C.C. vs. UW: winner to the NCAA tourney

The University of Wisconsin Badgers (21-12-7) and Colorado College (18-18-5) faceoff tonight in the championship game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five at 7:00 pm. Central.

You can watch that game on DirecTV channel 668 FSN, if you don’t have cable.

This is an important game for both teams.

The winner goes the NCAA playoffs. The Tigers if they lose, they’re season is over. The same may happen for the Wisconsin Badgers if they don’t win tonight as well, it’s up to the Pairwise math.

Wisconsin is currently sitting at 17^th in the Pairwise so they’re definitely a bubble team.

After the win last night, Colorado College Tiger goalie Joe Howe summed it up with the quote of the weekend, “Rylan [Schwartz] put a quote on the board from Mike Babcock [Redwings head coach] you don’t have to win three games, you have to win one game three times.”

I have told people that the Tigers have one of the best lines in college hockey and the opposition has had a tuff time stopping Rylan Schwartz, Alexander Krushelnyski and the local boy Charlie Taft (Edina, Minnesota). Regardless of the record, the Tigers are a good hockey teams and are peaking at the right time. The Tigers have also won five of their last six games.

Last night, the Tigers looked as if they had watched some game film from the BSU and Minnesota series. At times, it looked like C.C. used some of the same offensive strategies. On one play, the Tigers chipped the puck up the glass and the forward from C.C. skated into the puck and got a quick shot on net that Adam Wilcox made a big save on. If Wilcox doesn’t make that save, it’s a 3-0 game.

You have to give credit, where credit is due. The Tigers beat DU (20-13-5) in games, they beat UND (21-12-7) and Minnesota (26-8-5).

Colorado College Tigers: Rylan Schwartz (19g-32a—51pts), Alexander Krushelnyski (15g-27a—42pts), William Rupuzzi (15g-20a—35pts), Scott Winkler (13g-15a—28pts), Archie Skalbeck (12g-11a—23pts)Defense: Mike Boivin (14g-14a—28pts) Eamonn McDermott (3g-20a—23pts), Peter Stoykewych (2g-9a—11pts). Goalies: Joe Howe 14-11-4, 2.97 GAA, .915 save percentage, Josh Thorimbert 4-7-1, 3.73 GAA, .873 save percentage.

Wisconsin Badgers: Forwards: Michael Mersch (23g-13a—36pts), Mark Zengerle (9g-21a—31pts), Nic Kerdiles (9g-21a—30pts), Joseph Labate (9g-13a—22pts),  Tyler Barnes (14g-15a—21pts), Defense:  Jake McCabe (3g-17a—20pts) John Ramage (8g-10a—18pts). Goalies: Landon Peterson 6-4-3, 2.01 GAA, .926 save percentage, Joel Rumpel 15-8-4, 2.21 GAA, .921 save percentage.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writes Combine

Related articles

• Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five (thehockeywriters.com)
• Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five (getrealhockey.com)

Day two reflections from the WCHA Final Five

SAINT PAUL, Minnesota – After winning three consecutive Broadmoor Trophies in a row, UND saw their hopes of winning a fourth come crashing down when they lost in 4-3 overtime yesterday to the upstart Colorado College Tigers.

This isn’t how the UND hockey team had planned it, according to senior forward Danny Kristo.

“I have never felt like this before,” Kristo said. “Obviously we won the last three [Final Fives]. That was our goal coming in this year. Obviously, we wanted to four peat, or what not. You just go day-by-day. I thought we took about 20 minutes off there, between the second and third period and kind of got lulled to sleep, maybe we deserved to win the game, but we didn’t play to our potential, so at this time of the year you’re not going to win games. You can’t leave the game to a bounce of the puck.”

In college hockey, much like other sports, you have to have a short memory. UND Coach Dave Hakstol agreed, “Tough ending tonight, that’s our fate, we’ll regroup and get back to Grand Forks and work on our next project.”

No matter how you slice it, UND had a good season, however, UND is going to have to tighten it up defensively a little bit if they want to advance in the NCAA tourney. There have been times when UND’s been a bit shaky on defense, but most of their miscues appear to be ones that are easy to fix.

One area that I think they’re are lacking in; they need to have forwards that are going hard to the net and getting to the blue paint. More greasy goals and forwards getting to the greasy areas.

