Conference championship weekend is upon us, we’ll get to see what the west has in store for us, will we see upsets? There’re a few intriguing matchups on deck that could shake up things quite a bit. We’ll look at this past weekend and what we have ahead to watch out for this weekend.
MIAC
The MIAC was a rollercoaster last weekend in the semifinals. #2 Gustavus trailed Bethel 1-0 for most of the game, not tying it up until the 3rd period, the Gusties would win it in overtime 2-1.
Saint Mary’s defeated #15 Augsburg 2-1, ending a season where the Auggies finished strong after a rocky first half of the season. The Cardinals are led by first year head coach, former Adrian Head Coach, Chad Davis. He’s got them back in the mix as they’ve put together a strong record of 19-5-2 (12-4-2 conference).
Gustavus sits currently with a record of 21-4-0 (17-1-0 conference) and they’re the defending national champs looking for a repeat, led by goaltender Katie McCoy who’s broken numerous records this season, program and nationally.
The Gusties are looking to defeat Saint Mary’s for the third time this season as they swept them in the regular season, their lone loss was in overtime to Augsburg, who was the lone team to defeat them in conference last year as well.
This weekend, we’ll be seeing a battle between the veterans and the new kids on the block who haven’t been in this position in quite some time (SMU).
Pairwise Analysis:
Gustavus is in no matter what, they sit at #4, but should be fine considering Saint Mary’s sits #12 in pairwise, they’ll need a win if they want to make the tournament. We could see two teams in the dance from the MIAC, but the Cardinals need to beat Gustavus if we’re going to see that happen. It will help the west if we see four teams make it vs three, so it wouldn’t be the worst thing bracket-wise.
NCHA
#5 Adrian defeated Lake Forest 6-1, St. Norbert defeated Aurora 3-0 to advance to the Slaats Cup Finals, hosted by Adrian once again. Sixth-year Head Coach Shawn Skelly hasn’t seen a season at Adrian where his team didn’t win the regular season title, he’s won the conference title four times, and made the NCAA’s three times, a frontrunner to make it a fourth this year under the Skelly Tenure. Assistant Coach Trevor Coykendall looks to become the first person at Adrian to win a national championship as a player (Adrian Men’s D-III Hockey 2022) and as a coach.
St. Norbert, much improved under fourth-year Head Coach A.J. Aitken, improving every season, this year compiling a record of 21-6-1. The Green Knights are looking to beat the Bulldogs for the first time this season, they lost the other two matchups 2-1 and 7-1. Will this be the year Norbert finally gets over the hump and takes down Adrian?
Pairwise Analysis:
NCHA will be interesting if Norbert wins the final. Adrian is ranked 5th in pairwise, criminally low for their stellar 26-2 record, but nevertheless, there’s a chance Adrian misses out if Norbert wins and takes the auto-bid.
If Adrian wins, they’re in and the only team in, but there’s a chance the Bulldogs and Green Knights are both in if Norbert defeats Adrian and Cortland loses to Plattsburgh.
It’ll be an interesting weekend at Arrington!
WIAC
The perfect 27-0-0 #1 Falcons of River Falls host #6 UW-Eau Claire who look to leave the lone blemish on River Falls like they did in 2022 when River Falls fell to Gustavus in the quarterfinals, finishing 27-2-0.
UWRF swept UW-Stevens Point, funny enough, UWSP led through most of the 2nd period 1-0, but the Falcons took over and won 5-1 in game two after winning game one 7-0.
UWEC swept UW-Superior, winning 6-2 & 4-1. These two meet once again and it’ll be fun as always, a great environment in Hunt Arena along with it being the championship game.
If River Falls pulls this out and finishes the season 28-0-0, they’ll be looking to pull off what Middlebury did two years ago and go undefeated and win the national championship, the Panthers went 27-0-0 that season.
Pairwise Analysis:
River Falls is in no matter what happens, they’re the favorites to host the frozen four assuming they win through the quarterfinals. Eau Claire needs to beat River Falls and have the favorites all win, they cannot have upsets occur or they’ll miss out once again by a small amount in pairwise terms. The WIAC lacking an auto-bid means River Falls will take one of four at-large spots, while Eau Claire even with a win, may be on the outside looking in and once again.
A lot needs to happen if we want two WIAC’s in the tournament, but we’ll see one no matter what, the current best team in the country UW-River Falls.
