{"id":98238,"date":"2012-01-06T01:08:32","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T07:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wcha-blog\/?p=652"},"modified":"2012-01-06T01:08:32","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T07:08:32","slug":"wcha-picks-jan-6-and-most-of-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2012\/01\/06\/wcha-picks-jan-6-and-most-of-7\/","title":{"rendered":"WCHA picks Jan. 6 and (most of) 7"},"content":{"rendered":"
Happy Friday and welcome to this week’s edition of WCHA picks (brief pause to allow the applause to die down). Today we give you five of the weekend’s seven match-ups as we focus on the Friday-Saturday series. But wait, there’s more! As an added bonus, check back tomorrow for a special Saturday picks blog as we give our predictions for Saturday’s single games featuring Minnesota and North Dakota. Now it’s time to check out the picks and keep an eye on the comments to determine who completely blew off reading the headline and this paragraph and wants to know why we didn’t pick the Gopher and UND games.<\/p>\n
Minnesota State (5-14-1, 2-11-1 WCHA) at St. Lawrence (7-10-2, 4-5-0 ECAC)<\/strong><\/p>\n Tyler<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> Can MSU’s unreliable goaltending stop SLU’s Kyle Flanagan, who’s scoring more points per game than any player in the nation? The Mavericks struggle too much on the road with a 2-8 record and that the last time they won away from Mankato was Nov. 5 at Michigan Tech. SLU sweep<\/p>\n Brian<\/em><\/strong>:<\/strong> While MSU’s .200 road winning percentage should not impress you, neither should SLU’s .333 (3-6-0) home mark. Of Minnesota State’s road losses, two were by one goal and two more were an empty-net goal away from matching that margin so the Mavs have been very competitive away from home 60 percent of the time. If either team has a lead after one period, it’s time to make a bet with your buddies as each is winless this season when trailing after 20 minutes. A tie after one goes to the Saints (4-3-1 vs. 3-6-0 for the Mavericks). How’s that for taking the scenic route to calling a split?<\/p>\n No. 13 Cornell (8-4-1, 6-1-1 ECAC) at No. 6 Colorado College (12-6-0, 9-5-0 WCHA)<\/strong><\/p>\n Tyler<\/em><\/strong>: <\/strong>The Big Red don’t commit a lot of penalties but if it does this weekend, the Tigers will feast. Colorado College’s fifth-ranked power play (25.3 percent) just got a boost when Jaden Schwartz returned from Team Canada’s World Juniors team. Cornell’s kill ranks near the bottom of Division I at 78.2 percent. The Tigers will beat the Big Re even strength too. CC sweep<\/p>\n