Alaska-Anchorage (2-1-1) at No. 4 North Dakota (1-1) Joe: There is only one number you need to know: 27. That is the number of games dating back to Dec. 9, 2011, since UND had a healthy scratch. They have a full complement of 18 skaters available this weekend which should be more than enough to … Read more
It’s out in the open now. No team can sleep on Michigan Tech. No. 1 Minnesota made the trip to Houghton, Mich. to play the Huskies in the only WCHA matchup of the weekend and took a surprising punch in the mouth from the home team Friday night. The Huskies beat the Gophers, 5-3, using … Read more
No. 1 Minnesota (2-0) at Michigan Tech (1-1) Joe: The Huskies will not score eight goals at home like they did against Lake Superior State on Saturday. That is too bad because they might need to against a powerful UM offense. Gophers sweep despite a more challenging series. Tyler: The big Olympic sheet played into … Read more
No. 13 Minnesota Duluth (1-1) at No. 9 Notre Dame (2-0), Thursday-Friday Joe: The Bulldogs were called out by coach Scott Sandelin. They will respond. Senior Mike Seidel started off at the pace (three goals) UMD needs. The Irish looked pretty good at the Icebreaker, but the Bulldogs should garner a split. Tyler: Forced to … Read more
No. 16 Michigan State at No. 2 Minnesota Joe: Mariucci should be a loud place for the MSU rookies (12 on the roster) to handle with Gopher fans excited about this UM squad. Goalie Will Yanakeff (.922 save percentage) gives the Spartans a chance against Minnesota’s offensive firepower, led by Nick Bjugstad, the media and coaches’ … Read more
It’s the second week of October, which means the WCHA is back. Opening weekend features nine teams back in action and we’ll have the full picks edition up Friday morning. Here’s an appetizer to chew on for now. Joe Paisley, former Colorado College beat writer for the Colorado Springs Gazette, replaces Brian Halverson as a … Read more
North Dakota boarded its team bus in Bemidji on Nov. 20, following a 1-0 loss to the Beavers, carrying the weight of a tie for 10th in the WCHA standings and the burden of a 4-7-1 overall record with it on its trip home to Grand Forks. Ahead of them lie a date with Colorado … Read more
No. 9 Denver (24-12-4) vs. No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth (24-8-6) Tyler: UMD is going to reverse its fortune from last season’s early exit in the Final Five. Denver has let a lot of games go down to the wire lately against team’s they should put away and that’s not going to work today. UMD wins. Brian: … Read more
St. Cloud State (17-16-5, 12-12-4 WCHA) vs. No. 9 Denver (23-12-4, 16-8-4 WCHA) Tyler: Mike Lee’s past against UND, which includes zero wins in six starts, is going to rattle him Thursday. He never had a shot against UND this year (out with injury in four games vs. UND) and he’s red hot since he … Read more
Watch any hockey game and they are not difficult to identify. At times it seems they are constantly on the ice dazzling us with feats of skill and creativity which sets them apart from the rest. You hear their names called out over the P.A. system with far greater frequency than most and, long after … Read more
The postseason begins this weekend with six series making up the WCHA’s first round of playoff competition. By Sunday, half of these teams will be out of the conference playoffs and while a couple of those may still be able to squeeze into the NCAA’s they’ll need to rely on the success and/or failure of … Read more
Here’s a sampling of what interested us from this past weekend’s action and results. SCSU’s extra attacker: cell phone It occurred to St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko before Saturday’s game against Minnesota-Duluth that whatever happened in Omaha directly affected the Huskies, and that the timing between the games would be critical. So, Motzko made … Read more
No. 9 Denver (19-11-4, 14-8-4 WCHA) at Nebraska-Omaha (14-14-6, 11-10-5 WCHA) Tyler: Denver’s stars are getting hot at the right time as Jason Zucker, Luke Salazar and Nick Shore are all on five-game point streaks and Zucker has goals in all five of those games. Nebraska-Omaha’s defense has been questionable and wildly inconsistent with UNO utilizing multiple goalies all season. Ryan Massa seemed to … Read more
No. 6 Minnesota (21-11-1, 17-7-0 WCHA) at Nebraska-Omaha (14-12-6, 11-8-5 WCHA) Tyler: Minnesota’s speed and skill is capable of overmatching Nebraska-Omaha in a time when the Gophers power play is clicking. The PP has scored six goals on 19 chances over the past five games and has scored once in each of the last five games. … Read more
Weekend brings an abundance of regrets to WCHA race When the dust settles on the WCHA season on March 3, the results of this past weekend may come back to haunt a handful of teams as they eye the first round playoff matchups. The league’s bottom three teams (Wisconsin, Minnesota State, and Alaska-Anchorage) earned in … Read more
Nebraska-Omaha (13-11-6, 10-7-5 WCHA) at No. 15 Colorado College (15-11-2, 12-9-1 WCHA) Tyler: UNO is probably the most inconsistent and unpredictable team in the WCHA, not only wins and losses, scoring and goaltending as well. If Josh Thorimbert returns this weekend, which CC coach Scott Owens is optimistic about, CC is going to shut the Mavericks down. … Read more
Nebraska-Omaha (12-11-5, 9-7-4 WCHA) at Michigan Tech (13-13-2, 10-8-2 WCHA) Tyler: The hotels will be full in Houghton this weekend with the annual Winter Carnival, but the Mavericks won’t be lodging in them. UNO will stay 45 minutes away in Baraga, Mich., according to the Omaha World Herald. The Huskies haven’t exactly derived any kind of an … Read more
Bemidji State (12-12-2, 6-10-2 WCHA) at Nebraska-Omaha (15-10-2, 11-9-0 WCHA) Tyler: UNO’s goaltending is highly questionable with Ryan Massa questionable after he suffered a concussion against Minnesota State, Jan. 21. He’s been the one guy to emerge from UNO’s goaltending situation with stability. He allowed three goals on 110 shots in his last three games but … Read more
Minnesota State (8-17-1, 4-13-1 WCHA) at Bemidji State (11-11-2, 5-9-2 WCHA) Tyler: Minnesota State had one of the worst power plays in the WCHA, but its clicking since Christmas, converting seven times in 26 attmepts. The Beavers are killing at a league-worst 76.4-percent rate over that stretch but this doesn’t make the Mavericks good enough to … Read more
Nebraska-Omaha (11-9-4, 8-5-3 WCHA) at Minnesota State (7-16-1, 3-12-1 WCHA) Tyler: The goaltending job at UNO should be Ryan Massa’s to lose going into this weekend after his last two performances, holding Quinnipiac to one goal on 25 shots and Minnesota-Duluth to one goal on 44 shots. Minnesota State’s offense is not all that explosive … Read more