Heading into the final weekend of regular season hockey, Minnesota trails Ohio State by 3 points in the WCHA standings. Minnesota plays two games against Saint Thomas, likely two wins. Ohio State plays a hot Wisconsin team two games. Wisconsin trails Minnesota by 5 and leads UMD by 10 points. Thus, Wisconsin is unlikely to move up or down in the rankings, but Wisconsin can influence which teams are #1 and #2.
Minnesota currently has 66 points. Ohio State has 69 points.
The official 2024-25 Hockey Standings for Western Collegiate Hockey Association
wcha.com
From WCHA:
"Beginning in 2020-21, the Hockey Commissioners Association agreed all leagues that utilize shootouts will use the same point system to calculate standings after the NCAA mandated 3-on-3 overtime for all games. Additionally, all conferences and media outlets are recommended to use the same standings table.
All conference games are now worth three points. The points are awarded as follows:
- 3 for a regulation win
- 2 for an overtime win or shootout "win"
- 1 for an overtime or shootout "loss"
- 0 for a regulation loss"
While nearly every Division I college conference now uses shootouts to break ties after overtime is played, the NCAA uses W-L-T for record keeping and does not recognize shootout "wins" as wins. A game is considered a "tie" for both teams and coach historical records after overtime ends without a goal scored. Shootouts are used only to determine points in league standings. For this reason, records will continue to be displayed as W-L-T with OW-OL-SW following to display total point calculations. The OW-OL-SW records are accounted for in the W-L-T record.
TIEBREAKING FOR WCHA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT SEEDING
Tiebreakers are applied to standings only at the end of the regular season
In regular season competition, each WCHA team shall have an opportunity to accumulate points from each WCHA regular season League contest (i.e., a contest between teams representing two WCHA member institutions played as part of the League schedule). A team that wins in regulation receives three (3) points, while the losing team receives zero (0). In the case of a tie after overtime, the team that wins in overtime or a shootout receives two (2) points, while the losing team receives one (1) point.
At the conclusion of the regular season, teams will be ranked by the number of points accumulated. If two (2) or more teams are tied for first place, they will be declared WCHA Regular Season Co-Champions. In the case of co-champions, the #1 seed will be determined by the tiebreaking procedure outlined below. The quarterfinal round of the WCHA Postseason Tournament will be a best-of-three (3) games format, with all games at the home sites of the teams ranked higher in the final regular season standings. All eight (8) teams participate in the quarterfinal round of the Tournament.
Quarterfinal round playoff pairings will be: #1 rank (host) vs. #8 rank, #2 rank (host) vs. #7 rank, #3 (host) vs. #6, and #4 (host) vs. #5.
Following the four (4), quarterfinal-round series, the four (4) winning teams will be re-seeded #1 through #4 according to their standings in the WCHA regular season competition in the WCHA Final Faceoff.
In the event that ties are encountered in the determination of WCHA ranking or designation of home teams for WCHA Postseason Tournament purposes, the following procedures will be used int he order given to break the ties:
a) If two (2) or more teams are tied, head-to-head competition during the regular (League) season will be used to break the tie.
b) If two (2) or more teams are still tied after (A), the highest seed will go to the team with the most WCHA (League) wins during the regular season.
c) If two (2) or more teams are still tied after (A) and (B), the highest seed will go to the team with the fewest WCHA (League) losses during the regular season.
d) If two (2) or more teams played a four (4)-game series during the regular season and the teams have the same win-loss records for those series, the same number of WCHA (League) wins and the same number of WCHA (League) losses, the team having the least number of goals scored against it in the four (4)-game series shall have the higher rank. If two (2) or more teams played a two (2)-game series during the regular season, proceed to tiebreaker (E).
e) If two (2) or more teams are still tied after applying the provisions of (A), (B), (C), and (D), the team having the greatest "winning margin" during the regular season will have the higher rank. Winning margin = WCHA (League) goals for during the regular season minus WCHA (League) goals against.
f) Games played against WCHA opponents in holiday tournaments will not be counted in the determinations.
g) Shootout wins used during the WCHA regular season will not be counted in the determinations. Shootout games will be recorded as a tie in the determinations.
NOTE: In the case of ties among three (3) or more teams, the criteria above will be used in order, beginning with (A), until a team (or teams) is (or are) separated from the other tied team (or teams). At that point, the procedures are re-started to break the "new" tie and determine recipient of the higher seed. In other words, when a three (3)-way tie becomes a two (2)-way tie, the two (2)-way tie is treated as a "new" tie and the process re-starts with the first criterion."
Note: Minnesota women's hockey tickets are an incredible entertainment value. They are cheap. Tickets are available now for post-season hockey at Ridder Arena, a phenomenal sports entertainment value.