It is the last weekend of regular season play for the MCHA and MIAC. Adrian could win its fifth-straight MCHA title at Finlandia, while Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) is comfortably in second place, two points behind Adrian in the standings. Lawrence and Marian are deadlocked in third place.
In the MIAC, Hamline holds the fifth and final spot for the MIAC tournament, but is idle this weekend. The defending MIAC tournament champions will have to sweat out the results of the Concordia (Minn.) series against St. Mary’s and the Bethel-St. John’s series.
The NCHA begins the first round of the Peters Cup. In what will be the beginning of an emotional ride in the NCHA, St. Scholastica will host Wisconsin-Stout, as the other WIAC teams will face each other. Wisconsin-Eau Claire travels to Wisconsin-River Falls, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point will face-off against Wisconsin-Superior.
I went 4-4 last week, which makes my season record 48-30, a .625 percentage.
{Predicted winners bolded}
Friday, February 10, 2012
Adrian at Finlandia
No. 8 Adrian could clinch a share of the MCHA regular season title with a win on Friday and win the MCHA outright with a sweep. In their only meeting last season, Adrian outscored Finlandia 15-3. Adrian is riding a four-game winning streak.
Lawrence at Lake Forest
Lawrence is peaking at the right time. It is in the midst of its longest winning streak of the season at six games. Lake Forest has struggled during the season, and has only three wins total.
St. John’s at Bethel
St. John’s was near the bottom of the MIAC standings until January. Since then, it has become the second-best team in the league. St. John’s is playing for a No. 2 seed in the MIAC tournament. Bethel needs to sweep the series to jump past Hamline in the standings to make the final five cut.
Gustavus Adolphus at St. Olaf
The two teams are statistically similar. St. Olaf has home ice advantage in this game, and a slightly-better power-play unit. Gustavus and St. Olaf will most likely split the series and become the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the MIAC tournament.
Wis.-Stout at St. Scholastica
St. Scholastica was resurgent this year. Coach Mark Wick was recently named NCHA Coach of the Year. St. Scholastica has a good offense and solid goaltending.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Concordia (Wis.) at Marian
Marian will finish off the season at home against a Concordia (Wis.) team that has not won on the road.
MSOE at Northland
MSOE is comfortably in second place in the MCHA. Northland will be battling for a playoff spot in the MCHA’s North Division. It trails Finlandia by two points for the final playoff spot.
St. Mary’s at Concordia (Minn.)
Concordia (Minn.) has won only two games in 2012. It can slide past Hamline for the fifth and final spot in the MIAC tournament with a three-of-four point weekend against St. Mary’s, which has not won a road game all season.
Wis.-Superior at Wis.-Stevens Point
Two of the three games these two teams have played this season ended up in an overtime tie. Wis.-Superior won the other game of the season, which was at Wis.-Stevens Point.
Wis.-Eau Claire at Wis.-River Falls
Wis.-Eau Claire handed Wis.-River Falls its first loss of the year. Wis.-River Falls has won the other two meetings against Wis.-Eau Claire since then. Wis.-River Falls is 9-3-2 at home, and Wis.-Eau Claire has not won a game since January 20.
