We Made It (and Iowa State Didn't)!

Has Neal Price been avenged?

Just moments ago, the ACHA announced the field for the 2011 Division 1 national championship tournament, held March 5th through March 9th at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE. The teams will include:

• Lindenwood (CSCHL autobid)
• Davenport
• Ohio
• Adrian
• Delaware (host autobid)
• Minot State
• Rhode Island
• Arizona State
• Oklahoma
• Penn State
• Oakland
• Robert Morris (IL)
• Stony Brook (ECHA autobid)
• Canton (ECHL autobid)
• Slippery Rock (CMHA autobid)
• Rutgers (NECHL autobid)

The seeding and brackets haven't officially been released yet (the ACHA says they're coming Wednesday), but it doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a Silvis) to figure out that the ACHA ordered the teams by current ranking in the release, moving the Icers up a spot to No. 10 and into a first-round matchup with No. 7 Rhode Island. Even less cool than that: the possibility of hitting No. 2 Davenport in the second round, then No. 1 Lindenwood in the semifinals. Pretty daunting.

For the record, I'm glad the ACHA did the right thing with respect to Iowa State, leaving out a team with sixteen losses that had climbed back into consideration during the spring semester largely by beating Division 2 teams. This news is significant on the Penn State side too, as the Icers (I think) now stand as the only team to have qualified for the national championships each season since the ACHA's founding in 1991-1992.

More on this as details continue to trickle out from the guy on a computer in his basement who runs the entire ACHA...