Hi Pucksters,
Here's this week's NCAA conference tournament update. Anyone know if any outs for college hockey? I've never bet it except with friends. Should get more interesting as the regional pairings are put together after this weekend.
NCAA CONFERENCE TOURNEY UPDATE >>> WEEK 2
WCHA. No upsets in the WCHA?s opening round with all five series finishing in two games.
#1 seed Denver University easily handled Michigan Tech, 5-1 & 8-1. Denver will meet the winner of the Colorado College vs. Wisconsin game in the semifinals of the WCHA tournament on Friday. Most WCHA watchers are expecting CC to prevail against the Badgers of Wisconsin on Thursday evening, sending the CC Tigers up against their state rival DU Pioneers for the fifth time this season. The two teams have split the other four games with CC winning a two game home and home series late in the season.
#2 seed St. Cloud State won their series against Duluth in two games, but as expected, the UMD Bulldogs came to play and St. Cloud was tested, winning 5-4 & 6-3. Junior forward Mark Hartigan scored 3 goals and added 4 assists to reclaim the national scoring lead with 75 points. St. Cloud looks forward to revenge against the Gophers when they line up next Friday night ? should be a very spirited game at the Xcel center in St. Paul.
#3 seed Minnesota cruised to an easy 7-2 win on Friday night, but had to go the extra mile Saturday night against a proud and hard-working UND Sioux squad. Minnesota prevailed 4-3 in OT to sweep the series, much to the relief of the coaching staff. "I'm just glad we're not playing tomorrow night, I can tell you that," said (UM Coach) Lucia. The Gophers will face the St. Cloud State Huskies in the other semifinal tilt Friday night. Minnesota swept State in the last regular season series and goes into the Frozen-Five skating with a lot of confidence and firepower.
#4 seed CC took two games from a strong Alaska-Anchorage team, 6-1 & 1-0 and #5 seed Wisconsin won their series against MSU-Mankato 3-2 & 7-3. Both CC and Wisconsin face the tough task of winning the ?play-in? game in the WCHA final five on Thursday night, then facing Denver on Friday afternoon in the semifinals. How tough is it for a 4th or 5th seed to win the WCHA by winning three games in three days? It?s never been done. Although CC played some superb hockey this year it?s unlikely either of these two teams will be smiling on Saturday night when the trophy is awarded.
WCHA Tournament Predictions:
Play-in, 4 vs. 5: CC over Wisconsin 5 ? 2
Semifinals: Denver U over CC 4 ? 2 & Minnesota over St. Cloud State 5 ? 4.
Finals: Minnesota over Denver 3 ? 2.
Hockey East: No upsets in Hockey East, although several underdogs put up very good fights before going down.
#1 seed New Hampshire handled Merrimack easily in the first game of their best-of-three series 6-2. Merrimack came back strong in the second game and led 3-0 early in the second period. The top ranked Wildcats stormed back to tie the game and win it in overtime. New Hampshire will play Umass Lowell on Friday night in the semifinals.
#2 seed Boston University came back from 2-1 deficits both games to sweep Providence 3-2 & 4-2. BU is playing with confidence and has a reasonable shot at a top-4 seed going into the NCAA regionals. BU squares off against Maine on Friday night in what could be the best game of the weekend.
#3 seed Maine knocked off defending NCAA champion Boston College 7-3 & 4-2. Maine?s power play was 3 of 7 for the weekend, while the Black Bears only had to kill two penalties, playing smooth and clean. Maine?s star is rising and they are on a parallel with BU in that if they can win the Hockey East tournament, they make a strong claim to a top-4 seed into regional play.
#4 seed Umass-Lowell took care of business against Northeastern, grinding out a full best-of-three series win 5-2, 2-4, & 3-1. These two teams looked evenly matched coming into the tournament and entered the third period of the final game knotted at 1-1. They were three well-played, hard fought games, with home-ice tipping the scale ever-so-slightly to Lowell.
Hockey East Tournament Predictions:
Semifinals: New Hampshire over Lowell 4-1 & Maine to upset BU 4-3 in OT.
Final: Maine upsets New Hampshire 4-2.
CCHA. One shocking upset and two series upsets reflected on the balance through the middle of this conference.
