NEWS

For the second WCCHA KRACH Rankings of 2017-2018, Bethel University and the University of Wisconsin maintained their relative positions on the top of the board after each team completed a weekend sweep. However, the University of Minnesota made a big move, up three spots after an emphatic home sweep over the University of Minnesota-Duluth. 

Dropping one spot in the rankings is Minnesota State University, who split with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. UWEC held onto the #5 position. The University of Minnesota-Duluth suffered the biggest drop in the Rankings - down two spots - following their two loses. Positions #7-#11 held firm, with the University of St. Thomas, University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse all staying put. UW-La Crosse did manage to take over solo possession of #11 after a tie on Friday against St. Thomas, separating them from #12 University of Wisconsin-Superior who are still in search of their first WCCHA points.

If the season ended today, the top 8 teams in the KRACH Rankings would represent the full 2018 WCCHA Tournament field. From the Northwest, Bethel, Minnesota and North Dakota State would qualify, the latter based on current tiebreakers. From the Southeast, UW-Eau Claire, Wisconsin and St. Thomas hold the automatic qualification positions. Three of these teams - Bethel, UW-Eau Claire and Wisconsin - are guaranteed a top 3 finish in their respective divisions and thus are set for Blaine in Feburary. Based on current results, the wild card spots would be taken by Minnesota State and Minnesota-Duluth as the highest remaining teams in the KRACH Rankings not otherwise qualified.

However, with more WCCHA match-ups scheduled for this coming weekend, continued movement is expected as the end of the first semester starts to come into focus.

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NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Minnesota State is 3rd in the Southeast instead of St. Thomas. The article has been updated to reflect the actual positions of these teams and the current qualification scenarios.

ABOUT THE WCCHA KRACH RANKINGS:

This season, the WCCHA will utilize KRACH Rankings for both Tournament Qualification and Tournament Seeding. 

Starting the week of Nov. 6, the WCCHA KRACH Rankings will be published each Monday after a WCCHA series is contested, with the final rankings on Feb. 5. The KRACH Rankings will use all WCCHA results, Divisional and Non-Divisional, to order teams according to their league-wide results. As a reminder, this season the top 3 finishers in both the Northwest Division and Southeast Division will automatically qualify for the 2018 WCCHA Tournament. Thereafter, the final two spots at the 2018 WCCHA Tournament will go to the 2 teams with the highest KRACH ranking not otherwise qualified. Finally, once the field of 8 is set for the 2018 WCCHA Tournament, the KRACH rankings will be used to seed the tournament in spots 1-8.