Last weekend the top ten teams generally had mixed success. The exception would be North Dakota sweeping Michigan Tech, and rising to # 5 from # 7 in the process. A few teams were idle as they had byes in conference tournaments – Miami-Ohio, Yale, and Cornell. The big games I reported last weekend turned out to have significant results. # 1 Denver split with # 15Colorado College; Colorado College held at # 15, and Denver held at # 1, but just barely. Denverreceived 26 of the first place votes with 24 going to Miami Ohio, so Denver’s grip on # 1 is by just four points. In the other game, Boston College tied, and then beat New Hampshire; the Wildcats fell from # 10 to # 11, trading with Michigan State, now at # 10. BC rose from # 5 to # 4. Hmmm….. top four? We’ve had a top four set for some time now. But last week’s # 4, St. Cloud State, ran into an unexpected buzz saw in the form of the Mavericks from Mankato State. St. Cloud salvaged a tie on Saturday night after taking a loss on Friday night. As a result, St. Cloud dropped from # 4 to # 7 in the rankings. And lastly, the Beavers of Bemidji State beat and tied Alabama Huntsville.
This weekend we are in full tilt conference tournament action. The seedings and pairings are all set, whether the result of end of season standings, first weekend of tournament play, or a combination of the two. And with so many teams involved, I have no intention of sorting that all out, and you would never have the patience to read it. So here goes, the lineup of this weekend’s action. The list below has the home team (higher seed) listed first in the pairing, and in the order of seeding for that conference (as determined by record in conference play). So, for example, in Atlantic Hockey, Rochester Institute of Technology is the number one seed, playing at home. And I think in that conference you have to love the # 3 seed US Air Force playing the # 6 seed Army.
AHA CCHA CHA
Rochester IT/Uconn MiamiOh/OhSt Bemidji/Niagra
Sacred Hrt/Hly Cross MIST/Michigan Robt Morris/AlaHuntsv
Air Force/Army FerSt/NebrOm
Mercyhurst/Canisius NMich/AlskFb
ECAC HEA WCHA
Yale/Brown NwHmp/Vermt Denver/MichTech
Cornell/Harvard BostCl/UMass Wisconsin/AlskAnchr
Union Coll/Quinnipiac BostUn/Mermk St. Cloud/Mankato
Colgate/St. Lawrence Main/UMasLwl Nor Dakota/Minnesota
Minn Duluth/Colo Coll
Some of these matchups leap off the page, particularly in the WCHA. First off, # 14 ranked Minnesota Duluth will host #15 ranked Colorado College. Minnesota Duluth was ranked in the top ten until recently, and Colorado College comes into this after beating Denver last weekend – should be a killer matchup. Also in the WCHA is a rematch for the # 7 ranked Huskies of St. Cloud State with Mankato State, who swept the Huskies just last weekend. Another great one. As I said earlier, you have to love the sound of Army/Air Force in the AHA, and who wouldn’t want to see Michigan and Michigan State in the CCHA? And something tells me that Minnesota andNorth Dakota should be quite a matchup as well. Then again, it’s the playoffs and anything can happen, anyone can beat anyone, and it doesn’t matter what the rankings say at one point – just ask Michigan about that from last year’s NCAA tournament.
This provides the top fifteen teams rankings and records, and the results for the top ten teams:
Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll
1 Denver (26) 25- 7-4 976 1
l/w Colo Coll 2-1/7-3
2 Miami (24) 24- 5-7 972 2
idle
3 Wisconsin 22- 9-4 881 3
w/l Minnesota 3-2/1-6
4 Boston College 21-10-3 827 5
t/w Nw Hamp 3-3/3-2
5 North Dakota 20-11-5 779 7
2w Mich Tech 5-1/3-2
6 Yale 19- 7-3 732 6
idle
7 St. Cloud State 20-11-5 703 4
l/t Mankato 2-4/2-2
8 Bemidji State 23- 8-3 644 8
w/t Alabama Huntsville 3-2/2-2
9 Cornell 17- 8-4 587 9
idle
10 Michigan State 19-11-6 528 11
idle
11 New Hampshire 16-11-7 497 10
12 Alaska 18- 9-9 437 14
13 Ferris State 19-11-6 406 13
14 Minnesota-Duluth 20-15-1 367 12
15 Colorado College 18-15-3 261 15
That’s all for now. Stay tuned, and go Terriers!
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