So we’re in the final week of the regular season for three conferences (CHA, Hockey East and WCHA), and the other three (AHA, CCHA, and ECAC) start their conference tournaments in one form or another this weekend.

Last weekend the top ten teams, for the most part, reasserted their claims on their national rankings.  I had mentioned last week that North Dakota would play a pair at Colorado College, and that Cornell would host Union College for one game.  North Dakota swept Colorado College, but both games were very hard fought, ending in 3-2 scores.  Friday night’s game saw North Dakota score early in the first on a power play, and then the game went scoreless for about 30 minutes.  CC scored late in the second, and again early in the third, and it was looking like a CC upset win, until North Dakota scored with less than two minutes remaining to tie it up at 2-2 and force overtime, during which North Dakota scored and prevailed.  North Dakota rose from # 8 to # 7 on the sweep, and CC dropped from # 13 to # 15.  I also pointed out that # 9 Cornell would play # 15 Union College – in that game, Cornell trounced Union by a 4-1 margin.  Cornell went on to lose the next night to RPI, and remained at # 9; Union dropped out of the top 15.  Denver played two against Mankato, and Denver was lucky to get the win on Saturday night.  Denver scored early and often, holding a 3-1 lead midway through the second.  But Mankato scored two in the last half of the second to tie it up, and then kept the third scoreless, forcing overtime.  Denver won in overtime, scoring with just 13 seconds remaining.  Lastly, the plight of Minnesota-Duluth – the Bulldogs split with Minnesota, and dropped out of the top ten, from # 10 to # 12.

Miami held at # 2 on a win and tie (0-0 !)  against Ohio State; Wisconsin at # 3 on a sweep of Michigan Tech; and St. Cloud at # 4, was idle.   Boston College rose to # 5 from # 7 on two wins; dale dropped to # 6 from  # 5 on a split weekend, losing to Quinnipiac; Bemidji State dropped from # 6 to # 8 on its split with Nebraska Omaha; and New Hampshire moved up to # 10 from # 11 on a win and tie with Northeastern.

So what’s on tap this weekend?  We have one top ten matchup, and it is # 5 Boston College vs. # 10 New Hampshire, two games with each team getting a home game.  We also have # 1 Denver vs. # 15 Colorado College, again two games, with each team getting a home game.

So who’s going to make the NCAA tournament?  We know that each conference champion goes, and that is how teams that are on the outside can get a shot at it.  Otherwise it tends to be about the top fifteen teams who go.  So who are teams in that top 15 we have not talked about?  Michigan State is ranked # 11, and has been hovering around 11 or 12 for some time.  Some teams we have talked about have been # 12 Minnesota-Duluth, # 13 Ferris State, and # 15 Colorado College, all with pretty good chances to go.  Alaska-Fairbanks just jumped up from # 17 to # 14, and they have a chance.  All of these teams need to continue to play well to enhance their chances.  Otherwise it’s win a conference championship, and normally the top team or two in each conference does it, but it can be one of the top four teams, who have had an opening round home ice advantage.  So who are the top four teams in each conference, that would be decent possibilities?

AHA                             CCHA               CHA

Rochester Inst. Tech      Miami Ohio        Bemidji State

Sacred Heart                 Michigan State  Robert Morris

Air Force Academy        Ferris State       (only 4 CHA teams)

Mercyhurst                    Nor. Michigan

ECAC               HEA                             WCHA

Yale                  New Hampshire             Denver

Cornell              Boston College              Wisconsin

Union                Maine                           St.Cloud State

Colgate             UMass-Lowell                Minnesota-Duluth

Of the three conferences that start their tournaments this weekend, there is only one of the top 15 teams or top four teams in each conference that is playing yet, and that is Alaska-Fairbanks, hosting Western Michigan in the CCHA.  That doesn’t mean that a team playing now can’t win a conference, or get an at-large NCAA bid, it’s just that a whole lot has to go right for them to make it.  We will have a whole lot more conference playoff discussion next week.

This provides the top ten teams with results from last weekend, the top fifteen teams, rankings and records:

Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll

1 Denver (48)                  24- 6-4  998      1

2w Mankato 3-1/4-3

2 Miami ( 2)                   24- 5-7  940      2

w/t Ohio State 6-2/0-0

3 Wisconsin 21- 8-4  907      3

2w Mich Tech 5-2/5-2

4 St. Cloud State 20-10-4 833       4

idle

5 Boston College 20-10-2 738       7

2w Mrmk 7-0/UMass 2-1

6 Yale 19- 7-3  723      5

w/l Prtn 7-4/Quinn 3-4

7 North Dakota 18-11-5 714       8

2w Colo Coll 3-2/3-2

8 Bemidji State 22- 8-2  671      6

w/l Nebr-Omaha 3-1/2-3

9 Cornell 17- 8-4  601      9

w/t Union 4-1/RPI 1-1

10 New Hampshire 16-10-6 544       11

t/w Northeastern 4-4/3-1

11 Michigan State 19-11-6 489       12

12 Minnesota-Duluth 19-14-1 457       10

13 Ferris State 19-11-6 339       14

14 Alaska 16- 9-9  332      17

15 Colorado College 17-14-3 252       13

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers!