Re: NCHA 10-11.....**** You St. Norbert
Looking at the remaining 6 games (after Sunday's tilt), the race to avoid being 9th in the NCHA (joining Marian and Finlandia at home for the tournament) is starting to shape up.
Officially, RF and UWS have qualified for the post season. Everyone else needs some points to qualify.
From the bottom...
Marian/Finlandia - 0 points with no chance of qualifying for post season. Next weekends series at Finlandia will give someone some league points (although Marian did pick up a tie against Hamline to get a point this season).
St. Scholastica - 11 points with no head-to-head tie breakers desperately needs 4 points against a struggling UWSP next weekend (a close rival near the 9th position) before heading to SNC for a matchup of the newcomers and a finish at home against UWEC.
LF - 13 points with head-to-head advantage against UWSP and St. Scholastica has 2 tough games with Adrian, before limping to the post season with 8 points against Marian and Finlandia (although the way things are going lately for LF even those 8 points aren't guaranteed). The 1 point taken from UWEC this weekend may have been just enough to allow them to move on into the post season.
UWSP - 15 points with head-to-head advantage against SNC and Adrian has to hold off St. Scholastica next weekend or risk battling them for the 9th position. They probably have the tougher last 2 weeks (compared to St. Scholastica) hosting UWS and finishing on the road at the currently hot Concordia.
SNC - 15 points with head-to-head advantage against nobody has only 4 games remaining to accumulate points. Fortunately, they have 2 weeks to prepare for St. Scholastica at home followed by Adrian at home. If they can pick up a couple points agianst St. Scholastica, they should avoid the #9 position, although that isn't guaranteed. Skate hard!
UWEC - 18 points with head-to-head advantage against UWSP and LF is at a point in the season that will determine if they will host in the post-season or struggle with the others at the bottom for a playoff position as they face the 2 teams just above them in the standings (the surging Concordia @ home) and Adrian (you never know which team shows up) on the road. Sweeping either opponent could get them into a hosting situation, while if they go cold the next 2 weekends, they could be trying to salvage a playoff berth at St. Scholastica.
Adrian - 19 points with head-to-head advantage against UWS and St. Scholastica (waiting on Sunday's results for UWRF) have the opportunity to go to Chicagoland and pick up some points against a slumping LF before returning home to try to keep UWEC from passing them for a top-4 finish in the league. They finish the the season on the road at SNC who has has been almost as inconsistent as Adrian this season.
Concordia - 20 points with head-to-head advantage against UWS and SNC, but only 4 games left to lock up a top-4 seeding for post season play. If they can continue their hot play this year and hold off UWEC to next weekend on the road, they have 2 weeks to prepare for UWSP at home to warm up for the post season.
UWS - 23 points with head-to-head advantage agianst St. Scholastica, UWEC, LF, and SNC has a lock on post season play and a likely finish in the upper bracket of the NCHA. The question is can they sweep UWRF in 2 weeks (after the warm up at GAC) to host the whole thing, get swept and possibly fall behind the resurgent Concordia or just keep ahead of them for the #2 seed after facing UWSP in the final weekend?
UWRF- 24 points with head-to-head advantage against over everyone so far only needs a split to likely win the regular season crown with their last 4 games agianst Marian and Finlandia. The question is can UWRF keep sharp for the playoffs with a weak final 2 weekends?
There you have it. The NCHA final stretch in a nutshell.
