Final Five Begins Tonight for WCHA

Spring time is one of the most exciting times of the year in the sporting world and this year is no exception. One day before the official start of the spring season, the WCHA gets the college hockey conference play-offs second round started with their annual Final Five tournament in St. Paul and the Xcel Energy Center.

The Play-in game features a fierce rivalry within the conference (as if they’re not all fierce), 17th ranked Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs face-off against their cross-state brethren the 13th Minnesota Golden Gophers. As with any great rivalry, the interesting story about the teams is what makes this game special. The Gophers had two players, Ryan Stoa and Jordan Schroeder finish 1-2 in league scoring, while UMD goaltender Alex Stalock finished No. 1 in goaltending. This of course begs the question, “Who’s gonna win, offense or defense?” Given the amount of senior depth on UMD’s team, combined with better goaltending, look for them to play hard against the youth-laden Gophers and win a high-scoring affair.

Prediction: UMD – 5 Minnesota – 4

The winner of the play-in game gets the dubious honor of having to play sixth ranked University of North Dakota on Friday night. The Fighting Sioux have played well lately, dispensing of the Michigan Tech Huskies in a weekend sweep. UMD may pose the more difficult game for the Sioux since they tied UND earlier in the season. North Dakota beat up on the Gophers back in a January series 6-1, 6-3. UND will bring a powerful offense against anyone they play but must rely on Brad Eidsness – a freshman goaltender (24-9-4, 2.44 GAA; .909 Save percentage) to carry them to victory.

Prediction: North Dakota – 3 UMD – 1

The other game of the Final Five pits the fourth ranked Denver Pioneers against the 16th ranked Badgers of Wisconsin. Denver finished second in the conference a mere five points ahead of Wisconsin. Both teams bring very balanced scoring attacks into the Final Five Tournament. The Pioneers boast ten players scoring over 20 points this season compared to Wisconsin’s nine players. The key to this game as is so often the case in college hockey, will be in goal. Denver’s Marc Cheverie (22-10-5) carries a 2.33 goals against average along with a save percentage around 92 percent, while Wisconsin counters with senior goalie Shane Connelly (18-13-4) who is stopping 91 percent of his shots leading to a 2.54 GAA. On paper this game appears to be a toss-up but as usual the game isn’t played on paper. Denver is the stronger team here and should be able to show it in this tournament.

Prediction: DU – 4 Wisconsin – 1

The championship game will be good as always and the winner receives the WCHA automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. I think North Dakota boasts the best team in the conference combining all aspects of the game. So I like them to win the tournament in an upset of the Denver Pioneers.
Prediction : North Dakota – 3 Denver – 2