2016 Big 10 Hockey Playoff Preview

The Big 10 Conference has their year end tournament all crammed into a single weekend. Despite Minnesota being the top seed, Elo actually ranks Michigan higher (as well as PairWise and the USCHO poll). As a result, Michigan is actually given the best odds of winning the tournament by far with a 42.73% percent chance.

The following table shows the odds of each team still being around after each round. Note that the top two teams have a first round bye, and therefore a 100% chance of advancing to the semifinals.

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Minnesota 100 59.09 28.04 Michigan 100 69.37 42.73 Penn State 63.74 22.19 10.28 Ohio State 61.72 27.94 11.99 Michigan State 38.28 12.98 4.18 Wisconsin 36.26 8.45 2.79

With Minnesota currently ranked 20th by USCHO, 17th by PairWise, and 18th by Elo it is likely that winning the tournament is the only way for any Big 10 team besides Michigan to reach the NCAA playoffs.