I recently found the ECAC Standings "What If" Calculator on the Internet, and armed with that, Brian Sullivan's list of head to head tiebreakers (going into this weekend) and the ECAC website, I made this column.
Here's the idea: I looked at the best possible result a team can achieve and what dominoes need to fall for that to happen. Hence the name of the post- it lets you know what other teams in the ECAC you should be cheering for so that your team gets the best possible playoff position. So, to use Harvard as an example, a Harvard fan should be cheering for not only the road sweep by the Crimson next weekend, but also for a Dartmouth win on Friday night and that either Brown or Yale beat Quinnipiac. If these three conditions are met, Harvard will receive its best possible playoff position.
Of course, ECAC mathematics are always complicated (especially late at night, and for a humanities guy) so please place any missed scenarios or corrections into the comments and I'll take a look. Other than that, I think everything is explained so we'll go right to it after the jump:
Yale (Best Possible: 1st, Worst Possible: 3rd)
Can Clinch 1st With:
1. A 2 point weekend
2. A 1 point weekend and a 3 points or less weekend for either Cornell or Union
3. A 0 point weekend and a 2 points or less weekend for either Cornell or Union
Cornell (Best Possible: 1st, Worst Possible: 3rd)
Can Clinch 1st With:
1. A 4 point weekend and a 1 point or less weekend for Yale
2. A 3 point weekend and a 0 point weekend for Yale
Union (Best Possible: 1st, Worst Possible: 3rd)
Can Clinch 1st With:
1. A 4 point weekend and a 1 point or less weekend for Yale
2. A win over Cornell and a tie with Colgate plus a 0 point weekend for Yale
3. A tie with Cornell and a win over Colgate plus a 0 point weekend for Yale and an RPI win or tie with Cornell
RPI (Best Possible: 4th, Worst Possible: 6th)
Can Clinch 4th With:
1. A 4 point weekend
2. A win against Colgate and a tie against Cornell plus a 3 points or less weekend for St. Lawrence
3. A tie against Colgate and a win against Cornell, a Colgate tie or loss to Union plus a 3 points or less weekend for St. Lawrence
4. A win against Colgate plus a 2 points or less weekend for St. Lawrence
5. Ties against Colgate and Cornell, a Colgate loss to Union plus a 2 points or less weekend for St. Lawrence
Colgate (Best Possible: 4th, Worst Possible: 7th)
Can Clinch 4th With:
1. A 4 point weekend
2. A 3 point weekend plus a 3 points or less weekend for St. Lawrence
3. A win against RPI plus a 2 points or less weekend for St. Lawrence
4. A tie with RPI, a RPI loss against Cornell, plus a 1 point or less weekend for St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence (Best Possible: 4th, Worst Possible: 8th)
Can Clinch 4th With:
1. A 4 point weekend plus 3 points or less weekends for both Colgate and RPI
2. A 3 point weekend plus 2 points or less weekends for both Colgate and RPI
3. A 2 point weekend plus a tie between Colgate and RPI, a Colgate loss to Union, and a RPI loss to Cornell
Quinnipiac (Best Possible: 5th, Worst Possible: 10th)
Can Clinch 5th With:
1. A 4 point weekend, a 0 point weekend for Colgate or for RPI, and a 1 point or less weekend for St. Lawrence
Harvard (Best Possible: 6th, Worst Possible: 11th)
Can Clinch 6th With:
1. A 4 point weekend, a Dartmouth win over St. Lawrence, and a 2 points or less weekend for Quinnipiac
Princeton (Best Possible: 7th, Worst Possible: 11th)
Can Clinch 7th With:
1. A 4 point weekend, a 3 points or less weekend for Harvard, 2 ties for Quinnipiac, and a fourth place finish for RPI
2. A 4 point weekend, a 3 points or less weekend for Harvard plus a 1 point or less weekend for Quinnipiac
3. A win against Brown and a tie against Yale, a 2 points or less weekend for Harvard plus a 0 point weekend for Quinnipiac
Brown (Best Possible: 7th, Worst Possible: 11th)
Can Clinch 7th With:
1. A 4 point weekend, a 2 points or less weekend for Harvard, and a Quinnipiac tie or loss against Yale
2. A win over Princeton and a tie with Quinnipiac plus a 1 point or less weekend for Harvard and a Quinnipiac loss against Yale
3. A tie with Princeton and a win over Quinnipiac plus a 1 point or less weekend for Harvard and a Quinnipiac loss against Yale
Dartmouth (Best Possible: 8th, Worst Possible: 11th)
Can Clinch 8th With:
1. A 4 point weekend, a 0 point weekend for Harvard, a Brown win over Princeton, a Brown loss to Quinnipiac plus a Princeton tie or loss to Yale
2. A 4 point weekend, a 0 point weekend for Harvard, a tie between Brown and Princeton, a Princeton loss to Yale, plus a Brown tie or loss to Quinnipiac
Clarkson (Best Possible: 12th, Worst Possible: 12th)
Have Clinched 12th
Again, I've caught a few things just re-writing this column from my initial math scrap page, so if you see something that doesn't look right, leave it in the comments and I'll look and see if a correction needs to be made. Also if you have any questions about why a scenario works for a team, leave it in the comments and I'll re-figure it out and answer it.
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