We're here. It's officially the last day of the WCHA season. For me, it's a sad day. I look forward to the WCHA season every year, and it feels like it just got here. The good news is that we still have one more full weekend of games with the rest of the national tourney games, and we still have the Frozen Four.
Yesterday saw one boring game, Bemidji/Denver, and one great game CC/NoDak. The Beavers have a way of lulling you to sleep with their style. With that said, they did manage to outplay Denver most of the game and outshot them. Unfortunately for the Beavers, their season came to an end in a 6-2 loss.
The night game was spectacular. It was fast paced, full of great hits, and had one play that was probably the single greatest thing I've ever witnessed. Even Trupp picked the puck up, on his stick mind you, at between the far blue line and center ice and carried it all the way to the CC net, still on his stick, and took a shot. He missed the shot wide, but it was still an amazing play.
Take a look for yourself.
That game saw some lead changes and a wild third period. We were knotted at two after two. 6:41 into the period UND was whistled for a checking-from-behind. In my opinion, it was not a check-from-behind, but should've been called boarding. I digress... The game is still tied at two at this point and now CC has a power play for five minutes. Well, things didn't work out the way people thought they would. UND scored a shorthanded goal less than 2:00 into the penalty. CC was able to tie at three, though. Matt Frattin blasted the game winner into the net at 14:20 of the third, and the Sioux were able to hold on to win the game 4-3 and advance to the Championship Game.
I predicted both games correctly yesterday, and am now 151-125 on the season.
Denver vs. North Dakota, 7:07
We will actually see the top two seeded teams in the tournament face one another in tonight's game. Both teams are talented, but I feel the Sioux have the edge when it comes to physical play.
For Denver to win, they need to weather the Sioux storm in the first two periods, and somehow manage to come out of the first period or two with a lead. Unfortunately, Denver doesn't seem to show up offensively until the third period in a lot of games.
For the Sioux to win, they need to play their game and then hold on for the third. The Sioux have scoring differentials of +15, +31, and +28. If they can manage to go into the third with the lead, they should be fine.
This is such a fun game to try and predict. I'm going to go with my gut on this one, again. Sioux win 4-3 in OT.
