BLOG: Why The First Half Pairwise Predicts The NCAA Tournament Field

There's an old saying to not look at the Pairwise rankings until the holiday break. By then, the rankings settle down. Teams do not move around.

However, that does not feel like the case this year. It seems like 2020 has been one where several high-profile teams have made giant leaps into the bracket.

Each week a new school hops into contention making the jump on the heels of a hot weekend or month. Maine. Minnesota. Bemidji State. New Hampshire. Michigan. All have made noise in the last six weeks.

Still, for all the noise being made, is this year vastly different? Turns out, not as much as one would think.

BLOG: Rem Pitlick explains his Sportscenter Top 10 goal, B1G Tiebreakers & More from Ann Arbor

The execution worked out exactly as Rem Pitlick planned for his 12th goal of the season.

"I actually was trying to do exactly what I did," said Pitlick after Friday's 5-3 loss. "It hit his stick and went directly to the area I wanted it to go."

Rem Pitlick swats yet another puck out of midair and scores for the Gophers pic.twitter.com/yjLWl2vesO

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 4, 2017

His goal ended up being the #4 play on last night's Sportscenter Top 10.

Pohl Talk: Minnesota's comeback win likely doomed Ohio State's at-large NCAA chances

The weekly USCHO polls came out Monday, which see Minnesota's men's and women's team sit fifth and fourth, respectively. (Full disclosure: I don't have a vote.) The Gopher men hold its fifth spot after a road split at Ohio State which saw the Buckeyes come back to win 5-4 Friday before Minnesota did the same Saturday in a 6-5 victory.

The Gopher women, meanwhile, move back up into fourth after a dominating weekend sweep against North Dakota. Minnesota won 4-2 and 6-2, with the latter game featuring five goals from the team's second line and Sarah Potomak's 100th career point. That's important given the Gophers, third in the Pairwise, will be tested hosting WCHA regular season champ and #1 Wisconsin in the final week of the regular season.

On the men's side? Another weekend brings Minnesota closer to an at-large berth at the expense of Ohio State's season.

Pohl Talk: What does Minnesota need to do to clinch a NCAA Tournament berth?

It's Monday Tuesday which means the weekly rankings have been released. (Full disclosure: I don't vote in either.) Both Minnesota teams are ranked fifth in the USCHO.com poll with the men moving up two spost and the women moving down one following sweeps over Penn State and Minnesota State, respectively.

The Gopher women moving down to fifth matches its Pairwse ranking, which is the ranking which mimics the criteria used by the NCAA to determine the at-large bids. It wasn't by much. Minnesota moved by a single point among the 15 voters.

In the case of the men, the Gophers are, perception-wise, one back of its current Pairwise ranking although Minnesota is fourth in the other major poll, the USA Today/USA Hockey poll. So are the Gopher women, for what it's worth.

This week I wanted to answer two of the most frequently asked questions. What is the Pairwise and what do the Minnesota men need to do to clinch a NCAA Tournament berth?