{"id":85884,"date":"2018-03-21T15:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=85884"},"modified":"2020-08-24T14:52:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T19:52:32","slug":"previewing-the-west-regional-st-cloud-state-minnesota-state-minnesota-duluth-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2018\/03\/21\/previewing-the-west-regional-st-cloud-state-minnesota-state-minnesota-duluth-air-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Previewing the West Regional: St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth, Air Force"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>
Tournament overall No. 1 seed St. Cloud State has offensive weapons, a solid defense and stellar goaltending (photo: Tim Brule).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

West Regional<\/h2>\n

At Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, Sioux Falls, S.D., March 23-24<\/h4>\n

\u2022 Friday: St. Cloud State vs. Air Force, 4 p.m., ESPNU
\n\u2022 Friday: Minnesota State vs. Minnesota Duluth, 7:30 p.m., ESPN3
\n\u2022 Saturday: Friday winners, 9 p.m., ESPN2<\/p>\n

No. 1 St. Cloud State<\/h4>\n

Overall record<\/strong>: 25-8-6<\/p>\n

NCHC record<\/strong>: 16-4-4-1<\/p>\n

Playoff results<\/strong>: Beat Miami in three games in the NCHC quarterfinals, beat North Dakota in the semifinals, lost to Denver in the final<\/p>\n

How they got in<\/strong>: At-large bid<\/p>\n

Why they will advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: If SCSU gets past fourth-seeded Air Force, the Huskies will like their chances having gone a combined 4-2 this season against Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth. St. Cloud won three of its four games against UMD and split with MSU, including a one-goal loss.<\/p>\n

Why they will not advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: The Huskies have gone to overtime 10 times this season, and while they\u2019ve only lost once there, the longer a game stays tight, the more it becomes a toss-up.<\/p>\n

Notable quotable<\/strong>: \u201cI love this building. A lot.\u201d \u2013 St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko on the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, a building the Huskies previously won a North Star College Cup championship in 2016 and which will be site of this year\u2019s Frozen Four<\/p>\n

— Matthew Semisch <\/i><\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/a>
Minnesota State’s Daniel Brickley is one of the WCHA’s top offensive defensemen (photo: Shelley M. Szwast).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No. 2 Minnesota State<\/h4>\n

Overall record<\/strong>: 29-9-1<\/p>\n

WCHA record<\/strong>: 22-5-1<\/p>\n

Playoff results<\/strong>: Beat Alaska in WCHA quarterfinals, lost to Michigan Tech in WCHA semifinals<\/p>\n

How they got in<\/strong>: At-large bid<\/p>\n

Why they will advance to Frozen Four<\/strong>: The Mavericks are the scariest offensive team in the tournament. They\u2019ve scored the most goals of any team in the country this year. They have two 40-plus point scorers in C.J. Suess (the WCHA\u2019s player of the year and a Hobey Baker Award finalist) and Zeb Knutson as well as three more forwards who scored more than 30 (Marc Michaelis, Jake Jaremko, Parker Tuomie). They also have two of the best scoring defensemen in Daniel Brickley and Ian Scheid.<\/p>\n

Why they will not advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: Possibly the only thing standing in their way is a stacked regional that also features instate rivals St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth. The Mavericks\u2019 loss to Michigan Tech in the WCHA semifinals cost them a chance at a No. 1 seed and an easier regional draw.<\/p>\n

Notable quotable<\/strong>: \u201cWe\u2019re turning another page. We\u2019ve been anticipating this for a while. To finally know we\u2019ll be in Sioux Falls and not on a plane but three hours away is great.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stubbed our toe last weekend (against Michigan Tech); we wanted to be playing last night. I think I have some motivated young men who want to accomplish something that hasn\u2019t been done in our Division I era.\u201d – Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings in an interview with the Mankato Free Press<\/i><\/a> on Sunday<\/p>\n

— Jack Hittinger<\/i><\/p>\n

\"<\/a>
Nick Wolff is a steady and durable presence on the Minnesota Duluth blue line (photo: Tim Brule).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No. 3 Minnesota Duluth<\/h4>\n

Overall record<\/strong>: 21-16-3<\/p>\n

NCHC record<\/strong>: 13-11-0<\/p>\n

Playoff results<\/strong>: Swept Western Michigan in the NCHC quarterfinals, lost to Denver in the semifinals, lost to North Dakota in the third-place game<\/p>\n

How they got in<\/strong>: At-large bid<\/p>\n

Why they will advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: UMD lost its two games at the NCHC Frozen Faceoff by a combined 7-2, but if goaltender Hunter Shepard gets back to the hot streak he was on before heading to St. Paul, look out. The sophomore has all 21 of the Bulldogs\u2019 wins this season and had five shutouts from his last eight games before a 3-1 semifinal loss to Denver.<\/p>\n

Why they will not advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: A starting goalie getting hot again doesn\u2019t come guaranteed, and the Bulldogs only went 2-4 earlier this season against the rest of the West Region field.<\/p>\n

Notable quotable<\/strong>: \u201cI think that\u2019s kind of been one of our goals, is to make the regional tournament all year and be one of the last 16 teams standing, and I think if we get there, anything\u2019s possible. I think we can learn a lot from this weekend, too, especially with our young group, just how hard these games are.\u201d \u2013 UMD senior forward Karson Kuhlman after the Bulldogs\u2019 4-1 NCHC third-place game loss to North Dakota.<\/p>\n

— Matthew Semisch <\/i><\/p>\n

\"Air<\/a>
Air Force players react after winning the 2018 Atlantic Hockey tournament in Rochester, N.Y. (photo: Omar Phillips).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No. 4 Air Force<\/h4>\n

Overall record<\/strong>: 22-14-5<\/p>\n

Atlantic Hockey record<\/strong>: 13-11-4<\/p>\n

Playoff results<\/strong>: Defeated Army West Point in three games in AHC first round, defeated Canisius in the semifinals, defeated Robert Morris in the championship game<\/p>\n

How they got in<\/strong>: Won Atlantic Hockey tournament<\/p>\n

Why they will advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: The Falcons were a goal away from the Frozen Four last season, upsetting Western Michigan and pushing Harvard to the limit. Frank Serratore’s team returned almost intact with goaltending the big exception. Junior Billy Christopoulos has proved more than capable in net and was MVP of the Atlantic Hockey tournament, allowing just one goal in the final two games.<\/p>\n

Why they will not advance to the Frozen Four<\/strong>: The 16th seed usually has the hardest draw, and this year is no exception as Air Force will be in Sioux Falls with three Minnesota teams.<\/p>\n

Notable quotable<\/strong>: “I said (after the loss to Harvard last season) that we’ll be back (to the NCAA tournament) and we will. That was the plan. We came in with high expectations to get back to the NCAA tournament and win another (AHC) championship. All the guys stepped up to make that happen.” – Falcons senior captain Dylan Abood<\/p>\n

— Chris Lerch <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out our preview of the West Regional, which includes St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth and Air Force (photo: Tim Brule).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":112128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[919,812,921],"coauthors":[810,854,847],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPreviewing the West Regional: St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth, Air Force - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our preview of the West Regional, which includes St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth and Air Force (photo: Tim Brule).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85884\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Previewing the West Regional: St. Cloud State, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth, Air Force - 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