I have included my preseason predicted finish
number behind the points, I did okay on a few teams and completely missed on
other…
WCHA
FINAL STANDINGS 2012-2013
Team………………………W-L-T………Points…..Prediction
1. St. Cloud St……………18-9-1.……….37----------52. Minnesota……………...16-7-2……..…37----------3
3. North Dakota.………….14-7-7………..35----------2
4. Minnesota State………16-11-1....…….33---------11
4. Wisconsin…....………..13-8-7………...33----------8
4. Denver…………..……..14-9-5..….......33-----------1
7. Nebraska-Omaha…......14-12-2…....…30----------7
8. Colorado College …….11-13-4..….….26----------6
9. Minnesota-Duluth….….10-13-5……….25----------4
10. Michigan Tech………..8-16-4…..…..20-----------9
11. Bemidji State……..…..6-15-7......…..17-----------10
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....2-19-6.....…..10-----------12
The # numbers below are current PAIRWISE rankings.
1st Round of WCHA
Games - Best of 3 Series
Alaska-Anchorage
@ #10 St. Could St.
Last weekend the Seawolves were swept by the
Pioneers (7-1, 6-1) in Denver with the Huskies split with the Badgers (4-2W,
3-2L) in Madison.
2012-13 series – tied 1-1-0
These teams clashed back on Nov30-Dec1 in
Anchorage, with the Huskies prevailing in the opener 4-3 in overtime, and the
Seawolves extracting revenge the next night with a 3-1 win. I don’t remember if or when the top seed has
ever lost in the first round and I don’t see it happening this year. SCSU has too much talent and depth for UAA to
keep up in a three game series, if it even goes three games. HUSKIES SWEEP
Bemidji
St. @ #2 Minnesota
Last weekend the Gophers swept the Beavers in
Bemidji (4-3, 5-1).
2012-13 series – UM wins 2-0-0
This is interesting, since these two teams just
played each other last weekend in Bemidji. I don’t care what level of hockey it is, it is
hard to beat anybody four games in a row.
The downside for the Gophers is, does playing the same team two weekends
in a row cause a problem in the next round for them? The pressure is on the Gophers to dispose of
the Beavers in two games. The Beavers
would like to gnaw on the Gophers this weekend in Minneapolis and stay there
for play next weekend in St. Paul.
Remember when BSU made the Final 2011, by beating UNO on the road, and
then beating UMD in a play-in game before losing to DU in a semifinal? Well, I don’t think they are going to be
making that trip. GOPHERS SWEEP
Michigan
Tech @ #5 North Dakota
Last weekend NoDak split with MSUM (4-3W,
2-1Lot) in Mankato and the Huskies split (2-0W, 4-3L) with the CC Tigers in
Houghton.
2012-13 series – UND wins 2-0-0
These two longtime foes played in Houghton in
mid-December with NoDak sweeping by scores of 6-1 and 4-1. If I’ve looked up the numbers right the last
time MTU beat UND it was December 28, 2008 at the Great Lakes Invitational
Tournament. This could also be the last
time these teams play for years to come with the new conference changes coming
next season. The Huskies have been
playing much better the second half of this season, but they don’t have what it
takes to knock off a top tier team in a best of three series. NORTH DAKOTA SWEEP
Colorado
College @ #5 Denver
Last weekend the Tigers split with the MTU
Huskies (2-0L, 4-3W) in Houghton and the Pioneers swept (7-1, 6-1) the Seawolves
in Denver.
2012-13 series – DU wins 2-1-1
The Pioneers swept the Tigers back in November
and in February the Tigers won and tied DU.
This being a rivalry and playoff series at once should be a humdinger to
watch, almost makes me wish I was in Colorado.
I think this will be a three game series with the home team prevailing,
but I’ve been wrong before. PIONEERS IN
3
Nebraska-Omaha
@ #9 Minnesota State
Last weekend the UNO Mavericks were swept by
Bulldogs (5-4, 6-0) in Duluth and the MSUM Mavericks split with NoDak (4-3L,
2-1Wot) in Mankato.
2012-13 series – tied 1-1-0
The red and purple Mavericks locked horns back
in mid-December in Omaha, Mankato won the opener 6-3 and Omaha won the closer
5-1. Omaha has fallen hard the last two
months, they have lost 7 of their last 9 games (8 of 10 if count the exhibition
against the U-18 USA team) and their two wins are against UAA. Before February rolled around, Omaha looked
to be a top half finisher, and now they just look finished. MINNESOTA STATE SWEEP
Minnesota-Duluth
@ #18 Wisconsin
Last weekend the Bulldogs swept the UNO
Mavericks (5-4, 6-0) in Duluth and the Badgers split (4-2L, 3-2W) with the SCSU
Huskies in Madison.
2012-13 series – UW wins 1-0-1
It has been a while since these teams shared the
ice, it was back in late October they played with the Badgers blanking the
Bulldogs 2-0 and then they tied the following evening 2-2. UMD is on their longest winning streak of the
year at 4 in a row, sweeping UNO and UAH, and they tied the UM before to have a
5 game unbeaten stretch now. UW has been
one of the hotter teams in 2013 and have been playing good hockey as of
late. This is going to come down to
which team wants it more and neither team is going to back down in these
tilts. I’m giving the nod to the home
team, but just slightly. BADGERS IN 3
