Faceoff Factor

Tournament Season Begins For College Hockey

Andrew Chiappazzi | College/NCAA

Mar 5, 10:01 PM | Hype this story!

It’s that time of year. While the Tournament focus regarding Championship Week is on the hardwood, many other fanatics are turning to the ice. This weekend begins the first couple of conference tournaments.

Here’s what to expect from the Atlantic Hockey, CCHA, and ECAC tournaments.

ATLANTIC HOCKEY
All ten teams will take part in this bracket, but it’s a bit complicated. According to CHN, “The Quarterfinals are best-of-three at the top five teams in the final regular season standings. Those five winners will advance to the Blue Cross Arena for a Final Five format. The Quarterfinals will take place on either March 6-8 or March 7-9, depending on Spring Break schedules. The two lowest reamining seeds will face-off against one another on Friday, March 14 with the winner advancing to the Semifinals to take on the highest remaining seed. The other Semifinal contest will have the other remaining seeds take on one another on Saturday, March 15. The Championship Game will be on Sunday, March 16.”

Quarterfinal Matchups (this weekend): #10 American International v #1 Army #9 Holy Cross v #2 RIT #8 Bentley v #3 Air Force #7 Connecticut v #4 Sacred Heart #6 Canisius v #5 Mercyhurst

Favorite: Air Force, because of prior experience.
Sleeper: Sacred Heart, with some quality fire power.

CCHA
All twelve teams participate in this one. Top 4 seeds receive first-round byes. Seeds 5-12 play best-of-3 on campus, first round. Re-seed for second round, seeds 1-4 host best-of-3 series. Winners play in semifinals and finals.

First Round Matchups (this weekend): #12 Western Michigan v #5 Ferris State #11 Ohio State v #6 Northern Michigan #10 Lake Superior v #7 Bowling Green #9 Alaska v #8 Nebraska-Omaha

#1 Michigan, #2 Miami, #3 Michigan State, and #4 Notre Dame all have byes this weekend and will play winners next weekend.

Favorite: Michigan, right now, only because Miami has choked.
Sleeper: Ferris State. They’ve beaten both the top seeds.

ECAC
All twelve teams participate and the Top 4 seeds receive first-round byes. Seeds 5-12 play best-of-3 on campus, first round. Re-seed for second round, seeds 1-4 host best-of-3 series. Winners play in semifinals and finals.

First Round Matchups (this weekend): #12 Dartmouth v #5 Cornell #11 Brown v #6 Quinnipiac #10 RPI v #7 Yale #9 St. Lawrence v #8 Colgate

#1 Clarkson, #2 Princeton, #3 Harvard, and #4 Union all have byes this weekend and will play winners next weekend.

Favorite: Clarkson, as they’ve dominated the league so far.
Sleeper: Union, because the underdog small-school is always dangerous.