“We kind wanted to wear out their D; we found out that they weren’t the fastest, Tiger forwardRylan Schwartz said.

I found these comments by Tiger forward Rylan Schwartz to be interesting, but not shocking. The Tigers have given UND fits this season. UND has a record of 2-3 in five games against the Tigers this season.

Second half surge?

UND is a team that is traditionally known for its second half surges, this year has been a little different. This season, UND’s record before Christmas was 10-5-3 (.639) and so far, after Christmas UND’s record has been 11-7-4 (.590). UND has somewhere between 1-4 more games.

Badgers advance to the Championship game

Wisconsin wins 4-1, advances to the WCHA Final Five Championship game. What’s even more remarkable is that the Badger “were” averaging 2.55 goals per game coming into the tourney and have scored 11 goals in two games.

That’s not a typo.

In the last 10 games, the Badgers have scored 40 goals for an average of 4 goals per game. During the same time period, the Badgers have a 8-2-0 record.

Surging Badgers

After starting out the season 1-7-3 (.227), the Badgers have gone 20-5-4 (.758). That’s an impressive run in anyone’s book. The weird part is that it might not be enough for the Badgers to make the NCAA tourney. They might have to win the NCAA tourney to get in.

SCSU Huskies are not in the NCAA tourney yet

The SCSU Huskies are in dire straits and could end up missing the NCAA tourney, this goes back to their non-conference record. The Huskies are an NCAA bubble team and they don’t need there to be any more surprises this weekend in the other conference tourneys. The Huskies are going to be at home watching the results of the other conference tourneys that are taking place this weekend, and holding their breath.

When asked about his teams prospects for making the NCAA tourney, “Bubble Trouble, Saint Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko said.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine

Stoykewych shocks UND in OT

Seal of the University of North Dakota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Saint Paul, Minn. – The University of North Dakota started off the day, by putting two players, senior forwards, Corban Knight and Danny Kristo, among the top 10 national finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The Hobey Baker is given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

Then, it was off to the quarter final game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five where 17,038 fans watched the match-up between the University of North Dakota (21-11-7, No. 3 seed) and the Colorado College Tigers (16-18-5, No. 6 seed) at the Xcel Energy Center.

The University of North Dakota doesn’t get fazed when they give up the first goal of a game, anymore. In fact, it happens a lot.  In 19 games where the opposition scored the first goal, the Green and White are 9-5-5.

Make that­­­­­­ 9-6-5, with the loss to the Colorado College Tigers tonight.

“Here we are. If you would have said that on the fifth of January after we got swept in Omaha that we would be playing and winning game over North Dakota, I would have said that you’re crazy,” Head coach Scott Owens said on beating  North Dakota 4-3 in overtime of the quarterfinal game of the WCHA Final Five.”

The game had a lot of drama and probably didn’t go as planned.

With freshman forward Drake Caggiula in the sin bin for charging, the Colorado College Tigers would get on the board first with a power play goal from senior forward Rylan Schwartz at the 03:06 mark of first period.

That slim one goal lead would last 11:17 as freshman forward Drake Caggiula would make up for his blunder by scoring his seventh goal of the year at the 14:23 mark of the first period. That was Caggiula’s first goal since January 19^th, 2013.

UND would start a parade to the penalty box in the waning moments of the first period, but fortunately UND was able to stop the Tiger power play with a tenacious penalty kill, before the Tigers could do any damage on the power play.

Senior forward Danny Kristo would stop the bleeding at the 19:50 mark of the first period with his 25^th goal of the season.

UND would outshoot C.C. 11-4 in first period.

The second period was more of a grind out kind of period and the Tigers took advantage of a miscue to score shorthanded at the 07:54 mark of the second period as Alex Krushelnyski shot the puck past UND goalie Clark Saunders.

That was all of the scoring either team would generate the rest of the second period. UND would again outshoot C.C. 9-6.

Things would really get interesting for UND. At the 03:42 mark of the third period, Tiger forward Hunter Fejes took a shot from the top the circle that Saunders missed.

Make that 3-2 Tigers.

UND freshman Drake Caggiula would score at the12:45 mark of the third period to knot the game at 3-3, sending the game to overtime.  UND would out Tigers 12-10 in the third period.

