Minnesota Duluth vs Minnesota State Game 2

Minnesota Duluth vs Minnesota State Game 1

Predicting the First Round the WCHA Playoffs

With the WCHA regular season winding down everyone is wondering who will be hosting a first round playoff series. That is always a tough question for anyone to answer come this time of year, but I will attempt to predict the six matchups come March 11th. The only two things we know for certain is North Dakota has locked up home ice in the first round with a weekend sweep of Alaska Anchorage, and Michigan Tech will be in twelve place when the regular season ends in three weeks.

Just two points separate the top four teams in the conference North Dakota, Denver, Minnesota Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha. The way the schedules shakedown and the way these teams are playing expect them to be the top four in any given order.

I predict North Dakota will be the McNaughton Cup champs this season for two reasons. They only have three loses in their last 18 games and end their season playing Bemidji and Tech. The Sioux will end up with about 42 points and nobody will be able to catch them.

Next there’s Denver who plays Tech, UNO and St. Cloud State in their last three weekends. Even though they have a couple of tough match ups with UNO and surging SCSU team they will find a way to grab eight of their last twelve points. Unfortunately for Pioneer fans they won’t be sporting their second straight McNaughton cup this season, and will finish a couple points shy of the Sioux.

After a disappointing weekend at home against the Huskies from St. Cloud the Bulldogs will bounce back and end the season on a high note. Look for them to get eight or nine points in their last six games to finish third in the WCHA. With the pivotal series coming against UNO in the final weekend of the regular season.

Finishing fourth and falling just a bit short of third this season will be newcomer to the WCHA, the University of Nebraska – Omaha Mavericks. After gaining a weekend sweep against Bucky they will play Anchorage, Denver and UMD to close out the season. The deciding factor in the Mavericks finishing in fourth instead of third will be the series against the Dogs at Amsoil Arena. If this series was at the Quest Center in Omaha it might be the other way around.

This is where things get tricky with a six-team race for the final two home playoff spots. The way I see things playing out will be Gophers in fifth. Reason being is the gophers play both Tech and Bemidji State in the final two weekends and if they can get a couple points from the Badgers this coming weekend that will all but lock up home ice for them.

The Badgers from Wisconsin will get the final home ice spot finishing sixth. They will be one of the underdogs in the playoff this year, even though they have home ice. They have good special teams and good goaltending and look for them to ride Gudmandson’s play to possibly a NCAA Tournament birth.

Just missing home ice will be the Huskies from St. Cloud State, even with a great late season run they will fall just short of a sixth place finish. Not because of their play, but mostly because of their opponents. As they have to play North Dakota, Wisconsin and Denver in the final three weeks. But, look for them to be the money wrench in my scenario, if they can keep up the type of play they had this past weekend against UMD.

Coming in seventh will be CC, partially because, the loss of Jaden Schwartz and the inconsistent play of Joe Howe in net as of late. They also have tough match ups against UMD and Wisconsin in the final two weeks.

Finishing eighth will be the Minnesota State Mavericks. With the tough loss to CC this past Saturday thier hopes for home ice have started to melt. The other thing going against MSU is their bye week after the UMD series. This will hurt any chance of finishing better then eighth as they will watch other teams climb head of them that weekend.

The Alaska Anchorage Seawolves having one of their better seasons in recent memory will still finish in ninth place. Just like the Mavericks they have two games in hand against the rest of the conference and will have to sit idle in conference play as they faceoff for the governors cup against instate rival Alaska.

In ninth other newcomer Bemidji State didn’t get the welcome they were hoping for this season and finish second to last in the conference.

And, last and always least the Michigan Tech Huskies end another abysmal year finishing at the bottom. And will end up playing the Fighting Sioux in back to back weekends to finish out the regular season and start the playoffs.

It’s obvious that anything can happen on any given night in the WCHA, but this is my best guess at predicting the final regular season standing in the conference and the first round playoff matchups.

