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Jim Connelly of USCHO Breaks It All Down

Alright, so I usually don't do this, but I am going to copy an entire chunk of Connelly's weekly segment because of his ridiculously in-depth analysis of how five teams, including BU, could end up tied for fifth place in Hockey East.

As you know, one of those teams would end up being the nine seed, and the odd man out.  So what would happen.  Connelly explains.....

If …
• BU and NU split this weekend (either a win by both teams or two ties; we’ll assume a win by each team rather than two ties for purposes of calculations);
• UMass sweeps Maine;
• Vermont gets exactly two points from Lowell and;
• Merrimack takes exactly three points from Providence.


All five teams would end up with 26 points in a five-way tie for fifth place. So how the heck do you break a five-way tie for fifth?

According to Hockey East Media Relations Director Pete Souris, it’s quite easy. First, you determine the record of each team against the other four. The result:
• Northeastern: 7-5-0 (14 points)
• Merrimack: 6-6-0 (12 points)
• Vermont: 5-5-2 (12 points)
• Boston University: 5-6-1 (11 points)
• UMass: 5-7-0 (10 points)


Thus, you would award Northeastern the fifth seed based on the best record against the other four teams. Then? Start all over again, eliminating each of the remaining four team’s records against Northeastern. The result: 
• Merrimack: 5-4-0 (10 points)
• Boston University: 4-4-1 (9 points)
• UMass: 4-5-0 (8 points)
• Vermont: 3-4-2 (8 points)


Merrimack is the winner of the four-way tie break and thus takes the sixth seed. Then, of course? We start all over again. The result:
• Vermont: 3-2-1 (7 points)
• UMass: 3-3-0 (6 points)
• Boston University: 2-3-1 (5 points)

Obviously, drooping Merrimack from the comparisons helps Vermont the most as the Catamounts were 0-2-1 against Merrimack. Thus, with seven points, Merrimack takes the seventh seed.

The final spot, then, comes down to head-to-head between BU and UMass. The Terriers won the season series, 2-1-0, against the Minutemen and thus would grab the eighth and final spot.
So, believe it or not, UMass could pull off a daunting sweep of Maine on the road, finish in a tie for fifth place, be ONE point out of home ice and STILL miss the playoffs.

Somehow, this doesn’t seem right.


Amazing.  So even a split for BU could mean a drop all the way down to the 8 seed. That's just nuts.

Remember, check out Connelly's entire column here.  It's got all kinds of other goodies in it.