Week Twenty Picks

We're fastly approaching the end of the hockey season. We only have two weeks left in the regular season...

I feel that I have mention Michigan Tech this week. They finally have won a game again. Yep, the defeated Denver last Friday night by a 3-2 score in Denver. I don't know how you live that one down, Denver. That's a tough, tough loss to take.

As it's somewhat late, and I have an early morning and full day tomorrow, this one is going to be brief again. Sorry, folks.

I went 5-7 last week which dropped my record to 130-102 on the year. Not too bad, but it could probably be a little better. We have five conference series and one non-conference this weekend. Mankato is the lone team off this weekend.

Non-conference
UAA @ Alaska, Friday 10:05, Alaska @ UAA, Saturday 10:07
Each team wins on their home ice.
Split. Alaska wins Friday 3-2, UAA wins Saturday 4-1

Conference
BSU @ UND, Saturday/Sunday 3:37
The Beavers have been such an up and down team this year that it's tough to predict what they're going to do on a weekly basis. The Sioux, on the other hand, have been pretty steady. In fact, it's pretty much a given that they're going to win on Saturday, so if the Beavs wanna pull one out of Siouxland, they'd better do it on Friday. I don't see that happening, though.
Sioux sweep 4-1, 6-2

MTU @ UMN, Friday 6:37, Saturday 7:37
I'm not sure what's going on the with start times at Mariucci this weekend, but the certainly are different. The Gophers are taking on the worse team in the league, possibly the country, so this should be a fairly easy couple of victories for the Gophers. Then again, look what the Huskies did at Denver last weekend. Tech has nothing to lose at this point in the season, so they might as well try and play spoilers. Even so, the Gophers should win a couple of games in convincing fashion.
Gophers sweep 4-1, 3-2

UW @ SCSU, Friday/Saturday 7:07
The Huskies and Badgers are both coming off of one point weekends when both teams needed two or better. The Badgers are the better team here and the Huskies are just too up and down each week. However, if they're able to play the Badgers how they played the Sioux last weekend, the Huskies could walk away with three or four points easily. It'll be interesting to see which team shows up. The Huskies are in desperation mode if they want to try and grab home ice. It is looking like that's going to be impossible to do, though, as they're currently four points out of sixth with four games left. The teams in front of them have easier schedules, too. (The Huskies travel to Denver to close the season out.) The Badgers are fighting to hold on to fifth right now, so expect them to come out with some fire. I think Bucky gets the best of Blizzard this weekend in both games. I sure do hope I'm wrong, though.
Badgers sweep 4-3, 5-2

DU @ UNO, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
The second and third place teams are squaring off in this one, and I'm expecting a good couple of games. Denver is one of the best teams in the league, again, and UNO has surprised a lot of people this year with their style, speed, and size. This one will probably be a split, but either team has the capability to sweep this. I'm going the safe route.
Split. UNO wins Friday 4-3, Denver wins Saturday 4-3

UMD @ CC, Friday 8:37, Saturday 8:07
The Tigers are coming off of a tough weekend at Bemidji which saw them get one point in a Friday night 5-5 tie. UMD was able to split its series with Mankato last weekend in Mankato. CC is trying to get itself back into home ice for the playoffs and Duluth is still in the hunt for the MacNaughton Cup. Given the way the Tigers have been playing, it's tough to see them come away with more than a point or two. It is tough to win on the road, though, so I have to give them one game, because they're still a fairly good team.
Split. UMD wins Friday 4-1, CC wins Saturday 4-3

Week Nineteen Picks

Sorry about the length of the two previous weeks, but I was out of town for one and just flat forgot about last weeks until it was too late. Oops! Well, that's not going to happen again. I'm back in full form this week, and have a full slate for you this week.

The Huskies of SCSU went into Duluth on Friday night and absolutely dominated the Dogs in theie new arena.  They won 8-2, if you didn't catch the final. Of course Saturday struck where they, once again, blew a three goal lead. Although, this time they managed to hang on and tie the Dogs to take three of four points on the weekend.

With points being a premium, and the Huskies having a horrible season, these points are HUGE. First, it kept them at 9th, and, second, it keeps them within five points of fifth place and within three of sixth and a home playoff spot. It's going to be brutal for the Huskies down the stretch as they play UND and UW at the NHC the next two weekends and then travel to Denver to close the year out.

The Saturday game between Denver and Minnesota saw the Gophers take it to the Pioneers like we haven't seen too often this season. The Gophers took a commanding 6-0 lead and wound up winning the game by a 7-3 final score. I'm not sure what got into the Gophers on Saturday. It could've been Hockey Day Minnesota, maybe Lucia lit a fire under their butts, or maybe they were just scared of the possibility of ending up in 10th place on the weekend. Whatever it was, it worked.

One of the most interesting stories of the weekend was the struggles the Beavers had against Tech. I understand that it's tough to win on the road in the WCHA, but this Tech team is horrible and the Beavers should've had no problem dispatching this team. As I was watching the back-and-forth game on Friday I was really beginning to believe that Tech would finally pull off a win. Sadly, I was wrong. The Beavers managed to tie the game and hold on for the remainder. They did win on Saturday by a 1-0 score to take three of four from Tech.

Since I didn't have time to get the record updated for the previous week, I'll tell you that I went 7-3 on that weekend which improved my record to 117-91. I went 8-4 last weekend and now stand at 125-95 on the season. I think I've done a fairly good job predicting the games each weekend, especially in this league. We have all twelve teams participating in league games, so we have six series going on.

