Frozen Faceoff
The college hockey tournament is a very exciting time. This is an especially great bracket with schools from the major college hockey hubs are represented. New England, Minnesota, and other states the Midwest such as Michigan. Also, shoutout to the Ohio State women for winning their second title in three years. However, there is one major hockey market not represented in the NCAA tournament - Canada. There are plenty of players that come from Canada to the US to get an opportunity. But no Canadian schools get that chance, and maybe it’s time for that to change. The University of New Brunswick has officially entered the chat.
Tale of the Tape
I know some of you are thinking “where is he going with this?” Well, allow me to explain. The University of New Brunswick Reds have not lost a game in over 376 days. They just won another championship by way of an undefeated season, and did not allow a goal in the playoffs. They are the proud owners of a 47-0 record as of late. First of all, stick claps to the program for being the new big red machine of the world. Former player turned analyst Pail Bissonnette said on the popular hockey podcast Spittin Chiclets that he would personally fund an opportunity where the winner of the NCAA tournament would play the Reds. Honestly, it’s a great idea. But right now, there is no path for that to happen. That got me thinking how can we make this idea into a reality.
A New Idea
How can we call the NCAA champ the best college program when we alienate a major market of the sport? The answer could be as simple as expanding the tournament (or creating a new model) to showcase what teams to the north have to offer. The best teams in Canadian college hockey should receive an at large bid to the tournament, and to even the field with American and Canadian, a “play in” of sorts should be held to get other Canadian teams in his wildcards. The wildcards theoretically could play some of the lower seeds to avoid the most likely outcome of a number eight seed getting smoked by a number one seed. Quick homer moment for a second, my alma mater American International College lost to number one Michigan 8-4 in the first round a few years back. We all know an eight ousting a one is rare, so a wildcard team from Canada could offer a better matchup, and more competitive game.
Then we get into the nitty gritty and the tournament format would be normal. It wouldn’t be fair for all US colleges to be in one bracket and the Canadian teams in another. That would defeat the purpose. The system would need to me such at we would be almost guaranteed a US vs Canada matchup in each stage of the bracket. Then hopefully, that would set up the same scenario in the final. But there should also be some wiggle room for the championship to be a match up of schools from the same country. If two US schools make it, fine and good. But if two schools from Canada make it, that just means for that year college hockey up north is better than the states. And you know what, that really wouldn’t be a bad thing.
This could be an opportunity to showcase what other talent NCAA schools passed on, and as a result help them find a spot on an NCAA team. Sometimes where you go just comes down to scouting. Whose to say a member of the Reds can’t play on Boston College, Boston University, Michigan, or Minnesota? Some of these kids a recruited from the same place in Canada. If Cale Makar didn’t get noticed by UMASS Amherst or another school in the NCAA, he could have ended up staying home in Calgary and we may have never heard of him. It would take a lot of heads coming together to figure out the nuts and bolts of this format, but if we truly want to see the best college players in the world go at it, we need to send more invitations to the party in the first place.