At the 04:52 mark of the first overtime, sophomore Tiger defenseman Peter Stoykewych ended UND run for at four consecutive Final Five championships.

When asked how it feels to not be moving on to play for a four WCHA Final Five playoff championship. This is what Danny Kristo had to say. “I have never felt like this before,” Kristo said. “Obviously we won the last three. That was our goal coming in this year. Obviously, we wanted to four peat, or what not. You just go day-by-day. I thought we took about 20 minutes off there, between the second and third period and kind of got lulled to sleep, maybe we deserved to win the game, but we didn’t play to our potential, so at this time of the year you’re not going to win games. You can’t leave the game to a bounce of the puck.”

This is what coach Hakstol had to say.

“Congratulations to C.C., UND head coach Dave Hakstol said. “They’re grinding out wins. They’re doing a great job. They got the job done tonight. Overall, we played a pretty good hockey game. Pretty good doesn’t get the job doesn’t get it done this time of year against the quality of teams that are here. So, tough ending tonight, that’s our fate, We’ll regroup and get back to Grand Forks and work on our next project.”

Colorado College (17-18-5) moves on to play Minnesota in the 7:00 p.m. game and UND (21-12-7) goes home to find out who they play next weekend in the NCAA regionals.

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine

UND’s Knight, Kristo among Hobey Baker Award Top 10 finalists

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – University of North Dakota senior forwards Corban Knight and Danny Kristo are among the 10 national finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I men’s hockey.

The 2013 Hobey Baker Award finalists are (alphabetically): Greg Carey, St. Lawrence; Carsen Chubak, Niagara; Johnny Gaudreau, Boston College; Eric Hartzell, Quinnipiac; Corban Knight, North Dakota; Danny Kristo, North Dakota; Drew LeBlanc, St. Cloud State; Ryan Walters, Nebraska Omaha.

Knight, a native of High River, Alberta, is tied for seventh in the national scoring race with a career-high 48 points, including a career-high 33 assists. He is tied for second nationally in assists and leads the country with 24 first assists. Knight has reached the scoresheet in 31 games, more than any other player. The national player of the month in December, Knight has also won more than 58 percent of his faceoffs and leads the nation with 571 faceoff wins, 78 more than any other player. Earlier this season, Knight put together a 19-game point streak that was UND’s longest in 25 years and the fourth-longest in school history. He led all 77 national candidates in fan voting during Phase I of ‘Vote for Hobey,’ receiving more than twice as many votes as the next-closest player.

A physical education, exercise science and wellness major, Knight received the team’s Archie Krum Memorial Athletics Scholarship last season as the player who “demonstrates leadership qualities, high academic standards and athletic excellence. He is also a two-time recipient of the Ken and Marcia Nelson Impact Scholarship. Knight has logged more than 50 hours of community service in his career, including 40 over the past two seasons alone with organizations such as Special Olympics, Northlands Rescue Mission, Altru Health System, and Grand Forks Park District.

Kristo, a native of Eden Prairie, Minn., ranks third nationally in scoring with a career-high 50 points, including a WCHA-leading 24 goals. He leads the nation in points (36), goals (19) and points per game (1.50) since Dec. 8 and led the WCHA with three goals in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, all coming in the third period. A two-time WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, Kristo is tied for the WCHA lead with two shorthanded goals and is tied for second with five game-winning goals. He has six games of 3-plus points this season, tied for third-most in the nation, and leads the team with 14 multi-point games. He enters the WCHA Final Five having reached the scoresheet in 12 of his last four games.

A recreation and tourism studies major, Kristo leads all active NCAA Division I men’s hockey players in career points (159) and goals (66, tied). He has also logged approximately 50 hours of community service in his career to organizations such Special Olympics, Northlands Rescue Mission, Mortar Board, Grand Forks Public Library and the Empire Arts Center.

Knight and Kristo are UND’s 22^nd and 23^rd finalists since the award's inception in 1979-80, and the first since Matt Frattin was a Hobey Hat Trick (top three) finalist two years ago. It is the third time UND has had two finalists in the same season. Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and T.J. Oshie were finalists in 2007-08, and Zach Parise and Brandon Bochenski were finalists in 2003-04.