Conference
UMN @ UW, Friday 7:07, Saturday 8:07
I'm not sure what's happening with the late start on Saturday, but for whatever reason it's an 8:07 start time. Anyway, this series always seems to be a good one to watch. This is one of the most intense rivalries in all of hockey and I don't expect this one to be anything short of great. The Gophers are coming off a huge win over Denver on Saturday and the Badgers are coming off of being swept at UNO. I think the Gophers are going to come in and surprise the Badgers, but the Badgers will get their revenge.
Split. Gophers win Friday 4-3, Badgers win Saturday 4-2

UND @ SCSU, Friday/Saturday 7:07
I'm not sure where to start on this one. The Huskies and Sioux have some bad blood between each other dating back to last year. However, I feel that we should be back to normal now. The Sioux are a tremendous team and the Huskies have been up and down at best this season. The Huskies do have a lot of talent that, when they decide to play, are one of the tougher teams to beat. It doesn't seem to matter where these two teams meet, the Sioux almost always dominate the show. Unless the Huskies find something deep down inside, they're not going to come away with anything.
Sioux sweep 4-2, 4-3

CC @ BSU, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
I'd like to sit here and tell you that the Beavers are a tough team to beat in Bemidji, but they really haven't been. For some reason their new building hasn't been kind to them. CC has been a .500 team on the road. The Tigers and Beavers have both been struggling as of late, so I really don't know what to expect out of this one. I'm going the safe route...
Split. CC wins Friday 4-3, BSU wins Saturday 3-2

UMD @ MSUM, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
Duluth and Mankato are fairly even offensively, but Duluth is the runaway winner defensively between these two teams. Mankato plays a run-and-gun style, but their defensemen take too many risks which bites them in the butt too often. Duluth is a great power play team and they'll take you apart if you let them. I could see the Mavs stealing one here.
Split. UMD wins Friday 5-4, MSUM wins Saturday 4-3

MTU @ Denver, Friday 8:37, Saturday 8:07
Do I really need to say anything. Tech hasn't won since the October and Denver's a pretty good hockey team. This should be one of the easier series for Denver, but they had better not take the weekend off. This is still the WCHA and any team can win on any given night.
Denver sweeps 6-1, 5-2

UNO @ UAA, Friday/Saturday 10:07
This one is somewhat of intriguing series to me, but only because Anchorage hasn't been absolutely horrible this season. With that said, the Seawolves aren't playing that great right now, and UNO is an in your face team. Anchorage should be able to, somewhat, counter that with their size, though. This could end up as a split, but I'm going with UNO on this one.
UNO sweeps 3-2, 4-1

Week Eighteen Picks

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Sorry this week is so late, but I completely spaced it this week. Unfortunately, I'm at work right now so this is going to be extremely short. I don't have my stats for last week, so I'll get them next week. All twelve teams are playing one another this week, so we have six conference series.

Conference
BSU @ MTU, Friday 6:07, Saturday 4:07
Should be an easy weekend for the Beavers, but you never know.
Beavers sweep 5-1, 5-1

Denver @ UMN, Friday 7:07, Saturday 5:07
Denver is going to be a challenge for the Gophers. The Gophs are playing fairly well right now, though.
Split. Denver wins Friday 4-3, UMN wins Saturday 3-2

SCSU @ UMD, Friday/Saturday 7:07
The Huskies are now losers of three straight and winless in their last four since going 6-0 after Christmas. The Dogs are a solid team that will hurt you on the PP and at even strength.
Dogs sweep 3-2, 4-1

UAA @ UND, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
UAA has been a sneaky team this year, but the Sioux should prove to be no match for them.
Sioux sweep 4-1, 5-2

UW @ UNO, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
This should be a fun series to watch. I'm expecting up-and-down play and lots of hits.
Split. UW wins Friday 4-3, UNO wins Saturday 4-1

MSUM @ CC, Friday 8:37, Saturday 8:07
Mankato has come on strong in their last 15 games, or so, and CC has fallen off a bit. Should be a split.
Split. MSUM wins Friday 3-2, CC wins Saturday 4-2

Week Seventeen Picks

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This one is coming to you from out of town, so it's going to be short and sweet.

I went 4-6 last week and am now 110-88 on the season. There are five series this weekend and all of them are conference series.

Conference Games
UMN @ UMN, Friday/Saturday 7:07
The Gophers are up and down and the Dogs are a pretty good team. I'm not sure which Gopher team is going to show up, though. I'm going to be safe and pick a split.
Gophers win Friday 4-3, Dogs win Saturday 4-2

BSU @ MSUM, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
The Beavers have an ability to beat teams at or below them in the standings, but the Mavs are playing some good hockey right now. The question is, can the Beavers steal points from these Mavs like the did from the Mavs of Omaha? I'm going to say no. Mankato is playing very well right now.
Mavs sweep 6-2, 3-1

SCSU @ UNO, Friday 7:37, Saturday 7:07
The Huskies are coming off an embarrassing game at home against Mankato and the Mavs are coming off an embarrassing OT loss at home to Huntsville. The Huskies played Omaha evenly in their last meeting, and they are playing better now than the last time these two teams met (last weekend excluded). The Mavericks have come back down to earth since their hot start, and are looking very beatable.
Split. Huskies win Friday 3-2, Omaha wins Saturday 4-1

DU @ CC, Friday 9:07, CC @ DU Saturday 8:07
This is a rivalry, so picking it is really a crapshoot. Denver is obviously the better team in this one, but CC isn't too shabby either. I'm going to say that each team wins on their home ice.
Split. CC wins Friday 3-2, Denver wins Saturday 4-2

MTU @ UAA, Friday/Saturday 10:07
Normally, we'd be talking about the two bottom feeders, but that isn't the case this season. The Seawolves have been playing decent, competitive hockey all season, and the Huskies have been, well, there...
Seawolves sweep 3-2, 4-1