January's Last games (Sioux 7)

Last weekend we saw UMD sweep MSUM, UND and SCSU each earn 3pts each at the expense of DU and CC respectively, and MTU-UAA tie TWICE, you don't see that too often. So much for predictions of splits last weekend.

WCHA Standings

1 Denver...................11-5-2...24
2 North Dakota.........10-5-3...23
3 Wisconsin...............10-6-2...22
4 Minnesota...............9-4-3...21
4 Colorado College......9-8-3...21
6 Minnesota-Duluth......7-6-5...19
7 St. Cloud State.........8-9-1...17
8 Minnesota State......7-11-2...16
9 Alaska-Anchorage....5-9-4...14
10 Michigan Tech........1-14-5...7

NOTE - MTU and CC have played 20-games, UM 16 games, and everyone else 18 games.


#5 Minnesota at/home Minnesota State
Have the Gophers sprung a leak? They have let in 6, 6, 1, and 6 goals the last 4-games, and all but one of them was let in by Kangas. The Mavericks are 3-4-0 since the start of 2009. If the Purple want to avoid ending up black & blue, they need points every weekend. MSUM needs points if they want to avoid a 8th or 9th place finish, considering after this weekend they will have played 22 out of 28 league games, the most of any team (MSUM is on a bye next weekend). The Gophers on the other hand have played the fewest league games and are in the thick of the race for the WCHA title, so points this weekend keep them in the race and will edge them closer to securing a top 5 finish. SCSU and UND have exposed the Gophers defense and goal tending, now is Mankato's chance to take advantage of it. The home team wins, Mankato Friday, UM Saturday, SPLITSVILLE.


#12 North Dakota at St. Cloud State
The Huskies have been and up and down team to say the least, the just took 3pts from CC last weekend, but got swept by the UM the week before. The early meeting between the Sioux and Huskies resulted in a sweep for the Sioux in Grand Forks. With a quick look at the numbers, is appears that if a team scores 3 goals on the Huskies, they can bet SCSU, less than 3, ahhh. UND has been lighting up the score board recently, in fact, they are the first team in the country to score 100 goals this year. I see the Sioux continuing on with their traditional second half run and taking some points from the Huskies. Sioux 3pts.


#16 Minnesota-Duluth at #15 Wisconsin
This series has all sorts of ramifications, not just in the league, but in the Pairwise rankings as well. A sweep gives the victor a position to get home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and the inside track for an NCAA tourney birth.
The Bulldogs are on a 4-game winning streak, at the expense of Bemidji St and MSUM, so they are looking to keep the barking and biting. The Badgers are coming off a bye week, and back in mid November took 3-pts from the Bulldogs in Duluth. UMD is hoping to return the favor this weekend in Mad-town. UW looks to have the toughest schedule to close out the season, so they need to get wins to stay in the hunt. I hope I can find the games on TV somewhere, cause these could be some barn burners. I'm going the wimpy way out on this series, SPLIT.


Alaska-Anchorage at #7 Denver
The Pioneers need to get over last weekends events at Grand Forks and start focusing on UAA. DU will be without head coach George Gwozdecky for Friday nights game, do to a rules violation from Saturday's game in Grand Forks. Both teams come in riding ties, UAA could get home ice for the play-offs, but they needs points and some help. The wheels would have to come off Boone's wagon for DU to not get home ice. Pioneers players and fans better be ready for UAA on Friday, if not they could suffer a loss. I see Saturday as a DU win. I'm going to call a SPLIT, but a DU sweep is not out of the question.


The #17 Colorado College Tigers and Michigan Tech Huskies are off this weekend.