Last weekend, UND sweep MSUM to move into a 1st place tie with DU, who tied CC in their one game, else where, SCSU sweep MTU to move into 4th place, and UM took 3pts from UAA.
WCHA Standings
1 North Dakota...............13-6-3...29
1 Denver......................13-7-3...29
3 Wisconsin.................13-7-2...28
4 St. Cloud State.........12-11-1...25
4 Colorado College.........10-8-5...25
6 Minnesota................10-8-4...24
7 Minnesota-Duluth.........9-8-5...23
8 Minnesota State..........9-13-2...20
9 Alaska-Anchorage........7-12-5...19
10 Michigan Tech...........1-17-6...8
#8 Denver at #13 Wisconsin
WOW, this should be the games of the week. Only one point apart, 1st and 3rd place teams in the league, UW on the bubble for the NCAA tourney. There are many implications going on in this series. A sweep by either team puts them in position to win the WCHA regular season, AND move up in the all important PWR standings. The Badgers are coming off a bye week, DU is coming off a tie with rival CC. UW is 9-5-1 at the Kohl center this season, and DU is 5-5-2 away from Magness. Both teams should be up for this series, with all that is riding on it. I'm going to call this one a split, DU in the Friday game, and UW on Saturday.
#14 Minnesota at #18 Colorado College
Another big series, this one is for WCHA home ice in the playoffs. These teams are only separated by one point, too. Since 2009, CC is 3-3-2 and UM is 4-6-1 (and is 1-4-1 in the last 6-games), so neither has done well in 2009. With the pile of teams still alive for home ice, a sweep for one team would help them grab a better hold on home ice. Will this be the weekend the Gophers complete their collapse and fall out of the race, or will it be the Tigers who will starve? UM has only won once on the road in 2009, and well CC doesn't seem to play well on Fridays, hmm. I'm calling a tie on Friday and a Tiger win on Saturday.
#9 North Dakota at Alaska-Anchorage
The Sioux make the long trip to Alaska this weekend in a tie for 1st place with DU. A sweep for the Sioux would give them the inside track for the McNaughton cup, since DU has played one more game than UND. The Seawolves are still alive for getting home ice, but they need some help. The highest I see UAA realistically finishing is 7th place. The Sioux are coming off a weekend sweep of MSUM and UAA is back home after getting one point last weekend at UM. I say the Sioux keep on their winning ways this weekend, Sioux sweep.
#15 Minnesota-Duluth at Michigan Tech
The Bulldogs need keep winning to to stay with the pack of teams their running with now. UMD is still on the NCAA bubble, so winning games is a must if they want to control they own destiny. The Huskies on the other hand are locked into the doghouse. MTU will be playing the number one team in the first round of WCHA playoffs on the road. The Huskies haven't rolled over and played dead yet, they have been in most of their games this year, so look for these dogs to keep barking and biting. I'm going with a split this weekend, UMD Friday, MTU Saturday.
#19 SCSU and MSUM are off this weekend
MSUM at Nebraska-Omaha (Tuesday Feb. 24)
I sure hope your right on the sioux sweep! I just read that the sioux are 1-5 in there last 6 games in anchorage. But then again, this is a different Sioux team then we saw the start of the season...
ReplyDeleteAll predictions are Sioux7's. lets hope that he didn't jinx the team.
ReplyDeletePretty good predictions for the most part. You never really know what's going to happen in the WCHA though, especially this year. I see a split in Madison, a split in the Springs, and a split in Houghton. I think Anchorage will muster enough to gain a tie with the Sioux this weekend though and avoid a sweep. They will slow the game down to a crawl one night and the other night the Sioux will convincingly beat them.
ReplyDeleteWCHAdominates
ReplyDeleteThey way the league is so tightly packed it seems only logical to call splits. No one team seems to be dominate, at the moment. If a team gets on a streak now they would really help their cause in the standing, WCHA and PWR.