Why aren't both Alaska teams in the same conference at least?
Teams get to play two extra games if they travel to Alaska (this is a NCAA rule that applies across all sports); having the two Alaska teams in separate conferences allows more teams the opportunity to play extra games. It also cuts down on the number of trips teams would have to make out to Anchorage and Fairbanks per season and saves universities money (also UAA originally was accepted in the WCHA due to agreeing to pay for the other nine teams' trip for ten years).
I think the CCHA was full of teams by the time AA went DI. I'm not totally sure about that.
Actually, UAA joined the WCHA in 1993-1994. UA_ joined the CCHA in 94-95. I am pretty sure that it was the other way around. UAA went D1 in 1985-1986 as did UA_.
Series of the week: Gotta be the Border Battle! I usually try to be neutral in the WCHA thread but that will not happen tonight. Bucky brings the top PK in the nation and #1 rated power play in the WCHA to the John to face the dread Goophers...no slouch in the PK department themselves, being #3 in the nation. This will be a tough task for our heroes from Madison since the Rodents will be honoring the 79 championship team, not to mention coming off a beatdown from the Purple Cows. Sine I love Herbie the way one loves a crazy uncle I will not wretch if Minny gets a tie tonight. The #1 Badger women will also be battling the distant #2 Goofs for Women's hockey supremecy.
DU goes to frozen hinterlands of Duluth in the top undercard. DU has been mediocre without Bozak. They have good depth but tank when key player goes down (Wiercioch earlier this season). Duluth had the top rated PP until Bucky's PK got ahold of them last week. Both teams can put up points so it may come down to which goalie blinks. Chevy is having a good season but stalock seems to be the guy who can steal games.
St. Cloud will be making the looooong journey to take on Anchorage. This also has the makings of a good series with both teams on the outside looking in on the playoffs. Alaska is a hard place to win so Motzko will need to have the Huskies focused. This should be a hard-hitting series.
CC takes on Tech in the last of the tilts in the W. I say CC stays true to form and splits. Tech has been decent since the holiday break and CC is the model of inconsistency.
Non-con game of the week: Ohio State will be hosting Notre Dame. The Buckeyes have playoff aspirations and a high octane offense to go up against NDs defensive game. This is the series I would want to be at after MN/UW.
Other news; Miami will be visiting Grand Forks next Thanksgiving weekend to take on the Sioux. Hats off to Coach Blasi for scheduling a non-con game most programs would avoid like the plague. Our little brother conference, the CCHA has been acomodating about scheduling good series with the W.
DU goes to frozen hinterlands of Duluth in the top undercard. DU has been mediocre without Bozak. They have good depth but tank when key player goes down (Wiercioch earlier this season). Duluth had the top rated PP until Bucky's PK got ahold of them last week. Both teams can put up points so it may come down to which goalie blinks. Chevy is having a good season but stalock seems to be the guy who can steal games.
You obviously didn't see tonight's (Friday) game. The 'Dogs got lit up for four PPGs, and they only scored one. It was an interesting game though - a 4-3 final. My boy Rhett Rakshani got the GWG.
You obviously didn't see tonight's (Friday) game. The 'Dogs got lit up for four PPGs, and they only scored one. It was an interesting game though - a 4-3 final. My boy Rhett Rakshani got the GWG.
Series of the week: Gotta be the Border Battle! I usually try to be neutral in the WCHA thread but that will not happen tonight. Bucky brings the top PK in the nation and #1 rated power play in the WCHA to the John to face the dread Goophers...no slouch in the PK department themselves, being #3 in the nation. This will be a tough task for our heroes from Madison since the Rodents will be honoring the 79 championship team, not to mention coming off a beatdown from the Purple Cows. Sine I love Herbie the way one loves a crazy uncle I will not wretch if Minny gets a tie tonight. The #1 Badger women will also be battling the distant #2 Goofs for Women's hockey supremecy.
DU goes to frozen hinterlands of Duluth in the top undercard. DU has been mediocre without Bozak. They have good depth but tank when key player goes down (Wiercioch earlier this season). Duluth had the top rated PP until Bucky's PK got ahold of them last week. Both teams can put up points so it may come down to which goalie blinks. Chevy is having a good season but stalock seems to be the guy who can steal games.
