Black Bears Rank #31 In Pairwise

Maybe a little luck of the Irish rubbed off on the UMaine hockey team when the Black Bears played in that Friendship Tournament in Ireland Thanksgiving weekend.

Since losing to Providence in the first game over there, the Black Bears have gone 4-0-1 and at the halfway mark of the season the team sits at 8-7-1.

When talking about postseason in college hockey, it's all about the Pairwise Rankings and right now the Bears are #31 in the nation out of 60 teams.

The Pairwise system compares all teams by head-to-head records along with records against common opponents and comparing team RPI.

The Bears have 13 games in the second semester against teams ranked higher in the Pairwise than they are ranked. That means there are plenty of chances to climb up the rankings ladder.

When it is all said and done, if a team does not when its league championship, finishing in the top 16 of the Pairwise Rankings is a must.

Check out the numbers at the semester break...

Rank	Team	PWR	W-L-T	Win %	Win % Rank	RPI	RPI Rank
1	St. Cloud State	59	12-2-1	.8333	1t	.6408*	1
2	Notre Dame	58	16-3-1	.8250	3	.6158*	2
3	Clarkson	57	15-3-1	.8158	4	.6108*	3
4	Denver	56	9-3-4	.6875	5t	.6086*	4
5	Cornell	55	10-2-0	.8333	1t	.5853*	5
6	Minnesota State	54	11-5-0	.6875	5t	.5666	6
7	North Dakota	53	10-5-5	.6250	10	.5665*	7
8	Ohio State	52	10-4-4	.6667	7	.5606	8
9	Minnesota	51	10-9-1	.5250	25	.5454	9
10	Western Michigan	50	10-8-1	.5526	19t	.5446	10
11	Penn State	49	11-7-2	.6000	11	.5428	11
12	Northeastern	48	10-5-1	.6562	8t	.5385	12
13	Providence	47	10-7-1	.5833	12	.5382	13
14	Boston College	46	9-7-2	.5556	17t	.5337	14
15	Omaha	45	7-8-1	.4688	39t	.5319	15
16	Minnesota Duluth	44	8-9-2	.4737	36	.5318	16
17	Colorado College	43	7-7-2	.5000	27t	.5316*	17
18	Canisius	42	10-5-1	.6562	8t	.5292	18
19	Miami	41	8-8-2	.5000	27t	.5257	19
20	Bowling Green	40	8-5-6	.5789	13	.5248	20
21	Wisconsin	39	10-9-2	.5238	26	.5199	21
22	Massachusetts	38	9-7-0	.5625	14	.5139	22
23	Michigan State	37	8-9-1	.4722	37t	.5137	23
24	Colgate	36	8-6-4	.5556	17t	.5134	24
25	Michigan	35	7-7-2	.5000	27t	.5125	25
26t	New Hampshire	33	9-7-1	.5588	15t	.5122	26
26t	UMass Lowell	33	9-8-0	.5294	23	.5107	27
28	Union	32	10-8-1	.5526	19t	.5039	28
29t	Niagara	31	9-7-1	.5588	15t	.5034	29
29t	Boston University	31	8-10-1	.4474	43	.5029	30
31	Maine	29	8-7-1	.5312	21t	.4996	31

* USCHO Pairwise Rankings

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