The ten finalists were selected by voting from all 59 Division I college hockey head coaches and by online fan balloting at www.hobeybakeraward.com. Next, the 23-member Selection Committee and an additional round of fan balloting (at www.hobeybakeraward.com from March 21-31) will determine this year’s Hobey Baker winner. Criteria for the award include: displaying outstanding skills in all phases of the game, strength of character on and off the ice, sportsmanship and scholastic achievements.

The Hobey Hat Trick (three finalists) will be announced on April 3, 2013 and the Hobey Baker Award winner will be announced Friday, April 12, 2013 from Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA during the NCAA Frozen Four. The award announcement will be televised live on NHL Network or live on the Hobey Baker website at 6:00 p.m. ET.

  

For more information, visit the Hobey Baker website at: www.hobeybakeraward.com

UND's Hobey Baker Award Finalists

James Patrick (1982-83)
Jon Casey (1983-84)
Scott Sandelin (1985-86)
Tony Hrkac (1986-87)
Steve Johnson (1987-88)
Russ Parent (1989-90)
Greg Johnson (1990-91, 1991-91 & 1992-93)
Jason Blake (1996-97, 1997-98)
Curtis Murphy (1997-98)
Jeff Panzer (1999-2000, 2000-01)
Zach Parise (2002-03, 2003-04)
Brandon Bochenski (2003-04)
Ryan Duncan (2006-07)
Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (2007-08)
T.J. Oshie (2007-08)
Matt Frattin (2010-11)
Corban Knight (2012-13)
Danny Kristo (2012-13)
*Bold indicates Hobey Baker Award winner

UND vs. C.C. lines Final Five

UND Forward Lines

21 Brendan O’Donnell–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo (A)
19 Rocco Grimaldi–27 Carter Rowney (A)–15 Michael Parks
25 Mitch MacMillan–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder

Drake Caggiula 9–28 Stephane Pattyn–17 Colten St. Clair

UND Defensive Parings

2 Andrew MacWilliam (C)–18 Dillon Simpson
4 Derek Forbort–24 Jordan Schmaltz
5 Nick Mattson –20 Joe Gleason

UND goalies

33 Clarke Saunders

31 Zane Gothberg
35 Tate Maris

Not In the lineup: 11 Derek Rodwell , Andrew Panzarella (22), Dan Senkbeil (8), Coltyln Sanderson (26),  Bryn Chyzyk (29).

Colorado College’s Tigers forward lines

16 Alexander Krushelnyski–13 Rylan Schwartz (A)–17 Charlie Taft
12 Archie Skalbeck–25 Scott Winkler–27 William Rapuzzin (C) 
11 Hunter Fejes–10 Cody Bradley–15 Andrew Hamburg
22 Peter Maric–21 Jeff Collett–24 Jared Hanson

Colorado College Tigers defense pairings

6 Peter Stoykewych–28 Mike Boivin
5 Aaron Harstad–7 Eamonn McDermott
20 Ian Young–4 Joe Marciano

Colorado College Tiger goalies

31 Joe Howe
39 Josh Thorimbert
29 Courtney Lockwood

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh Linesmen: Nick Bradshaw (94), Sam Shikowsky (81)

NHL Realignment Solves A Lot Of Logistic Issues

After much speculation, the NHL has finalized a plan for realignment that will go into effect next season. While nothing can be absolutely perfect, the new setup of the league will benefit a lot of teams when it comes to travel and developing natural rivals.

Two of the biggest winners will be the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who will move into the Eastern Conference. For teams in the state of Michigan and Ohio, it made very little logistical sense to spend so much time on the other side of the country.

The Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars will also benefit from being able to stay closer to home in their new division. Those three teams will now be competing against teams in St. Louis, Nashville, Denver and Chicago.

Perhaps the only two teams that really seem to lose out on the realignment are the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. They will be in a division with three Canadian teams along with Buffalo, Boston and Detroit. It is hard to make everyone happy, and no matter who the Florida teams play, they would have to travel to make things work.

Besides saving on travel, the benefits of realignment will help not only strengthen current rivalries, but build new ones as well. Detroit is back in the Eastern Conference, and they will square off against old rivals such as Toronto, Boston and Montreal throughout the year. New teams such as Columbus will also get to build rivalries with teams close by, such as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With negativity still surrounding the NHL after the lockout, the realignment plan is welcomed good news. Fans, players, fantasy hockey players and owners all are mostly satisfied with the results. If the NHL does in fact expand to 32 teams in the future, the two conferences can be evened out again as well.

