{"id":29013,"date":"2007-03-01T15:23:45","date_gmt":"2007-03-01T21:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2007\/03\/01\/this-week-in-the-ncha-and-mcha-march-2-2007\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:56:58","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:56:58","slug":"this-week-in-the-ncha-and-mcha-march-2-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2007\/03\/01\/this-week-in-the-ncha-and-mcha-march-2-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week In The NCHA and MCHA: March 2, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"
One more weekend of conference playoff action to go.<\/p>\n
In the NCHA, St. Norbert and St. Scholastica will square off Saturday night at the Cornerstone Community Center in Ashwaubenon, Wis. Second seeded St. Norbert earned its trip to the finals by defeating third seeded UW-Stout 4-1 last weekend, while fifth seeded St. Scholastica makes its first NCHA finals appearance ever thanks to a 2-1 semifinal upset win over top seeded UW-River Falls. Saturday’s winner will not only claim the Peters Cup, but also will earn an automatic birth into the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
In the MCHA, four teams remain in the conference playoffs and will participate in Saturday and Sunday’s Harris Cup Finals in Hancock, Mich., home of tournament host and second seeded Finlandia. Early semifinal action will feature top seeded MSOE take on fourth seeded Lawrence, while the late game will feature the host Lions and third seeded Marian. Lawrence won its way into the semifinals with a series win over UM-Crookston, while Marian did the same with a convincing sweep of Northland. As the top two seeds, MSOE and Finlandia both received byes to the semifinal round.<\/p>\n
The easiest way to characterize things may be this: UW-Stout, UW-River Falls, UW-Superior, Neumann, Manhattanville, Norwich, Mass.-Dartmouth and Oswego have all played seasons worthy of an NCAA tournament appearance. Unfortunately, at least two will be staying home. Whether that’s fair or not is a topic for another day.<\/p>\n
What is clear is that the closer the tournament gets, the more confusing things become. The biggest news from last weekend was Oswego losing in the semifinals of the SUNYAC conference tournament. This bodes ill for the NCHA teams as the Lakers are in good position to obtain one of the three pool C bids that UW-Stout, UW-River Falls and UW-Superior are all hoping to receive as well.<\/p>\n
The other three teams discussed last week — Manhattanville, Norwich and Mass.-Dartmouth, all won their tournament games. Manhattanville has reached the ECAC West finals and will take on another tournament hopeful in Neumann, while Norwich and Mass.-Dartmouth have both reached the semifinals of their respective conference tournaments.<\/p>\n
Conference championships by all three is what NCHA teams would most prefer, but a Manhattanville win would pull double-duty as a loss by Neumann can only help NCHA teams were it to come down to a comparison with Neumann.<\/p>\n
While no one can be sure what color rabbit will fall out of the selection committee’s hat on Sunday night, the more pool C bids available, the better it is for the NCHA hopefuls. So for one final week: Go Valiants, go Cadets, and go Corsairs.<\/p>\n
One more thing: This all goes out the window if St. Scholastica wins on Saturday.<\/p>\n
There is nothing new about the four teams remaining in the MCHA playoffs. What is new, however, is the location of this year’s Harris Cup Finals. After having been held at Crookston, Marian, MSOE and Lawrence, the finals now find their way to Finlandia.<\/p>\n
The northernmost locale in the MCHA lies in Hancock, Mich., which along with nearby Houghton has a long and storied hockey history.<\/p>\n
Aside from hockey history, the Keweenaw Peninsula, where Hancock is located, also has a rich tradition of something else: Snow.<\/p>\n
In true Upper Peninsula fashion, that tradition is rearing its ugly head just as three teams from the southern half of Wisconsin plan to hit the road for this weekend’s games. In fact, the National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for the region to be in effect from 4 p.m. Thursday to 7 p.m. Friday; Times that coincide perfectly with the travel plans of MSOE, Marian and Lawrence.<\/p>\n
Once everyone battles through the weather and finally makes it to Hancock, there is no question the top four teams in the MCHA will be on hand to compete for the Harris Cup.<\/p>\n
Collectively, the four teams comprise the top four ranked MCHA teams in scoring offense, scoring defense, and combined special teams.<\/p>\n
In terms of individual performers, the top four MCHA goalies will all be in attendance, as MSOE’s Matt Burzon, Finlandia’s Lukas Alberer, Marian’s Cullen Caldwell and Lawrence’s Andrew Isaac boast the league’s best goals-against-averages in the MCHA.<\/p>\n
Offensively, everyone is aware of the two most prolific lines in the league, and they’ll be there as well. The MSOE line of Blair Hanberg-Brian Soik-Lee Swallow line has posted 104 points on the season while the Joe Beaudry-Josh Paquette-Ryan Sullivan line has scored 121 for Finlandia.
\nBeyond its top line, MSOE also brings offensive firepower to the table by means of forwards R.G. Flath (17-13-30), Michael Duta (10-14-24), Simon Labrosse-Gelinas (6-15-21) and defenseman Jason Woll (6-15-21).<\/p>\n