Last Regular Season Games (Sioux 7)

Last weekend saw UND grab the WCHA lead from DU by a point by taking 3-pts from CC, MSU-M took 3pts from UW, UM also took 3-pts from UMD, DU and SCSU split a pair, and UAA swept in-state rival UAF. As a side note 6 out of 8 league games went to overtime, last weekend.

The race for home ice comes down to the last games of the year. I know I will be glued to the TV's this weekend. The only thing that is certain is UND and DU will be hosting either MTU and UAA. The rest is a mess, for instance if MSU-M sweeps SCSU and UM and UMD get swept their would be a 4-way tie for 5th, or how about CC ties DU and SCSU, UMD, and UM sweep, UW gets swept, 4-way tie for 3rd. I don't even want to go there with trying to figure out those tie breakers. CC and UW are not even safe, if they lose their games, and UM, SCSU, and UMD sweep, the Tigers and Badgers would be on the road.



WCHA standings

1 North Dakota..................16-6-4...36
2 Denver.........................16-8-3...35
3 Colorado College.............12-9-6...30
4 Wisconsin.....................13-10-3..29
5 St. Cloud State................13-12-1..27
5 Minnesota......................11-10-5..27
5 Minnesota-Duluth...........10-9-7...27
8 Minnesota State............10-13-3..23
9 Alaska-Anchorage..........7-14-5...19
10 Michigan Tech.............1-18-7...9



#16 Minnesota at Michigan Tech
Minnesota kept their hopes alive for home ice with a three point weekend against Duluth, while MTU enjoyed the weekend off. MTU got a tie earlier in the year against the Gophers at Mariucci, can they do that at home or perhaps get win number two? In case you were wondering, the Huskies lone conference win was against UAA, on Nov. 1st. The Gophers started Kent Patterson last Friday and Kangas on Saturday, I wonder if Lucia will do the same this weekend? The Huskies could be the first team in WCHA history to record 8 ties in a season, with a tie. (Dare I say a pair of ties for numbers 8 and 9 on the season.) To MTU's credit, they have only been swept five times this season, not bad considering they only have one win. The Gophers need two wins if they really want to help their odds for home ice. Anything less than four points for UM and they are most likely on the road. I'm going with Tech for the record, a tie on Friday and UM on Saturday.


Alaska-Anchorage at #15 Minnesota-Duluth
UAA comes in riding a two game winning streak, both games they shut-out UAF. Earlier this season the Seawolves took 3-pts from the Bulldogs in Anchorage. UMD comes in on a three game winless streak (0-1-2) and saw their chance to improve their home ice standing slip away last weekend. With UAA carrying some momentum and UMD desperately wanting home ice this should make for a good series. However, the Seawolves are a respectable 5-7-1 away from Sullivan Arena and the Bulldogs are 10-2-3 at the DECC. UAA is going on the road the first round and I'm sure they would like to make the Bulldogs go on the road too. With UAA goalie Bryce Christianson getting back to back shut outs last weekend mean UMD star goalie Alex Stalock will try to equal that this weekend... I'm going to call this series a split.


#6 North Dakota at #19 Wisconsin
The Sioux continue to be red hot the second half, and the Badgers have cooled off, now win-less in their last four games (0-3-1). UW is 9-7-2 at home this season and UND is 9-5-2 away from Grand Forks. If the Sioux win on Friday they win the regular season WCHA title outright, which would be their 14th. Winning the WCHA isn't an "auto-bid" into the NCAA but it is almost a given. The Badgers need points to help their cause of sewing up home ice, I think two points would get them home ice. UND was only 1-12 on the man-advantage against CC last weekend. They need to capitalize more on the PP to really start putting teams away, but the upside is they can score five on five and don't rely on PP's to win. I'm going with a split this weekend, UND Friday and UW on Saturday.


#18 St. Cloud State home/at Minnesota State
I don't like the home and home series, they should only be played if it is the only two games the teams against each other all year. These teams last meet the first part of December, with the Huskies sweeping those games, 4-2, and 6-2. The Huskies are doing well going 6-3-1 in their past 10-games with quality wins over CC, UND, and DU in that stretch. The Maverick are 4-4-2 in their last 10-games with wins over UM and UW. With MSU-M having little chance of home ice, they can try and spoil SCSU's home ice chances this weekend. However, I don't see the Huskies losing two games in a row, they haven't done that since mid-January. I'll take the Huskies on Friday night and the Mavericks on Saturday, splitsville.


#13 Colorado College at #5 Denver (Sat Only)
The Tigers got a point last weekend in Grand Forks, that was what Pioneers got out of Grand Forks too. CC needs points to hold on to home ice and try to move up in the PWR to make the NCAA tourney. DU still might have a chance for the WCHA title if UND loses on Friday. But probably more important to them is trying to stay in the top 4 in the PWR to get a number one seed for the NCAA tournament. Needless to say that these two arch-rivals would like nothing more than to beat the tar out of the other one. In three meeting this year the edge goes to CC, 1-0-2, and will retain the coveted Gold Pan. I think we will another game just like the previous three, closely played and entertaining to watch, but in the end nobody will get the outcome they were looking for, here is to tie number three.