Faceoff Factor

NCAA Recap: Early Tournament Review, Late Tournament Preview

Andrew Chiappazzi | College/NCAA

Mar 10, 07:48 PM | Hype this story!

No awards this weekend as the focus turns to the major team-based hardware. All conferences are either in the midst of their tournaments or gearing up for the start of their win-or-go-home stretches.

We’ll eliminate the surprises early: There are none. All of the higher seeds advanced in early tournaments, and we’ll see if that trend continues with the rest of the tournaments getting under way.

First, a recap of the weekend events for those tourneys already under way:

ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Out of all the quarterfinal match-up best-of-three series, only one had to go to a rubber game – Connecticut and Sacred Heart. Army, Air Force, and RIT all won easily as the top three seeds. The Pioneers and Huskies, meanwhile, split close games before SHU won 4-1 on Sunday.

That means the Pioneers remain the #4 seed and will play #5 Mercyhurst as the reshuffling begins. Those two play Friday in a play-in game to determine the final four. The winner goes on to play #1 Army on Saturday. RIT and Air Force will play Saturday as well, with the championship game on Sunday.

CCHA
Three out of four first round series went the full three games, but the top seed prevailed in every single match-up. Several teams played overtime to decide games as well. The most interesting was a back-and-forth battle between Alaska-Anchorage and Nebraska-Omaha that ended with a 3OT thriller Sunday in favor of UNO. Red-hot Ferris State was the only team to handle their series in a sweep.

Ferris State will go on to play #4 Notre Dame this weekend. The other match-ups include #7 Bowling Green at #2 Miami, #6 Northern Michigan at #3 Michigan State, and #1 Michigan hosting #8 UNO. All are best-of-three series this weekend.

ECAC
Two of the four went the full three games – Cornell/Dartmouth and Colgate/St. Lawrence. Cornell was a surprising event, considering they waxed Dartmouth 6-0 in the rubber game. Quinnnipiac had to score 14 goals in two games to get by Brown, with 7-6 (OT) and 7-1 wins. Yale and RPI went to 3OTs in night one before using just one extra frame in night two, with the Yalies winning each time.

The best-of-three series begin again this weekend, with #8 Colgate taking on #1 Clarkson, #2 Princeton hosting #7 Yale, #6 Quinnipiac traveling to #3 Harvard, and #4 Union hosting #5 Cornell.

And now a preview of the tournaments that kick off this weekend:

COLLEGE HOCKEY AMERICA
The tournament is hosted by Buffalo, NY at Niagara University after a trip out to Des Moines, Iowa didn’t leave a lasting impression last year. It’s a single-elimination tournament for the five team conference, so #5 and #4 play Friday night, followed by the remaining four teams on Saturday and the championship game Sunday. And before you think it’s almost impossible for a team to win all three days, Alabama-Huntsville did it last year, including scoring five unanswered goals to beat Robert Morris in the final.

Matchups: #4 Wayne State vs #5 Alabama-Huntsville

#2 Niagara vs #3 Robert Morris

#1 Bemidji State vs winner of 4/5 game

Favorite: Niagara. Hosts are on their own ice and have played #1 Bemidji well.

Sleeper: Robert Morris. Might have the most fire-power and just need to want it.

HOCKEY EAST
From CHN: “The top four seeds host the bottom four seeds in a best-of-three series. After the first round, teams are re-seeded based on their regular-season records (points). The semifinals and finals are single-elimination.” The quarterfinals are this weekend with the final two rounds next weekend.

Quarterfinal Matchups (this weekend): #8 Massachusetts at #1 New Hampshire

#7 Massachusetts-Lowell at #2 Boston

#6 Northeastern at #3 Vermont

#5 Providence at #4 Boston College

Favorite: Everything goes through UNH

Sleeper: Boston. Yes, the two seed. Who expected the Terriers to be tournament contenders in December, let alone just over a month ago?

WCHA
From CHN: “The top five seeds host the bottom five seeds in a best-of-three series. Winners advance to the Final Five. After the first round, teams are re-seeded based on their regular-season records (points). The remaining No. 4 seed will host the No. 5 seed in a single-elimination play-in game. The winner advances to the semifinals. Semifinals and finals are single-elimination.”

Quarterfinal Matchups (this weekend): #10 Alaska-Anchorage at #1 Colorado College

#9 Michigan Tech at #2 North Dakota

#8 Minnesota-Duluth at #3 Denver

#7 Minnesota at #4 Minnesota State

#6 Wisconsin at #5 St. Cloud State

Favorite: North Dakota may be the #2 seed, but they’re best suited for the tourney.

Sleeper: Minnesota State has a penchant for the dramatic.