Last weekend’s tournament play featured three upsets in the second round of the CCHA tournament, and the first round of the Hockey East and WCHA tournaments.  None of these, mind you, were upsets I had picked last week, and furthermore, none of the upsets I picked last week happened!  First off, Ferris State lost two of three to a surprisingly surging Bowling Green team.  Ferris State fell six spots to the #8 ranking on the weekend.  UMass-Lowell dropped two out of three to Providence, a team UMass-Lowell had just swept the weekend before; UMass-Lowell dropped three pegs to the #10 ranking.  And Colorado College was swept by Michigan Tech.  Ferris State will certainly make it to the NCAA tournament, and UMass-Lowell is almost certain to do so as well.  Colorado College, on the other hand, would have probably needed to win the WCHA to make it there.

Things elsewhere went, apparently, as they should have (and should have seems to have ignored my upset predictions). Boston College swept UMass-Amherst, and remained at #1 in the poll, and Minnesota-Duluth swept Mankato State, and rose a notch to the #2 ranking.  Michigan avoided a repeat of last year’s loss to Notre Dame in the CCHA tournament, sweeping the Irish and lifting the Wolverines one spot to the #3 ranking.  Minnesota swept Alaska-Anchorage, and rose up a spot to the #4 ranking.

Boston University had its hands full with New Hampshire, losing the first game in double overtime, winning the second, and then winning the third in double overtime, to advance, and to rise up a rung to the #5 ranking.  Union College swept RPI and moved up two spots to the #6 ranking.  Miami of Ohio had two very convincing wins in sweeping Michigan State, and rose up four slots to the #7 ranking.  Denver had its hands full with Wisconsin, dropping the first game, and winning the next two, to advance, and held on to the #9 ranking.  Maine had its hands full with Merrimack, losing the second game, but surviving the first and third, to advance; Maine dropped a slot to the #11 ranking.  And North Dakota swept Bemidji State to advance, and held at #12 in the rankings.

In the CCHA, Western Michigan, now #14 in the poll, swept Lake Superior to advance.  In the ECAC, Cornell, swept Dartmouth to advance, and held at #13; Harvard, now #19, took two out of three from Yale, and Colgate, now #20, took two out of three from Quinnipiac.  In the WCHA, St. Cloud State swept Nebraska-Omaha to advance.

This weekend is the semifinals for all five conferences, with two play-in games slated tonight in the WCHA to determine two of the four semifinalists.  So here are this weekend’s matchups.

In the Atlantic Hockey semifinals, #17 Air Force plays Mercyhurst; and #28 Niagra plays R.I.T.  In the CCHA semifinals, #3 Michigan faces #29 Bowling Green; and #7 Miami faces #14 Western Michigan.

In the ECAC semifinals, #6 Union College faces #20 Colgate; and #13 Cornell will play #19 Harvard.  In the Hockey East semifinals, #1 Boston College plays #30 Providence, and #5 Boston University faces #11 Maine.

In the WCHA play in games tonight, #9 Denver faces #24 Michigan Tech; and #12 North Dakota faces #22 St. Cloud State.  The winners of these two play in games will advance to the semifinals tommorow night and face #2 Minnesota Duluth, and #4 Minnesota.

This weekend is huge as it will determine the conference champions, the sixteen teams in the NCAA tournament, and the final poll of the year.  It’s here already!  I will be sending out brackets as soon as I can — please be sure to participate in the pool (it costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize).  Who do you think will be in the Frozen Four?  We’ll find out your predictions soon!

This provides the top twelve teams, rankings, records, and last weekend’s results:

[table id=43 /]

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

— Tom