When second-seeded Minnesota Duluth and fourth-seeded Denver meet in the second semifinal of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff on Friday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, it won't only be for a spot in Saturday's league championship.
Both the Bulldogs (23-11-2) and Pioneers (21-10-5) are fighting to be a No. 1 seed in one of next weekend's four NCAA regional tournaments. St. Cloud State - which takes on Colorado College in the first semifinal at 4:08 p.m. Friday - has locked up the No. 1 overall seed in the West Regional in Fargo, N.D. UMD and Denver meet at 7:38 p.m.
Massachusetts and Minnesota State-Mankato also are considered locks to be No. 1 seeds.
UMD is fourth in the Pairwise rankings - the system used to select and seed the NCAA tournament - while Denver is sixth. Quinnipiac is fifth, but lost in the Eastern College Athletic Conference quarterfinals and can't catch UMD.
Based on a variety of scenarios run through online Pairwise simulators - both USCHO.com and CollegeHockeyNews.com have them - the only way UMD falls out of a No. 1 seed this weekend is if it loses to Denver and Colorado College, while the Pioneers beat St. Cloud State for the NCHC title. Then Denver gets the final No. 1 seed and the Bulldogs slip to fifth overall and a No. 2 seed.
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Meanwhile, UMD could climb as high as No. 2 overall should it win the NCHC title and Massachusetts not claim the Hockey East crown.
In reality, though, the Bulldogs' final seeding in the NCAA tournament is rather meaningless at this point. It will only affect whether they have last change in games.
In terms of where UMD is heading for the regionals, the East Regional in Providence, R.I., and the Midwest Regional in Allentown, Pa., remain the likely landing spots. However, if Providence gets bumped out of the tournament - the Friars are on the bubble at No. 14 in the Pairwise after losing in the Hockey East quarterfinals - then the Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H., comes into play.
The only regional that appears to be out of the Bulldogs' reach is the West. Yes, if UMD fell to a No. 2 seed, the NCAA could technically send the Bulldogs to Fargo, but that might seem unfair for the top-seeded Huskies to meet the fifth overall seed rather than the eighth or ninth seed in the second round.
Bracketology
If the season ended today:
West Regional
Fargo, N.D.
1. St. Cloud State vs. 16. AIC
6. Denver vs. 11. Cornell
Northeast Regional
Manchester, N.H.
2. Massachusetts vs. 13. Bowling Green
8. Northeastern vs. 12. Harvard
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East Regional
Allentown, Pa.
3. Minnesota State-Mankato vs. 15. Notre Dame
7. Ohio State vs. 9. Clarkson
East Regional
Providence, R.I.
4. Minnesota Duluth vs. 14. Providence
5. Quinnipiac vs. 10. Arizona State
Slap shots
• Bulldogs sophomore defenseman Scott Perunovich was on the ice again for practice Wednesday at Amsoil Arena. Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said Perunovich remains day-to-day and that his status will remain that until he says otherwise.
Of note, the Bulldogs last won the NCHC Frozen Faceoff in 2016 minus one of their top defensemen, Carson Soucy, who missed the entire NCHC tournament and NCAA regional tournament due to an injury.
• No Bulldogs were named Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalists. The NCHC landed just two, both from St. Cloud, in senior forward Patrick Newell and senior defenseman Jimmy Schuldt. Six defensemen (a Hobey record) and no goaltenders landed in the top 10.
• Former Bulldogs forward Adam Johnson of Hibbing received his first NHL call-up on Wednesday by the Pittsburgh Penguins and is expected to make his NHL debut Thursday at the Nashville Predators. The 24-year-old is in his second season of pro hockey after leaving UMD following his sophomore season in 2016-17. He has 18 goals and 22 assists in 63 games this season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.
If Johnson does play Thursday, he'd become the eighth member of the 2016-17 Bulldogs to play an NHL game along with Alex Iafallo (L.A. Kings), Dominic Toninato (Colorado Avalanche), Joey Anderson (New Jersey Devils), Neal Pionk (N.Y. Rangers), Carson Soucy (Minnesota Wild) and Hunter Miska (Arizona Coyotes).
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NCHC FROZEN FACEOFF
At Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul
Friday's Semifinals
TV: CBS Sports Network
• Colorado College (17-18-4) vs. St. Cloud State (29-4-3), 4:08 p.m.
• Denver (21-10-5) vs. Minnesota Duluth (23-11-2), 7:38 p.m.
Saturday's Games
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• Third place, 3:38 p.m.
• Championship, 7:38 p.m.
