RIT @ Adrian (2)
Top-ranked and undefeated RIT heads west this weekend for a pair of games in Michigan. The Tigers were the story of the first half, going a perfect 13-0-0 and doing it in impressive fashion with four of the top five scorers in the country as well as the emergence of freshman sensation goaltender Laura Chamberlain. Adrian had an impressive first half as well, finishing with a 8-2-1 record and currently holding down second place in the NCHA standings. Adrian is notorious for splitting series and I think the Bulldogs can do it again this weekend. I’ll take Adrian 3-2 on the first night and then RIT 6-1 on Saturday night.
Stevens Point @ River Falls (2)
Two traditional NCHA powers get together for a pair of league games this weekend in River Falls. The Falcons, like RIT owned the first half storylines as the undefeated team in the West. They have cruised to a 10-0-0 record so far and will look to keep it going this weekend against one of their main conference rivals in Stevens Point. Both teams feature young players as their top scorers and this weekend will be a question of which team’s players step up and make the big plays first. I’m going to call another split in this one. River Falls 4-1 the first night and the Stevens Point comes back with a 3-1 victory the next night.
Plattsburgh @ Manhattanville
Although these two programs have been ranked in the top nearly every season since they started their respective programs, Plattsburgh has owned Manhattanville in the all-time series. The Cardinals have lost only once to Manhattanville and it came in 2007 on the front end of a two-game series at the Playland Ice Casino. However, that’s the only success the Valiants have had in this series and I don’t see much changing on Saturday. Plattsburgh is coming off playing arguably its best game of the season against Middlebury on Monday and I think the Cardinals keep the momentum rolling with a 5-2 victory.
Middlebury @ Trinity
Aside from the Adrian/RIT series this game intrigues me the most out of all the games this weekend. Middlebury is coming off dropping its first two games of the season at the Cardinal-Panther Classic after they finished the first half a perfect 6-0-0. The Panthers could desperately use a win to get back on track. At the beginning of the season I thought Trinity would be down a little bit this year after losing Laura Hurd Award winner Isabel Iwachiw in goal. However, the Bantams haven’t lost a step yet, dropping only one game so far to Amherst. They have also beating Norwich already. I’m going to go with Trinity but this game could definitely go either way. Kim Weiss scores the game winner late to lift Trinity to a 3-2 win.
