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And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

N

Ned Flanders

You're in Sioux Country
4 teams, only 2 points seperating, with 20 meaningful games remaining to determine the Top spot in the WCHA season standings.

North Dakota 32 points
Denver 31
tUM-Duluth 30
Nebraska-Omaha 30

3 weekends remain and the schedules are:

UND:
@ SCSU (9th)
Bemidji (11th)
@ Tech (12th)

Denver:
Tech (12th)
@ Nebraska Omaha (T-3rd)
SCSU (9th)

tUM-Duluth:
@ MSU-Mankato (10th)
@ CC (6th)
Nebraska-Omaha (T-3rd)

Nebraska-Omaha:
@ AA (8th)
Denver (2nd)
@ tUMD (T-3rd)

How do you see the end of the year turning out??


UND has the easiest shedule on paper
Denver has only one more road series
Duluth gets its hardest opponent left at home
UNO has to go to Alaska, then face Denver and Duluth

Let the bickering and back-biting begin!
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

my Prediction are...

1. UND 42 points (try to keep the level of play up with weakening opponents or expect a big surprise again come playoff time
2. tUMD 40 points (only 1 home series left might be a good thing for the Bulldogs
2. UNO 40 points (probably splitsville with Duluth, could they surprise Denver for 4 Points??)
4. Denver 39 points (look for the Pioneers to sweep the first round though on their way to St. Paul..)
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

All i know is if UNO can hold serve at UAA this weekend, then this state has seen nothing like what will be at Qwest Center for DU. The fact its a team from Colorado just adds fuel.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

I agree with LincolnMav if UNO can get out of UAA with a split or a sweep then Denver series will be a barn burner (may be that way anyway) - UMD has proven vulnerable in their series with SCSU but UNO has also proven to be inconsistent at least in December and January. On paper UNO has the toughest road but the boys sure have played well the last two weeks. UND has the easiest road but Bemidji can surprise them.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

UND has by far the easiest remaining road to the Trophy. If they don't win it, they will have simply blown it - all of UNDs remaining opponents are lower division and very sweepable.

The other three teams will battle for second place. Among the three remaining teams, I think Denver has the easier road to #2, with two sweepable lower division opponents at home and one very tough road series in Nebraska, where a split would be great. UMD and UNO will probably tie for third. Both have more road games remaining, which are tougher to win.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

Puck Swami said:
UND has by far the easiest remaining road to the Trophy. If they don't win it, they will have simply blown it - all of UNDs remaining opponents are lower division and very sweepable.

The other three teams will battle for second place. Among the three remaining teams, I think Denver has the easier road to #2, with two sweepable lower division opponents at home and one very tough road series in Nebraska, where a split would be great. UMD and UNO will probably tie for third. Both have more road games remaining, which are tougher to win.
Click to expand...

Apparently Fargo isn't the only place where sandbagging has already started. :rolleyes:

UND and DU play common opponents 2 of the last 3 weeks. The only difference is, DU gets those games at home while UND is on the road.

After this weekend, DU will be in first place, and will be the only team controlling their own destiny.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

SJHovey said:
Apparently Fargo isn't the only place where sandbagging has already started. :rolleyes:

UND and DU play common opponents 2 of the last 3 weeks. The only difference is, DU gets those games at home while UND is on the road.

After this weekend, DU will be in first place, and will be the only team controlling their own destiny.
Click to expand...

No sandbagging! As a Denver fan, I would trade our remaining schedule for UND's remaining schedule in a heartbeat!
Tech should be four points for DU or UND, regardless of where the game is played. Even.
SCSU should be a sweep for both schools, although UND may have a little tougher time with the sweep at the NHC than Denver should have at home vs the Huskles. Even.
UND has Bemidji at home which I would much rather have than Denver's trip to UNO. Edge UND.
All in all, UND has the easier road.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

Well from here i'd prefer for umd to win it. I think in some ways it depends on which SCSU team shows up. Could be the last weekend will be really big.
Also DU fans, the ice at the quest is terrible and uno is very physical, sometimes unnecessarily so. I wouldn't say UMD has a much tougher schedule than the others to tell the truth.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

Should have seen this coming, a Dean Blais coached team is again playing its best hockey at the end of the year, and in UNO's first season in the WCHA they are now only 2 points away from 1st place in the WCHA. Also consider that Blais is a slavedriver. I doubt that any team will be able to outwork UNO at this point in the season.

