Opinion Corner: Should be an exciting finish
With two weeks left in the college hockey regular season, let’s see how the WCHA playoffs’ are setting up for the Sioux and the Gophers.
Minnesota, with a 2 point lead over Duluth and a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way, would seem to have the upper hand towards winning the regular season title.
The Sioux are stacked up in a three-way tie for fourth with Colorado College and Nebraska-Omaha, with Omaha having the toughest remaining schedule of the three.
With the top six teams hosting the bottom six in the first round of the playoffs, finishing sixth or higher would give UND what they need — home ice in the first round. At this point in the proceedings, with a three-point lead over No. 7 Michigan Tech, a top 6 finish for North Dakota appears to be a safe bet.
Switching over to our NCAA Tournament watch, lets’ see who’s looking safe, who’s on the bubble, and who’s on life support.
Keep in mind that these observations are based on the extremely volatile PairWise rankings, so plenty is sure to change in the upcoming weeks.
We know one automatic bid will go to the Atlantic Hockey tournament winner. An upset in another conference tournament, where a lower ranked team takes an automatic bid, could reduce the available bids further. As a result, we’re going to assume that only the top 14 teams will make the field. Here’s how it sets up this week.
Safe for now — Boston College, Michigan, UMass-Lowell, Ferris State, Minnesota-Duluth, Boston University, and Union. In, but on the bubble — Minnesota, Maine, Michigan State, Miami, Denver, Ohio State, and North Dakota. Out, with a heartbeat — Cornell, Merrimack, Northern Michigan, and Lake Superior State. Out, on life support — Colorado College, Western Michigan, Colgate, and Notre Dame.
We’ve been hyping the upcoming UND-Denver series for a few weeks now, and for good reason. Two losses at Denver could prove to be devastating to the Sioux’s NCAA tournament hopes.
Looking at last weekends’ action in the WCHA, the Sioux took a 4-2 win at the Ralph on Friday.
Entering the third period with a 3-2 lead, UND needed a huge effort from Brad Eidsness in goal to withstand Tech’s frantic attempt to tie it up. Corban Knight finally scored an insurance goal with about 2 minutes left.
While Saturdays’ 1-1 tie was a tighter checking affair, Tech still had numerous quality scoring chances and Eidsness rose to the occasion again. The senior netminder played both games due to an undisclosed injury suffered by Aaron Dell.
In other conference action, Nebraska-Omaha showed some toughness this weekend at Colorado College. After having a last minute game-tying goal disallowed by a questionable call on Friday, the Mavericks came right back on Saturday, scoring three goals in the third period to take a 5-3 win.
Duluth beat Mankato 4-2 on Friday, but was stunned by a pair of late third-period goals on Saturday, settling for a 4-4 tie and a three-point weekend instead of a sweep.
In Minneapolis, the Gophers dominated Bemidji State and came away with a much needed sweep after losing a pair last weekend at Denver. Speaking of Denver, the Pioneers could manage only a split at Wisconsin.
In the CCHA, sweeps were happening all around the conference as Ferris State avoided a possible letdown and took two from Bowling Green, 5-1 and 4-1.
Other home sweepers were Michigan over Northern Michigan, Miami over slumping Notre Dame, and Michigan State over Alaska.
Western Michigan and Lake Superior State split a pair up in Sault Ste. Marie.
In Hockey East, Boston College appears to be ready for the post season. After beating Boston U to win the Beanpot, BC took both ends of a home-and-home against Merrimack. The other home-and-home in the spotlight was Boston U vs. UMass-Lowell. BU took the win at Lowell 7-4 on Friday, but Lowell bounced back with an impressive 4-2 road win on Saturday. Maine split a pair at home against UMass.
In ECAC play, the impressive Union College Dutchmen beat Princeton and Quinnipiac. Cornell and Colgate both made the trip to upstate New York, playing St. Lawrence and Clarkson on the weekend. Cornell came away with a win over St. Lawrence and a tie vs. Clarkson, while Colgate dropped both games.
Taking a look at the new national poll, Ferris State, Boston College, and Michigan hold the top three spots. No complaints there. Moving to the upside are Michigan State and Miami. Falling back are Boston U, Merrimack, and Notre Dame.
North Dakota holds steady at No. 14. Incredibly, Colgate moves back into the 20th spot after losing to a couple of mediocre ECAC teams over the weekend. They replace Northern Michigan, who lost a pair at No. 3 Michigan. There’s no way I can justify a move like that.
Looking ahead, the WCHA has a fine lineup this weekend.
UND heads to Denver to play its long-time rival in what will be the biggest series of the season. Friday’s game will be broadcast nationwide on the NBC Sports Network.
Elsewhere, St. Cloud State visits Michigan Tech, Colorado College heads to Minnesota-Duluth, and Minnesota will travel to Nebraska-Omaha.
In the CCHA, Ferris State has a home-and-home with Western Michigan, and slumping Ohio State, coming off a much-needed bye week, plays home-and-home against Miami. Michigan State plays two at Notre Dame, and Lake Superior travels across the Upper Peninsula to play Northern Michigan.
In the east, Union will be tested with road games at Cornell and Colgate this weekend. UMass Lowell plays a home-and-home against Merrimack.
Check out scoreboard for Division I hockey polls.
Schuttenhelm’s column runs each Wednesday through the college hockey season