As we wait for the 2nd half of the NCAA hockey season I decided to look at the current Pairwise for determining the order of selection for the NCAA tournament. The qualification is that the six conference tournament champs get automatic bids. And while there can be upsets in the tournaments the current Pairwise can give us a first glance at the teams likely to make the tournament. When a teams' season ends its players can start signing NHL and AHL contracts.
The strength of each conferences out of conference record indicates the strength of the league and suggests the number of teams from the conference that might get into the tournament. Currently the records are as follows:
Big Ten
41-15-4 0.717
Hockey East
51-21-3 0.700
NCHC
43-30-4 0.584
ECAC
35-35-8 0.500
CCHA
23-31-6 0.433
Independents
28-55-8 0.352
Atlantic Hockey
12-46-7 0.238
Based on these records it's likely that the CCHA and ACHA will only have its tournament champs get into the NCAAs and none of the five independents will make it. The other 14 teams will come from the top four conferences with Hockey East and Big Ten teams likely getting the bulk of the selections.
For Rangers prospects, currently only players from three teams, BC, Minnesota and Western Michigan, are certain to make the tournament.
Colorado currently is ranked tied for 18th (only 16 teams make the NCAAs -- the six conference champs and ten at large determined by the Pairwise). It will need to have some big wins to move up in the Pairwise or win the conference tournament or else Noah Laba's season will end in the second or third week in March.
Similarly, Cornell and North Dakota currently are tied for 22nd and each also will need to win its conference tournament or win some big games to move up in the Pairwise or else Hank Kempf's college career and EJ Emery's season will end early.
Harvard is ranked 43rd and Northern Michigan is ranked 63 out of 64 teams so both seem likely to have their seasons end early.
Here is a link to the conference tournament schedules.
2025 Men’s Conference Tournaments
The NCAA tournament teams will be announced on Sunday, March 23.
Here is the schedule for the NCAA tournament.
- Round 1 and 2 - Thursday, March 28 - Sunday, March 31 hosted by
- Manchester, NH at the SNHU Arena(Northeast Regional)
- Allentown, PA at the PPL Center (East Regional)
- Toledo, OH at the Huntington Center (Midwest Regional)
- Fargo, ND at the Scheel Arena (West Regional)
- Round 3 and 4 - Thursday, April 10 and Saturday, April 12 hosted by St. Louis at the Enterprise Center
The Rangers last game is April 17, a few days after the NCAA tournament champ is crowned.
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