College Hockey Update! Regular Season Finale and Playoffs!

Kris VogtMarch 1, 2012

0 8 minutes read

It’s that time of the year again in the college hockey world, the end of another spectacular regular season in Division 1 College hockey! This weekend has 3 of the conferences opening up their playoff round games (CCHA, ECAC, Atlantic Hockey). The races are close in Hockey East and the WCHA and this weekend will determine the regular season crowns and playoff seeds for them. The tournaments in all the conferences should be full of surprising and thrilling performances.

Current Nation Rankings:

CCHA

Regular Season Final Standings:

Team	GP	W	L	T	SW	PTS	GF/GA
1. Ferris State	28	16	7	8	1	54	80/62
2. Michigan	28	15	9	4	1	50	85/60
Western Michigan	28	14	10	4	4	50	72/61
4. Miami	28	15	11	2	1	48	74/55
5. Michigan State	28	14	11	3	2	47	80/68
6. Northern Michigan	28	11	11	6	3	42	76/79
7. Lake Superior State	28	11	13	4	4	41	71/79
8. Notre Dame	28	12	13	3	0	39	65/73
Ohio State	28	11	12	5	1	39	74/79
10. Alaska	28	8	16	4	2	30	63/76
11. Bowling Green	28	5	19	4	3	22	40/88

As expected Ferris state won the CCHA Title! It was the 2^nd time in school history and the first since 2002-2003 for the Bulldogs.

Since the New Year, Michigan has gone 10-3-1 to climb up to 2^nd in the league tied with Western Michigan.

This weekend the CCHA starts its opening rounds with 3 matchups.

No.11 Bowling Green VS No.6 Northern Michigan

A rematch of last season’s first round, Bowling Green comes off a split with Michigan while Northern Michigan Beat Lake Superior to get the 6 seed. I expect Northern Michigan to take this round as I think they are just a better team overall than BG, who finished in last place.

My prediction: No. Michigan takes it in 2 games

No.10 Alaska VS No.7 Lake Superior State

Alaska just played Alaska Anchorage in a home and home series while Lake Superior got swept by Northern Michigan. I think that despite the recent troubles, Lake Superior State will prevail.

My prediction: Lake Superior St in 2 games

No.9 Ohio State VS No.8 Notre Dame

Ohio State is coming off getting swept by Miami while Notre Dame ended up splitting with Michigan State in their regular season finales. A hard fought series which will be won by Ohio St. despite their recent struggles.

My prediction: Ohio State in 3 games

ECAC

The Regular Season Final Standings:

Team	GP	W	L	T	PTS	GF/GA
1. Union	22	14	4	4	32	76/38
2. Cornell	22	12	4	6	30	66/46
3. Harvard	22	8	5	9	25	61/59
4. Colgate	22	11	10	1	23	72/67
Quinnipiac	22	9	8	5	23	60/57
6. Yale	22	10	10	2	22	74/61
Clarkson	22	9	9	4	22	57/60
8. St Lawrence	22	10	11	1	21	50/64
9. Dartmouth	22	8	11	3	19	63/74
10. Rensselaer	22	7	12	3	17	43/61
11. Princeton	22	6	12	4	16	58/72
12. Brown	22	5	13	4	14	54/75

Union leads the charge as the ECAC regular season champ. This weekend gets underway with opening round games featuring seeds 5-12. Four best of 3 matchups to determine who faces the teams with home ice. Union, Cornell, Harvard, and Colgate will enjoy a week to rest and prepare as the other 8 teams battle to fight on.

The Matchups are

No. 11 Princeton Vs No. 6 Yale

Yale beat Princeton 5-2 on the road last weekend and I would expect Yale to hold off Princeton in 3 games this weekend as Yale Advances.

No. 5 Quinnipiac Vs No. 12 Brown

It’s been a tough year for Brown again as they continue to struggle in the conference. Quinnipiac just missed out on home ice and will want a chance to show Colgate they are deserving of home ice as well. I see a 2 game sweep with Quinnipiac on top.

No. 10 Rensselaer Vs No. 7 Clarkson

I see an upset in this series as Rensselaer has a few good wins against some of the top teams in the league. Clarkson meanwhile had a fairly decent year and looks to improve on it but I sense an upset with Rensselaer beating Clarkson in 3 games.

No. 9 Dartmouth Vs No. 8 St Lawrence

St Lawrence has had problems scoring goals when they need them and I continue to see that being a problem as Dartmouth takes the weekend beating St Lawrence in 2 games.

Atlantic Hockey

Regular Season Final Standings:

1. Air Force	27	15	6	6	36	85/52
2.Niagara	27	14	6	7	35	80/53
3. RIT	27	14	7	6	34	72/52
Holy Cross	27	15	8	4	34	93/70
Mercyhurst	27	15	8	4	34	79/68
6. Bentley	27	13	7	7	33	81/59
7. Robert Morris	27	13	9	5	31	72/58
8. Connecticut	27	12	12	3	27	78/67
9. Canisius	27	10	14	3	23	54/74
10. American Int’l	27	6	18	3	15	57/98
11. Army	27	3	19	5	11	66/121
Sacred Heart	27	4	20	3	11	66/122

With Atlantic Hockey’s regular season over the winner of the season title goes to Air Force.

With only the top 4 seeds getting 1^st round byes that leaves 4 match-ups this weekend to determine who plays those teams with home ice.

No.11 Army At No.5 Holy Cross

Mercyhurst owning a tiebreaker over Holy Cross forces them into an opening round series with Army. Holy Cross should take care of business in 2 games as Army has only 3 conference wins all year.

No. 12 Sacred Heart At No. 6 Bentley

This is another matchup with a team that struggles in stopping goals and can’t find a way to win games. Bentley should easily take this series in 2 games.

No. 10 American Int’l AT No. 7 Robert Morris

Robert Morris has struggled down the stretch but American Int’l has struggled the whole year, another 2 game sweep with Robert Morris advancing.

No. 9 Canisius At No. 8 Connecticut

This is the most evenly matched up series of this weekend for Atlantic Hockey, Look for this series to go the distance with 3 games with Connecticut prevailing as the winner.

Hockey East

Heading into the final weekend of the season for Hockey East this is how the standings look:

1. Boston College	25	17	7	1	35	87/59
2. Boston University	25	16	8	1	33	92/63
3. Umass Lowell	25	15	9	1	31	81/65
4. Maine	26	14	10	2	30	90/80
5. Merrimack	25	12	8	5	29	64/57
6. New Hampshire	26	11	13	2	24	68/73
7. Providence	25	10	12	3	23	65/80
8. Massachusetts	25	8	13	4	20	75/86
Northeastern	25	8	13	4	20	66/73
10. Vermont	25	3	21	1	7	53/105

Boston College is poised to take the Hockey East regular season title this weekend as they have Vermont twice at home, while Umass Lowell, Maine, and Merrimack fight for those home ice spots in the first round. Boston University will be playing a struggling Northeastern team in a home and home series as Northeastern tries to find a way to sneak into the playoffs as the 8^th and final seed.

Merrimack is coming off a big weekend against Umass Lowell taking 3 of 4 points to climb back into the hunt for home ice. With a game in hand to Maine they control their own fate to get the 4^th or 3^rd seed. Umass Lowell with a win clinches Home ice and the 3^rd seed. Maine has got to take care of business against New Hampshire or it can be looking at dropping to 5^th.

With the last weekend in Hockey East on the doorsteps, we will finally know the following:
1) Who wins the long battle for the regular season crown
2) Which 4 teams will have home ice
3) If Northeastern and Massachusetts finally settle the season long battle for that last playoff spot

WCHA

The final weekend of the WCHA will determine the WCHA Cup winner and the first round playoff pairings.

Here’s a look at the standings:

1. Minnesota	26	19	7	0	38	85/52
2. Minnesota Duluth	26	16	6	4	36	99/68
3. Denver	26	14	8	4	32	90/77
4. North Dakota	26	14	11	1	29	75/71
5. Colorado College	26	13	12	1	27	88/84
Nebraska Omaha	26	11	10	5	27	81/79
7. Michigan Tech	26	11	11	4	26	83/80
8. St Cloud State	26	11	12	3	25	81/70
9. Wisconsin	26	10	14	2	22	71/80
10. Bemidji State	26	9	14	3	21	65/84
11. Minnesota State	26	8	16	2	18	71/95
12. Alaska Anchorage	26	5	20	1	11	55/104

Minnesota with a win against Wisconsin would take the WCHA CUP and the number 1 seed for the tournament. Minnesota Duluth would need a lot of help from Wisconsin as they would need 3 of 4 points against St. Cloud state. Both teams have locked up home ice for the 1^st round though. Since every team makes the tournament Denver and North Dakota have also locked up home ice in the first round. North Dakota faces off against Minnesota State and Denver takes on Nebraska Omaha who is clinging to that final home ice seed.

A big weekend Matchup is No. 5 Colorado College vs No.7 Michigan Tech

A lot rides on this as Michigan Tech is just one point behind and with a bad weekend by either team Home ice can be lost. St. Cloud state has the toughest road of trying to catch the race for home ice as they face off against the defending National Champion Minnesota Duluth. Wisconsin, Bemidji State, MSU, and Alaska are out of home ice and their seasons can be over very shortly as they are in the bottom tier of the conference.

After this weekend the rest of the playoffs will begin and we will see some great college hockey games coming up in the next few weeks. Here are my thought on the winners of their tournaments and the Hobey Baker award

My Conference Tournament winners:

CCHA -Ferris St

ECAC – Cornell

Atlantic Hockey – Niagara

Hockey East – Boston College

WCHA – Minnesota

My thoughts on the Hobey Baker Award

Austin Smith from Colgate seems to be a frontrunner for the award. In the 34 games played he has matched it with 34 goals. Overall he has 34 goals to go along with 18 assists giving him a racked up 52 points with a +22 rating. The reason this is quite remarkable is the fact that most of his points come on even strength or shorthanded situations. Only 13 of his points are on the power play while the other candidates for this award have many more points on the power play. Smith has 7 Power play goals, and 6 short handed goals on the season.

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