By Ryan Stieg
We’ve now reached Valentine’s Day weekend, but more importantly, my birthday weekend in the CCHA season. Hopefully, I’ll be having an extra celebration thanks to some great predictions.
I felt liking partying after last week’s picks as I got back on track for the first time in more than a month. In fact, I almost pulled off the perfect week, but then Michigan Tech swept Augustana to ruin it. Despite that setback, I enjoyed my four-part prize of fettuccine alfredo, ice cream for breakfast, reminiscing about my time living and visiting Iowa as well as my time as an Eagle Scout. Yeah, things got pretty wild.
This week is a new set of prizes. I’ll already be getting several presents on Friday, but if my predictions go well, on Sunday night, I’ll be eating gumdrops for Gumdrop Day, while remembering being on Ferris Wheels for Ferris Wheel Day and then wondering what life would’ve been like if I’d decided to go to college at Wisconsin for Wisconsin Day. Sounds like a blast, doesn’t it?
As far as this week’s matchups go, none of them were easy to predict, which is typical for mid-February. I won’t spoil them early for you though. Here’s my picks for Week 19 and we’ll start in South Dakota.
Bowling Green at No.18 Augustana
This is the big series of the weekend as both teams are battling for position in the standings. The Falcons are surging right now and have climbed into fourth place after a split with first place St. Thomas. However, for some reason, they’re still not nationally ranked, or getting the respect they deserve. Meanwhile, the Vikings are a little shaky after being swept by Tech in Houghton and now, they’ve fallen to third place and are only two points head of BG. However, Augie is still a very good team, so this is going to be a tight series. Everything about this matchup right now is hinting at a split, so that’s what I’m picking. The Falcons win Friday 3-2, but the Vikings win Saturday 3-1.
Northern Michigan at Ferris State
You’re probably wondering why the series with the two lowest teams in the standings is next on the list. The answer is because if one of these teams gets swept, they’re probably not making the playoffs with the winner nabbing the eighth seed. Going into last weekend, NMU was playing better than Ferris, but the Bulldogs made some noise against Bemidji. Ferris ended its long losing streak with a regulation win and then earned a point in an overtime loss. The Wildcats typically play well against Ferris, but I think maybe the Bulldogs have something going, and they get a split. The Bulldogs win Friday 4-2, but the Wildcats win Saturday 3-2.
No. 17 Michigan Tech at Lake Superior State
The Huskies are rolling right now. After splitting with the Tommies two weeks ago, Tech took five of six points from Augie last week to take sole possession of second place and moved just two points behind first place UST. Meanwhile, the Lakers have pretty much clinched the seventh seed and have a slim chance at earning the sixth seed if they get some help. Looking at this matchup, I think it favors Tech pretty heavily. However, LSSU is coming off a bye week well-rested and I think it steals some points. The Huskies win Friday 5-2, but the Lakers win Saturday 4-3.
Bemidji State at No. 16 Minnesota State
Well, I didn’t think back in October that this matchup would be the least enticing in late February, but that’s where we are. Just when I think that the Beavers are getting back on track, they take a step back. They blew out NMU on the road two weeks ago and then they got blown out by Ferris at home. It’s been an odd year in Bemidji. Meanwhile, the Mavericks were off last weekend, but are still in contention for the MacNaughton Cup. However, they need to start picking up sweeps again if they want to stay that way. After predicting three splits, I’m going to roll the dice a little here and pick a Mankato sweep. The Mavericks sweep the series, winning 3-2 Friday and 4-1 Saturday.