WCHA Playoffs are set

What a wild final regular season weekend in the WCHA! Here is what happened:

The Badgers split w/ the Sioux; the Sioux take the MacNaughton
Denver and CC tied
gophers split w/ Michigan Tech
UAA SWEEPS Duluth!!!!
Mankato takes 3 pts from St. Cloud

And these results lead us to the final WCHA standings.

1 - North Dakota - 38 pts
2 - Denver - 36 pts
3 - Wisconsin - 31 pts
3 - CC - 31 pts
5 - minnesota - 29 pts
6 - St. Cloud - 28 pts
7 - Duluth - 27 pts
8 - Mankato - 25 pts
9 - UAA - 23 pts
10 - Tech - 11 pts

Another close race for home ice, as St. Cloud misses it my one point. Well they landed home ice last season by one point over the Badgers, so now they get the bitter taste. Only 8 pts separated 3rd from 9th place, which is amazing. Great season for the Seawolves of UAA.

Before the season started, I made the following prediction on the standings.

1 - Denver
2 - CC
3 - Wisconsin (yeah I was right!)
4 - North Dakota
5 - St. Cloud
6 - minnesota
7 - Mankato
8 - Duluth
9 - Tech
10 - UAA

I got one correct, and it was the right one! I think Denver would have won the WCHA going away had Tyler Bozak not been out the entire 2nd half of the WCHA schedule. Bozak is arguably the best forward in the WCHA, and was the top option on a team loaded w/ forward talent. Denver still did well despite his absence.

So the first round schedule is set.

Michigan Tech @ North Dakota
UAA @ Denver
Mankato @ Wisconsin
Duluth @ CC
St. Cloud @ minnesota

New poll question for the week, of the other four matchups, who has the best chance to be upset at home this weekend. At this point, I wouldn't count anyone out in the WCHA, Tech has even had North Dakota's # this season.