{"id":516552,"date":"2026-03-22T11:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/516552\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T11:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T11:11:16","slug":"bracketology-will-umd-land-in-albany-or-sioux-falls-duluth-news-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/516552\/","title":{"rendered":"Bracketology: Will UMD land in Albany or Sioux Falls? – Duluth News Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 Minnesota Duluth <\/p>\n

lost the NCHC championship game 4-3 in double overtime at Denver<\/a><\/p>\n

on Saturday, giving the Pioneers the automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for the Bulldogs, they had already secured an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as insurance.<\/p>\n

UMD is returning to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2022. They\u2019ll hear their name called during the selection show at 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs finished at No. 8 in the <\/p>\n

NCAA Percentage Index,<\/a><\/p>\n

which replaced the Pairwise rankings as the formula used to select at-large teams and seed the NCAA tournament. The formulas for the NPI and Pairwise are pretty close, with a strong nonconference record by a team and league influencing the rankings. The Bulldogs went 9-1 outside the NCHC during the regular season.<\/p>\n

UMD will be a No. 2 seed in its regional. Which regional will that be? That\u2019s a good question. Here\u2019s the News Tribune\u2019s prediction:<\/p>\n

Albany, New York Regional
March 27-29
1. Michigan vs. 16. Bentley
7. Providence vs. 9. Penn State<\/p>\n

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Regional
March 26-28
2. North Dakota vs. 15. Merrimack
8. Minnesota Duluth vs. 10. Quinnipiac<\/p>\n

Worcester, Massachusetts Regional
March 26-28
3. Michigan State vs. 14. UConn
6. Dartmouth vs. 12. Wisconsin<\/p>\n

Loveland, Colorado Regional
March 27-29
4. Western Michigan vs. 13. Minnesota State
5. Denver vs. 11. Cornell<\/p>\n

2026 Conference Tournament Champions
(These teams received automatic bids)
NCHC: Denver
Big 10: Michigan
ECAC: Dartmouth
Hockey East: Merrimack
AHA: Bentley
CCHA: Minnesota State<\/p>\n

Do I really think UMD lands in Sioux Falls?<\/p>\n

Not really, so don\u2019t get too excited about the Bulldogs being there.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the Bulldogs should remain in Albany, but No. 8 UMD and No. 7 Providence are separated by just .16 in the NPI. The two teams they are supposed to play in the first round, No. 9 Penn State and No. 10 Quinnipiac, are even closer at .02. Why not make this switch?<\/p>\n

I flipped No. 11 Cornell and No. 12 Wisconsin to break up the ECAC intraconference matchup between No. 6 Dartmouth and No. 11 Cornell. In my eyes, UMD and Providence are just as close. The committee may not see it that way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Matt<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Co-host of the Bulldog Insider Podcast<\/a> and college hockey reporter for the Duluth News Tribune covering the Minnesota Duluth men’s and women’s hockey programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Minnesota Duluth lost the NCHC championship game 4-3 in double overtime at Denver on Saturday, giving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[1655,5,49592,1662,60167,1663],"class_list":{"0":"post-516552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-bulldogs-hockey","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-ncaa-hockey-bracketology","11":"tag-umd-bulldogs","12":"tag-umd-bulldogs-sioux-falls","13":"tag-umd-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116272530413480419","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}