By Ryan Stieg
Last Friday was Halloween, and like most people, I was hoping for more treats than tricks over the weekend. The good thing was, unlike previous seasons, my Halloween bag had some nice treats in it by the time Saturday’s games ended.
Out of the six series, I only missed two of them. I thought Ferris State was due and that it’d get a sweep at home over Lindenwood, but the Bulldogs ended up getting swept. My other “trick” was having faith in Northern Michigan as I thought that by entering CCHA play, the Wildcats might finally get their first win and earn a split with Augustana. Instead, the Vikings easily slayed their competition and came out with a sweep. Oh well. I still ended up with more treats than tricks.
This weekend doesn’t have a wildly popular holiday occurring during it, but it’ll still be interesting as it’s all conference matchups this weekend with all the teams now entering CCHA play. I won’t be looking for treats this time, but it’s National Harvey Wallbanger Day on Saturday. Maybe I’ll try one of those for the first time ever if my picks go well. So, let’s get started with my predictions for CCHA Week 6 and I’ll begin with a big rivalry series in the Upper Peninsula.
Michigan Tech vs. Northern Michigan (Friday at Houghton, Saturday at Marquette)
Here are two teams that hate each other and are going in different directions. The Huskies are surprising some people for being 5-3 and they could easily be sitting at 7-1 if things had gone a little differently. Meanwhile, the Wildcats went winless in October and are crawling into the weekend with an 0-10 record. However, I think NMU’s brutal schedule played a role in it not getting a win yet and the ‘Cats are better than their record. On paper, Tech is the clear favorite here, but in rivalry series, anything can happen. So, I’ll go with a split. The Huskies win Friday 4-1, but the Wildcats win Saturday 3-2.
Bowling Green at No. 16 Minnesota State
Let’s start with the Mavericks, who took four of six points from St. Thomas last weekend. Mankato rallied in the third period to get a win Friday and did the same thing again Saturday to tie the game before falling to the Tommies in overtime. That series showed how hard it is to put away the Mavs. Then there’s the Falcons, who earned two points last weekend against Bemidji State, falling in a shootout Friday and then in overtime Saturday after a good, hard-fought series. It’s a long trip from Ohio to southern Minnesota, but I think BG forces a split. The Falcons win Friday 4-3, but the Mavericks win Saturday 5-2.
Lake Superior State at Bemidji State
After getting swept at home by BG two weeks ago, the Lakers rebounded last week, picking up a tie against St. Lawrence and an impressive blowout win over Clarkson, who had defeated Tech the night before. The Beavers, on the other hand, picked up four hard-earned points against the Falcons and have seemingly gotten back on track over the past two weeks after a rough sweep at the hands of Minnesota Duluth. I think this series is a toss-up, so I’m going with another split. The Lakers win Friday 3-2, but the Beavers win Saturday 5-3.
Augustana at Ferris State
Sigh. Oh Ferris. I guess I had too much faith in you last week. I thought you’d recover from that sweep by Tech and get two wins against Lindenwood, but instead, you dropped both games. I’m not going to bash you though as you played well against the Lions, but you just came up short. Now, you get the Vikings, who easily dispatched NMU and goalie Josh Kotai is hot right now. Heading into this week, I was going to pick an Augie sweep, but I said on the CCHA podcast that there wouldn’t be any teams without league points after this weekend, so I’ll have to stick with that. Hopefully, the Bulldogs don’t let me down again. The Vikings win Friday 4-2, but Ferris wins Saturday 3-2.