The good news, the regular season is starting, the bad news, there is the last season of the WCHA as we know it. This is it. Everyone has a chance to start their run to capture the big, shiny, MacNaughton Cup.
I hope everyone enjoyed the extremely hot and dry summer we had in the northern Great Plains. I hope you are as anxious as I am for college hockey to get underway. I try to improve my prognostication skills this season as it is the last WCHA season for many of the current teams. Hopefully, you will enjoy reading my weakly (get it) attempts to make some type of educated guess as to who will win their games each week.
Just so we are all on the same page, here is a little refresher of how things ended last season…
WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2011-2012
Team………………………W-L-T………Points
1. Minnesota………………20-8-0…..…….402. Minnesota-Duluth……..16-7-5….……..37
3. Denver…………..………16-8-4………...36
4. North Dakota.……….….16-11-1….……33
5. Colorado College ……..15-12-1……….31
6. St. Cloud St……………. 12-12-4………28
7. Nebraska-Omaha………11-12-5……....27
8. Michigan Tech………….11-13-4………26
9. Bemidji State……..……..11-14-3.……...25
10. Wisconsin…....……….11-15-2...…..…24
11. Minnesota State……..…8-18-2...……..18
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....5-22-1………..11
2012 final 5 in St. Paul – recap
The Final 5 in St. Paul featured MTU, SCSU, UND, DU, UMD, and UM.
The WCHA tournament went like this – Thursday, DU defeated MTU 3-2 in OT, and UND defeated SCSU 4-1 – Friday DU beat UMD 4-3 in a 2-ot thriller, and UND defeat UM in an exciting 6-3 comeback win – Saturday UND defeated DU 4-0, to claim their 3rd consecutive Broadmoor Trophy.
This season the WCHA starts out with 5 teams ranked in the USCHO poll:
#2 – Minnesota
#4 – North Dakota#8 – Denver
#12 – Minnesota-Duluth
#18 – Wisconsin
#20 – Colorado College
Exhibition Games - Saturday Oct. 6th
British Columbia @ Denver
I don’t know much about the guys from UBC, but they are from Canada so they should be a good team. So I did some looking up on UBC, they are located in Vancouver, established in 1908, have 37,000 undergrads, 9,000 grad students, and they are nicknamed the Thunderbirds. Since this is an exhibition game I’m sure DU will be playing some of the starters but will also be giving everyone some ice time. I’m going with the WCHA to start the season and pick the Pioneers to win their first unofficial game of the year.
Brock @ Michigan Tech
Brock? Who are they? I had to look these guys up. Okay here is the info; they are located in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (close to Niagara Falls or just north-northwest of Buffalo, New York). The University opened its doors in 1964, and is named for General Isaac Brock, who died in the War of 1812. BU has a student body of approx. 17,000. And we all the 411 on Michigan Tech, so I’ll just move on. Since I don’t know anything about BU, I’m going to pick the Huskies to win over the visiting Brock Badgers.
Regina @ Alaska-Anchorage
Ah Regina, the city that rhymes with fun! I’ve never been to Saskatchewan, but someday I’ll get there. They are still a long way from Anchorage, but I’m sure the flight isn’t that bad… I’m going say the Cougars will blend into the UAA crowd, since their school colors are green/yellow/white. I’m once again going with the home team Seawolves win.
Lethbridge @ Minnesota
I’ve actually been through Lethbridge! It is a nice city in the southern part of Alberta, the Oldman river gorge on the west/middle side of town has spectacular views. I also like their nickname, the Pronghorns (I think UND should be the Antelope or Pronghorns, just my two cents worth.) UL has appox. 8,000 students and was founded in 1967, and their school colors are blue and gold. The Gophers should be able to put goals on the board this year, so look for them to “unofficial” open the season with a win.
Manitoba @ North Dakota
The Bisons make their, what seems to be, annual trip to Grand Forks. They didn’t play last year, but did in October 2010 with the Sioux winning that game 5-2. I’m going to go with ND to win this game, I also expect to see a few guys playing goalie for ND in this exhibition game.
US U-18 @ Wisconsin
The U-18 team is usually full of talented young hockey players and can give teams older than them problems. But the Badgers are always stingy on the defensive end of things, so look for them to frustrate the U-18 team. Badgers win.
Manitoba @ Bemidji State
The Bisons head over to Bemidji, nice 120 mile drive on US-2, after playing in Grand Forks that night before. This will be a good tune up game for the Beavers to unofficial start the season. I’m going with Beavers in a squeaker of a game.The Thunderbirds head south for Colorado Springs after playing in Denver the previous evening. The Tigers will have to be ready to since UBC will have played the night before. I’m going with the Tigers in this tilt. (UBC also plays Air Force on Monday night.)
Lethbridge @ Minnesota State
This will be the Pronghorns second game in two days, or the middle game of their 3 game road trip to the States. I’m going with the visitors in this match-up, I just have a feeling that the Mavericks will be trying out their new players and coaching system.
Exhibition Games - Monday Oct. 8th
Lethbridge @ Nebraska-Omaha
Third game in three days for UL, I’m thinking they might run out of gas in the match-up. Mavericks win their first exhibition game of the year.
Non Conference Games - Thursday Oct. 11th
Michigan Tech @ Lake Superior State
This will be the official first game for the Huskies as the face off against another Upper Peninsula team. Huskies win.