St. Cloud will be making the looooong journey to take on Anchorage. This also has the makings of a good series with both teams on the outside looking in on the playoffs. Alaska is a hard place to win so Motzko will need to have the Huskies focused. This should be a hard-hitting series.
CC takes on Tech in the last of the tilts in the W. I say CC stays true to form and splits. Tech has been decent since the holiday break and CC is the model of inconsistency.
Non-con game of the week: Ohio State will be hosting Notre Dame. The Buckeyes have playoff aspirations and a high octane offense to go up against NDs defensive game. This is the series I would want to be at after MN/UW.
Other news; Miami will be visiting Grand Forks next Thanksgiving weekend to take on the Sioux. Hats off to Coach Blasi for scheduling a non-con game most programs would avoid like the plague. Our little brother conference, the CCHA has been acomodating about scheduling good series with the W.
That is good news.Now I need to plan my thanksgiving accordingly.
You obviously didn't see tonight's (Friday) game. The 'Dogs got lit up for four PPGs, and they only scored one. It was an interesting game though - a 4-3 final. My boy Rhett Rakshani got the GWG.
Cheverie BTW made 36 stops for the win.
It was nice to see the PP break out like that
__________________ Colorado Avalanche Prospects-- News and updates on the future of the Colorado Avalanche! Colorado's Future -- Team * Manning * Landeskog * Tulowitzki
Game of the week: The Goldpan! This game will determine of the race for The MacNaughton Cup will a 3 or four team affair. CC needs wins badly (everyone does). DU needs it just as much to be a lock for the playoffs. Both teams have tough schedules down the strech (CC= Minny, NoDak, DU (ouch!)/ DU has Wisc., St. Cloud, CC)
NoDak will be entertaining the purple cows of Mankato. This carries a lot of weight for the Giouxns to stay in the playoff chase. They will also have their hands full playing @ Alaska, hosting CC and a grand finale in Madison.
AA is at the Mooch to face the reeling Gophers. Anything less than a sweep for Goldy will be very discouraging in terms of playoff hopes.
Tech and St. Cloud round out the action tonight. St. Cloud can play for home ice in the first round of the WCHA tourny. They pretty well need to win the Broadmoor for a playoff shot this year. Tech can only hope to play spoiler for other teams at this point and build for next year. Tech has playing decent in the 2nd half so they have the chance to ruin things for Duluth and Minny.
The Badgers and Bulldogs are idle tonight.
WCHA Hobey hopefulls: Nodak-Chay Genoway, UMD- Justin fontaine, Alex Stalock, Josh Meyer, Wisc-McBain!, Brendan Smith, Ryan McDonagh, St. Cloud-Garrett Roe, Ryan Lasch Minny- Stoa and Kangas (really?), CC-Chad Rau and Richard Bachman (really?)
I would narrow the list down to Genoway, probably the best all-defensemen in the NCAA, McBain!, who has been the biggest game changer, Fontaine for jumpstarting UMDs moribund offense and Lasch for being consistent. Stoa and Rau have fallen off the face of the earth , especially Rau in big games. Brendan Smith was having a good year but injuries take him out of the race. I'm not looking through Cardinal and White glasses when I say McBain! should win it. The other two Badgers shouldn't be in the running (see how unbiased I am?).
I think both Lasch and Roe will be top 10 finalists for the Hobey but I don't think either has a shot to win it unless SCSU makes the NCAA's. Right now I think the front runner is either Scrivins from Cornell or Wilson from BU.
I think both Lasch and Roe will be top 10 finalists for the Hobey but I don't think either has a shot to win it unless SCSU makes the NCAA's. Right now I think the front runner is either Scrivins from Cornell or Wilson from BU.
Not with the way he played against Harvard on Saturday night. And the Crimson aren't exactly ripping up the ECAC this year either.
BTW RB - where's the love for the DU guys on your Hobey list? If you're going to put those guys on, perhaps Cheverie and Rakshani should also be included too?
