It’s the final weekend of the regular season and while some things have been secured, there’s still a lot on the line with this weekend’s games.
Penn State has won the CHA, Northeastern has wrapped up Hockey East and LIU took their first NEWHA regular season title. Each has already secured the top seed in their respective conference tournaments. But in both conference seeding and the Pairwise, this final weekend of games carry a lot of weight.
I normally go alphabetically, but let’s talk about the two titles still up for grabs first.
ECAC
Yale has won their first Ivy League crown, but the ECAC title is still very much up for grabs. The Bulldogs are currently on top, with 51.5 points. Colgate is a point behind, with 50.5 and Quinnipiac is in striking distance with 50 points.
Both the Raiders and Bulldogs face off with teams in the bottom of the ECAC standings. Colgate will play Union and RPI on the road, while Yale gets Dartmouth and Harvard in New Haven. None of the games will be forgone conclusions and each of those squads will absolutely make Yale and Colgate work for those final six points.
Quinnipiac has to hit the road to play St. Lawrence and Clarkson. The Bobcats beat both teams handily in mid-November. Both the Saints and Golden Knights will make the ECAC tournament and for the most part are pretty set in their seeds. St. Lawrence could catch or pass Princeton, but Quinnipiac is the team in this foursome most desperate for conference points.
However, while Clarkson’s ECAC position might be settled, their place in the Pairwise is more precarious. They currently sit 10th – meaning they’d likely get an auto bid if all the top seeds or teams ranked above them in the Pairwise win their respective tournaments. But if there are any major upsets, they’d get bumped. The Golden Knights need to do everything to make their case to the selection committee and ending with two wins, including over #7 Quinnipiac, would strengthen their position.
The ECAC tournament takes the top eight seeds. The higher seed will host a best-of-three quarterfinal series next weekend. The semifinals and championship will be hosted by the top remaining seed the following weekend.
WCHA
Ohio State has a three point lead on Minnesota heading into the final weekend. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the Gophers have two games against St. Thomas, who have just three conference wins this season, while OSU has to travel to Madison and play the Badgers.
If Ohio State and Minnesota end up tied in points, they’ll share the regular season title, but the Gophers will take the top seed in the WCHA tournament because they won the head-to-head battle over the course of the season 2-1-1.
This one will come down to the last whistle and in the WCHA, that won’t come until early Sunday evening. Wisconsin and Ohio State play at 2 pm Central on Sunday (the only game on the slate that day), so the Gophers have to just do their best and wait to see what happens.
While the math says that Wisconsin could accumulate more points than Minnesota this weekend, it’s highly unlikely. They’d have to sweep Ohio State and the Gophers would have to be swept. The likelihood is that the Badgers finish third and Minnesota Duluth is set for the fourth spot.
One of the most fun series this weekend should be between St. Cloud State and Minnesota State. The teams are tied with 30 conference points and play each other in St. Cloud on Friday and Saturday. While the Huskies have been the upstarts of the league this season, with wins over Wisconsin and Minnesota, they couldn’t figure out the Mavericks when the teams played in Mankato a month ago.
The WCHA tournament features all eight teams. The quarterfinals are a best-of-three series hosted by the top four seeds. The semifinals and championship take place at the University of Minnesota March 3-4.
CHA
With just five teams this season, the CHA will have the top four teams play each other in best-of-three semifinal series, top seed hosting fourth seed and second seed hosting the third seed. Those four teams are set, with Penn State and Mercyhurst having clinched the top two seeds. The semifinals are next weekend, with a championship game slated for March 3 or 4 with the highest seed remaining hosting.
Syracuse is currently third, with 16 points, while Lindenwood is two points back, but the Orange have played all their conference games. The Lions have a big opportunity to overtake them and earn their highest-ever CHA finish. A win is worth two points in the CHA and Syracuse took three of four games in the season series, so the Lions need a win and to earn points in the other game. They face Mercyhurst in Erie.
Hockey East
While the top seed has been settled for a bit, the rest of the standings in Hockey East are absolutely up for grabs
Vermont currently sits second and Providence is five points back in third. The Catamounts will play two games at UNH, who they tied a few weeks ago. As with Clarkson, UVM’s eyes aren’t on the conference standings so much as they are the Pairwise. Vermont currently sits 11th, meaning they’d be the first team out. They have to win out the season and make a run in the conference tournament to give themselves a more secure position to receive their first ever bid to the NCAA tournament.
But while the Friars are focused on taking the two seed, they also have to focus on holding off Boston College, who are just two points behind them in the standings. Providence and BC will play a home and home series this weekend. The Eagles took the only meeting between the two teams with a 3-0 win two weeks ago.
BC also needs at least a point from the weekend to hold off UConn, who sit six points back and beat the Eagles three times this season, so they own the tiebreaker. The Huskies play a home and home series with Holy Cross, who they lost to 2-1 last weekend. The Crusaders will finish ninth or 10th, but never underestimate the team that can spoil someone’s season and has nothing to lose.
The 5-8 eight seeds are all up for grabs this weekend. Maine and Boston University sit four and five points behind Connecticut, respectively. Maine will play a home and home with Merrimack while BU pulls a tough draw of Northeastern for their final two games of the season. New Hampshire is another two points back of BU.
The top six teams in Hockey East get a first round bye, while the remaining four teams play a game on Wednesday, matching 7 vs 10 and 8 vs 9 to decide the final two teams for the conference quarterfinal. On Saturday, Northeastern draws the lowest remaining seed, the second seed gets the next lowest and then 3 hosts 6 and 4 hosts 5. The winners of those games advance to the semifinals on March 1 and the Hockey East Championship game will take place on March 4 and will air on ESPNU.
NEWHA
Just six points separate second place from fifth place, so there’s a lot at stake in this weekend’s games. Stonehill is in second, with 29 points, followed by Saint Anselm with 28, Franklin Pierce with 25 and Sacred Heart with 23.
Stonehill has completed their conference schedule, so they have to watch the other games and hope for a positive outcome for themselves. Saint Anselm hosts Post for two games. They beat them 4-0 and 4-2 earlier in the season. Franklin Pierce draws regular season champion LIU for two games at home. The Sharks took a win and tie in the previous two meetings. Sacred Heart hosts St. Michael’s for two. The Pioneers had a pair of 4-0 wins over them St. Michael’s earlier in the year. The Purple Knights are currently last in the standings, but are just four points behind Post and could catch them for a slightly better seed in the tournament.
This is the first year the winner of this conference tournament receives an auto bid to the NCAA Tournaments. All seven teams will play in the NEWHA tournament, LIU will have a bye to the semifinals, but everyone else will play a best-of-three quarterfinal series. The higher seed will host. The semifinals are scheduled for March 1 at the highest remaining seeds and the title game will be March 4, again at the highest seed.
