Sponsored By
Sponsored By
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
DULUTH — The Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team closes the regular season at Minnesota this weekend.
The Bulldogs men are back from a bye weekend to play their final four regular season games at Miami and at home against Colorado College.
ADVERTISEMENT
Let’s see where both programs stand. It’s another edition of the News Tribune’s weekly bracketology.
Latest men's NPI rankings
Latest women's NPI rankings
This season both the men and women are using the NCAA Percentage Index, which replaced the Pairwise rankings as the formula used to select at-large teams and seed the NCAA tournaments. The formulas for the NPI and Pairwise are pretty close, with a strong nonconference record by a team and league influencing the rankings.
Here’s what the NCAA tournament brackets could look like after last weekend’s games, going into UMD’s contests on Feb. 20-21.
The 16-team NCAA men’s field will be unveiled on March 22. There are six automatic bids from the conference tournaments on the men’s side.
Despite a push in recent years, the men’s tournament still includes four-team regionals at pre-determined sites. Those are scheduled for March 26-29 this season. Las Vegas will host the 2026 NCAA Frozen Four on April 9-11.
The Bulldogs men bounced around the NPI this weekend, despite not playing. UMD dripped to No. 11 after Friday’s results across the NCAA and then jumped to No. 9 by the end of the weekend.
College Hockey News has put out its annual Pairwise Probability Matrix, though despite the name, it uses simulations to calculate where a team could land in the NPI. Based on CHN’s calculations, the Bulldogs have a 91% chance of making the NCAA tournament at this point — 81% chance as an at-large and 10% chance of winning the NCHC postseason title.
ADVERTISEMENT
UMD has a 70% chance of finishing between No. 8-12 in the NPI, meaning the Bulldogs would be a low No. 2 or No 3 seed.
Below is the News Tribune’s projected bracket based on the current NPI and conference leaders (for the teams that would receive automatic bids). We have two league leaders — Atlantic Hockey’s Bentley and CCHA’s Michigan Tech — currently outside the top 16 of the NPI, so they bounce out No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 16. Minnesota State.
Some other notes:
Albany, New York Regional
1. Michigan State vs. 16. Bentley
7. Providence vs. 10. Cornell
Worcester, Massachusetts Regional
2. Michigan vs. 15. Michigan Tech
6. Quinnipiac vs. 12. UConn
Sioux Falls, South Dakota Regional
3. North Dakota vs. 14. Boston College
5. Penn State vs. 9. Minnesota Duluth
Loveland, Colorado Regional
4. Western Michigan vs. 13. St. Thomas
8. Denver vs. 11. Dartmouth
ADVERTISEMENT
Current conference leaders:
NCHC: North Dakota
Big 10: Michigan
ECAC: Quinnipiac
Hockey East: Providence
AHA: Bentley
CCHA: Michigan Tech
The 11-team NCAA women’s tournament will be announced on March 8, with five of the 11 teams being conference tournament champions. The six at-large teams will be selected using the NPI.
The top three seeds host three-team regionals March 12-14. The No. 4 overall seed hosts No. 5 on March 14. The 2026 NCAA Frozen Four is being hosted by Penn State on March 20-22 in University Park, Pennsylvania.
The Bulldogs are clinging to the very edge of the tournament bubble at No. 10 following back-to-back home sweeps of No. 37 Bemidji State and No. 19 St. Thomas. UMD will have a chance to move up at the No. 3 Gophers this week.
If the season ended today, UMD would be the last at-large team to make the tournament, but would get knocked out if any Cinderellas from outside the top 10 of the NPI won conference tournaments in the WCHA, ECAC, Hockey East or Atlantic Hockey America.
The Bulldogs could use a win or two over Minnesota, as it might get them to No. 9.
This week’s bracket projection from the News Tribune remains similar to the previous two weeks, the exceptions being Franklin Pierce is now leading the NEWHA while the ECAC’s Yale and Princeton have swapped seeds at No. 8 and 9. To avoid a first-round intraconference matchup between ECAC teams, the three No. 3 seeds (No. 9-10) were shuffled.
ADVERTISEMENT
Madison, Wisconsin Regional
1. Wisconsin
8. Yale vs. 10. Minnesota Duluth
Columbus, Ohio Regional
2. Ohio State
7. Quinnipiac vs. 11. Franklin Pierce
Minneapolis, Minnesota Regional
3. Minnesota
6. UConn vs. 9. Princeton
University Park, Pennsylvania Regional
5. Northeastern at No. 4 Penn State
Current conference leaders:
WCHA: Wisconsin
ECAC: Yale
Hockey East: Northeastern
AHA: Penn State
NEWHA: Franklin Pierce
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