I was just taking a look at the current WCHA standings and...
wondering if this is going to become a 3-team or perhaps 7-team race for the MacNaughton Cup.
First off, here is what the WCHA looks like right now. (Just look on the right hand side).
North Dakota and Denver are tied with 29 points apiece, followed by Wisconsin with 28.
Then there's a bit of separation from the above three to the next four.
Colorado College and St. Cloud State each have 25 points. They're followed by Minnesota with 24 and Minnesota-Duluth with 23.
The remaining three teams: Mankato, Anchorage and Tech probably don't have a realistic shot at this point of taking the MacNaughton Cup. So for the sake of argument, let's take them out of the picture.
Of the seven aforementioned, SCSU may be at the biggest disadvantage because they only have four games left. They're idle this week, then go to DU for 2 and finish the regular season in a home-and-home versus Mankato.
Both CC and DU have five games left, while the rest have six.
Now in looking at the seven teams' remaining schedules (and judging by how the WCHA standings look right now), Wisconsin and CC look to have the toughest schedules on paper.
Wisconsin hosts DU for a pair this weekend, then go to Mankato for the next two and close out the regular season hosting UND.
CC hosts Minnesota for a pair this week, then go to UND for two and close out their regular season for a single game at DU.
UND may also have a pretty tough stretch run. They're doing the Anchorage trip this weekend for a pair, then host CC for a pair and close out at Wisconsin for a pair.
Now depending on how you view it, Minnesota and Duluth may have the easiest (if you want to call it that) remaining schedules.
The Gophers host CC for a pair this weekend, then host Duluth for a pair and close out at Tech for a pair.
The 'Dogs are at Tech for a pair this season, then travel to Minnesota for a pair and close out the regular season hosting Anchorage for a pair.
So with all of that, will it come down to UND, DU and Wisconsin for the MacNaughton or will CC, SCSU, Minnesota and UMD make it a seven-team race? Thoughts?
Simple,the SIOUX win the McNaughton the Broadmoor and finally the national championship.Oh I have been called a homer before for some reason.
Truthfully I think it comes down to the final series between the SIOUX and bucky at the Kohl Center.I think both the SIOUX and bucky take 6 of 8 points the next 2 series meaning that last series of the year between the 2 could determine the winner.At least I hope that's how it works out.
I think it does come down to one of DU, UW and UND. Minnesota is imploding and either they can't score or they can't stop anyone on a given night. UMD seems to have an easy schedule but Tech usually plays them tough and UAA is no slouch. I think my Huskies make the top 5 and host one of CC, UMN and UMD.
Simple,the SIOUX win the McNaughton the Broadmoor and finally the national championship.Oh I have been called a homer before for some reason.
Truthfully I think it comes down to the final series between the SIOUX and bucky at the Kohl Center.I think both the SIOUX and bucky take 6 of 8 points the next 2 series meaning that last series of the year between the 2 could determine the winner.At least I hope that's how it works out.
It's pretty incredible the way the season has turned out. If you mentioned The Badgers or Giouxns and MacNaughton in the same sentence 2 months ago people would say you were A) stoned B) stupid C) a worse homer than you really are...or a combo of all 3.
It's going to be a dogfight for sure. From a Wisc. standpoint there is DU who owns the Kohl Center, Mankato may have revenge on the mind for getting shafted by UW for a playoff bid last year, and NoDak which usually = split. It's somewhat nervewracking for fans of the top 3 wondering if their team will make the playoffs
DU gets top billing as game of the week once again as they travel to The Kohl center to take on the Badgers for WCHA supremecy. DU is tied for 1st with NoDak with Bucky a measly 1 point behind. I don't even need to say how big this series is.
DU hasn't been great lately, but have a guady record at The Herb (something like 14-2-2). Both teams have identical stats in all categories, the difference maker is UWs special teams which are 3rd overall in the nation while DU is 43rd overall. Brendan Smith and his cannon shot will be back in the lineup for UW which should make a potent PP even better.
