HI Puckers,
BB's web site is down. Thought I'd post this here if anyone is interested. I don't know if there is even any wagering on NCAA hockey ... so just for hockey purists I guess. Maybe there's a line somewhere when it gets down to the final four.
Comments appreciated, especially if you have some local insight. I watch the WCHA in person, but the others only through internet research.
NCAA HOCKEY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW - March 4, 2002
WCHA. It was 9 p.m. Friday night, March 1st, and the St. Cloud State Huskies had clawed their way back into their game against the Minnesota Gophers. Coming back in the third period from a 5-1 deficit, the Huskies had it narrowed to 5-4 while North Dakota was leading Denver 3-2 after two periods. At that moment, the Huskies were still in the running for the MacNaughton cup. From that point on, the weekend was a disaster for St. Cloud. They couldn?t get the equalizer against Minnesota and then got bad news on the scoreboard as Denver tied the Fighting Sioux early in the third period and won that game and the WCHA regular season title with a 4-3 overtime win. Saturday night?s games in the WCHA were played for pride, as the tournament match-ups were set after the Friday results were in.
WCHA Tournament Match-ups:
Regular season champion Denver will host Michigan Tech. The Pioneers should win this series handily and will be seeded into the semifinals of the WCHA final five. Although top ranked for several weeks this season, Denver?s record over their last 12 games was a disappointing 6-5-1. They are still top-5 in the Pair-Wise and RPI rankings and should be a top-4 seed. A poor conference showing could jeopardize that coveted seed and a first round bye in the NCAA regionals.
Runner-up St. Cloud State hosts Minnesota Duluth in a 2 vs. 9 series that looks one-sided on paper. The games, however, will be played on the ice and former Dean Blais assistant Scott Sandelin has the Bulldogs playing very solid hockey. St. Cloud will be wise not to overlook Duluth. St. Cloud State is another WCHA power that has been at or near the top of the national rankings all year, but is stumbling a bit, losing three of their last four games. The Huskies have dropped to #7 in the all-important Pair-Wise rankings and need a strong WCHA tournament showing to secure a top-4 seed in the NCAA regionals.
The Minnesota Gophers finished the WCHA regular season in third place, but are the hottest team in this conference and make a strong case for the nation?s top spot. The Gophers only question mark is goaltending. If senior Adam Hauser (0.91, 2.46) can bring his ?A-Game? to the post season, the Gophers have a great shot at the NCAA title. The Gophers start the WCHA tourney at home against rival North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux have played Minnesota tough this year and will not be intimidated in Mariucci arena. If North Dakota stays out of the penalty box, the series should be a good one. If the Gophers get their power play unit onto the ice with any regularity, the Sioux will be in trouble. In last weekend?s sweep of St. Cloud State, the Gophers were 4 of 8 with the man advantage.
Fourth Place Colorado College hosts Alaska Anchorage in Colorado Springs. The CC Tigers lost a pair to Alaska two weeks ago, so the Seawolves will not be taken lightly. Coach John Hill has the Alaska club playing with speed and confidence. This series is a toss-up, with an edge to CC playing at home. CC was highly rated for much of this season, but has stumbled lately. They should get into an NCAA regional, but are a ?bubble team? that would benefit greatly from a strong conference tournament showing.
Fifth place Wisconsin will host Minnesota State Mankato. 2001-2002 was a disappointing season this year for the Wisconsin Badgers, while MSU-Mankato had their best WCHA season to date, gaining a lot of respect from the older established clubs this year. Neither of these teams is likely to get into the WCHA finals or the NCAA regionals.
Hockey East. New Hampshire won the regular season title in convincing fashion; winning their last five games and sweeping defending NCAA champion Boston College in the final weekend of the regular season. New Hampshire should get a top-4 seed for the NCAA regionals no matter how they play in the HEA conference tournament. Boston U and Maine are the other Hockey East teams that have a lock on a NCAA regional berth. Anyone else will need to earn a spot by winning the conference tournament.
Hockey East Tournament Match-ups:
New Hampshire hosts Merrimack while Boston U hosts Providence. These two top seeds should have no trouble advancing into the HEA semifinals. The other two series, however, should be good battles.
