Andy's College Hockey Extravaganza Week #11

Andy’s College Hockey Extravaganza Week #11
College Hockey Weekend would like to send their condolences to the family and friends of former Denver coach Murray “The Chief” Armstrong. Armstrong passed away in Florida Wednesday night at the age of 94 after complications following a series of strokes. During his twenty-one year stint with the Pioneers, Armstrong posted a 460-215-31 mark alongside five national championships and numerous awards and honors including the 1977 Lester Patrick Award.

Moving on to this week in the WCHA, including Thursday’s Tech/UNO contest, here are your WCHA first round playoff matchups if the season ended today:
#12 Michigan Tech vs. #1 UMD (UMD leads season series 2-0-0)
#11 St. Cloud State vs. #2 UND (UND leads season series 2-0-0)
#10 Bemidji State vs. #3 Denver (DU leads season series 2-0-0)
#9 Alaska Anchorage vs. #4 UNO (Have yet to play each other)
#8 Wisconsin vs. #5 Minnesota (UW leads 1-0-1)
#7 MSU-Mankato vs. #6 Colorado College (Series tied at 1-1-0)

Also, don’t forget about yours truly moderating the live chat here on Collegehockeyweekend.blogspot.com this weekend for UND/MSU-Mankato. Can the Mavs and Phil Cook continue their four game winning streak, or will the stout Sioux defense stop them in their tracks? Coverage begins at 7 PM CST Friday night and 6:30 PM CST Saturday night. Also note this is the last extravaganza for 2010; we’ll be back for the weekend of January 14th and 15th. Now, let’s get to the series:

#5 North Dakota (11-5-2, 9-3-0 WCHA) at MSU-Mankato (6-6-4, 4-6-2 WCHA)
Game Times: 7:07 PM CST Friday and Saturday, TV: CHW (Regional Coverage; Southern MN)
Players to Watch: Chay Gennoway (UND), Phil Cook (MSU). If there was a WCHA Comeback Player of the Year, Gennoway has it in the bag. Not only does he lead the Sioux in assists with 12, but he has yet to skip a beat after missing most of last season. As for Cook, if you read last week’s Extravaganza, you saw I said that Cook “Has yet to prove he can handle the pressures of the WCHA this season.” After seeing Cook playing his best hockey while in a Maverick uniform last weekend in the Minnesota sweep, he can play with the WCHA. However, with another week the hypothetical bar gets higher with a Top 5 Sioux team in town.
Analysis: How the Mankato crowd comes out this weekend will be key. Last weekend despite the divided crowd and snowy weather, the Maverick faithful were very much the 6th man in an emotional series sweep against Minnesota, especially the student section. This weekend, however, the students are on their way home after finals, another winter storm is headed straight for Mankato and a Sioux fan base that travels well will make for an interesting combination.
On the ice, the Sioux bring seventeen NHL draftees to Mankato, including two players that have been named to the preliminary US Junior team roster for the world championships in Buffalo in two weeks; freshmen Brock Nelson (NYI) and Derek Forbort (LAK). The Sioux also bring a potent scoring attack including six 10 point scorers so far this season. The question for the Mavs is whether they can stop the deep Sioux scoring attack and if they can keep up.
Prediction: UND 3 point weekend

#2 Minnesota-Duluth (12-2-1, 9-2-1 WCHA) at Minnesota (8-7-1, 5-6-1 WCHA)
Game Times: 7:07 PM CST Friday and Saturday, TV: FS North
Players to watch: Mike Seidel (UMD), Gopher goaltending. Seidel leads the Bulldogs in penalty minutes with 21, while Don Lucia faces a tough choice tonight back home: Who will be his starter in net? I think it’ll be akin to last weekend where Kangas takes one night and Patterson takes the other. It’s a good thing too that the Gophers have this depth; this Bulldog offense has proven time and again this season that they can light up the lamp numerous times in a game. Patterson is the better goalie by miles, and unless he gets shelled tonight, Lucia should start him both games.
Analysis: It’s something that’s used all the time in sports, but both teams in this series have something to prove after a couple of shaky weekends: UMD trying to show the country that they should reclaim the #1 spot following the split with Denver while the Gophers just looked sluggish in Mankato.
Prediction: UMD sweep. Unless Lucia does a heck of a coaching job this weekend, I don’t see how this Gopher team keeps up to speed with the Bulldogs.

#10 Denver (11-5-2, 8-3-1 WCHA) at Alaska-Anchorage (5-9-2, 4-7-1 WCHA)
Game Times: 7:07 PM AST Friday and Saturday, No TV
Players to Watch: Drew Shore (DU), Tommy Grant (UAA). Both Shore and Grant had game winning goals in dramatic fashion Friday night in upset victories. Shore’s came at 3:02 in the extra session against then-#1 UMD. Grant scored with 8.2 seconds left against Wisconsin.
Analysis: Even though the Seawolves sit in ninth place so far in the conference, they’ve surprised me to this point. Their offense, led by Grant and Matt Bailey, has improved tremendously. Grant had 9 goals all of last season. He and Bailey currently stand at 6, while Bailey is just is just a freshman.
Prediction: Despite liking the improvement I’m seeing out of Anchorage, it’ll be a DU sweep.

Bemidij State (5-8-1, 4-7-1 WCHA) at #16 Wisconsin (8-7-3, 4-6-2 WCHA)
Game Times: 7:07 PM CST Friday and Saturday, TV: FS Wisconsin/WPT
Players to Watch: Dan Bakala (BSU), Justin Schultz (UW). Bakala shared Red Baron Defensive Player of the Week honors with the aforementioned Phil Cook this past week. Bakala made 64 saves on 65 shots en route to the Beaver sweep over UNO. Schultz had a big game Saturday night in Anchorage racking up 2 goals and 3 points in the Badgers 3-1 win over Alaska-Anchorage.
Analysis: Much like the MSU Mavs, the Beavers have a lot of momentum coming off an upset sweep. The real question will be if the Beavers’ performance last weekend was real or if it was a fluke. As for the Badgers, they had a decent weekend in Anchorage last weekend, minus the Grant goal.
Prediction: Split

Colorado College (8-7-1, 5-5-0 WCHA) at St. Cloud State (4-6-1, 2-4-0 WCHA)
Game Times: 7:07 PM CST Friday and Saturday
Players to Watch: Jaden Schwartz (CC), Husky defense. This is going to be a key matchup in my eyes this weekend. Not only does Jaden have almost double the amount of goals any Husky has, but St. Cloud’s been giving up goals left and right.
Analysis: If the Huskies want any shot whatsoever of staying in this series, they must stop the Schwartz and Schultz line. They have 58 combined points on the year and can score almost as well as the Fontaine-Connolly line in Duluth.
Prediction: CC sweep.

-Andy Sorensen, CHW blogger