A look at the Pairwise Rankings

The University of North Dakota is now sitting at the top of the Pairwise Rankings. With the win tonight, they moved ahead of Minnesota State. If the NCAA tourney started today there would be six NCHC teams in the NCAA tourney.

NCHC Hockey: Taking a look at the KRACH and Pairwise Rankikngs

By Eric Burton

3	Minnesota-Duluth	562.6	.8067	16	12-6-0	0.6667	2.000	1	281.3
5	Miami	443.8	.7722	9t	14-6-0	0.7000	2.333	6	190.2
6	North Dakota	438.8	.7705	6	13-4-2	0.7368	2.800	9	156.7
7	Nebraska-Omaha	435.4	.7693	13t	12-5-3	0.6750	2.077	3	209.6
13	Denver	287.3	.7010	12	11-5-1	0.6765	2.091	20	137.4
21	St. Cloud State	164.5	.5980	37t	7-10-1	0.4167	0.714	2	230.4
29	Western Michigan	107.2	.5137	36	7-9-2	0.4444	0.800	21	133.93
48	Colorado College	28.76	.2687	56	3-13-1	0.2059	0.259	30	110.9

Here’s the NCHC teams from the KRACH rankings. You can see that Minnesota-Duluth has the hardest strength of schedule to date. St Cloud State University has the second toughest SOS. Nebraska-Omaha comes in with the third toughest.  

You can also see from the Pairwise Rankings that the NCHC is doing pretty well right now and that the top-10 is full of NCHC teams. This weekend's match-up between UMD and UND is going to be important for the Pairwise Rankings. While a weekend doesn't make a season, a sweep for either team would be huge. 

3	Minnesota-Duluth	56	12-6-0	.6667	16	.5983*	3
4	Miami	55	14-6-0	.7000	9t	.5899*	4
6	Nebraska-Omaha	53	12-5-3	.6750	13t	.5861*	6
8	North Dakota	51	13-4-2	.7368	6	.5805	8
15	Denver	44	11-5-1	.6765	12	.5587	15
26	St. Cloud State	33	7-10-1	.4167	37t	.5180	26
36	Western Michigan	24	7-9-2	.4444	36	.4919	36
46	Colorado College	13	3-13-1	.2059	56	.4445	46

A few things two Knights before Christmas

I like numbers and stats and I was perusing a few today. First, while I realize that the Pairwise Rankings mean nothing until selection Sunday in March after the Conference tourneys, the current numbers can give a snap shot of where the various teams in the WCHA stand right now.

As far as strength of Schedule goes, UND has played the 5^th toughest schedule to date. Their Schedule during the second half isn’t easy either. UND has to travel to Minnesota, Nebraska Omaha and Denver. UND also still has a few tough series at home against C.C. and SCSU.

8 North Dakota .5631 10-5-3 .6389 14t SOS .5378 5

12 Minnesota .5560 11-3-3 .7353 6 SOS .4962 39

14 St. Cloud State .5437* 11-7-0 .6111 18t SOS .5170 17

16 Denver .5296 9-6-3 .5833 20 SOS .5117 23

17 Nebraska-Omaha .5293* 11-6-1 .6389 14t SOS .4907 45

20 Minnesota State .5232* 10-6-2 .6111 18t SOS .4928 44

26 Colorado College .5019 8-10-2 .4500 32 SOS .5192 14

28 Minnesota-Duluth .4995 7-8-3 .4722 28 SOS .5085 27

40 Bemidji State .4757 5-8-3 .4062 42t SOS .4989 34

45 Wisconsin .4685 4-7-5 .4062 42t SOS .4892 46

49 Alaska-Anchorage .4583 3-9-4 .3125 55 SOS .5069 29

51 Michigan Tech .4548 4-10-3 .3235 54 SOS .4985 35

Faceoff Won	Faceoff Lost	N= number faceoffs
252	178	430
581	409	990
469	314	783
73	53	126
1375	954	2329

During his three and a half seasons at UND, center Corban Knight a been a beast in the faceoff circle. Knight has won (.590) of his faceoffs that he has taken during his three and a half seasons at UND.