This Week in the WCHA (Sioux 7)

We are now heading into the last weekend of regular season games, and their is still a lot to be decided. Here is what we know, CC, UND, and DU have locked up home ice, and UMD, MTU, and UAA, will be on the road. UW, MSU-M, SCSU, and UM are battling for the last two home ice playoff spots, well not UW, they are off this week (and so is UAA). This is the updated standing as of Tuesday March 4.

1 Colorado College......19-6-1...39
2 North Dakota..........18-7-1...37
3 Denver....................16-9-1...33
4 Wisconsin..............11-12-5...27
5 St. Cloud State.......12-12-2...26
5 Minnesota State.......11-11-4...26
7 Minnesota................8-11-7...23
8 Minnesota-Duluth.....8-13-5...21
9 Michigan Tech..........8-14-4...20
10 Alaska-Anchorage.....3-19-6...12

(UW and UAA have finished their 28-game WCHA schedules, and they can NOT move up in the standings)


Lets take a look at this weekends match-ups, we'll start out west with CC vs. DU in a home-and-home series. CC needs just 2-pts to secure a share of the league title, DU is locked into 3rd place, they can't go up (they lose the tie breaker with UND for 2nd place) or down (no-one below them can catch them). What they are both playing for is national seeding, and of course, to beat their arch-rival. Both teams have definetly shown signs of weakness down the home stretch here, so it makes it hard to predict a sweep for either team.
THEE CALL -- SPLIT


Working our way west to east, the next match-up is SCSU at UND. The Huskies need to get 2pts to secure home ice, and UND needs some help (aka DU taking a game, or two, from CC) and some wins to get the MacNaughton Cup. I was thinking about UND's streak, and the big picture. If they lose a game, I think this is the week to do it, before the playoff start. And it would most likely cost UW home ice in the first round, which could also cost them a shot at the national tournament (if they lose in the first round of playoffs). That would help out somebody, if UW wasn't in the NCAA tourney, since they would be at home in for that...hmm...Would Mike Eaves blow a gasket and blame UND if they lost to SCSU and cost the Badgers home ice...hmm... With that in mind I'm in a dilemna for my series prediction.
THEE CALL -- SPLIT (If CC wins on Friday) SWEEP (If CC loses on Friday)


Moving on to the east we come to MTU at MSU-M.
If the Mavericks get a win this weekend they will be at home for the first round. So the Mavs are playing to win and MTU is playing for pride and also to win, to avoid playing red-hot UND in the first round. The Huskies started off the season with some good wins, but then something went wrong. And this wrong has not been righted yet. The Mavs on the other side started off slow and have built up some steam the second half of the season. It is pretty clear these teams are headed in opposite directions. This series is going to be a good game on Friday, but I don't think the rematch will have much punch to it.
THEE CALL - MAVS SWEEP


The last, but not even close to the least, games this weekend are UMD at UM. OOOH DOGGY. This should be one dandy of a series, both teams are fighting for their NCAA playoff lives. UM still has a chance for home ice, but it is a very thin chance. Both these teams have had trouble scoring goals this season. Both these teams have gotten excellent goaltending, which has keep them in their games this year. They are almost mirror images of each other. With the "even-ness" of these two combatants I only have one choice to make, who wins on what night.
THEE CALL - SPLIT


UW and UAA will be watch games and listening to the radio at their homes to see what happens and who they will be facing next week in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.


Speaking of playoffs, the Goon and Sioux 7 will be at the Final Five this year. St. Paul, consider this your fair warning :)