Friday, February 29, 2008

By the Numbers: Hockey East Scheduling Oddities

The Hockey East schedule of late looks like someone has been setting up the match-ups a few days ahead after looking at the standings, rather than prior to the season.

Two weeks ago, if one removed the UNH-PC series (then 1st and 3rd in HE) from the equation, the remaining eight teams were paired up with each series being between teams four seeds apart in the standings (1 v 5, 2 v 6, 3 v 7, 4 v 8).

Last week, with the exception of the PC-MC series (3 v 10), all series were between neighbors in the standings (1 v 2, 4 v 5, 6 v 7, 8 v 9). All five series ended in sweeps.

This week, the schedule sets up almost perfectly like a 10-team playoff bracket: 1 v 10, 2t v 9, 2t v 8, 4 v 5t, 5t v 7. If the two series among the four middle teams switched lower seeds, it would fit perfectly. Who knows, maybe by the end of the weekend, it will.

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