This year’s tournament format is the same as it was last year, we have 6 teams, we have two play-in games on Thursday, two semi-finals on Friday and the championship game on Saturday evening.
Every team in St. Paul has a chance at the Broadmoor Championship and the NCAA auto-bid to the tournament. UMD and UM are all but guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament, DU and UND should be okay, as long as they win on Thursday. MTU and SCSU need to pretty much win the Final Five if they want to make the national tournament.
Note - There will be a total of three Broadmoor Trophies. The largest will be on permanent display at the
Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul in conjunction with the
WCHA Final Five, one will be a traveling trophy, and one will be given to the winning team each year as a permanent addition to their display case.
WCHA 2011-2012 FINAL STANDINGS
Team………………..………W-L-T………Points
1.
Minnesota...………………20-8-0…..…….40
2.
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
(Numbers are current PairWise Rank)
#19 St. Cloud State vs #11t North Dakota
(Season series tied 2-2-0)
Last weekend the SCSU Huskies swept the
UNO Mavericks in St. Cloud (4-0, 3-1) and the
Sioux swept the BSU Beavers (4-1, 4-3) in Grand Forks.
The teams split both series this year, in late October in Grand Forks the Huskies won the opener 4-0 and then the Sioux rebounded to win the next night 3-1. They met again in mid January in St. Cloud, with the Huskies again winning the opener 3-1 and the Sioux taking the rematch 3-2.
The Sioux have won four games in a row now and are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. The Huskies are unbeaten in their last four game going 3-0-1 and are 5-2-1 in their last eight games. Needless to say, both teams are playing well here at the end of the season. I’m going to say the game comes down to goaltending and who is on their game.
SIOUX WIN
Michigan Tech vs #11t Denver
(Season series MTU wins 1-0-1)
Last weekend the Pioneers beat the Wisconsin Badgers in 3 games with the 3rd game going to overtime in Denver. The Huskies swept the CC Tigers in Colorado Springs, after being swept by the Tigers two weeks ago, what a difference a week makes.
These teams met back in late October in Houghton with the Huskies winning the first game 7-2 and tying the second game 2-2.
After spending the last two weekends in Colorado Springs the revitalized Huskies hit the road to St. Paul. This will be MTU’s first visit to the Final Five since 2007, that year they also beat CC to advance St. Paul. (DU was at the Final Five last year). The Pioneers have five of their last six games, with two of the wins coming in overtime. DU has more depth and fire power than the Huskies, so MTU will need to play solid defense and limit the quality scoring chances, if they want to advance.
PIONEERS WIN
#8 Minnesota
The Gophers will play the winner of the SCSU-UND game on Friday evening.
On the season, the Gophers are 3-1-0 versus SCSU, they played in mid November in St. Cloud (3-4, 5-0), and swept the Huskies in Minneapolis in late January (2-1, 3-2).
The Gophers versus the Sioux this year are 3-1-0, and they played in Minneapolis in early November with the Gophers winning 2-0, 3-2, and they met again in Grand Forks in mid January with the Sioux winning the Friday game 2-1 and the Gophers winning Saturday 6-2.
I’m going with the
Gophers to win their semi-final versus either SCSU or UND.
#3 Minnesota-Duluth
The Bulldogs will play the winner of the MTU-DU game on Friday afternoon.
On the season, the Bulldogs are 2-1-1 versus MTU, they played in early December in Houghton with the Bulldogs sweeping with a pair of 5-2 wins. The rematches came in late January in Duluth with 4-4 opening tie and MTU winning the Saturday game 5-0.
The Bulldogs are 1-0-1 versus the Pioneers this year, they played a series in Denver in early November, Friday’s game ended in a 3-3 tie, and the UMD won 4-0 the following night.
I’m going with the Bulldogs to win over MTU, or DU to win over UMD, depending on who wins Thursday.
