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College hockey: NCAA Tournament Bracketology (March 17)

Minnesota and BC are virtually locked into the No. 1 seeds in St. Paul and Worcester, respectively.

By Jeff Cox
Kyle Rau and his Minnesota teammates are the projected No. 1 seed in St. Paul.
Kyle Rau and his Minnesota teammates are the projected No. 1 seed in St. Paul.
Minnesota Athletics

The conference championship weekends are now set and the NCAA Tournament is just under two weeks away so now is as good a time as ever to revisit the NCAA Tournament Bracketology -- college hockey style.

Keep in mind that the selection committee tries to avoid intra-conference match-ups in the first round and looks to boost attendance wherever possible while maintaining bracket integrity. Also note that for this exercise we're penciling in Mercyhurst as the Atlantic Hockey recipient of the automatic bid.

Three Hockey East teams in a row in the Pairwise Rankings from 7-9 make it extremely difficult to maintain bracket integrity while also avoiding intra-conference matchups in the first round.

Northeast Regional (Worcester)

1. BC

2. Notre Dame

3. Michigan

4. Colgate

East Regional (Bridgeport)

1. Union

2. Quinnipiac

3. Providence

4. Vermont

West Regional (St. Paul)

1. Minnesota

2. UMass Lowell

3. St. Cloud

4. Mercyhurst

Midwest Regional (Cincinnati)

1. Ferris State

2. Wisconsin

3. Minnesota State

4. North Dakota

Jeff Cox covers college, junior and high school hockey, NCAA recruiting and NHL Draft prospects for SBNation. Follow him on twitter @JeffCoxSBNation.

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