NoDak heads to Anchorage in another series that affects the MacNaughton race. AA has put together some very courageous efforts the past couple weekends with half the team suspended and Tommy Grant, one of their most potent forwards, on the shelf with an injury. The Sioux will have their hands full. Series in Anchorage are always tough.
Minnesota and CC will square off. CC is still in the hunt but have the least best chance of the top 4 teams. Minny needs to pull it together or face the prospect of an early WCHA exit.
Tech and Duluth round out the action tonight. Tech can play spoiler to Duluth's playoff hopes. RabidHusky pointed out this series is always played closely so Bulldog fans should be sweating.
Other news: Bruess of Minny State has been suspended one after reckless behavior that likely caused Derrick LaPoint to break his leg last weekend.
On that note, LaPoint had successful surgery and should be able to play next season. Here's to a speedy recovery for our hockey brother.
There are two awesome non-con games this weekend: BU and Northeastern will replay the Beanpot finale. I watched that game and it was pretty good until BU started to pull away in the 3rd. I consider BU to be the top contender right now. Northeastern plays like a WCHA team and should be considered a top 5 contender this year.
Ohio State and Michigan will square off in Columbus. Michigan has been destroying everyone in its path. Ohio state has shown they can hang with the big boys; they were one bone-head play away from sweeping Notre Dame. even if both teams sucked this is always a fun series because of the deep seeded animosity between these schools.
DU gets top billing as game of the week once again as they travel to The Kohl center to take on the Badgers for WCHA supremecy. DU is tied for 1st with NoDak with Bucky a measly 1 point behind. I don't even need to say how big this series is.
DU hasn't been great lately, but have a guady record at The Herb (something like 14-2-2). Both teams have identical stats in all categories, the difference maker is UWs special teams which are 3rd overall in the nation while DU is 43rd overall. Brendan Smith and his cannon shot will be back in the lineup for UW which should make a potent PP even better.
NoDak heads to Anchorage in another series that affects the MacNaughton race. AA has put together some very courageous efforts the past couple weekends with half the team suspended and Tommy Grant, one of their most potent forwards, on the shelf with an injury. The Sioux will have their hands full. Series in Anchorage are always tough.
Minnesota and CC will square off. CC is still in the hunt but have the least best chance of the top 4 teams. Minny needs to pull it together or face the prospect of an early WCHA exit.
Tech and Duluth round out the action tonight. Tech can play spoiler to Duluth's playoff hopes. RabidHusky pointed out this series is always played closely so Bulldog fans should be sweating.
Other news: Bruess of Minny State has been suspended one after reckless behavior that likely caused Derrick LaPoint to break his leg last weekend.
On that note, LaPoint had successful surgery and should be able to play next season. Here's to a speedy recovery for our hockey brother.
There are two awesome non-con games this weekend: BU and Northeastern will replay the Beanpot finale. I watched that game and it was pretty good until BU started to pull away in the 3rd. I consider BU to be the top contender right now. Northeastern plays like a WCHA team and should be considered a top 5 contender this year.
Ohio State and Michigan will square off in Columbus. Michigan has been destroying everyone in its path. Ohio state has shown they can hang with the big boys; they were one bone-head play away from sweeping Notre Dame. even if both teams sucked this is always a fun series because of the deep seeded animosity between these schools.
You got that right Rabid.The SIOUX are 1-5 their last 6 games up there but they are playing for a possible McNaughton Cup and it is the second half of the season in which we all know is when the SIOUX play their best puck.
Just not the Sioux. My least favorite sports team. I have more respect for A-Rod than for coach Hack's team. Besides after we sweep UMD the gophers will be back!!
Any way just put the first and last letter together and you will see where i really stand.
Not with the way he played against Harvard on Saturday night. And the Crimson aren't exactly ripping up the ECAC this year either.
BTW RB - where's the love for the DU guys on your Hobey list? If you're going to put those guys on, perhaps Cheverie and Rakshani should also be included too?[/QUOTE]
That's not my list. It's on the "Vote For Hobey" site. I'd nominate Maiani and Wiercioch over Chevy and Rhakshani if I were picking.
