By Ryan Stieg
Heading into last weekend, I was looking to get back on track after a subpar Week 3 performance and thankfully, I managed to do so.
I picked four of the six CCHA series correctly with all four being splits. The only two I missed on were Augustana at Omaha, which ended up being a surprisingly easy Vikings sweep and Stonehill at Lake Superior State. I thought the Lakers would sweep the Skyhawks and instead, they had an awful first game and had to settle for a split. I guess Stonehill has improved quite a bit from last year.
This week is a tougher slate as some teams are performing better than expected, but I’m feeling confident after a strong Week 3. So, let’s get started with the battle of the Cows in Mankato.
No. 16 Omaha at No. 18 Minnesota State
Division I college hockey’s two Mavericks squads will battle in southern Minnesota this week and it should be a good one. The visiting Red Cows are coming in on a slide after a surprising sweep at the hands of Augie and are looking for a good rebound. It won’t be easy though as the Purple Cows are off to a solid start and should be feeling confident after splitting with a highly-talented North Dakota squad. I think the teams are evenly matched, so I’ll go with a split here. Omaha wins Friday 3-2, but Mankato wins Saturday 4-3.
Augustana at No. 12 St. Cloud State
The Vikings are on a mini-roller coaster to open their year as they only managed a split with a bad Long Island team, but then swept a good Omaha squad. So, they’re a little hard to figure out right now. Meanwhile, the Huskies are pretty straightforward. They’re just a good team. St. Cloud didn’t look its best in its opener against St. Thomas, but then it swept Bemidji and split with a ranked Michigan team in Ann Arbor, so the Huskies appear to have got it together. SCSU might be the better team, but I’m not counting out the Vikings and I think they force a split. Augie wins Friday 4-3, but the Huskies cruise Saturday 5-2.
Bowling Green vs. No. 19 Ohio State (Friday at Columbus, Saturday at BG)
The Falcons are off to a decent start this year, but this should be a good test for them. BG was easily handled by Western Michigan in its first game last weekend and now, it gets a Buckeyes squad coming off a nice sweep of a ranked Wisconsin team. I think the Falcons have shown improvement from last year, but they need to beat a ranked team before I get impressed. I don’t think it’ll happen this week though. OSU sweeps the series, 3-1 Friday and 4-1 Saturday.
Arizona State at Northern Michigan
The Sun Devils aren’t very hot this year, at least not yet. After beating Air Force in a blowout in its opener, ASU has lost four of its last five, so the Wildcats are catching it at the right time. NMU got a split last weekend against Alaska Anchorage, but hasn’t put together a good 60-minute game yet. However, I think it does that this week and the ‘Cats force a split. Northern guts out a win Friday 3-2, but ASU wins Saturday 4-1.
Clarkson at Michigan Tech
The Huskies were off last week after sweeping Alaska Fairbanks, so we’ll see how rusty they are. They’ll get a Golden Knights team going through an up-and-down stretch, so this could be a good chance for Tech to nab a couple wins. I think it’ll be a split though. Clarkson wins Friday 3-2, but the Huskies win Saturday 4-2.
Bemidji State at Ferris State
The Beavers were also on a bye last week and it was reeling a little after getting swept by SCSU. However, they should get back on track this week against the Bulldogs. Ferris got a split last weekend at St. Lawrence, but it looked horrendous Saturday in an 8-0 blowout loss. So, the Bulldogs appear to be showing their true colors now and it should be an easy weekend for Bemidji. The Beavers sweep the series, winning 3-1 Friday and 5-2 Saturday.