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Penn State may not have won a Big Ten championship this season, but the Nittany Lions are still expected to be in the NCAA hockey tournament.
Penn State men's hockey may not have ended its regular season the way it would have preferred, and the team was bounced out of the Big Ten tournament in the semifinals by one of the best teams in the country, but the Nittany Lions still look to be a near lock for a spot in the upcoming NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament. Despite a rough final month of the season, the updated NCAA bracketology is still looking favorable for Penn State. ESPN's updated look at the NCAA men's hockey tournament bracket outlook keeps Penn State in "rock solid" status for Selection Sunday.
Penn State probably would have been safe to make the tournament even if it lost in the first round of the Big Ten hockey tournament, but a 6-2 win over Minnesota helped pad the landing for the program a bit after losing at Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals on Saturday. The NCAA hockey tournament's Selection Sunday is next week, on Sunday, March 22. Six teams will get automatic spots in the tournament as conference champions.
Michigan and Ohio State will play for the Big Ten's automatic bid in the Big Ten championship game next weekend, which makes Ohio State a potential bid-stealer in this year's NCAA tournament field. After the auto-bids have been determined, the rest of the field will be determined by the NPI formula. Penn State currently ranks No.
10 in the latest NPI rankings. That is a pretty safe spot to sit with a week remaining before selection day, as a total of 16 teams are invited to the NCAA tournament. Even if Ohio State, ranked No.