The way UNO is playing now they are the most underrated team in the nation at #13. Wouldn't be shocked if UNO swept both Denver and UMD.

As a Sioux fan I am really really glad to see that UNO isn't on UND's upcoming schedule. Also very very glad to see that UND has 2 points on UNO because I have a feeling UND will need those 2 points to stay ahead of UNO.
 
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Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

Wow i wouldnt go that far. UNO has definately played their best hockey against highly ranked teams. Maybe its a good thing they dont finish with two so-called easy opponents. I have never enjoyed a hockey season this much. I love the WCHA!
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

SoCalSiouxFan said:
Should have seen this coming, a Dean Blais coached team is again playing its best hockey at the end of the year, and in UNO's first season in the WCHA they are now only 2 points away from 1st place in the WCHA. Also consider that Blais is a slavedriver. I doubt that any team will be able to outwork UNO at this point in the season.

The way UNO is playing now they are the most underrated team in the nation at #13. Wouldn't be shocked if UNO swept both Denver and UMD.

As a Sioux fan I am really really glad to see that UNO isn't on UND's upcoming schedule. Also very very glad to see that UND has 2 points on UNO because I have a feeling UND will need those 2 points to stay ahead of UNO.
Click to expand...

Wow....SoCalSioux - that's quite the praise! I know UND has the easiest schedule down the stretch which is what everyone is talking about. But not many people realize how hot UNO is right now - two straight sweeps. Yes, they were at home, but this team is producing at the end just like last season. Hopefully it doesn't end like it did in the CCHA. I hope you're right, but we have been fairly inconsistent at times. Just hoping that doesn't come back to bite us in the next three weeks. Should be fun!
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

Here's what I posted on January 30th:

OK, I have looked into my crystal ball, and I have seen the final standings in the WCHA. It looks like this ; UND 42 points, DU 41, UMD 38. I didn't see anything beyond the first three, nor do I think any other team has a shot at first in the league. UMD has the toughest remaining schedule, with home games with MN, SCSU and UNO and road games with Mankato and CC. DU has home games with CC, SCSU and MTU and road games with CC, MN and UNO. UND has home games with AA and BSU, and road games with SCSU and MTU. It could come down to the last game of the season at MTU for the MacNaughton.

I still see UND in first and Denver second. It looks like UMD is fading a little and UNO is playing very well, so UNO in third with 38 and UMD in fourth with 36.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

UND should win it going away.

UNO will probably sweep UAA, but the flight home & jet lag isn't easy. Thats why teams like DU like to travel to Alaska up against the XMAS Break. To me its more likely that UNO loses three of its last four than wins three of four.

UMD probably wants to win the MacNaughton more than DU or UND.

DU isn't playing well right now, but may just eke out 5 wins in 6 games.

Should be a great finish.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

dggoddard said:
UND should win it going away.

UNO will probably sweep UAA, but the flight home & jet lag isn't easy. Thats why teams like DU like to travel to Alaska up against the XMAS Break. To me its more likely that UNO loses three of its last four than wins three of four.

UMD probably wants to win the MacNaughton more than DU or UND.

DU isn't playing well right now, but may just eke out 5 wins in 6 games.

Should be a great finish.
Click to expand...

If DU does win 5 of 6, no one is going to win this thing "going away".

Realistically, I'm hoping for the Sioux to go 5-1 over the last 3 weekends, sweeping at home and splitting against SCSU. That's doable, and is the outcome they should get. But there are some trap games in there. It's not out of the question for UND to lose an additional point or two to SCSU, BSU or even Tech on the road. Any one of those teams are more than capable of sneaking up on the Sioux and snaring a point. That's why it's my hunch we go 4-1-1 over the last 6.

