Providence is lucky that one of the regionals is being hosted in Providence this year because it got them into a better bracket than they should have been based purely on the ranking.
As the 15th seed, they should have matched up with North Dakota, who were the top team in the country in the polls.
Because the NCAA tries to boost attendance by putting local teams in the regional brackets, Providence got put into the bracket being hosted in Providence, so they now match up with the 4th seed. They also get the advantage of it almost being a home game for them (same city, but not their home rink), and the crowd should be heavily on their side.
I was reading College Hockey News last night and they were speculating that Providence was ranked too low for the NCAA to force them into the locally hosted bracket (if they were the hosting school, it would have been automatic, but their cross-town rival, Brown, is actually the host school).
The four teams in Providence's bracket all had very similar records this season, and every one had 13 losses...
- Miami : 25-13-1
- Denver: 23-13-2
- BC: 21-13-3
- Providence: 22-13-2
Every other bracket has at least one team with fewer than 10 losses on the season.
If it's ever possible for the 15th seed in a 16 team tournament to have an advantage, this is it for Providence. Home ice and a hot goalie could get them a couple of wins and a trip to Boston.