While Minnesota laces up for its final two regular-season games of 2016-17, the NCHC and WCHA are ready to begin the second weekend of their conference tournaments. Here’s a quick look at this weekend’s action.
NCHC: It’s Denver against everyone else
The Pioneers (26-6-4) won the league’s regular-season title and are No. 1 in the Pairwise. Colorado College has won only eight games all season (8-22-4) but did pull off second-half upsets of higher-ups like North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth.
KEY TO THE SERIES: The Tigers haven’t won back-to-back NCHC games in a single weekend more than once in the last three years. In addition, head coach Mike Haviland – in his third season in Denver – has coached his team to three consecutive four-game season sweeps over the Tigers.
Other games:
Minnesota Duluth (21-6-7, No. 2 in the Pairwise) vs. Miami (9-18-7)
Western Michigan (20-9-5, No. 4 in the Pairwise, after only eight wins last season) vs. Nebraska-Omaha (16-15-5)
North Dakota (18-14-3) vs. St. Cloud State (16-17-1)
All this weekend’s games will be played on campus. Winners advance to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff next weekend at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
WCHA: New format, same hard-to-beat Beavers
The WCHA began its new all-rounds-on-campus tournament last week with a thriller in Bemidji. The top-seeded Pioneers needed every game in the best-of-three format to beat out Northern Michigan 3-1 and take the series. BSU hosts fourth-seeded Bowling Green in the semifinal round this weekend at the Sanford Center.
KEY TO THE SERIES: Bemidji State has outscored opponents 38-18 in the first period. After that, they light it up just enough – and pester opponent offenses more than enough – to win. If the Beavers keep that up, they could make and even host the finals. If not, the way could be open for the just-above-.500 Falcons to slip into the championship.
Michigan Tech hosts Minnesota State in the other semi. The Huskies blew out Lake Superior State in two games at Houghton last weekend. Neither game was close and Tech had coach Mel Pearson called the weekend a "total team effort."
KEY TO THE SERIES: Tech must have consistent goaltending from Angus Redmond, who needed only 16 saves to shut out LSSU 8-0 last Saturday. Prior to last weekend, Redmond had allowed three or more goals six times in the previous ten games.
This will be a big weekend for the WCHA, which moved to the on-campus playoff format this spring after disappointing crowds turned out in St. Paul and Grand Rapids, Mich., for the previous three Battle For the Broadmoor tournaments. It’s tough to have to rely on attendance in Houghton and Bemidji but at least this format will help stem the flow of red ink from the conference’s playoff coffers. The WCHA really had no choice.
Meanwhile, at Mariucci: the regular season rolls on for the Gophers
This weekend caps a season that has only gotten better for Minnesota, despite a couple of recent potholes. The Gophers come into their series again Michigan State – the doormat of the Big Ten now – having already clinched a first-day bye at the Big Ten tournament in Detroit. With three points on the line for each win, Minnesota can take the conference’s regular season title outright.
KEY TO THE SERIES: Just keep rolling. Tyler Sheehy has moved to the top of the crop as a scorer while Vinny Lettieri has found an explosive new element to his game. Captain Justin Kloos continues to be the glue that holds everything together. Minnesota needs strong netminding from Alex Schierhorn who, when he’s on his game, is one of the top goaltenders in college hockey.
Please join Ben Clymer and me for Minnesota’s regular season finale against the Spartans Saturday at 7 p.m. on Fox Sports North Plus!
DOUG McLEOD is a five-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports and a longtime voice of Division I and NHL hockey. This is his 21st season calling Golden Gopher hockey games.
