Last week turned out to be a rough week for this prognasticator. Even though I corrrectly picked splits in the St. Scholastica/St. Norbert and River Falls/Superior series, I mixed up the days on both picking the wrong team to win each day putting a big 0-for-4 on the scoreboard. Gustavus Adolphus also asserted an early stranglehold on the MIAC again with two close hard fought wins over Bethel. (I predicted a split). The only thing that went right for me was Stevenson sweeping Franklin Pierce.
2012-13 Record: 8-6-1
Last Week: 3-5-0
Onto this week.
Saint Anselm @ No. 1 Norwich
Saint Anselm traditionally is one of Norwich’s chief competitors for the ECAC East regular season title. The Division II Hawks generally are right in the thick of things along with Manhattanville and Holy Cross. Saint A’s is off to another solid start this year carrying a 3-1-1 record into Saturday afternoon’s game at Kreitzberg. The top-ranked Cadets have won four in a row after opening up the season with two ties at the East/West Hockey Classic. The offense is firing on all cylinders lately tallying 26 goals over the last four games. Norwich has been able to handle St. A’s lately after and I think at home they’ll take this one. 5-2 Cadets.
Manhattanville @ Holy Cross
Manhattanville is coming off a bye week as they haven’t played since a 2-2 tie against Saint Anselm on Nov. 4. Holy Cross is 3-1-1 and beat Saint Anselm last week 5-2. The Crusaders lone loss came to Salve Regina and they tied UMass-Boston as well. Manhattanville has played a very tough schedule already and I think the bye week has a team short on numbers well rested and anxious to stay afloat in the ECAC East regular season title race. I’ll take the Valiants in this one in overtime. 3-2 Manhattanville (OT)
St. Thomas vs. Gustavus Adolphus
After losing its first game, St. Thomas has won three games in a row. Gustavus Adolphus is still perfect so far in 2012-13 as the Gusties carry a perfect 3-0-0 mark into this weekend’s home and home series. St. Thomas generally is one of the teams in the hunt to try and knock Gustavus off the top of the MIAC mantle. The Tommies have won a few games against GAC over the years, but they’ve never been able to beat them in the postseason lately. I tried it last week and I’ll try it again. I’m going with a split here. St. Thomas wins 2-1 on Friday and then Gustavus Adolphus rebounds with a 3-0 win on Saturday.
Bethel @ Concordia (Minn.)
After being ranked 10th in last week’s USCHO.com Poll, Bethel fell out of the rankings after two close losses to Gustavus Adolphus last weekend. Concordia (Minn.) was last year’s cinderella story, making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid despite losing in the MIAC finals. So far, the Cobbers have had a little bit of a tougher go of it in 2012-13 with a 3-1-2 record so far and they haven’t been able to score more than three goals in a game yet. Bethel beat Concordia (Minn.) 4-1 earlier this season. I’ll go with a split in this one. Concordia Minn. wins Friday 3-2 and Bethel wins on Saturday 4-2.
Bowdoin @ Plattsburgh
Bowdoin opens up with a tall task on the road at No. 2 Plattsburgh. The Cardinals are 4-0-1 on the season and have outscored their last three opponents 23-1. Being on the ice for two more weeks and playing five games already give Plattsburgh a huge advantage in this so I’ll say 4-1 Cardinals.
