Weekend Preview: Silent Killers

The BU Terriers will be heading on their second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament this weekend as they face the Denver Pioneers in a first round matchup before beating the winner of St. Cloud St. and Ferris St to advance to the Frozen Four in Tampa in a few weeks. The Terriers and Pioneers faced off once earlier this year with the Terriers pulling out a 5-4 OT win thanks to Ahti Oksanen's first two goals of the season.

The location will be different as the regional is located in St. Paul, Minnesota but the teams will be the same as will the outcome. There are many Denver fans looking past BU to a matchup with St. Cloud St in the regional final which is an ideal scenario for BU. Getting placed out west is a blessing for BU. There will be fans who will mention BU's record isn't as good in Western regionals historically but you can really throw those records out the window. St. Paul is the only regional where BU avoids other Hockey East teams(which are the best teams) but still will be an underdog in the region for reasons unknown to me. Apparently western fans are delusional and not smart. Who would have guessed? Hopefully once BU trounces Denver, St. Cloud fans look forward to the Frozen Four semi matchup with North Dakota(if they get past lil bro Northeastern). St. Paul is also not a hellhole like Albany and Worcester are. I have only been in the Cincinnati airport so I will refrain comment and that was enough to know that it sucks too.

NCAA Hockey Tournament predictions -take 4

Here goes attempt number 4 to predict the NCAA Tournament Field for Mens Ice Hockey. The first three are linked up here(1st-12/19,2nd-2/11,3rd-2/21 so you can see how quickly things can change with the Pairwise System. So here is my "expert" opinion of how things shake out now. This will probably seem mathematically impossible by next monday but it is worth a shot. Here goes nothing. Here is how I see the Pairwise ending today...

1. Yale- Once again they don't play anyone tough so they won't lose enough to lose the number one spot overall.
2. North Dakota- I think they win the WCHA and get rewarded with the second best #1 seed.
3. Michigan- This team is hot right now behind legendary coach Red Berenson
4. Boston College- The superfrauds get their wish and #1 seed in the tournament despite losing the HE final to an undecided team(Choose from BU, Merrihack or Maine)
5. Denver- They take a #2 seed and prepare for a run in the tourny
6. Union- They are the second most overrated team in the country behind Yale but simply are playing ECAC teams down the stretch and therfore will continue to win
7. Merrimack- They will bounce back after getting trounced up in Maine and still get a 2 seed.
8. Notre Dame- They are getting hot at the right time of the year
9. Nebraska-Omaha- They are so damn streaky but I think they end the year hot enough to grab a tourny at-large bid
10. Miami- This team is too skilled to not get in and will be one of the toughest outs once they get there
11. Minnesota-Duluth- ChrisCo's brother puts the team on his back and gives them a good chance to make a run this year
12. BU- The Terriers make a deep run into the HE tournament racking up TUC wins against Maine and UNH along the way to solidify their playoff berth. Yeah I m a homer
13. UNH- The University of No Hardware knows they need wins this weekend to solidify their positioning along with a good conference tournament. They seem bound to face UMASS in the first round so that should not be an issue.
14. RPI- I hate this team that is all
15. Colorado College- They sneak in with a few clutch wins coming down the straight
16. Robert Morris- They get Yale in the first round after winning the great Atlantic Hockey conference tournament

Here is what the brackets would look like
Bridgeport
1 Yale vs. 4 Robert Morris
2 Notre Dame vs 3 Nebraska Omaha

Manchester
1 BC vs 4 RPI
2 Denver vs 3 BU

Saint Louis
1 Michigan vs 4 Colorado College
2 Merrimack vs 3 Minnesota-Duluth

Green Bay
1 North Dakota vs 4 UNH
2 Union vs 3 Miami (OH)

Bracket winners here
Manchester- Denver
Bridgeport- Notre Dame
Saint Louis-Michigan
Green Bay- Miami(OH)

Championship- Michigan over Denver (5-3)

NCAA Hockey Tournament predictions -take 3

Ok so here is round 3 at my shot at the NCAA tourny field. I plan on to keep taking shots until the field is announced on March 20th 11:30et. Ok so as of today here is how I see the field shaking out for field of 16...

1-16 seeding
1. Yale- just don't see them losing enough games against the ECAC teams. Their only two remaining regular season games are against #27 Cornell and #53 Colgate. They move into the ECAC tournament with only four losses in conference so I don't expect enough for them to fall out of the #1 seed.
2. North Dakota- I think the Fighting Sioux win the WCHA tournament and lock up the #2 overall seed.
3. Boston College- I hate these bastards but they still have a solid chance at winning HE regular season along with the HE tournament.
4. Denver- I know Merrimack is here now but I just see them dropping one this weekend up at Alfond and one again at some point in the HE tournament.
5. Merrimack- read above bitches
6. Minnesota-Duluth- I see ChrisCo's brother and company finishing #6 overall and a 2 seed in the tourny
7. Michigan-
8. Nebraska-Omaha- These streaky bastards get hot at the end of the season and grab the last 2 seed.
9. Notre Dame
10. UNH- The University of No Hardware takes #3 seed in the tournament for the third year in a row.
11. Union
12. Miami- The runners up in 2009 try once again to find that title. With any goaltending they have a great chance of getting there.
13. Wisconsin- The runners-up from last year get a second shot at the title but as a 4 seed this year after losing two to Nebraska-Omaha late in the year
14. RPI- I hate this team. They think they are so much better than they are for winning in the EZAC.
15. BU- Our Terriers run the table in the regular season and the HE quarters before losing in the HE semis and grabbing the last at large bid.
16. RIT(Atlantic Hockey Winner)

This would result in the following bracket:
East Regional(Bridgeport,CT)
1. Yale(1) vs. 4.RIT-Yale takes the number one overall seed and gets the cupcake Atlantic Hockey Champion

2 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 3. Notre Dame - Streaky Nebraska-Omaha get Andy Lee and co in the first round before a possible showdown with Yale

Northeast(Manchester,NH)
1. Boston College(3) vs. 4 RPI -Good news here as one of the teams I hate has to lose and go home and cry

2. Minnesota-Duluth vs 3 UNH - Good news is UNH once again gets the home regional...bad news is BC is in it and there is no way those choke artists up in Durham beat BC.

Midwest(Green Bay, Wisconsin)
1. North Dakota(2) vs. 4. BU- Out Terriers sneak in and as a result get the very good Fighting Sioux in the first round

2. Michigan vs 3 Union- Michigan puts Union away here easily...
West(Saint Louis,Missouri)
1 Denver(4) vs. 4 Wisconsin- This should be quite the showdown in the first round

2 Merrimack vs 3 Miami- Miami's offense lights up Merrihack in their first ever NCAA tournament


Frozen Four Predictions- I am feeling daring enough to take my predictions a little bit further today...

West - Miami(OH)
Midwest-Michigan
East- Notre Dame
Northeast- Minnesota-Duluth

Final- Minnesota-Duluth vs. Michigan

Champion- Michigan wins to get legendary coach Red Berenson his 3rd career NC in his record 21st straight tournament appearance.