This Week in the WCHA (Sioux 7)

The results are in from last weekend, and there is still a pile of teams in the race for home ice. Both UW and MSUM are on hot streaks, UND was on a bye week, and UM continued its down ward spiral. Here are the current WCHA standings.

1 CC....22..16-5-1..33
2 ND....22..14-7-1..29
3 DU....20..13-6-1..27
4 MSU..22..9-9-4...22
4 UW....22..9-9-4...22
6 UMD..20..7-8-5...19
7 UM....22..6-11-5..17
8 SCS...20..7-11-2..16
8 MTU..20..6-10-4..16
10UAA..22..3-14-5..11

As you can see still only 5-pts separate the 4th place teams from the 9th place team, so home ice is still up for grabs. Which brings us to this weekends match ups.

This week Colorado College and Minnesota are on bye weeks. CC could be caught by UND this weekend if they sweep DU, but CC would have 2 games in hand. If the Huskies, either of them, pick up a point or two this weekend, could send the Gophers down into 9th place.

Mavericks at Badgers

This series can go along ways to determine who will get home ice. IF, one team can get a sweep they will have the inside track to home ice and on 4th place. These teams come into this weekend on good streaks, the Mavs, winners of 6 in a row, and Bucky 5-1-3 in their last 8 contests. The thing I see here is the Mavs have won 5 games at home, and 1 on the road. Now they take to the road, and the Kohl center is tough place to play. I STILL see UW sitting in a tie for 4th place come Sunday, by getting a win, but I also see the Mavs taking a game too, so heres to the 4 place tie and a split.

Pioneers at Fighting Sioux

The Sioux come in from their last bye week of the season and on a 9-game unbeaten streak 8-0-1. Denver is trying to get back their early season form, they took 3 points from the struggling Gophers last weekend. Normally if you beat UM like that I'd say you are doing good, but since the UM is "off" this year, it is ho-hum. Denver really needs to get some points to hold on to a top 3 finish, especially when 5 of their last 8 games are on the road. I'm thinking the Sioux might show a little rust on Friday night, but will take care of business and put DU further in the mirror, Sioux Sweep.

Bulldogs at Huskies (MTU)

Tech is at home again this weekend, they need to get more than one point in this series against the Bulldogs. The Huskies are 1-4-3 in their last 8 league games, not the record you want, when you are trying get into the top 5 for home ice. Meanwhile back in Duluth the Bulldogs have compiled a 2-3-3 record in their last 8 WCHA games. This too is a big series, if Tech doesn't get at least a split, they will be on the road for the first round of playoffs, sorry MeG :( But with all the ties these teams have collected as of late, I say, the series will tie, splitsville, a game a piece.

Huskies (SCSU) at Seawolves

Here lies what could be called "The Battle for the Bottom" series. SCSU is sitting tied for 8th and UAA is in the basement. SCSU did just beat the Tigers in CC, giving them their first home loss this season. So, have these Dogs finally been kicked enough and are finally starting to bite back? I think the Dogs will be a little tired after all this traveling, but will take a game from the Seawolves. Another split. A split will pretty much lock Alaska into the basement, being 5pts out of 9th place and having only 4-games left on the schedule. They can probably start looking for a good airfare deal to Colorado Springs for the first round of the playoffs.