Well, the craziness seems to have ended for SCSU this week. All appears to be normal again. No players were suspended, and everyone is happy coming off of the first WCHA sweep of the season. They are now, officially, on a small winning streak. I only hope that they can keep up the good work.
With that said, they still have a lot of work to do. Friday's game was played very well by the Huskies of SCSU. They out-worked their opponent for 55 minutes of the game. Yes, there was a lull at the beginning of the second, but it didn't last long and Tech didn't do anything with it. Saturday's game is the one that has me somewhat worried. You all look at the score (5-1 for those who missed it), and you ask yourself, "How could he be worried?" Well, they got lucky.
Their luck started with the game winning goal. From what I remember, the Huskies were controlling the zone and things started to get a jumbled. The puck came back to Brett Barta at the point. He shot the puck and it hit Jared Festler's stick, and possibly a Tech player's stick as well, and shot virtually straight up into the air. The puck landed on top of the net, and in the commotion behind the net got popped up into the air and bounced off the back of the Tech goalie and into the net.
Along with that bit of bad luck in Tech's d-zone, Tech had so many blown offensive opportunities it's not even funny. Their best came on a 3x2 during the second period with the score 2-1 SCSU. The Tech player on the right wing passed over to the left wing who had a wide open net to shoot at. Instead of burying it, he slipped and puck trickled five feet wide of the net. When you factor that one, along with three or four other grade A chances they blew, this could've, and probably should've, been a much closer game.
St. Cloud would've lost the Saturday game to most other teams in the league, but thankfully they were playing Michigan Tech and came out with a much needed sweep, four points, and have climbed out of the cellar, for a little while anyway.
As for the rest of the league, there were four other series, and all of them were non-conference series. In addition to those series, Minnesota and UMD took on the U18 team at their respective rinks. In my opinion, every WCHA should've swept their series last weekend, and almost everyone did. The lone exception was Bemidji, who lost to Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday afternoon. Hunstville's win over BSU was their third of the season... In Bemidji's defense, the did start Dugas instead of the on-fire Bakala. An interesting side note, all four WCHA home teams (St. Cloud, Wisconsin, Mankato, and North Dakota) shutout their opponents on Friday night. Not that it means anything, but it's just interesting.
Now to the picks. Last week I went 9-1 (thanks Bemidji...) and picked one score correctly (oddly enough the BSU score from Friday). I am now a respectable 94-70 on the season and am looking to improve that again this weekend.
Non-conference
St. Lawrence @ Tech, Friday6:07, Saturday 4:07
Tech is riding a 15-game losing streak walking into this series, and this looks to be the perfect opportunity for them to break it. Split.
Tech wins Friday 3-2, St. Lawrence wins Saturday 4-2
Conference
Wisconsin @ Duluth, Friday/Saturday 7:07
Overall, these teams look to be fairly evenly matched. I think this is going to be a great series. This is the first conference series Duluth will be playing in their new building, and Wisconsin is going to want to spoil it for them. From the looks of it, this series will probably come down to special teams play. Both teams have mediocre PK's, but both have top 12 PP's. UW is second in the nation and UMD is 12th. It should be a good series. Split.
UMD wins Friday 4-3, UW wins Saturday 3-2
Bemidji @ UNO, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
This is a weekend UNO has probably had marked on their calendars since they went into Bemidji and were swept on the first weekend in December. Including those two games, UNO is 3-5 since the start of December after starting the year 9-2-1. Bemidji is 5-3 since the start of December after starting the season 3-8-1. Bemidji is definitely coming into this series playing better and with a hotter goalie than UNO, but there are no guarantees on the road in this league. Split.
BSU wins Friday 3-2, UNO wins Saturday 4-3
Denver @ Mankato, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
Mankato is coming into this series winners of eight of their last ten games. The two losses came against UND, and both were by only one goal. Denver is doing as well in their last ten, holding a record of 7-1-3. Mankato brings a hard-working style to the table every year, and this year is no different. It finally looks as though it might be paying off. Denver is continually one of the best teams in the country. Going into Mankato will be no easy task. I'm going to go the safe route here and pick a split.
Denver wins Friday 4-3, Mankato wins Saturday 3-2
Minnesota @ UND, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
I don't even know where to begin with this series. This is one of the roughest series you will see in college hockey. Just the thought of a UMN/UND series brings images of bone crunching hits. The Sioux are such an incredible hockey team and the U is so inconsistent that it really makes it tough to get any kind of feel for this series. The statistical Achilles heal of the Gophers is their PK, which the Sioux will take full advantage of. I don't think it's really going to matter which Gopher team shows up for this series. The Sioux should win both games handily. UND sweep.
UND 5-2, 4-2
CC @ Anchorage, Friday 10:07, Saturday 10:07
CC is clearly the hotter team in this one. They're 7-3 in their last 10 while Anchorage is 4-5-1. With that said, Anchorage is such a pesky team, and they were one of CC's three losses in their last ten games. For some reason, UAA seems to be able to put together half-way decent first halves of seasons and then totally tank in the second, and only time will tell what will happen this season. This should be a split or a CC sweep, but I don't know. CC has been great on the road this year and Anchorage sub-.500. I have to go with my gut, though, and call a split.
CC wins Friday 4-3, Anchorage wins Saturday 4-3
