. If BG were to lose a game to Northern and then lose in the Frozen Five or whatever it's called that gives BG 2 more losses and I believe will drop them to #15. (#16 if anyone but Minnesota wins the Big 10).

Are there any other teams that could gain the automatic bid that are outside the Top 16 that would hurt BG chances. 2 losses really hurt our Pairwise ranking and puts us on the bubble. We don't need any upsets in the conference tournaments.

Minnesota is currently tied for #14. If they lose to MSU (tied for #32) or any other B1G team (all with lower PWR), what would keep them in the PWR 16? They pretty much have to win out to stay on the bubble--losing to MSU is not an option for them.

On the other hand, if we drop a game to Mankato (#2) or Tech (#5) in the Final Five, we won't take nearly as much of a PWR hit.
Of course we need to sweep Northern. But we're still on better ground than Minnesota.
Unless somehow Mankato or Tech get bumped from the WCHA playoffs and we end up dropping a game to Bemidji/Ferris in the Final Five...that would put a hit on our PWR.

Just win, baby.

St. Cloud also has to at least finish .500 to get an at-large bid. I believe right now they're one game under and need to sweep their first round playoff series in order to qualify without winning the NCHC tournament.

Freddie wrote:Just win, baby.

Bingo. That takes care of everything that can happen...

GO FALCONS!!!!