#1 seed Michigan was stunned by lowly Lake Superior State 4-3 in the opening game of this series. Michigan dominated play, out shooting LSSU 42-16, but freshman goaltender Matt Violin was brilliant and the mighty Wolverines fell in game one. Michigan bounced back with two strong 4-1 wins to take the series, but our hats should go off to the Lakers for reminding us that there?s always a chance when you play good position hockey and have a solid net-minder.
Seeds 2, 3, & 4, Michigan State, Northern Michigan, and Alaska-Fairbanks all took care of business uneventfully. MSU handled Bowling Green 4-3 & 4-2. Bowling Green has a history of solid underdog play in the CCHA conference tournament and they took a 3-1 lead in the first game, shocking the 5400 fans at Munn arena. MSU finally got it together, tying the game with less than a minute to play, then winning in OT. Northern Michigan handled Miami 4-0 & 5-3. Alaska-Fairbanks were tough on the visiting Ferris State Bulldogs, winning their two games 6-3 & 2-1.
The middle-of-the-pack upsets: #5 seed and highly ranked Nebraska-Omaha was upset by the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 3-2, 1-2, 1-2. The first two games went to OT in this hard fought series, the first one into double OT. This was a very exciting series with tremendous fan interest in Omaha. Look for continued growth and competitiveness from this Maverick team. #6 seed Western Michigan was swept by Ohio State 3-2 in OT and 3-1. Not a huge upset as these two teams looked very evenly matched heading into the tournament.
CCHA Predictions:
Super-Six Play-in games: Alaska-Fairbanks over Ohio State 5-4 in OT. Northern Michigan over Notre Dame 4-1.
Semifinals: Michigan over Alaska-Fairbanks 3-2 & Michigan State over Northern Michigan 3-1.
Final: Michigan State over Michigan 2-1. As usual, MSU will be out-shot in this one 45-31 and the Michigan players will all feel like they were robbed by Ryan Miller.
ECAC: Cornell over Harvard in the conference tournament final.
MAAC: Mercyhurst over Quinnipiac in the conference tournament final.
Top-10 as of March 12:
1. Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Denver U
4. Michigan State
5. Maine
6. Boston University
7. St. Cloud State
8. Michigan
9. Colorado College
10. Cornell
jatski
:shrug: :shrug:
Here's this week's NCAA conference tournament update. Anyone know if any outs for college hockey? I've never bet it except with friends. Should get more interesting as the regional pairings are put together after this weekend.
NCAA CONFERENCE TOURNEY UPDATE >>> WEEK 2
WCHA. No upsets in the WCHA?s opening round with all five series finishing in two games.
#1 seed Denver University easily handled Michigan Tech, 5-1 & 8-1. Denver will meet the winner of the Colorado College vs. Wisconsin game in the semifinals of the WCHA tournament on Friday. Most WCHA watchers are expecting CC to prevail against the Badgers of Wisconsin on Thursday evening, sending the CC Tigers up against their state rival DU Pioneers for the fifth time this season. The two teams have split the other four games with CC winning a two game home and home series late in the season.
#2 seed St. Cloud State won their series against Duluth in two games, but as expected, the UMD Bulldogs came to play and St. Cloud was tested, winning 5-4 & 6-3. Junior forward Mark Hartigan scored 3 goals and added 4 assists to reclaim the national scoring lead with 75 points. St. Cloud looks forward to revenge against the Gophers when they line up next Friday night ? should be a very spirited game at the Xcel center in St. Paul.
#3 seed Minnesota cruised to an easy 7-2 win on Friday night, but had to go the extra mile Saturday night against a proud and hard-working UND Sioux squad. Minnesota prevailed 4-3 in OT to sweep the series, much to the relief of the coaching staff. "I'm just glad we're not playing tomorrow night, I can tell you that," said (UM Coach) Lucia. The Gophers will face the St. Cloud State Huskies in the other semifinal tilt Friday night. Minnesota swept State in the last regular season series and goes into the Frozen-Five skating with a lot of confidence and firepower.
#4 seed CC took two games from a strong Alaska-Anchorage team, 6-1 & 1-0 and #5 seed Wisconsin won their series against MSU-Mankato 3-2 & 7-3. Both CC and Wisconsin face the tough task of winning the ?play-in? game in the WCHA final five on Thursday night, then facing Denver on Friday afternoon in the semifinals. How tough is it for a 4th or 5th seed to win the WCHA by winning three games in three days? It?s never been done. Although CC played some superb hockey this year it?s unlikely either of these two teams will be smiling on Saturday night when the trophy is awarded.
WCHA Tournament Predictions:
Play-in, 4 vs. 5: CC over Wisconsin 5 ? 2
Semifinals: Denver U over CC 4 ? 2 & Minnesota over St. Cloud State 5 ? 4.
Finals: Minnesota over Denver 3 ? 2.
Hockey East: No upsets in Hockey East, although several underdogs put up very good fights before going down.
#1 seed New Hampshire handled Merrimack easily in the first game of their best-of-three series 6-2. Merrimack came back strong in the second game and led 3-0 early in the second period. The top ranked Wildcats stormed back to tie the game and win it in overtime. New Hampshire will play Umass Lowell on Friday night in the semifinals.
#2 seed Boston University came back from 2-1 deficits both games to sweep Providence 3-2 & 4-2. BU is playing with confidence and has a reasonable shot at a top-4 seed going into the NCAA regionals. BU squares off against Maine on Friday night in what could be the best game of the weekend.
#3 seed Maine knocked off defending NCAA champion Boston College 7-3 & 4-2. Maine?s power play was 3 of 7 for the weekend, while the Black Bears only had to kill two penalties, playing smooth and clean. Maine?s star is rising and they are on a parallel with BU in that if they can win the Hockey East tournament, they make a strong claim to a top-4 seed into regional play.
#4 seed Umass-Lowell took care of business against Northeastern, grinding out a full best-of-three series win 5-2, 2-4, & 3-1. These two teams looked evenly matched coming into the tournament and entered the third period of the final game knotted at 1-1. They were three well-played, hard fought games, with home-ice tipping the scale ever-so-slightly to Lowell.
Hockey East Tournament Predictions:
Semifinals: New Hampshire over Lowell 4-1 & Maine to upset BU 4-3 in OT.
Final: Maine upsets New Hampshire 4-2.
CCHA. One shocking upset and two series upsets reflected on the balance through the middle of this conference.
#1 seed Michigan was stunned by lowly Lake Superior State 4-3 in the opening game of this series. Michigan dominated play, out shooting LSSU 42-16, but freshman goaltender Matt Violin was brilliant and the mighty Wolverines fell in game one. Michigan bounced back with two strong 4-1 wins to take the series, but our hats should go off to the Lakers for reminding us that there?s always a chance when you play good position hockey and have a solid net-minder.
Seeds 2, 3, & 4, Michigan State, Northern Michigan, and Alaska-Fairbanks all took care of business uneventfully. MSU handled Bowling Green 4-3 & 4-2. Bowling Green has a history of solid underdog play in the CCHA conference tournament and they took a 3-1 lead in the first game, shocking the 5400 fans at Munn arena. MSU finally got it together, tying the game with less than a minute to play, then winning in OT. Northern Michigan handled Miami 4-0 & 5-3. Alaska-Fairbanks were tough on the visiting Ferris State Bulldogs, winning their two games 6-3 & 2-1.
The middle-of-the-pack upsets: #5 seed and highly ranked Nebraska-Omaha was upset by the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame 3-2, 1-2, 1-2. The first two games went to OT in this hard fought series, the first one into double OT. This was a very exciting series with tremendous fan interest in Omaha. Look for continued growth and competitiveness from this Maverick team. #6 seed Western Michigan was swept by Ohio State 3-2 in OT and 3-1. Not a huge upset as these two teams looked very evenly matched heading into the tournament.
CCHA Predictions:
Super-Six Play-in games: Alaska-Fairbanks over Ohio State 5-4 in OT. Northern Michigan over Notre Dame 4-1.
Semifinals: Michigan over Alaska-Fairbanks 3-2 & Michigan State over Northern Michigan 3-1.
Final: Michigan State over Michigan 2-1. As usual, MSU will be out-shot in this one 45-31 and the Michigan players will all feel like they were robbed by Ryan Miller.
ECAC: Cornell over Harvard in the conference tournament final.
MAAC: Mercyhurst over Quinnipiac in the conference tournament final.
Top-10 as of March 12:
1. Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Denver U
4. Michigan State
5. Maine
6. Boston University
7. St. Cloud State
8. Michigan
9. Colorado College
10. Cornell
jatski
:shrug: :shrug: