By Ryan Stieg
This is tough to say folks, but the perfect week has escaped my grasp again. The worst part is that I came so close to achieving it, going 3 for 4 with my picks, but one school didn’t cooperate with my plans.
That team was Minnesota State, who ended up sweeping Michigan Tech when I thought it’d be a split. The good thing is by picking more than 50 percent of the games correctly, I got to take part in the National Day prize Sunday. I had a choice between cranberries, cashews, or espresso. I wasn’t sure how to make a combination of all that, so I ended up getting a Spicy Mocha at Caribou.
Cranberries would be a good prize for this week considering Thanksgiving’s tomorrow. However, this week’s prize is either a Mason Jar or mousse. So if I’m successful, I’m making flavored mousse and putting it in a Mason Jar. It’ll look ridiculous, but at least, I can get two prizes that way.
Now that you know what the prizes are, let’s talk about this week’s slate of games. It’s an interesting one with two nonconference battles that involve the two teams that are at the top of the CCHA standings. This is a great chance for other teams to climb into their spots, so there could be a whole different group at the top on Sunday morning.
In fact, let’s start with one of those nonconference series, and this one has the current CCHA leader taking on a nationally RANKED powerhouse. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
No. 6 North Dakota vs. Bemidji State (Friday at Bemidji, Saturday at Grand Forks)
This series is always intriguing, but this week, it has a little extra zazz. The Fighting Hawks are sitting nicely at 8-4 and are probably where they belong at the sixth spot in the polla. They just defeated the U.S. Under-18 team in an exhibition game and I watched UND a couple weeks ago in Grand Forks. They’re good. Maybe not as good as previous years, but the Hawks are going to make some noise in the NCAA Tournament. Then there’s Bemidji, who is surprisingly in first place in the CCHA. The Beavers just breezed by NMU for an easy home sweep and have only lost once in their last 10 games. I’m going with a split here. The Beavers win Friday 3-2, but UND wins Saturday 4-1.
No. 14 Minnesota State at Northern Michigan
Oof. This is quite a mismatch. First, there’s the Mavericks, who looked very good in their sweep of Tech and have lost only once since the season opener, an overtime defeat to St. Thomas. Meanwhile in the Upper Peninsula, it’s been a mess of a year for the Wildcats. They are 0-14 and haven’t been competitive in their last two series. NMU did upset the Mavericks the last time they came to Marquette, but I don’t see it happening again, and this year’s Wildcats are much better than last year’s squad. Mankato sweeps the series, winning 5-2 Friday and 6-2 Saturday.
St. Thomas at Michigan Tech
It’s been a year of mixed results so far for the Tommies, which is similar to last season’s first half. Last week, UST looked bad in Friday’s overtime loss to BG, but then it looked great in Saturday’s victory over the Falcons. The Huskies, on the other hand, have been much more consistent and until last weekend’s sweep in Mankato, they’d lost just once in their last eight games. The odds seem to favor Tech here, but the Tommies usually play well when they face the Huskies. I’m picking a split here. UST wins Friday 4-1, but Tech wins Saturday 3-1.
Augustana at Lake Superior State
Here are two teams that are still figuring things out. The Vikings were off last week and before that, they split with Ferris State. However, they still have one of the best goalies around in Josh Kotai and I think he’ll play a big role this week. LSSU is also trying to get back on track. The Lakers split with Ferris last week, but before that, they’d lost four in a row. Augie is the more talented team, but the trip to Sault St. Marie is a grind. So, I think it’ll be a split. The Lakers win Friday 4-2, but the Vikings win Saturday 5-1.
Princeton at Bowling Green
The final series of the weekend is a nonconference matchup in Ohio. The Falcons sit in second place in the CCHA and they want to stay there, but they probably won’t be on Sunday. So, they’ll just have to focus on helping their national standing and they’re getting a Princeton team that hasn’t played much this season. The Tigers have won three in a row, so they’re playing pretty well right now, but I’ve seen BG in person and as long as it doesn’t have a performance like last Saturday, I think it’ll take care of business. The Falcons sweep the series, winning 4-1 Friday and 6-2 Saturday.