{"id":975,"date":"2017-02-24T10:21:07","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T16:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/womens-d3-blog\/?p=975"},"modified":"2017-02-24T10:21:07","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T16:21:07","slug":"weekend-picks-feb-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2017\/02\/24\/weekend-picks-feb-24\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend picks: Feb. 24"},"content":{"rendered":"
Colonial<\/strong><\/p>\n Becker at Canton<\/strong> Johnson & Wales at Stevenson<\/strong> ECAC West<\/strong><\/p>\n Buffalo State at No. 4 Elmira<\/strong> Utica at No. 1 Plattsburgh<\/strong> MIAC<\/strong> Hamline at St. Thomas<\/strong> Concordia at Augsburg<\/strong> St. Thomas at Gustavus Adolphus<\/strong> NCHA<\/strong> The semifinals will take place on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n Marian at No. 2 Adrian<\/strong> St. Scholastica at No. 7 Lake Forest<\/strong> NEHC<\/strong><\/p>\n Plymouth State at No. 5 Norwich<\/strong> Southern Maine at Manhattanville<\/strong> Salve Regina at Massachusetts Boston<\/strong> University of New England at Castleton<\/strong> NESCAC<\/strong><\/p>\n Wesleyan at No. 6 Middlebury<\/strong> Williams at No. 10 Connecticut College<\/strong> Bowdoin at Hamilton<\/strong> Amherst at Trinity<\/strong> WIAC<\/strong><\/p>\n Wisconsin Superior at No. 3 Wisconsin-River Falls<\/strong> Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Wisconsin-Eau Claire<\/strong> Colonial Becker at Canton Becker won this postseason meeting last year thanks to goalie Madison Rigsby, so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they can do so again. I’ll pick Becker to win. Becker 2-1 Johnson & Wales at Stevenson I have to pick Stevenson’s offense and experience over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1467,1468],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nBecker won this postseason meeting last year thanks to goalie Madison Rigsby, so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they can do so again. I’ll pick Becker to win. Becker 2-1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI have to pick Stevenson’s offense and experience over the youth in net for Johnson & Wales. The future is bright for them, but I think Stevenson wins out here. Stevenson 3-1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nBuffalo State has been on a roll to end the season and has been giving teams across the conference fits, but I just don’t know that anyone has what it takes to upend Elmira. I think they make it close, but expect Elmira to advance. Elmira 4-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nUtica outlasted Oswego 5-3, but I think this is the end of the line for them. It’s not easy to beat the Cardinals at any time, but with the short turnaround, their odds are even smaller. I expect Plattsburgh to take this. Plattsburgh 6-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nGustavus Adolphus (17-5-3, 13-2-3), Augsburg (18-7, 14-4), and Concordia (Minn.) (14-8-3, 11-5-2) are the top three seeds, in order, and receive a bye into the semifinals, which are to be played Saturday at 2 p.m. Augsburg hosts Concordia and Gustavus Adolphus will host the winner of the quarterfinal that will be played Friday.<\/p>\n
\nHamline did well to make its first postseason in nearly a decade, but they slumped near the end and are coming up against a St. Thomas team that did nothing but improve over the final few weeks. St. Thomas 4-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAugsburg is at home and defense usually wins the day. With a stellar team defense this season backed up by even more stellar goaltender in Rebecca Sonnek, it’s hard to pick against the Auggies. Augsburg 4-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nGustavus has impeccable goaltending, strong defense, and extra rest. I don’t see St. Thomas overcoming that. Gustavus Adolphus 5-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe top four teams qualify for the tournament in the NCHA. They play a two-game series. If they split, a 20-minute mini-game is played to determine a winner. If the mini-game is tied after 20 minutes, sudden-death overtime will determine the winner.<\/p>\n
\nAdrian is undefeated in conference play. That won’t stop here. Adrian 6-2, 5-1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe Forresters have had incredible production from a young offense this season and are a force to be reckoned with. Lake Forest 4-1, 5-1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nPlymouth State ended the regular season losing to Norwich and I don’t see this going any different. Norwich is just too strong. Norwich 6-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nManhattanville has never lost to Southern Maine at home. Difficult to overcome that kind of history. Manhattanville 4-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI’m tempted to pick an upset here. Salve Regina finished the regular season well and looks well-positioned for the postseason. I have a lot of faith in UMass Boston, but like picking a few upset specials, so I’ll pick Salve Regina to win. Salve Regina 4-3<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThis one’s a toss-up. When in doubt, I always pick the home team. Castleton 5-4<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMiddlebury closed out strong and Wesleyan stumbled down the stretch. Middlebury swept during the regular season and the same should happen here. Middlebury 4-0<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nConnecticut College owned this match up in the regular season and I don’t see that changing. They’re strong in the postseason and just have too many pieces for Williams to find answers to. Connecticut College 3-1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMaybe the closest pairing we’ll see all weekend. One bad or lucky bounce is likely to decide this one. I’ll pick Hamilton after they finished the season so strong, but neither result should surprise. Hamilton 5-4<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAmherst’s super-stingy defense wins this one out. Amherst 2-0<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI don’t see anyone slowing down the Wis.-River Falls offense until at least the final weekend of the postseason. They’re a literal force and few teams are going to have answers. Wis.-River Falls 6-1, 5-2<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe WIAC is so interesting this year. Wis.-Eau Claire has had Wis.-River Falls’ number, but Wis.-Stevens Point has had Wis.-Eau Claire’s. I could see these two splitting this series, but I think it’s Wis.-Eau Claire that will ultimately move on. Wis.-Eau Claire 5-3, Wis.-Stevens Point 4-2, and Wis.-Eau Claire wins the tiebreaker.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"