Another weekend is in the record books, and Sioux have caught the Tigers. Albeit, they have caught them by the tail, CC has two games in hand on the Sioux. This will create some pressure on CC, they now need to keep winning, if, they want to win the WCHA title. CC has a tough schedule left, at UMD, MSU-M, and DU (home/away). The Bulldogs and Mavericks are looking to get home ice advantage, so they need points too. UND has BSU (non-confernce), then at UMD, and wrap up at home against SCSU. Both CC and UND have wrapped up home ice advantage for the first round, and will not have to play in the Final Five play-in game, the worst either can finish is in a tie for 3rd place (that only happens if they lose all their remaining games, and UMD sweeps them all). Who the Sioux and Tigers will play is yet to be decided, since the 4th through 9th place is only separated by 7 points. Lets take a look at the current standings, shall we.
Team..............games..points..record
1 Colorado College....22..33..16-5-1
1 North Dakota........24..33..16-7-1
3 Denver.................22..27..13-8-1
4 Minnesota State....24..24..10-10-4
4 Wisconsin............24..24..10-10-4
6 Minnesota-Duluth...22..21..8-9-5
7 St. Cloud State......22..20..9-11-2
8 Michigan Tech.......22..18..7-11-4
9 Minnesota.............22..17..6-11-5
10 Alaska-Anchorage...24..11..3-16-5
Lets look at the numbers and what we know. UAA can't finish higher than 8th place, and UND and CC can't drop lower than a 3rd place tie with UMD which is as high as they can get. UW and MSUM can both move up a spot in 3rd place. The Gophers can be anywhere between 10th and 3rd place, same goes for MTU, SCSU 9th up to 3rd.
I think that SCSU, MTU, and UM are going to finish in the bottom five. If DU keeps stumbling (they could drop as low as 7th place) it would make an interest race for the final 3 home ice spots.
It looks like homce ice race will come down to the final week of the season.
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