{"id":3183,"date":"2015-02-27T12:56:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T18:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/mens-d3-blog\/?p=3183"},"modified":"2020-08-24T18:53:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T23:53:08","slug":"tournament-picks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2015\/02\/27\/tournament-picks-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference tournament picks"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"ps_captionIns\" aria-describedby=\"caption-ps-captionIns\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/uscho.photoshelter.com\/img-show\/I00000K8K_jJKaDQ\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/131115-UST-UWSP-M-0222-1.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"286\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-ps-captionIns\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Drew Fielding will need to be strong in net if St. Thomas is to emerge out of the MIAC as playoff champs (photo: Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This is when Dan and Brian really hope that magic 8-ball works wonders as they pick the nine conference tournaments in men&#8217;s Division III.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>BRIAN LESTER<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>MIAC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>St. Thomas vs. Hamline: I&#8217;m picking Hamline to knock off Augsburg in the quarterfinal game, which means the Pipers will battle the Tommies on the road Saturday in a semifinal showdown. The Tommies are tough to beat at home. <strong>St. Thomas, 4-2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>St. Mary&#8217;s vs. Concordia (Minn.): The Cardinals are having one of their best seasons in more than a decade. The Cobbers have had a great year as well, but haven&#8217;t played in nearly two weeks. I like the way St. Mary&#8217;s has played in the second half of the season. <strong>St. Mary&#8217;s 5-4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Championship: St. Thomas will once again be the top team in the MIAC and head back to the NCAA tournament. <strong>St. Thomas, 4-3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>NCHA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Adrian vs. St. Scholastica: The Bulldogs are a hot hockey right now and have a dangerous offense and a stingy defense. The Saints were nationally-ranked at times this season and are coming off an upset in the opening round. But it&#8217;s hard to bet against the Bulldogs, especially at home. <strong>Adrian, 5-2, 4-2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>St. Norbert vs. Milwaukee School of Engineering: The Green Knights are on a roll, winning five consecutive games, and are determined to defend their NCHA title. MSOE beat St. Norbert once this year, but I think St. Norbert will rise to the occasion this weekend. <strong>St. Norbert, 5-3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Championship: Adrian is the best team in the NCHA this year and the Bulldogs will be the team holding up the trophy when the tourney is all said and done. <strong>Adrian, 6-4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>WIAC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin-Stevens Point vs. Wisconsin-Superior: The Pointers have put together back-to-back 20-win seasons and are hungry for a league tourney championship. Superior will play hard, but Stevens Point is too good of a team to lose this series. <strong>Stevens Point, 5-2, 4-0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Wisconsin-Eau Claire vs. Wisconsin-River Falls: This series could certainly go the distance. The Blugolds and Falcons are both playing good hockey heading into the tournament. Eau Claire went 3-0 against River Falls in the regular season. <strong>Eau Claire 4-2, River Falls 4-3, Eau Claire 2-1<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Championship: Stevens Point and Eau Claire will duke it out for the title in a showdown between two of the best teams in the nation. But the Pointers are on a mission and I expect them to get the job done. <strong>Stevens Point, 5-4<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>DAN HICKLING<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>All games Saturday<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>ECAC EAST Semifinal<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; #4 Castleton ( 11-15-0, 8-10-0) @ #1 Norwich (22-3-1, 17-1-0). <strong>Norwich 5, Castleton 1<\/strong>. Norwich is on the sort of roll that could land them a spot in the Frozen Four. Castleton happens to be in line for a flattening.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>ECAC NORTHEAST Semifinal<\/strong> <\/span>&#8211; #6 Suffolk (11-12-2) @ #3 Johnson &#038; Wales (14-10-1, 8-6-0). <strong>J &#038; W 3, Suffolk 2<\/strong>. Suffolk got off to one of the best starts (7-0-1) in school history, then fell apart after Christmas. J &#038; W could use a little traction themselves, but chances are they&#8217;ll find some here.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>ECAC WEST Semifinal<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; #3 Nazareth (12-9-5, 7-4-4) @ #2 Neumann (13-8-4, 9-5-1). <strong>Neumann 5, Nzareth 3<\/strong>. As a third year program, the rise of Nazareth has been impressive. Neumann did knock the Golden Flyers off twice, two weekends back and has been strong at home (8-3-1) all season long.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>MASCAC Quarterfinal<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; #4 Westfield State (11-12-2, 8-8-2) @ #6 Worcester State (9-14-2, 7-10-1). <strong>Worcester 4, Westfield 3<\/strong>. Worcester put on a bit of a finishing kick to slip into the league&#8217;s final playoff spot. The guess here is that there is a little more left in the tank.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>NESCAC Quarterfinal<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; # 5 Bowdoin (14-7-3, 8-7-3) @ #4 Williams (14-8-2, 10-7-1). <strong>Bowdoin 3, Williams 2<\/strong>. Could history repeat itself? If so, then the fifth-ranked Polar Bears should prepare for three more upset wins on the way to a second consecutive tourney title.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>SUNYAC Semifinal<\/strong><\/span> &#8211; # 6 Brockport (13-11-2, 6-8-2) @ # 1 Plattsburgh (18-5-2, 13-2-1). <strong>Plattsburgh 6, Brockport 3<\/strong>. Brockport has enjoyed a very nice year, but Platty is not of a mind to make nice. Doubtful the Cardinals are looking past Bport to next week&#8217;s presumed clash (on home ice) with Oswego for the SUNYAC crown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is when Dan and Brian really hope that magic 8-ball works wonders as they pick the nine conference tournaments in men&#8217;s Division III. BRIAN LESTER MIAC St. Thomas vs. Hamline: I&#8217;m picking Hamline to knock off Augsburg in the quarterfinal game, which means the Pipers will battle the Tommies on the road Saturday in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":96892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1469,1470],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Conference tournament picks - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is when Dan and Brian really hope that magic 8-ball works wonders as they pick the nine conference tournaments in men&#039;s Division III. 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