UMass-Lowell hosts Northeastern in Tsongas arena. The Northeastern Huskies won two of the three games these two teams played in the regular season, but the Lowell River Hawks won 4-1 last Wednesday to secure home-ice for the first round. Should be a tough best-of-three series between evenly matched teams.
Maine will host Boston College in Orono. Maine has been much higher ranked all year, but everyone on the East Coast knows that the defending NCAA champion BC Eagles cannot be taken lightly.
CCHA. Regular season champion Michigan and runner-up Michigan State should both advance easily into the CCHA semifinals. Michigan hosts Lake Superior State while MSU hosts Bowling Green. Both Michigan schools should get NCAA regional berths no matter what transpires in the CCHA tournament. Both have a shot at a top-4 seed, but neither are locks, so both squads have something other than pride to play for in this tournament. Northern Michigan and Alaska-Fairbanks are ?bubble? teams that need several tournament wins to get into the NCAA regionals.
CCHA Tournament Match-ups.
Northern Michigan hosts Miami (Ohio) in Marquette. Northern Michigan swept the two games these two played a couple weeks ago. The Wildcats should win this series.
Alaska-Fairbanks hosts Ferris State in the 4 vs. 9 match-up. This series is no ?gimmie? for the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks. Ferris State won two 4-1 games between these two teams early in the season. While Fairbanks has played well in the second half of the season and been much higher regarded in the polls than the Bulldogs of Ferris State, the ?dogs? beat Michigan State last weekend and lost a tough 2-0 game to league champion Michigan in the last regular season game.
Nebraska-Omaha hosts Notre Dame in the 5 vs. 8 series. The Nebraska Omaha Mavericks took two games from the Fighting Irish in mid-January and are favored in this series, but the Irish finished the season with five straight wins and will give the Mavs a good test.
Western Michigan hosts Ohio State in the 6 vs. 7 series. Ohio State won both regular season games and both teams showed progress against the conference powerhouse Michigan teams this season. This series is a toss-up.
This week?s top-10:
1. University of Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Denver University
4. Michigan State
5. St. Cloud State
6. Boston University
7. Michigan
8. Maine
9. Colorado College
10. Cornell
jatski
:shrug:
BB's web site is down. Thought I'd post this here if anyone is interested. I don't know if there is even any wagering on NCAA hockey ... so just for hockey purists I guess. Maybe there's a line somewhere when it gets down to the final four.
Comments appreciated, especially if you have some local insight. I watch the WCHA in person, but the others only through internet research.
NCAA HOCKEY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW - March 4, 2002
WCHA. It was 9 p.m. Friday night, March 1st, and the St. Cloud State Huskies had clawed their way back into their game against the Minnesota Gophers. Coming back in the third period from a 5-1 deficit, the Huskies had it narrowed to 5-4 while North Dakota was leading Denver 3-2 after two periods. At that moment, the Huskies were still in the running for the MacNaughton cup. From that point on, the weekend was a disaster for St. Cloud. They couldn?t get the equalizer against Minnesota and then got bad news on the scoreboard as Denver tied the Fighting Sioux early in the third period and won that game and the WCHA regular season title with a 4-3 overtime win. Saturday night?s games in the WCHA were played for pride, as the tournament match-ups were set after the Friday results were in.
WCHA Tournament Match-ups:
Regular season champion Denver will host Michigan Tech. The Pioneers should win this series handily and will be seeded into the semifinals of the WCHA final five. Although top ranked for several weeks this season, Denver?s record over their last 12 games was a disappointing 6-5-1. They are still top-5 in the Pair-Wise and RPI rankings and should be a top-4 seed. A poor conference showing could jeopardize that coveted seed and a first round bye in the NCAA regionals.
Runner-up St. Cloud State hosts Minnesota Duluth in a 2 vs. 9 series that looks one-sided on paper. The games, however, will be played on the ice and former Dean Blais assistant Scott Sandelin has the Bulldogs playing very solid hockey. St. Cloud will be wise not to overlook Duluth. St. Cloud State is another WCHA power that has been at or near the top of the national rankings all year, but is stumbling a bit, losing three of their last four games. The Huskies have dropped to #7 in the all-important Pair-Wise rankings and need a strong WCHA tournament showing to secure a top-4 seed in the NCAA regionals.
