By Ryan Stieg
Well, it’s all come down to this. The CCHA regular season comes to an end this weekend and not surprisingly, home ice and playoff seeding are coming down to this last set of series.
I’m heading into this weekend with mixed feelings. I had a rough outing last week as I only picked two of the five series correctly and now that we’re at the end of the regular season, it’s a sign that the college hockey season as a whole is quickly coming to a close. At the same time, I love this time of year as the games truly 100 percent start to matter next week as teams will be giving it their all to keep their seasons alive.
This series with the most on the line is the Michigan Tech-St. Thomas series as both of them are fighting for the last home ice spot. However, I’ll be covering that series live, so I won’t be making a prediction. I will tell you this though, if either team gets a sweep, it’ll lock up home ice, but if there’s a split, there will probably be some scoreboard watching Saturday night. It’s going to be a fun series.
As far as the other ones go, there’s one involving a team also fighting for home ice, while the rest are just focusing on playoff seeding. So let’s get started with the one that has a little more on the line and it’ll take place in Ohio,
Lake Superior State at Bowling Green
This has been a surprising year for the Falcons as they’ve performed much better than most people suspected. Right now, BG is tied with Tech for third place, so it’s sitting pretty good and a sweep of the Lakers will clinch home ice. The Falcons also have an outside chance of getting the second seed and a sweep could make that happen too since Augustana is off this week. The Lakers are tied for seventh, so their home ice hopes came to an end last weekend. However, they still could climb the standings and get a higher seed if they sweep the Falcons. I don’t see it happening though. I’m picking a split. The Falcons win Friday 4-2, but the Lakers win Saturday 3-1. BG still clinches home ice.
Bemidji State at No. 14 Minnesota State
The Mavericks raised the MacNaughton Cup for the seventh time in eight years last week after sweeping LSSU. That’s quite the feat for Mankato, who appears to have retaken control of the league. With the top seed already achieved, the Mavs just have to wait and see who they’ll be hosting next week. The Beavers, on the other hand, still have something to play for. Home ice is a long shot for them as they’d need BG to get swept and either Tech or UST to sweep each other to potentially get the fourth seed. Not only that, but they’d have to sweep Mankato first and that’s a tall task on the road. I’m picking a split here. Bemidji wins Friday 4-3, but the Mavericks win Saturday 5-3.
Northern Michigan at Ferris State
Here’s the only series that doesn’t really matter. The Wildcats are the only CCHA team that won’t make the playoffs and their disastrous season will finally come to a much-needed end Saturday night. NMU is just playing for pride at this point and is hoping to end the year on a high note. The Bulldogs have a little more to play for as a sweep could help their chances at getting a higher seed and it would also give retiring head coach Bob Daniels a couple of home victories to close out his long career. I’m tempted to pick a split here, but I think Daniels goes out strong at home. Ferris sweeps the series, winning 4-3 Friday and 3-2 Saturday.