NCHC Tournament Seeding Scenarios

Next weekend is the final week of the regular season in the NCHC, and the final standings will be determined, setting match-ups for the first round of the NCHC playoffs.

Courtesy of Tom Nelson at St. Cloud State, here are all the seeding scenarios for each of the eight teams in the league for next weekend:

NCHC Tournament Seeding Scenarios

Possible seeds in parentheses

Each bullet point is a different possibility to earn the seed listed. Each possibility already takes into account necessary tiebreakers (listed at bottom)

UND  (1, 2) Next weekend vs. WMU

1 seed if

· Earns 1 point vs. WMU  

· CC earns one point vs. SCSU

2 seed if

· Swept by WMU AND SCSU sweeps CC

SCSU (1, 2, 3) Next weekend at CC

1 seed if

· Sweeps CC AND WMU sweeps UND

2 seed if

· Sweeps CC AND UND earns 1 point vs. WMU

· Earns 5 points (win and 3x3 OT win) at CC AND Omaha earns 1 point at DU

· Earns 4 points with win and tie/3x3 OT loss at CC AND Omaha earns 2 points at DU

· Earns 4 points with 2 3x3 OT wins at CC AND Omaha earns 3 points vs. DU OR ties DU twice

· Earns 1 win at CC AND DU Omaha earns 3 points at DU

· Earns 3 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT win AND Omaha earns 4 points vs. DU OR DU earns 3 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT win

· Earns 2 points at CC AND Omaha earns 4 points at DU

· Earn 1 point at CC AND Omaha earns 5 points at DU

· Omaha sweeps DU

3 seed if

· Swept at CC AND DU earns 1 point vs. Omaha

· Earns 1 point at CC AND DU earns 2 points vs. Omaha

· Earns 2 points at CC AND DU earns 3 points vs. Omaha

· Earns only 1 win at CC AND DU earns 4 points vs. Omaha

· Earns 3 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT win AND DU earns 1 win OR 4 points vs. Omaha  

· Earns 4 points with win and tie/3x3 OT loss at CC AND DU earns 5 points vs. Omaha

· Earns 4 points with 2 3x3 OT wins at CC AND DU earns 5 points vs. Omaha OR earns 4 points with 1 win and a tie vs. Omaha

· Earns 5 points (win and 3x3 OT win) at CC AND DU sweeps Omaha

Denver (2, 3) Next weekend vs. Omaha

2 seed if

· Earns 1 point vs. Omaha AND CC sweeps SCSU

· Earns 2 points vs. Omaha AND CC earns 5 points vs. SCSU

· Earns 3 points with 1 win vs. Omaha AND CC earns 4 points vs. SCSU OR SCSU only earns 3 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT win at CC

· Earns 3 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT win vs. Omaha AND CC earns 4 points vs. SCSU

· Earns 4 points with 1 win and tie/3x3 OT loss vs. Omaha AND CC earns 3 points vs. SCSU OR CC earns 2 ties vs. SCSU

· Earns 4 points with 2 3x3 OT wins vs. Omaha AND CC earns 3 points vs. SCSU

· Earns 5 points (win and 3x3 OT win) vs. Omaha AND CC earns 2 points vs. SCSU

· Sweeps Omaha AND CC earns 1 point vs. SCSU

3 seed if

· SCSU sweeps CC

· Earns 5 points vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 5 points at CC

· Earns 4 points with 1 win and a tie/3x3 OT loss vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 4 points with 1 win and a tie at CC

· Earns 4 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT wins vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 4 points at CC

· Earns 3 points with 1 win vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 1 win at CC OR SCSU earns 2 3x3 OT wins at CC

· Earns 3 points with 2 ties/3x3 OT win vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 3 points at CC

· Earns 2 points vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 2 points at CC

· Earns 1 point vs. Omaha AND SCSU earns 1 point at CC

· Swept by Omaha

UMD (4, 5, 6) Next Weekend vs. Miami

4 seed if

· Earns three points in any way against Miami

5 seed if

· Earns only 1 or 2 points vs. Miami

· Swept by Miami AND DU earns 1 points vs. Omaha

6 seed if

· Swept by Miami AND Omaha sweeps at Denver

Miami (4, 5) Next weekend at UMD

4 seed if

· Earns 4 points in any way at UMD

5 seed if                

· Earns only 1, 2 or 3 points at UMD

· Swept by UMD

Omaha (5, 6) Next weekend at DU

5 seed if

· Sweeps at Denver AND Miami sweeps at UMD

6 seed if

· DU earns 1 point vs. Omaha

· UMD earns 1 point vs. Miami

WMU (7, 8) Next weekend at UND

7 seed if

· Earn 3 points at UND

· Earn 1 or 2 points at UND AND SCSU earns 1 point at CC

· SCSU earns 2 points at CC

8 seed if

· Earn 2 points at UND AND CC sweeps SCSU

· Earn 1 point at UND AND CC sweeps SCSU

· Swept by UND AND CC earns five points

CC (7, 8) Next weekend vs. SCSU

7 seed if

· Sweeps SCSU AND UND earns four points vs. WMU

· Earns five points vs. SCSU AND UND sweeps WMU

8 seed if

· WMU earns three points at UND

· Earn four points or less vs. SCSU

· Earn five points vs. SCSU AND WMU earns one point

NOTES/TIEBREAKERS:

· UND needs 1 point to win the Penrose Cup outright or have both SCSU and DU lose one point

· SCSU holds tiebreaker over UND in all cases (wins would be tied, aggregate scoring vs. UND, 9-5)

· SCSU holds tiebreaker in three-way tie with UND and DU in all cases (wins would be tied, SCSU head-to-head 3-1 vs. DU/UND; UND 3-3 vs. SCSU/DU; DU 2-4 vs. UND/SCSU)

· UND holds tiebreaker with Denver in all cases (split series, wins would be tied, aggregate scoring vs. DU, 14-11)

· If wins remain equal, SCSU holds tiebreaker with DU (sweep of DU in December) – wins are first tiebreaker in this series, which could flip in DU’s favor at 50 or 51 points depending on wins

· Minnesota Duluth holds tiebreaker with Miami (head-to-head, 1-0-1 currently)

· Miami holds tiebreaker with Omaha (head-to-head, 2-1-1)

· If tied at 31 points, Omaha would hold tiebreaker on UMD (unbalanced schedule, UNO would have 10 wins to UMD’s 9)

· WMU holds tiebreaker on CC at 17 and 18 points (unbalanced schedule, wins tied or in WMU’s favor, head to head goes to WMU)

· CC holds tiebreaker at 19 points (unbalanced schedule, CC would have 6 wins to WMU’s 5)