The Minnesota Gophers finished the WCHA regular season in third place, but are the hottest team in this conference and make a strong case for the nation?s top spot. The Gophers only question mark is goaltending. If senior Adam Hauser (0.91, 2.46) can bring his ?A-Game? to the post season, the Gophers have a great shot at the NCAA title. The Gophers start the WCHA tourney at home against rival North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux have played Minnesota tough this year and will not be intimidated in Mariucci arena. If North Dakota stays out of the penalty box, the series should be a good one. If the Gophers get their power play unit onto the ice with any regularity, the Sioux will be in trouble. In last weekend?s sweep of St. Cloud State, the Gophers were 4 of 8 with the man advantage.
Fourth Place Colorado College hosts Alaska Anchorage in Colorado Springs. The CC Tigers lost a pair to Alaska two weeks ago, so the Seawolves will not be taken lightly. Coach John Hill has the Alaska club playing with speed and confidence. This series is a toss-up, with an edge to CC playing at home. CC was highly rated for much of this season, but has stumbled lately. They should get into an NCAA regional, but are a ?bubble team? that would benefit greatly from a strong conference tournament showing.
Fifth place Wisconsin will host Minnesota State Mankato. 2001-2002 was a disappointing season this year for the Wisconsin Badgers, while MSU-Mankato had their best WCHA season to date, gaining a lot of respect from the older established clubs this year. Neither of these teams is likely to get into the WCHA finals or the NCAA regionals.
Hockey East. New Hampshire won the regular season title in convincing fashion; winning their last five games and sweeping defending NCAA champion Boston College in the final weekend of the regular season. New Hampshire should get a top-4 seed for the NCAA regionals no matter how they play in the HEA conference tournament. Boston U and Maine are the other Hockey East teams that have a lock on a NCAA regional berth. Anyone else will need to earn a spot by winning the conference tournament.
Hockey East Tournament Match-ups:
New Hampshire hosts Merrimack while Boston U hosts Providence. These two top seeds should have no trouble advancing into the HEA semifinals. The other two series, however, should be good battles.
UMass-Lowell hosts Northeastern in Tsongas arena. The Northeastern Huskies won two of the three games these two teams played in the regular season, but the Lowell River Hawks won 4-1 last Wednesday to secure home-ice for the first round. Should be a tough best-of-three series between evenly matched teams.
Maine will host Boston College in Orono. Maine has been much higher ranked all year, but everyone on the East Coast knows that the defending NCAA champion BC Eagles cannot be taken lightly.
CCHA. Regular season champion Michigan and runner-up Michigan State should both advance easily into the CCHA semifinals. Michigan hosts Lake Superior State while MSU hosts Bowling Green. Both Michigan schools should get NCAA regional berths no matter what transpires in the CCHA tournament. Both have a shot at a top-4 seed, but neither are locks, so both squads have something other than pride to play for in this tournament. Northern Michigan and Alaska-Fairbanks are ?bubble? teams that need several tournament wins to get into the NCAA regionals.
CCHA Tournament Match-ups.
Northern Michigan hosts Miami (Ohio) in Marquette. Northern Michigan swept the two games these two played a couple weeks ago. The Wildcats should win this series.
Alaska-Fairbanks hosts Ferris State in the 4 vs. 9 match-up. This series is no ?gimmie? for the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks. Ferris State won two 4-1 games between these two teams early in the season. While Fairbanks has played well in the second half of the season and been much higher regarded in the polls than the Bulldogs of Ferris State, the ?dogs? beat Michigan State last weekend and lost a tough 2-0 game to league champion Michigan in the last regular season game.
Nebraska-Omaha hosts Notre Dame in the 5 vs. 8 series. The Nebraska Omaha Mavericks took two games from the Fighting Irish in mid-January and are favored in this series, but the Irish finished the season with five straight wins and will give the Mavs a good test.
Western Michigan hosts Ohio State in the 6 vs. 7 series. Ohio State won both regular season games and both teams showed progress against the conference powerhouse Michigan teams this season. This series is a toss-up.
This week?s top-10:
1. University of Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Denver University
4. Michigan State
5. St. Cloud State
6. Boston University
7. Michigan
8. Maine
9. Colorado College
10. Cornell
jatski
:shrug: