(#365) The first bracket projection of 2023-24, UVM should remove Wiedler's interim tag, plus news and notes

Today’s issue has our first bracket projection of the season. We’ll track Pairwise movement every week from now on.

There’s a lot of Northeast teams in the mix this week, including all four No. 1 seeds. It creates a sticky situation, where two No. 1 seeds (in this case, Quinnipiac and Boston College) would have to travel due to the logistics of Maine and BU occupying the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. That’s something I didn’t consider until I began to lay out this bracket.

Also in this issue:

• The World Juniors are wrapping up, and are down to four semifinalists (they play on Thursday).

• St. Thomas added the Omaha Lancers (USHL) captain at the semester break.

• I’ve seen enough, it’s time for UVM to made Steve Wiedler the permanent head coach.

— A few of you have asked about group subscriptions for your organizations. I'm in the process of working out these details and will probably finalize some things next week (after the new year).

If you're an NHL, ECHL, European pro, or NCAA team interested in a group subscription for your staff (coaches, scouts, etc.), please reply to this newsletter, and I can share some details and get you on our list of organizations looking for a group subscription.

If you have ideas for future College Hockey Insider newsletters or #tips you want to share, our new tips line is collegehockeyinsider@gmail.com. To sponsor a future College Hockey Insider newsletter, please email collegehockeyinsider@gmail.com. I'm also @MikeMcMahonCHN on Twitter, and @Mike_McMahon_ on Instagram and Threads.

Thank you to our premium subscribers for their support of independent sports media!

Now, onto today’s newsletter …