5-1, I like our chances. If UNO, UMD or DU sweeps out, you tip your cap. With UNO and UMD we'd at least share the cup.

4-1-1, chances aren't as good, and 4-2, we're in trouble.

While the Cup would be fantastic, I still think it's so important to finish in the top 2 in order to avoid a Thursday game at the Final 5.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

IMO, if UND sweeps this weekend, the race is over. I don't see any of the other three winning out, and UND shouldn't lose more than a point to Bemidji and Tech.

For seeding purposes, remember that North Dakota will most likely hold the tiebreakers over Duluth and Denver, but lose the tiebreaker to UNO.

North Dakota is definitely in the driver's seat, but there are still 12 points up for grabs and only 2 points separating the top four.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

For DU I just want to get 1st or 2nd place to avoid playing the extra game in St. Paul. If we win the MacNaughton that would be great but the big prize is in April. DU has 12 MacNaughtons so its not like we haven't won them before. It is probably the hardest trophy to win due to the long grind of the WCHA schedule. I want the DU team to be healthy and playing well for a long playoff run this year. The last few seasons have been disappointing with regards to playoff success. No one rembers the next year who won the MacNaughton or Broadmoor but everyone remembers who won the NCAA title.

Personally I don't think the MacNaughton will be decided until the last weekend of the regular season.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

Fighting Sioux 23 said:
For seeding purposes, remember that North Dakota will most likely hold the tiebreakers over Duluth and Denver, but lose the tiebreaker to UNO.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure you're right about this, unless they've changed the tiebreaker rules.

We split the season series with each team. Thus, in a heads up tiebreaker scenario, WCHA wins will prevail. Since we currently have no ties, we'd likely win all the tiebreakers with these three teams, individually, unless we go on a sister-kissing spree these last 3 weeks.

We could potentially lose a multi-team tiebreaker scenario depending upon the outcomes of the DU-UNO and UMD-UNO series yet to be played.
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

SJHovey said:
I'm not sure you're right about this, unless they've changed the tiebreaker rules.

We split the season series with each team. Thus, in a heads up tiebreaker scenario, WCHA wins will prevail. Since we currently have no ties, we'd likely win all the tiebreakers with these three teams, individually, unless we go on a sister-kissing spree these last 3 weeks.

We could potentially lose a multi-team tiebreaker scenario depending upon the outcomes of the DU-UNO and UMD-UNO series yet to be played.
Click to expand...

You are right. I thought that series goals allowed (if they played a 4 game series) was used before conference wins, but conference wins comes before.

Here are last year's tiebreak rules

WCHA Tie-Breaking Procedures (for playoff seeding purposes only)

In the event that ties are encountered in the determination of WCHA
ranking or designation of home teams for playoff purposes, the following
procedures will be used in the order given to break the ties:

a) If two or more teams are tied, head-to-head competition during the
regular (conference) season will be used to break the tie.

b) If two or more teams are still tied after (a), the highest seed will go to the
team with the most WCHA (conference) wins during the regular season.

c) If two or more teams played a four-game series during the regular
season and the teams have the same win-loss records for those series and
the same number of WCHA wins, the team having the least number of goals
scored against it in the four-game series shall have the higher rank. If two or
more teams played a two-game series during the regular season, procede
to tie-breaker d).

d) If two or more teams are still tied after applying the provisions of (a),
(b) and (c), the team having the greatest ‘winning margin’ during the regular
season will have the higher rank. Winning margin = WCHA goals for during
the regular season minus WCHA goals against.

e) Games played against WCHA opponents in holiday tournaments will
not be counted in the determinations.
Click to expand...
 
Re: And Down The Stretch They Come For The MacNaughton

SJHovey said:
After this weekend, DU will be in first place, and will be the only team controlling their own destiny.
Click to expand...

No one saw that MTU win happening this weekend.
UND now holds a 2pt lead over DU and a 3pt lead over UMD...and a 3 or 5pt lead on UNO, depending on how the UAA/UNO game goes.
 
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