Jonathan Toews Short Handed Goal vs. Anaheim Ducks

Beautiful goal by former Fighting Sioux forward Jonathan Toews as he makes Aniheim Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller look sick. The Blackhawks ended up losing the game 4-2.

Joffrey Lupul's dirty hit to the head on Victor Hedman

This is an illegal hit to the head and a violation of rule 48. Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffery Lupul is going to get a call from the Department of Player Safety and if he isn't suspended, I will be very surprised. Apparently, this isn't the first time that Victory Hedman has been hit with a questionable and dirty hit this week. Zac Rinaldo also caught Hedman with a very questionable hit earlier this week, but he was able to go tonight.

s/t  cjzero for the cool gif.

Niklas Kronwall double minor Charlie Coyle

I don't like this hit, Detroit Defenseman Niklas Kronwall hits Wild forward Charlie Coyle and  is known for these types of questionable, high hits, and he gets away with them on a regular basis. A lot of times, it's under the guise of him being a bigger player, than the players that he's hitting. In my opinion, it's because he tends to leave his feet.

In no way, am I suggesting that the NHL suspend him for this hit, because they wont, nor should they. Coyle also needs to be aware of what is coming in this situation.

Tiger's Taft scores the game winning goal against DU, with help from DU goalie

This is the goal in question, I was finally able to get my hand on it. Colorado College forward Charlie Taft will probably never score a more fluky goal than this one. This was also the goal, that everyone was talking about on Monday morning that vaulted the Tigers to the Final Five and left the Denver Pioneers scratching their heads. I am sure there are some that aren't feeling sorry for the Pioneers, it's just one of those things.

The goal in question is at the 2:18 mark. s/t to Joe Paisley sending me the video. DU's Juho Olkinuora is a great goalie, but stuff happens in games that has no explanation sometimes.

Lots of fire power in the WCHA Final Five

Point Scoring:                                                    GP     PPG    G- A- P 1   Danny Kristo              North Dakota         SR F     154    1.03   66-93-159* 2   Rylan Schwartz          Colorado College   SR F     153    1.01   56-98-154* 3   Drew LeBlanc            St. Cloud State       SR F     167    0.88   42-105-147* 4   Corban Knight            North Dakota         SR F     158    0.92   51-94-145* 5   Erik Haula                  Minnesota              JR F      112    1.09   42-80-122* 6   Jordan George            Bemidji State         SR F     148    0.81   58-62-120 7   Mark Zengerle            Wisconsin             JR F      110    1.05   27-89-116* 8   Ben Hanowski             St. Cloud State     SR F      152    0.72   60-50-110* 9   Ryan Walters             Nebraska Omaha   JR F      115    0.87   43-57-100 10   Matt White               Nebraska Omaha   JR F      114    0.87   47-52-99 11   Nick Bjugstad            Minnesota            JR F      107    0.92   54-44-98* 12   Eriah Hayes              Minnesota State    SR F      151    0.63   51-44-95* 13   Zach Budish              Minnesota            JR F       127    0.73   34-59-93* 14   Nick Shore               Denver                  JR F       114    0.81   34-58-92 15   Mike Seidel              Minnesota Duluth SR W    151    0.58   47-41-88 16   William Rapuzzi      Colorado College  SR F      148    0.58   39-47-86* 17   Nick Jensen              St. Cloud State      JR D      115    0.73   15-69-84*       Michael Mersch         Wisconsin            JR F       116     0.72   45-39-84* 19   Kyle Rau                    Minnesota           SO F       78    1.05   33-49-82* 20   Nic Dowd                 St. Cloud State     JR F       113    0.71   30-50-80* 21   Nate Condon             Minnesota            JR F      116    0.67   31-47-78* 22   Ben Kinne                Bemidji State        SR F      146    0.52   32-44-76 23   Steven Seigo             Michigan Tech     SR D      150    0.50   19-56-75 24   Matt Leitner             Minnesota State     SO F      77    0.96   28-46-74* Alexander Krushelnyski   Colorado College JR F      119   0.62   30-44-74*

There's a lot of fire power in this week’s Red Baron WCHA Final Five. The asterisk annotates an active player in this week’s tourney. As you can see from the list, Danny Kristo and Rylan Schwartz are the active career point’s leaders in the WCHA.  
  
Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine. 

Final 5 Match-Ups (by Donn)

This is it, the last WCHA Final 5 as we have known it for decades.  Three out of last weekend’s first round series went to three games, which is not too surprising, given the depth and talent of the conference as a whole.  I’m looking forward to this long weekend of hockey and hopefully will take a lot of good memories from it. Most of the teams that are not going to St. Paul are done for the year, with the exception of DU.  The Pioneers could get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament; they are currently sitting at #13 in the pairwise.

WCHA FINAL STANDINGS 2012-2013

Team………………………W-L-T………Points

1. St. Cloud St……………18-9-1.……….37
2. Minnesota……………...16-7-2……..…37
3. North Dakota.………….14-7-7………..35
4. Denver…………..……..14-9-5..….......33
5. Wisconsin…....………..13-8-7………...33
6. Minnesota State………16-11-1....…….33
7. Nebraska-Omaha…......14-12-2…....…30
8. Colorado College …….11-13-4..….….26
9. Minnesota-Duluth….….10-13-5……….25
10. Michigan Tech………..8-16-4…..…..20
11. Bemidji State……..…..6-15-7......…..17
12. Alaska-Anchorage…....2-20-6.....…..10

The # numbers below are now the PAIRWISE rankings.

Thursday Games

Colorado College @ #6 North Dakota

Last weekend NoDak ended MTU’s season in three games (5-3W, 2-1L, 6-0W) in Grand Forks and the Tigers beat their archrival Pioneers in three games (5-3L, 2-1W, 4-3W) in Denver.

2012-13 series – Tied wins 2-2-0

The first series was in Colorado Springs Nov30/Dec1 with the Tigers winning the first game (5-3) and UND winning the second in overtime (3-2).  They met for the second series in Grand Forks in mid-January with the Tigers again winning the opening game (4-3) and UND winning the finale (5-3).

UND has a chance to be the first four-peat champion this weekend and it starts with a stiff test in CC.  The Tigers have the offensive power to compete with anyone in the league; the big question is their defense and goaltending.  The same could be said about UND, they too have has some blips in their own zone too.  Both have a short week after playing three games (Fri/Sat/Sun) and then a short rest and travel before this Thursday night game.  The Tigers need to keep winning to extend their season, UND could lose and still make the NCAA tournament.  I’m going with UND in this game, since they have been getting more consistent play in the net.  NODAK WINS

(I also want them to win so we all get to see another UND/UM game.)

#9 Minnesota State @ #16 Wisconsin

Last weekend the Mavericks took out the UNO Mavericks in three games (4-3Wot, 2-1L, 3-1W) in Mankato and the Badgers ended the UMD Bulldogs season by sweeping them (3-1, 4-1) in Madison.

2012-13 series – Tied 2-2-0

The first series was in Madison on Nov23/24 with the Mavericks sweeping the series (4-2, 4-2).  They met for the second series in Mankato in mid-January with the Badgers returning the favor in dramatic fashion, by sweeping the Mavericks in overtime in both games (4-3ot, 2-1ot).

The Badgers have clawed their way back in the NCAA tournament picture, now they are firmly on the bubble with their #16 rank.  The Mavericks would be in the NCAA tournament if it started this weekend, but if get some wins this weekend they can move up the rankings and improve their seeding. 

This game I’m not sure about who is going to win, I don’t have a feeling right away for one team or the other.  Both are playing well and need/want to advance to Friday’s game against SCSU.  Even with UW being the “home” team in this game, I’m going to go with the “visitors” for the win, in overtime.  MAVERICKS WIN

Friday Games

#12 St. Could St.

Last weekend the Huskies swept the Seawolves (6-1, 5-1) in St. Cloud.

Season Series
vs MSUM – SCSU wins 2-0-0
vs UW – Tied 1-1-0

Since the Huskies are the top seed they will “host” the winner from Thursday’s MSUM/UW play-in game.

