Last week, St. Scholastica put a stop to St. Norbert’s undefeated streak at home of 27 games and kept me from sweeping my picks, but I will take a five-of-six weekend, as it was my most successful weekend of picks this year. Now, I am 11-7 for the season, nicely above my early season start at .500.
There are only three games this weekend going into the Christmas break, so I’ll pick all games. There are no games next weekend, but the schedule starts back up just before the New Year.
{Predicted winners bolded}
Friday, December 16, 2011
Hamline at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE)
MSOE is 5-1 at home this year and 9-3 overall. Cole Gibson and Todd Krupa lead the team offensively by having scored eight goals each this season. Connor Toomey has played in all the games this year. The record-setting senior has posted 1.90 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. Hamline has a road record of 1-4 on the season. It is also in the middle of a three-game losing streak, two of which have been in overtime. Brian Arrigoni and Jordan Van Gilder lead Hamline in scoring with 12 points apiece. Beau Christian has played the most minutes in goal and has a 3.71 goals-against average and an .874 save percentage.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Concordia (Minn.) at Northland
Concordia (Minn.) and Northland had last weekend off. Concordia (Minn.) is 2-1-1 in its last four games, while Northland is 1-2-1. The road has not been kind to Concordia (Minn.) this season, which has a 1-2-1 record. Northland is 2-1-1 at home this season. A long bus ride from the North Dakota border to the south shore of Lake Superior for Concordia (Minn.) will give Northland the advantage in the first game of the series.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Concordia (Minn.) at Northland
The match-up of the Northland offense and the goaltending and defense of Concordia (Minn.) provides an interesting contrast of styles this weekend. Collin McIntosh and Kraig Wright offensively lead Northland with 20 points apiece. They are tied as the No. 4 overall in points in the country for D-III. McIntosh is tied for third with 11 goals scored. Concordia (Minn.) statistically has two of the best goaltenders in D-III this year. Chris Neamonitis leads all D-III goalies with a .945 save percentage, while Kelly Andrew is No. 12 with a .929 save percentage. As a team, Concordia (Minn.) has the No. 8 defense, allowing only 2.09 goals a game on average. The two teams will split the weekend series.