Michigan Tech at North Dakota
Bemidji State at Denver
Alaska Anchorage at Minnesota Duluth
Minnesota State Mankato at Nebraska – Omaha
Colorado College at Minnesota
St. Cloud State at Wisconsin

Make sure to tune in Feb. 18th and 19th on College Hockey Weekend as we have the matchup between the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks.

Marcus Taplin
College Hockey Weekend Producer

Bemidji State/MSU-Mankato Series Recap

Once again, I'd like to apologize for the internet outage last night at the arena. Here's what happened after things cut out.

Mavericks, Beavers Split
Andy Sorensen, CHW Blogger

The MSU Mavericks looked to continue the momentum gained from last weekend’s three-point effort in St. Cloud against Bemidji State. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, it was a tale of two games this series.

Friday Night: The Mavericks played outstanding hockey through the first two periods, leading 1-0 on a Ben Youds goal and limiting the Beavers to 11 shots on goal. Bemidji’s Jordan George, who would be a key player in Saturday’s matchup, tied the game at 17:35 of the third period and the game went to overtime. Channing Boe delivered an unassisted goal at 2:32 of the extra session to give the Mavericks two much needed points in the WCHA standings and the 2-1 OT win.

Saturday Night: The Mavericks held serve through the first period holding a 1-0 lead following a Michael Dorr goal. Soon after the second period started is when the wheels came off for the Mavericks: MSU failed to get off a single shot on goal on three of their six power plays on the night, combined with Bemidji scoring twice in 1:26 midway through the 2nd period on goals by Brad Hunt and Jordan George to give the Beavers the lead for good and a 2-1 lead after 60 minutes. George would add another goal, along with an Ian Lowe goal in the 3rd period to give the Beavers the 4-1 win and handing the Mavericks their first loss to an unranked opponent since falling to Michigan Tech in October.

The Mavericks (12-12-6, 6-12-4 WCHA) travel to Colorado Springs next weekend to take on Colorado College while the Beavers (10-14-2, 6-12-2 WCHA) visit Houghton for a series against Michigan Tech.

Bemidji State vs Minnesota State Game 2

Bracketology 2/3/11

With the month of February upon us, it isn’t too early to think about the 16-team Frozen Four field. This week, I play the role of the selection committee and reveal which teams my Tournament field would consist of if I was the selection committee; think Bracketology for college hockey. For the purposes of my tournament field, the 1st place team after last week’s action will win the conference tournament.

I will now unveil my tournament field, first with the #1 seeds in each region:

#1 Seed Northeast (Manchester) Regional (#1 overall and Hockey East Tournament Champion)-Boston College
#1 Seed Midwest (Green Bay) Regional (#2 overall and WCHA Tournament Champion)-North Dakota
#1 Seed West (St. Louis) Regional (#3 overall)-Denver
#1 Seed East (Bridgeport) Regional (#4 overall and ECAC Champion)-Yale

We’ll start with the Northeast Regional:
#4 Nebraska-Omaha at #1 Boston College
#3 Niagara at #2 New Hampshire

Moving to the Midwest Regional:
#4 Boston University at #1 North Dakota
#3 Western Michigan at #2 Minnesota-Duluth

Out West:
#4 RIT (Atlantic Hockey Champ) at #1 Denver
#3 Norte Dame (CCHA Champ) at #2 Wisconsin

In the East:
#4 Miami at #1 Yale
#3 Michigan at #2 Rensselaer

Bids by Conference:
WCHA: 5
CCHA: 3
ECAC: 3
Hockey East: 3
Atlantic Hockey: 2

Bubble Watch
In:
Nebraska-Omaha
Miami

Out:
Merrimack
Colorado College
-Andy Sorensen, CHW Blogger

P.S. Don't forget to join me for the live blog tomorrow and Saturday nights for Bemidji State/MSU-Mankato! For those unable to watch the Don and Ryan Show, my coverage starts at 7 PM CST with faceoff at 7:37 PM, Saturday's coverage boots up at 6:30 PM.

Bemidji State vs Minnesota State Game 1