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Welcome to the holiday break and holiday tournament
time! Just before Christmas there were a
few WCHA series that ended in sweeps, SCSU swept the visiting CC Tigers, the
Bulldogs swept the Seawolves in Anchorage, and UND swept MTU in Houghton, and
the Beavers almost swept the Pioneers, win and tied. The other WCHA series saw the Mavericks split
with the Mavericks, both MSUM and UNO got wins against each other. The Badgers also got a sweep, and their first
home win(s) of the season, against the lowly UAH Chargers.
WCHA
STANDINGS 2012-2013
Team………………………W-L-T………Points
1. St. Cloud St………….…9-5-0………….18
2. North Dakota.………..…7-2-3…..……...17
2. Denver…………..………7-4-3………....17
4. Minnesota State……….8-6-0.…...…….16
5. Minnesota………………6-3-3………….15
5. Nebraska-Omaha………7-4-1……........15
7. Minnesota-Duluth….…..5-6-3…………..13
8. Colorado College ……..5-6-1..….……..11
8. Bemidji State……..…….4-7-3..…….......11
10. Wisconsin…....…………2-5-5………......9
10. Michigan Tech………….3-8-3……….….9
12. Alaska-Anchorage…......1-8-3…...….…..5
Non
Conference Games
Rensselaer
@ #16 St. Could St. (Thu/Fri)
The Huskies enter the holiday season atop the
WCHA. I’m guessing if you would have
placed a bet in Vegas on that in October, you’d be a little or a lot richer. In
my preseason predictions I have them finishing fifth, so they have been the
surprise team of the first half.
The RPI Engineers are 4-6-4 overall this
season, and are 1-5-2 in the ECAC, SCSU is 11-7-0 overall, with an 8-2-0 record
in the National Hockey Center. I don’t
think the Huskies will end 2012 with a loss, they will say good bye to 2012
with a pair of wins. HUSKIES SWEEP
#6
Boston U @ #14 Denver (Sat Only)
The Pioneers enter this game, winless in their
last eight outings, going 0-5-3 during their drought. DU’s last win was against
their rivals CC on November 17th.
The Pioneers are 9-6-3 overall and the Terriers are 10-5-0 overall. I’ve see both teams play UND in Grand Forks
this year. And I’ll say it, BU looked
better than DU in the game they play at The Ralph. I have to go with the visitors here. TERRIERS WIN
#12 Nebraska-Omaha
@ #9 Quinnipiac (Sat/Sun)
The Bobcats enter this weekend on a 10 game
unbeaten streak, or a four game winning streak, they are 9-0-1 over that long
span. QU is 5-2-1 at home in Hamden,
Connecticut, and UNO is 4-2-0 away from Omaha this season. The Bobcats are 12-3-2 overall, but remember
they play in the ECAC, and the Mavericks are 11-6-1 overall.
Given both teams rankings it should be a good
series, but in the end, I see the WCHA standing tall. MAVERICKS SWEEP
Florida
College Classic (Fri/Sat)
Minnesota-Duluth
vs Maine
Up to this point in the season both UMD and
UMaine fans have to be disappointed with their records, Maine is 2-11-2 overall
and UMD is 7-8-3 overall. The Bulldogs
got a sweep last weekend at the expensive to the UAA Seawolves. Since both are on the road, I’m going to go
with the better record. BULLDOGS WIN
Minnesota-Duluth
vs #19 Ferris St. / #11 Cornell
Ferris St is 7-7-3 overall and Cornell is 6-3-2
overall, and I would like to a Bulldogs versus Bulldogs match-up, with the boys
from Duluth winning. Or if UMD plays the
Big Red, the Bulldogs might have some scoring woes, so I’ll go with a TIE.
Mariucci
Classic (Sat/Sun)
Air
Force @ Minnesota
The Gophers enter their tournament with an
11-3-3 overall record, 6-1-1 at home, and the Falcons are 5-7-4 overall, 3-4-3
on the road, this season. The Gophers
better not be looking past Air Force and towards Sunday’s game with Boston
College. If UM isn’t too rusty from the
two weekends off they should dispatch the Falcons. GOPHERS WIN
#1 Boston
College @ #4 Minnesota
This should be the match-up of the weekend; the
Eagles enter the tournament with a 11-2-1 overall record, and are 4-2-1 on the
road. These teams met last April in the
Frozen Four with the Eagles winning their semi-final game easily over the
Gophers by a 6-1 score. No doubt the
Gophers remember that and will want some redemption this weekend at home
against a partisan crowd. Unfortunately
I don’t think they will get the revenge they are seeking. EAGLES WIN
In case you’re wondering the other team in the
Mariucci tournament the UAH Chargers.
Great
Lakes Invitational (Sat/Sun)
Michigan
Tech vs Michigan
The Huskies started the season winning two of
three games, and it looked promising, and then the runners came of the sled,
ugh. The upside is that UM is not doing
so well this year either, the Wolverines are 6-9-2 overall, and the Huskies are
4-10-3 overall. Being an in-state rival
though, you can over look all the records.
I’m going with the mild upset.
HUSKIES WIN
#8 WMU/MSU
vs Michigan Tech
WMU is 11-4-1 overall, and MSU is 5-10-2
overall, I’m going with WMU over MSU. So
we have the Broncos versus the Huskies and Michigan v Michigan State in the
other game. If my predictions are right,
I’m saying the Broncos bust the Huskies in their game. BRONCOS WIN
UConn
Hockey Classic (Sat/Sun)
Brown vs
#18 Minnesota State
The Mavericks had their seven game winning
streak snapped the last game before the Christmas break. MSUM has overall record of 10-6-2 this season
and the Brown Bears have an overall record of 3-5-4, and are 0-3-4 in the
ECAC. The Bears have yet to score more
than three goals in a single game, so the key for the Bears will be play solid
defense and get some timely goaltending.
The Mavericks have found their scoring touch during their long winning
streak and if they can tickle the twine they should win this came. MAVERICKS WIN
AIC/Connecticut
vs #18 Minnesota State
AIC is 4-8-3 overall and 1-6-3 in Atlantic
Hockey this year, and Connecticut is 4-7-2 overall and 3-6-1 in Atlantic
Hockey. Since I don’t know much about
either American International or Connecticut, I’m going off their records,
UConn wins over AIC. But looking at them
versus MSUM, I have to go with the WCHA.
MAVERICKS WIN
Ledyard
Bank Classic (Sun/Mon)
Bemidji
St. vs Massachusetts
The Beavers have to have some confidence in
their game after tying and beating Denver just before Christmas. BSU is now on a three game unbeaten streak,
and own a 5-8-3 overall record. The
Minutemen are on a three game losing streak and are 5-9-2 overall. Given the almost identical records overall,
it should be a close game, but the Beavers heating up; I’m giving them the
nod. BEAVERS WIN
#2 UNH /
#10 Dartmouth vs Bemidji St.
Even with the Beavers playing well as of late,
the depth of either UNH or DU, will prove just too much for them to overcome. BSU drops this game.
BYE
WEEK
Alaska-Anchorage
Colorado
College
#7 North
Dakota
Wisconsin
Related articles
Weekend Match-Ups (by Sioux 7) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
WCHA Power Rankings: 12/16/12 (insidehockey.com)
