Bracketology Wednesday 2007 Week 4

New teams and new placements are set for this weeks bracketology so lets get right to it.

First lets breakdown the conference bids.

WCHA: 5
CCHA: 4
Hockey East: 4
ECACHL: 1
CHA: 1
Atlantic Hockey: 1

Now here are the conference (or projected) leaders up to this point. These teams will have the automatic bid into the tournament. New Leaders are in bold

Atlantic Hockey: RIT
CCHA: Notre Dame
CHA: Niagara
ECACHL: Clarkson
Hockey East: New Hampshire
WCHA: Minnesota

Those are the conference leaders, now its time to give out the at-large bids. New teams are in bold

CCHA: Miami, Michigan, Michigan State
Hockey East: Boston College, Maine, Vermont
WCHA: Colorado College, Denver, North Dakota, St. Cloud State

Out from last week are Boston University and Bemidji State

Last two in: Colorado College, Vermont

So now that you know the teams that are in lets put them in the hockeynuts rankings.

#1 New Hampshire (19-4-1) +
#2 Minnesota (21-5-3) -
#3 St. Cloud State (17-5-4) =
#4 Notre Dame (21-5-2) =
#5 Denver (19-9-2) =
#6 Clarkson (16-6-4) =
#7 Michigan State (16-8-1) +
#8 Maine (16-7-2) -
#9 Michigan (19-9-0) +
#10 North Dakota (15-11-2) +
#11 Miami (18-9-3) +
#12 Boston College (14-9-1) +
#13 Colorado College (14-10-2) -
#14 Vermont (14-8-4) -
#15 Niagara (17-8-3) +
#16 RIT (16-8-2) =

So the teams are ranked, therefore it is time to place them in their regions.

Northeast (Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH, UNH host):

#1 New Hampshire vs. #16 RIT
#8 Maine vs. #9 Michigan

Midwest (Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI, Western Michigan University host):

#2 Minnesota vs. #15 Niagara
#7 Michigan State vs. #10 North Dakota

East (Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY, ECACHL host):

#3 St. Cloud State vs. #14 Vermont
#6 Clarkson vs. #11 Miami

West (Pepsi Center, Denver, CO, University of Denver host):

#4 Notre Dame vs. #13 Colorado College
#5 Denver vs. #12 Boston College

Teams on the bubble this week:

Boston University
Quinnipiac
St. Lawrence

The Frozen Four bracket will look as follows:

Northeast Regional Champ vs. West Regional Champ
Midwest Regional Champ vs. East Regional Champ

That's all for this week. Tommorrow the weekly preview, Friday hockeynuts will name its players of the month for January, and this weekend there will be an exclusive preview on the upcoming Beanpot tournament. Keep it here on hockeynuts for all your college hockey needs.