Todd D. MilewskiWCHA Playoffs: First Round by Steve Page Every coach in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is in agreement on this: gaining home-ice advantage for the first round of the conference playoffs was their primary goal all season. So this weekend, it’s the have-nots traveling to the haves. Final WCHA Standings The victors in the best-of-three … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 28-Mar. 1, 1997 by Steve Page North Dakota has come all the way back. A weekend sweep of visiting Alaska-Anchorage gave the Fighting Sioux a share of the WCHA regular-season title, their first since 1987. UND also gained the number-one seed for the WCHA playoffs by virtue of the tiebreaker it holds … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 21-22, 1997 by Scott Brown Despite a split against Northern Michigan, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux edged ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup last weekend. Although the Sioux managed only two points on the road, their competitors fared no better: Minnesota split a home series with Minnesota-Duluth, and Denver and Colorado College … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 14-15, 1997 by Scott Brown North Dakota refused to yield ground to its pursuers over the weekend. The first-place Fighting Sioux, edging ever closer to the MacNaughton Cup, swept last-place Michigan Tech to maintain a three-point lead in the standings over Minnesota. The Gophers, for their part, took four points against ninth-place … Read more
WCHA Preview: Feb. 7-8, 1997 by Scott Brown The playoff picture in the WCHA is simultaneously a little clearer and a little muddier than it was last week. The North Dakota Fighting Sioux staked their claim to the top spot in the conference, sweeping the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Grand Forks, ND, 6-4 and 6-2. … Read more
WCHA Preview: Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 1997 by Scott Brown The WCHA now officially enters the stretch run for the playoffs. With St. Cloud’s visit to Notre Dame out of the way, only WCHA league games remain for the ten teams in the conference. That means undiluted entertainment for fans, as no fewer than seven teams … Read more
WCHA Preview: Jan. 24-26, 1997 by Jim Thies Even though some teams had a chance to inhale a little breathing room, the WCHA race is still tight — seven teams within five points of each other with six weeks to go in the league season. Last weekend Alaska-Anchorage was the only team to earn four … Read more
WCHA Preview: Jan. 17-18, 1997 by Jim Thies How tight is tight? Take a look at the WCHA standings for one answer to that question. With seven weeks to go in the regular season, just four points separate the top six teams. That will make for some playoff-type hockey down the stretch as those squads … Read more
WCHA Preview: Jan. 10-11, 1997 by Jim Thies In past years, the WCHA often looked like this: one or two teams out front, with such large leads in the standings that the rest of the league was just playing for second place, or even third. That’s not the case this year. With the season half … Read more
WCHA Preview: Jan. 3-7, 1997 by Jim Thies After a full weekend of non-conference games, it’s time to get back to business in the WCHA. Three teams — Denver, Minnesota and Northern Michigan — all earned holiday tourney titles. Now it’s time to focus on the rest of the league schedule. The standings are tight, … Read more
WCHA Preview: Dec. 27-31, 1996 by Jim Thies Next to the end-of-the-year league and national playoffs, this time of year is possibly the most exciting for players, coaches and fans alike, since teams leave the rigors of conference play and face new opponents from across the nation. This leads to some great matchups, and that’s … Read more
WCHA PREVIEW: Dec. 13-15, 1996 WCHA Preview: Dec. 20-21, 1996 by Jim Thies Although most of the WCHA is off this weekend, Minnesota-Duluth stays in action, hosting ECAC member Harvard in a weekend series in Duluth, Minn. The rest of the teams take a break from play, but will be in action again soon, with … Read more
WCHA PREVIEW: Dec. 13-15, 1996 WCHA Preview: Dec. 13-15, 1996 by Jim Thies North Dakota won three of four points from Colorado College last weekend, increasing its lead to six in the race for first place in the WCHA. The Fighting Sioux are off this weekend, but would probably rather be playing to keep their … Read more
WCHA PREVIEW: Dec. 6-7, 1996 WCHA Preview: Dec. 6-7, 1996 by Jim Thies North Dakota has jumped out to a four-point lead in the WCHA standings with 20 points, but Colorado College and Minnesota are close behind with 16 points each with another important weekend of play at hand. The big series has CC at … Read more
WCHA PREVIEW: Nov. 29-30, 1996 WCHA Preview: Nov. 29-30, 1996 by Jim Thies Even though there were some surprises last weekend in WCHA play, one thing remained constant: the standings are still close. Only four points separate the top five teams, which doesn’t even remotely resemble what’s happened in the WCHA the past few years … Read more
And then, as musical stalwarts Genesis might say, there were three. Three teams — North Dakota, Minnesota and Colorado College — stand atop the WCHA standings; this week two of them are in action away from their home rinks, trying to preserve a piece of the lead. But with the way this year’s season has … Read more
And the race is on. The WCHA looks like a dogfight with four teams within two points of the lead, as the standings tightened after Minnesota swept previously-undefeated North Dakota last weekend. There are plenty of interesting matchups this weekend, which means that things could look very different by Monday. Here’s a look at this … Read more
This year’s WCHA race, if it stays on the same course, will need a photo finish to determine not only a winner but a last-place team as well. North Dakota is the exception this year; the Fighting Sioux have started strong and lead the league after three weekends of action. But after UND the race … Read more
After a couple of wild weekends of WCHA play, only one team remains undefeated; it looks like the race for the MacNaughton Cup will take the entire year to decide. And that’s great for fans, because each weekend of play will be important. So players, coaches and teams will have to be at the top … Read more
The second weekend of WCHA play is here, and if there’s as much excitement as last week, fans are in for some memorable moments at the rink. Last weekend North Dakota topped Denver twice at their home rink, serving notice of their talent. Colorado College and Minnesota split, as expected; Minnesota dominated play at times … Read more