Gophers climb in USCHO poll, but still on the bubble for NCAA tournament bid

per the STrib:

A pair of wins and a Big Ten regular-season championship jumped the Gophers two spots to No. 13 in Monday's USCHO poll. The successful weekend, however, wasn't enough to improve the Gophers' uncertain status for the NCAA tournament.

The Gophers are also 13th in the PairWise rankings, USCHO's poll based off the formula that the NCAA committee uses to select its 16-team tournament field, and on the bubble entering the Big Ten hockey tournament in Detroit.

The No. 1-seeded Gophers have a first-round bye and play the winner of Penn State and Ohio State in Friday's 3:30 p.m. semifinal. They likely need to win at least one game in Detroit to be considered for an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. The winner of the Big Ten tournament earns and automatic bid.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/296461671.html

Go Gophers!!

If we win Friday's game, I'll be hoping that the title game is against the Wolverines. I like that match up better and even though they swept us earlier this year, we have generally owned them in games where it really counts for quite some time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a win against Michigan do more for us than a win against Michigan State? In addition, wouldn't a loss to UM be less damaging than a loss to MSU?

UncleSam'sMisguidedChild said:

If we win Friday's game, I'll be hoping that the title game is against the Wolverines. I like that match up better and even though they swept us earlier this year, we have generally owned them in games where it really counts for quite some time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a win against Michigan do more for us than a win against Michigan State? In addition, wouldn't a loss to UM be less damaging than a loss to MSU?

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I think you are right on Michigan being a better matchup for us. I don't know why they still bother with the poll this time of year, the PWR is all that counts (and it has the added virtue of updating after every game, not just once a week).

With as many teams that can push Minnesota out of the national tourney, hopefully Coach Lucia and the seniors have the team sold on a "win or go home" mentality. If Rau, Boyd, Ambroz, etc. can get everyone to play with the same fervor they do, the Gophers will probably win the BTT, then make some serious noise in the NCAA tournament. I think everything is there for the taking for the Gophers IF they play like their season is done with their next loss, which it could actually be. If they do that, the pairwise will only matter for seeding...which is much better than the position we're in now, just hoping to get in

UncleSam'sMisguidedChild said:

If we win Friday's game, I'll be hoping that the title game is against the Wolverines. I like that match up better and even though they swept us earlier this year, we have generally owned them in games where it really counts for quite some time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a win against Michigan do more for us than a win against Michigan State? In addition, wouldn't a loss to UM be less damaging than a loss to MSU?

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You are correct um would be less damaging and would help more as of they get there they would likely be hovering in the cusp of the 16 seed where msu would still be in the 20s

The issue isn't necessarily losing. The issue is crappy teams below us (pairwise ranking) winning their post-season tournaments and taking away NCAA spots from us. Which is exactly what will happen (a lower rated team that wouldn't otherwise make it) if we don't win the Big Ten tournament. So best we just win, go to the Northeast regional with UMD and start our inevitable run to the championship...

upnorthkid said:

You are correct um would be less damaging and would help more as of they get there they would likely be hovering in the cusp of the 16 seed where msu would still be in the 20s

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Doesn't Michigan have to play and win Thursday for a shot at MSU on Friday? This is where I think a dogfight win by Michigan helps the Gophers. The Gophers should have fresher legs in that scenario.

STPGopher said:

Doesn't Michigan have to play and win Thursday for a shot at MSU on Friday? This is where I think a dogfight win by Michigan helps the Gophers. The Gophers should have fresher legs in that scenario.

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This is also true. I was just commenting from a pwr standpoint Michigan would be sitting higher when we play then and thus would be less damaging