Contenders and pretenders

[Doogity]

So, we have a pretty good sample size now this year. Who do we feel are the contenders vs pretenders going into the second half? Who would you predict to make the Frozen Four?

 

[navy44]

FF guess: Michigan, NoDak, Wisco, and Michigan St. (All have demonstrated great goaltending and consistency).

I'm not sold on Dartmouth in the top 8, but i think still have a shot to make the tournament.
WMU, Denver, and Quinnipiac will be in. Penn St gets in, but no FF, since not hosting a regional.
HEA is a mystery, too many teams beating each other up. The only potentials are UConn, BC, Maine, and only two of those at best. Everyone else in HEA is a pretender this year.
AHA winner, either Bentley or HC. One team.
Minn St, Cornell, UMD.
Final team will either be all three from HEA above, or a dark horse like Augustana or St Thomas (which would be fun to see).

(Not sold at all on NU. PC and BU have too many losses at the halfway point to expect their overall record will qualify for a bid, so unless they win HEA, they are out. Forget about anybody else, unless a goalie stands on his head in the HEA tournament.)............

Just my humble opinion.

 

[Doogity]

Ill make a guess as to my 4 teams, although brackets could have alot to say about it. Ill go with:

Michigan St
North Dakota
Western Michigan
Quinn

 

[BigRedBeer]

This feels like a wide open year! Sparty, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Cornell! The Big Red have more than a dozen "first years" and new coach. One bad game vs. Clarkson, otherwise a pretty solid showing so far. Big tests ahead with Q, Princeton, and Green. We will see.

 

[BC/HE]

This is not the same BC team that lost to Quinnipiac, Northeastern, Denver and Maine. They played Western Michigan without four of their top 6 forwards and a top defenseman too. At those times they were more like a one line team but with everyone back they put out 4 lines capable of scoring at any time as several players have developed immensely. Look for BC to move into a high 2 or low 3 seed and be a nightmare match up to whomever they play. BC is one of the only teams not to have a bad loss. They don't have those great wins either but it would not surprise me to see them turn those games around in repeats.

 

[DNAEagle]

Wisconsin, NoDak, Qpac and BC in Vegas

 

[Doogity]

So much of this depends on how the brackets end up landing. Its fun to speculate though. BC does have a ton of ability on their roster. If they can figure some things out they will be a tough out. Wisconsin had a really nice first half. I dont know if they are deep enough to deal with some of their injury issues. Especially on the back end.