If my prediction from Thursday hold true, the Huskies will be facing in-state foe Mankato for the right to advance to the championship game.  SCSU had to settle for “sharing” the MacNaughton Cup and now will want the Broadmoor Trophy all to themselves.  The Huskies have not captured the playoff title since 2001 and the Mavericks have never hoisted either piece of hardware.  HUSKIES WIN

#2 Minnesota

Last weekend the Gophers swept the Beavers (2-1ot, 4-3) in Minneapolis.

Since the Gophers are the second seed they will “host” the winner of the CC/UND from Thursday’s play-in game.

Season Series

vs UND – UM wins 1-0-1
vs CC – UM wins 1-0-1

Again, if my Thursday predictions hold true, the Gophers will face long, long, time rival UND in the evening tilt at the Xcel Center.  Last year these team clashed in a semi-final game, remember… the Gophers staked themselves to a 3-0 lead, UND called a time out, and then rattled off 6 unanswered goals for a 6-3 win.  (Then UM and UND met a week later again at the Xcel Center in the NCAA tournament with the UM winning.)  I don’t think we will get that kind of game this time around, but who knows, that’s why they play the games.  I’m inclined this time around to give the nod to the Gophers in this game, to set-up a rubber match with the Huskies.  GOPHERS WIN

Saturday - CHAMPIONSHIP Game

Well this as far as I’m allowed to stretch my predictions.  We’ll know by the end of Friday if I’m even close to correct.  But if I am, it’s a SCSU/UM game for the Broadmoor trophy, a title that cannot be shared, and the auto-bid for the NCAA tournament.  I’m thinking the Gophers might be spent emotionally if they beat UND the evening before.  The Gophers are a pretty solid lock on a number one seed, whereas the Huskies could use another quality win to solidify their spot in the tourney.  HUSKIES WIN

Related articles

• WCHA Power Rankings: Week 22 (thehockeywriters.com)

College Hockey’s March Madness: This weekend’s NCAA Division one television schedule (3/21 – 3/24)

Western Collegiate Hockey Association logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here is this weekend’s National College Hockey television schedule. There is a full slate of college hockey on television again this weekend. It’s conference tournament time, college hockey’s version of March Madness.

In my opinion, this is most wonderful time of the year.

Check your television guide for times in your local area. As with any schedule, channels will change and have in the past. There may also be games on in your local area that may not be on nationally.

Even with the NHL ending it’s lockout and making it back to our television dials, there has is still been a lot of watchable college hockey on television. Some fans actually prefer College hockey to the NHL.

This weekend, the CCHA Championship game will be on television in Canada, and that game will be on The Score.

Day		Game	Channel	Time	DTV/DISH
Thu.	Mar. 21	WCHA Quarterfinal	FS North	2:00 p.m.	668/ 436
Thu.	Mar. 21	WCHA Quarterfinal	FS North	7:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Fri.	Mar. 22	WCHA Semifinal	FS North	2:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Fri.	Mar. 22	ECAC Hockey Semifinal	FOX College	3:00 p.m.	TBD
Fri.	Mar. 22	Hockey East Semifinal	NBC Sports Net.	3:00 p.m.	220 / 159
Fri.	Mar. 22	Hockey East Semifinal	NBC Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	220 / 159
Fri.	Mar. 22	ECAC Hockey Semifinal	FOX College	6:30 p.m.	TBD
Fri.	Mar. 22	WCHA Semifinal	FS North	7:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Sat.	Mar. 23	CCHA Semifinal	FS Detroit	12:00 p.m.	663 / 430
Sat.	Mar. 23	CCHA Semifinal	FS Detroit	3:30 p.m.	663 / 430
Sat.	Mar. 23	ECAC Hockey Champ.	FOX College	6:00 p.m.	TBD
Sat.	Mar. 23	Hockey East Championship	NBC Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	220 / 159
Sat.	Mar. 23	WCHA Championship	FS North	7:00 p.m.	668 / 436
Sun.	Mar. 24	CCHA Championship	FS Detroit	12:00 p.m.	663 / 430
Sun.	Mar. 24	NCAA Selection Show (C)	ESPNU	8:00 p.m.	208 / 141

*NESN = New England Sports Network, FCS = Fox College Sports, FSN+ = Fox Sports North-Plus, NBCSN = NBC Sports Network, DirecTV requires the “Sports Pack” to view the Regional sports Networks. All times are Central Standard Time.