With 6 games remaining in a regular season that has been anything but what was expected, the Saints are sitting in second place in the ECAC, looking up at just Quinnipiac. Three points behind the Bobcats and 6 points clear of Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Clarkson, the Saints look almost like a lock for a fist round bye. The six games remaining for SLU are, in order: Quinnipiac, Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, Union and RPI.
The Saints have beaten five of those six teams, the only loss being to Quinnipiac in a game dominated by the referees. The Saints also held a lead late in that game.
Carvel said after Saturday's win against Union that its been a while since this program has been in the position that it is (fighting for the top spot in the ECAC playoffs). Lets see what needs to happen for SLU to lock up that 1 seed.
We can assume SLU will beat Princeton and most likely Union given Saturdays score. The Saints also dominated RPI pretty well, despite the closer scoreline so lets give that game to SLU. SLU beat an undermanned Harvard squad 5-1 in a game that people who watched it said the Saints deserved to win. Despite some injury returns, the loss of McNally on the backend for the Crimson is big, and they did just lose to Brown. It should be a close game, as should the Dartmouth one, as the Big Green possess the puck well, but sometimes fails to capitalize on it. For the sake of this, lets assume that SLU goes 4-1 in the five games after this Fridays contest against Quinnipiac.
What that means is this Quinnipiac game is incredibly important. The Bobcats finish up with SLU, Clarkson, Yale, Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth. I wouldn't expect Brown, and given recent events, the only teams I would think can beat them are Dartmouth and Clarkson. So lets give Quinnipiac a 3-2 record in the games not against SLU.
If those two hypothetical records are reality, whoever wins the SLU-Quinnipiac game this Friday snags the top seed. In all honesty, who gets the top seed isn't worth a damn once Lake Placid rolls around, so the game matters much more in the Pairwise scope. Yeah, we're talking NCAA tournament pairwise.
Right now SLU sits 17th, with the top 16 making it in. However, each conference gets an automatic bid, and Atlantic Hockey's highest ranked team is Robert Morris at 25t. What that means, is at the end of the day, SLU needs either to win the ECAC tournament, or to crack the top 15 in the pairwise. The 16th spot is currently occupied by the sliding Harvard, while Quinnipiac sits 13t.
A sweep against Harvard goes a long way as does a win against Quinnipiac. Ultimately, this all may be pointless if SLU wins the ECAC tournament, which (knock on wood) I think they have a really good shot at. But the implications of this Quinnipiac game are interesting to say the least.
Rylee Smith told me last year that Wellsy always says you don't win championships in November. Its February now, and the men are looking really good. Six (at least) games remaining and riding a 7 game winning streak, I'd say buckle up and see where the Saints go marching next (Boston?).
The Saints have beaten five of those six teams, the only loss being to Quinnipiac in a game dominated by the referees. The Saints also held a lead late in that game.
Carvel said after Saturday's win against Union that its been a while since this program has been in the position that it is (fighting for the top spot in the ECAC playoffs). Lets see what needs to happen for SLU to lock up that 1 seed.
We can assume SLU will beat Princeton and most likely Union given Saturdays score. The Saints also dominated RPI pretty well, despite the closer scoreline so lets give that game to SLU. SLU beat an undermanned Harvard squad 5-1 in a game that people who watched it said the Saints deserved to win. Despite some injury returns, the loss of McNally on the backend for the Crimson is big, and they did just lose to Brown. It should be a close game, as should the Dartmouth one, as the Big Green possess the puck well, but sometimes fails to capitalize on it. For the sake of this, lets assume that SLU goes 4-1 in the five games after this Fridays contest against Quinnipiac.
What that means is this Quinnipiac game is incredibly important. The Bobcats finish up with SLU, Clarkson, Yale, Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth. I wouldn't expect Brown, and given recent events, the only teams I would think can beat them are Dartmouth and Clarkson. So lets give Quinnipiac a 3-2 record in the games not against SLU.
If those two hypothetical records are reality, whoever wins the SLU-Quinnipiac game this Friday snags the top seed. In all honesty, who gets the top seed isn't worth a damn once Lake Placid rolls around, so the game matters much more in the Pairwise scope. Yeah, we're talking NCAA tournament pairwise.
Right now SLU sits 17th, with the top 16 making it in. However, each conference gets an automatic bid, and Atlantic Hockey's highest ranked team is Robert Morris at 25t. What that means, is at the end of the day, SLU needs either to win the ECAC tournament, or to crack the top 15 in the pairwise. The 16th spot is currently occupied by the sliding Harvard, while Quinnipiac sits 13t.
A sweep against Harvard goes a long way as does a win against Quinnipiac. Ultimately, this all may be pointless if SLU wins the ECAC tournament, which (knock on wood) I think they have a really good shot at. But the implications of this Quinnipiac game are interesting to say the least.
Rylee Smith told me last year that Wellsy always says you don't win championships in November. Its February now, and the men are looking really good. Six (at least) games remaining and riding a 7 game winning streak, I'd say buckle up and see where the Saints go marching next (Boston?).
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