Friday, Jan. 13
Concordia (Wis.) at No. 4 Adrian
Adrian gets to rest at home and Concordia might only be able to hope to stay with Adrian’s world-class top line. I expect Adrian to win both. Adrian 5-2, 4-2
St. Scholastica at No. 7 Lake Forest
If Lake Forest wants to try to keep pace with Adrian, the Foresters need to keep amassing points — the Bulldogs won’t be slowing down. There seems to be a bit of a chasm between second and third place and these teams in the NCHA. Lake Forest should sweep, but if St. Scholastica steals one, it’ll be on the backs of their defense. Lake Forest 2-0, 3-1
Friday-Saturday, Jan. 13-14
Bethel and Augsburg (home-and-home); Concordia (Minn.) at Hamline
Augsburg and Concordia are receiving votes in the national polls and are leading the MIAC with 10 points. Bethel and Hamline are both just two points behind them. A lot of ground could be won or lost this weekend in this quartet of games. Augsburg is very stingy on defense and hasn’t been incredibly prolific on offense in conference games. If they can hold the scoring down, they should be able to take both games. Augsburg 3-1, 3-2
Hamline is at home, but needs to start finding the back of the net with more urgency in these conference games. This one I’ll call a split, with Hamline winning on Friday Concordia winning on Saturday. Hamline 2-1, Concordia 4-1
Saturday, Jan. 14
No. 10 Endicott at No. 6 Middlebury
Endicott seems to have the more powerful offensive threat and Middlebury has been sharing time in the net. I’m picking Endicott to win the upset here. Endicott 4-2
Tuesday, Jan. 17
No. 5 Elmira at Williams
An interesting nonconference matchup. Williams has been successful despite having an inverted goals for/goals allowed ratio. Elmira has been almost unstoppable. Williams has to tighten up the defense and hope they can sneak a goal or two if they want to have a shot. Elmira 4-1
