Bracketology: UConn women's hockey has done it

UConn women’s hockey took its first Hockey East Tournament championship in dramatic fashion as Megan Woodworth scored a tip-in goal with 35 seconds remaining in the first overtime to give the Huskies a 1-0 win over Northeastern.

After 24 years and several instances of close-but-no-cigar — including three losses to this Northeastern program in the Hockey East Tournament championship game over the past six years — Chris MacKenzie’s team has gotten over the hump and is in the field of 11.

Bracketology

Unlike most NCAA Tournaments, the hockey committees merely seed the teams and fill the regionals without actually selecting the field, which is done by the PairWise rankings.

The five conference champions are paired with the top six teams in the rankings that have not already qualified to fill out the field. This objective measure gives teams a sense of what they need to do at all times while also giving fans a sneak peek at what may be coming down the road. There are some differences from the men’s bracket selection process, but also many similarities.

The top five teams in the 11-team field earn a seed and the top four will host regional finals. The top three will also host regional semifinals and play the winners of those teams, while No. 4 will face No. 5. There’s no requirement that No. 4 and No. 5 are from different conferences, while the regional semifinals will avoid intra-conference matchups unless it “corrupts bracket integrity”. The USCHO has an in-depth explainer here.

The first five teams in the field are the top remaining seeds in the conference tournaments, which are listed below.

Penn State was the first team to secure a bid, as the Nittany Lions won the CHA over Mercyhurst on March 2.

The ECAC Tournament was chalk throughout, as No. 1 Colgate and No. 2 Clarkson played for the championship crown and Colgate prevailed.

No. 5 Franklin Pierce and No. 3 Stonehill took down the top two seeds in the league in overtime fashion in the NEWHA semifinals. Stonehill secured the automatic bid.

It was all-Big Ten in the WHCA championship game, as No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Wisconsin battled it out, with the Badgers coming out on top.

The following six schools will fill out the bracket.

The six at-large bids are split between ECAC and WCHA after Quinnipiac was eliminated in the quarterfinals, while Minnesota-Duluth moved on in its conference tournament, causing the swap. Other than that, the top seven in the PairWise stayed the same.

No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 Colgate, and No. 4 Clarkson would host regionals, with the Golden Knights joined by No. 5 Minnesota. The final six teams would play regional semifinals at the site of the top three seeds.

While there isn’t a mandate to prevent intra-conference matchups, there aren’t any here, as three conferences have champions that represent the bottom three in the pecking order. This bracket wouldn’t need any adjustments.

The bubble

Quinnipiac is the first team out of the field, along with St. Cloud State, Princeton and Northeastern.