It's time for "March Madness" to hit college hockey as the WCHA playoffs kick off this weekend. Here's how I see things going down:
Michigan Tech at North Dakota
In a series that was contested last weekend in Houghton, the Sioux demolished the Huskies in a scoring explosion where the Huskies were outscored 17-3, including Saturday’s infamous 11-2 scoring barrage by the Sioux. The scene now shifts to the Ralph in Grand Forks in what many will rightfully call a glorified bye week for the Sioux before the Final Five. It’s hard to find a positive for the Huskies this weekend, but if there is one, they now have three battle-tested goaltenders to choose from. Corson Cramer, Tech’s 3rd string goalie, saw his first action of the year last weekend against the Sioux.
If there’s something that Dave Hakstol and the Sioux coaching staff could focus on this weekend, it’d be walking the fine line between winning and blowing the opponent out. This might mean bringing in lesser-used players once the game has been won, or by putting Eidsness in net for Saturday night.
Prediction: Sioux sweep
Minnesota State at Denver
To borrow a quote from Forrest Gump: the Mavericks this season are like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Their tournament résumé has both quality wins (Norte Dame at a neutral site, Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, sweep of Minnesota, at St. Cloud) and bad losses (Michigan Tech and Bemidji State). Therefore, it’s hard to read exactly how this Maverick team will do. What the Mavericks need to do is two fold:
1. Find a number one goalie and stick with him
2. Play 60 minutes of hockey
Let’s address point one first. The Mavericks have two strong goalies in Phil Cook and Austin Lee. Up until recently, Cook was the starter for most of the games until coach Troy Jutting put Lee in for a series at Colorado College. They split that series and won a crucial Friday night contest against UMD. The next night, without much explanation, Cook gets the start and the Mavericks got slammed by UMD’s offense. This last weekend against Anchorage a similar situation occurred where Cook and Lee split duties. This time, the Mavericks got swept. If you want a team to succeed in the playoffs, a coach should stick with one guy in net as opposed to the game of “Musical Goalies” going on in Mankato.
While the goalie controversy is to blame, it is not the only cause of the Mavericks’ woes. Throughout the Anchorage series and in game two of the UMD series, it seemed that the team had mentally checked out, like these games didn’t matter to them. Careless penalties, lackluster play, and mental errors have been hallmarks of the Mavericks for the last couple series. This team knows what can happen if you aren’t on your game, so they must bring their “A” game to Magness this weekend if they want to pull off the upset and make the trip to St. Paul.
As for Denver, much like UND, their biggest opponent this weekend isn’t their opponent. It’s them. This Maverick team has the potential and the capability to beat you while hanging around against very tough teams. Outside of the Anchorage series, they were competitive in close to every game I saw them play in. Despite this, I have to go with the…
Prediction: Pioneer sweep.
Bemidji State at Nebraska-Omaha
3-0-1 is Bemidji’s record this year against UNO. It may be surprising given that UNO has hung around the national polls for most of the season and they have been one of the surprises of college hockey this season. However, just because the Beavers have had the Mavericks’ number this season doesn’t mean the Mavericks are a bad team: to the contrary as the offense is led by the deadly Matt Ambroz, the defense by Eric Olimb, and between the pipes is John Faulkner, every one of whom are All-WCHA team candidates. Oh yeah, their coach is also notorious around college hockey: Dean Blais.
Prediction: Mavericks in three.
St. Cloud State at Minnesota-Duluth
This could easily be called the “see-saw series” (Say that three times fast!): After being left for dead towards the basement of the WCHA standings at the new year, the Huskies raced to 9th place in the league by playing good hockey against some good teams (Sweeping Wisconsin, splitting against Denver, 3 points against UMD). Conversely, despite the Bulldogs’ offense, they have been sliding down from as high as #2 in the country to 11th, where they currently stand. There’s no question this Bulldog team can play, the question is whether the Bulldog goalies will show up.
Prediction: Huskies in three.
Alaska Anchorage at Minnesota
The Seawolves make their second trip to Mariucci this season in what was a tale of two styles. Friday night was a offensively-dominated 5-1 win for the Gophers. Then, the Maroon and Gold met Chris Kamal as the Wolves won a 1-0 decision, Kamal’s first career shutout. The freshman from suburban Atlanta has been in net for seven of the Wolves’ last 11 decisions. In those, he’s been 6-1-0 with a .940 save percentage and a 1.57 GAA. Despite Kamal’s recent impressive stats, I like the Gophers offense to master the Wolves.
Prediction: Gopher sweep.
Wisconsin at Colorado College
In another series from last weekend that switches venues, the #7 Wisconsin Badgers visit the #6 Colorado College Tigers at the World Arena in Colorado Springs. If last weekend was any indication of how the series will turn out, this will be a very close and competitive series that will make this spot in the Final Five next weekend very much up in the air. On paper, these teams are very similar: they both have a dangerous offensive tandem of players. Justin Schultz, Craig Smith, and Jake Gardiner line up for the Badgers while on the other side of the ice, the Tigers counter with Tyler Johnson, Stephen Schwartz and the Schultz brothers Jaden and Rylan while only one point separated these teams in the WCHA standings.
The big question that comes up for me when it comes to CC defending home ice is the goaltending situation. Joe Howe is their man main between the pipes for the Tigers, but his stats pale in comparison to Wisconsin’s Scott Gudmanson in every major goaltending category from wins to save percentage. Another red flag for Tiger fans is that they finished 11th in the WCHA for goals allowed on the season with 112. If CC wants to get to St. Paul next weekend, they need to play solid and disciplined hockey on both ends of the ice.
Prediction: Wisconsin in three.
-Andy Sorensen, CHW Blogger
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