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Over the weekend both Buffalo and Syracuse swept their respective series meaning that the Orange by virtue of a one goal tie breaker will win the NECHL regular season title. There will still be a league championship tournament played in the NorthTown center but even if UB wins the championship for the second straight season they might be left out of the National Championship Tournament again.
Here is the Criteria laid out for the ACHA field.
a. Regular-Season Champions
i. CSCHL – Central States Collegiate Hockey League
ii. CHMA – College Hockey Mid-America [2008]
iii. ECHA - Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association
iv. ESCHL – Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League [2008]
v. GLCHL – Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League [2012]
vi. NECHL – Northeast Collegiate Hockey League [2009]
2. The host team shall receive an automatic berth - UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
3. Should a team receiving an automatic berth not be ranked in the Top 20, then the lowest ranked team will be bumped from the tournament. This will continue until all automatic berth teams have been moved into the Top 20.
Number three is where UB should be concerned. The last rankings put out February 4th had the Bulls at #20.
| Rank | School Name | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona State | 29-2-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Robert Morris (IL) | 26-4-2 | 2 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 22-5-3 | 4 |
| 4 | Liberty | 24-6-2 | 3 |
| 5 | Ohio | 25-7-2 | 8 |
| 6 | Stony Brook | 20-4-3 | 6 |
| 7 | Adrian | 25-4-1 | 5 |
| 8 | Delaware* | 21-8-3 | 9 |
| 9 | Iowa State | 29-8-3 | 10 |
| 10 | Minot State | 19-6-4 | 7 |
| 11 | Central Oklahoma | 24-11-3 | 11 |
| 12 | Arizona | 15-18-0 | 14 |
| 13 | Lindenwood | 14-14-2 | 16 |
| 14 | Navy | 21-6-2 | 13 |
| 15 | Oakland | 19-13-0 | 17 |
| 16 | Davenport | 20-9-3 | 12 |
| 17 | Rhode Island | 20-9-3 | 15 |
| 18 | Mercyhurst | 16-12-2 | 18 |
| 19 | Illinois | 16-14-2 | 20 |
| 20 | Buffalo | 21-7-2 | 19 |
| 21 | Rutgers | 8-14-2 | 21 |
| 22 | Syracuse | 17-5-1 | 22 |
| 23 | West Virginia | 14-15-1 | 23 |
| 24 | Niagara | 15-8-1 | NR |
| 25 | John Carroll | 17-10-4 | 24 |
With Syracuse and West Virginia both sitting outside the top 20 both Buffalo and Illinois outside looking in. Mercyhurst is sitting on the bubble at #18.
But keep in mind these were the ratings from last Tuesday. Since then this has happened.
- Mercyhurst lost to Rochester and dropped a non ACHA game to the Toronto Lakeshore Patriots
- Illinois lost two games to Iowa state.
- Rhode Island lost a pair of games to Stony Brook
So the question is will two of the teams getting swept be enough to move Buffalo up two spots in the rankings?The Bulls have one more game to play, next week against Ithaca. A win there and any more help from the three teams and UB may Join Syracuse in Delaware for Nationals.
