Things look like this:
| Record | RPI | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Team | PWR | Rk | W-L-T | Win % | Rk | RPI |
| 1 | Boston University | 24 | 1 | 23-5-2 | .8000 | 1 | .6009* |
| 2t | Michigan | 22 | 5 | 23-9-0 | .7188 | 3 | .5743 |
| 2t | Northeastern | 22 | 6t | 20-8-2 | .7000 | 4 | .5693 |
| 4t | Vermont | 21 | 9 | 17-7-4 | .6786 | 5 | .5679 |
| 4t | Notre Dame | 21 | 2 | 23-5-3 | .7903 | 2 | .5806 |
| 6 | Miami | 19 | 10 | 18-8-4 | .6667 | 6 | .5573 |
| 7 | Yale | 18 | 3 | 19-5-1 | .7800 | 7 | .5557* |
| 8 | Denver | 17 | 12 | 17-9-4 | .6333 | 8 | .5507 |
| 9 | Princeton | 16 | 4 | 18-7-0 | .7200 | 9 | .5496* |
| 10 | Cornell | 15 | 8 | 15-6-4 | .6800 | 10 | .5461* |
| 11 | New Hampshire | 14 | 16 | 14-9-5 | .5893 | 11 | .5446 |
| 12 | North Dakota | 13 | 14 | 18-11-3 | .6094 | 12 | .5432 |
| 13 | Minnesota | 12 | 21t | 13-9-6 | .5714 | 14 | .5384 |
| 14 | Minnesota-Duluth | 11 | 15 | 15-9-6 | .6000 | 13 | .5412 |
| 15 | Wisconsin | 10 | 17t | 16-11-3 | .5833 | 15 | .5380 |
| 16t | Ohio State | 8 | 13 | 18-10-4 | .6250 | 16 | .5367 |
| 16t | Boston College | 8 | 24 | 13-10-5 | .5536 | 17 | .5355 |
| 18 | St. Lawrence | 7 | 17t | 16-11-3 | .5833 | 18 | .5290 |
| 19 | St. Cloud State | 6 | 23 | 17-13-2 | .5625 | 20 | .5251 |
| 20t | Air Force | 5 | 6t | 20-8-2 | .7000 | 21 | .5221 |
| 20t | Colorado College | 5 | 19 | 14-9-8 | .5806 | 19 | .5252 |
| 22 | Mass.-Lowell | 3 | 31 | 14-13-1 | .5179 | 22 | .5211 |
| 23 | Alaska | 2 | 27t | 13-11-6 | .5333 | 23 | .5160 |
| 24 | Dartmouth | 1 | 20 | 13-9-3 | .5800 | 24 | .5144 |
| 25 | Maine | 0 | 36 | 12-14-4 | .4667 | 25 | .5086 |
Now, compare that against yesterday's iteration, and you can see the moves that went on. Minnesota jumped us, Ohio State fell back, North Dakota surged ahead a bit, and UMD takes a hit. Still, the same general patterns hold - the PWR mirrors the RPI, with only a few exceptions (Notre Dame is out of position thanks to some funny tiebreaks at the top of the standings, and Minnesota and UMD flipped - though they will play their only series of the year in two weeks).
As I noted yesterday, Minnesota's games against UAA meant that UW's 4-0 record against the Seawolves now counted in the COp criteria, helping UW in that comparison. However, Minnesota's Saturday night win helped boost their RPI above Wisconsin's, flipping the overall comparison back in their favor on the strength of the RPI tiebreaker. The margin, however, is an infinitely small .0004 points in the RPI. Hell, Sunday's lone game to be played might even shake things up with the margin that close (Bemidji State versus Robert Morris).
That game also didn't help UAA's quest to enter the top 25 of the RPI - they now sit at #31. Mankato also dropped out of the top 25 and TUC status after taking a tough 4-3 loss to the Sioux, where they had a one goal lead with 10 minutes left in the third.
Ohio State only managed to take 1 point from hapless Michigan State this weekend, dropping Saturday's game to the Spartans by a score of 2-1. This is notable for 2 reasons:
1) The hit to OSU's RPI was enough to drop them below the Badgers, shifting the overall comparison in UW's favor.
2) Michigan State is a common opponent between the Buckeyes and Badgers. Though OSU is still winning the COp criteria in the individual comparison, the loss worsens their record. The comparison now looks like this:
| Wisconsin | vs | Ohio State | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .5380 | 1 | RPI | 0 | .5367 | ||
| 8-9-2 | .4737 | 1 | TUC | 0 | .3500 | 3-6-1 |
| 2-4-1 | .3571 | 0 | COp | 1 | .4583 | 5-6-1 |
| 0-0-0 | 0 | H2H | 0 | 0-0-0 | ||
| 2 | TOT | 1 | ||||
| Common Opponents | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-2-0 | Denver | 1-1-0 | ||
| 0-0-1 | Lake Superior | 1-1-0 | ||
| 1-0-0 | Michigan State | 2-1-1 | ||
| 0-2-0 | Northern Michigan | 1-1-0 | ||
| 1-0-0 | Michigan | 0-2-0 | ||
Looking ahead to next week, the Buckeyes face off against Michigan, while UW faces Denver. This is a huge opportunity for UW to lock this comparison away and take out the fickleness of the RPI (with a little help from Michigan). If UW does well against Denver and OSU stuggles with Michigan, the COp criteria could shift - and the RPI and TUC would likely continue to favor UW.
Ohio State's been struggling down the stretch - they're 3-4-3 in their last 10 games - but clearly has the talent to succeed. That 3-4-3 stretch includes a split with Notre Dame, #2 in KRACH. But that also includes the aforementioned 1 point weekend against MSU (#30 in KRACH) and a 1 point weekend against Western Michigan (#36 in KRACH). Michigan, on the other hand, sits at #3 in KRACH and tied for 2nd in the PWR, while their only recent speedbump has been a split in a home and home series with Notre Dame.
Again, the RPI rank is of tremendous importance. Most of these flipped comparisons that result in the differences between Friday night's standings and Saturday night's standings can be directly attributed to shifts in the RPI. When the PWR deviates from the RPI, it's never by more than a few places.
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