
Junior Rylan Schwartz and his CC teammates could still finish sixth if both Nebraska Omaha and St. Cloud State Both win Saturday night and the Tigers lose.
No. 2 Minnesota Duluth blew its chance at garnering the WCHA regular-season title outright. They could share the title but Minnesota would be the top seed headed into next week’s playoffs. That said, two playoff series are determined with more to be decided tonight.
The Golden Gophers, whose power play struggled in a Friday loss to Wisconsin, hosts Alaska Anchorage while Minnesota State Mankato will head north to Minnesota Duluth.
Then it gets a little murkier. No. 3 seed Denver or No. 4 North Dakota will host either Bemidji State or Wisconsin.
No. 5 or 6 seed Colorado College will host either Michigan Tech, Nebraska Omaha or St. Cloud State. All three could place sixth and host the seventh-place team in a playoff series.
Here’s the full list of scenarios and tiebreakers involving the places 5-8 teams courtesy of the WCHA. Yikes.
Colorado College (29 points, vs Michigan Tech) –
Seeded 5th with a win or a tie.
Seeded 5th with a loss and a Nebraska Omaha loss or tie.
Seeded 5th with a loss and a St. Cloud State loss or tie.
Seeded 6th with a loss, a Nebraska Omaha win, and a St. Cloud State win.
Nebraska Omaha (27 points, vs Denver) –
Seeded 5th with a win, a Colorado College loss, and a St. Cloud State win.
Seeded 6th with a win and a Colorado College win or tie.
Seeded 6th with a win and a St. Cloud State loss or tie.
Seeded 6th with a tie and a St. Cloud State loss or tie.
Seeded 6th with a loss, a St. Cloud State loss, and a Michigan Tech loss or tie.
Seeded 7th with a tie and a St. Cloud State win.
Seeded 7th with a loss, a St. Cloud State win or tie, and a Michigan Tech loss or tie.
Seeded 7th with a loss, a St. Cloud State loss, and a Michigan Tech win.
Seeded 8th with a loss, a St. Cloud State win or tie, and a Michigan Tech win.
St. Cloud State (27 points, vs Minnesota Duluth) –
Seeded 6th with a win and a Nebraska Omaha loss or tie.
Seeded 6th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a Michigan Tech loss or tie.
Seeded 6th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a Michigan Tech win by 11 or fewer goals.
Seeded 6th/7th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a Michigan Tech win by exactly 12 goals.
Seeded 7th with a win and a Nebraska Omaha win.
Seeded 7th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a Michigan Tech loss or tie.
Seeded 7th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a Michigan Tech win by 13 or more goals.
Seeded 7th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a Michigan Tech win by 11 or fewer goals.
Seeded 7th with a loss and a Michigan Tech loss or tie.
Seeded 7th/8th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a Michigan Tech win by exactly 12 goals.
Seeded 8th with a tie, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a Michigan Tech win by 13 or more goals.
Seeded 8th with a loss and a Michigan Tech win.
Michigan Tech (26 points, at Colorado College) –
Seeded 6th with a win, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a St. Cloud State loss.
Seeded 6th with a win by 13 or more goals, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a St. Cloud State tie.
Seeded 6th/7th with a win by exactly 12 goals, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a St. Cloud State tie.
Seeded 7th with a win, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a St. Cloud State loss.
Seeded 7th with a win, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a St. Cloud State win.
Seeded 7th with a win by 11 or fewer goals, a Nebraska Omaha loss, and a St. Cloud State tie.
Seeded 7th with a win by 13 or more goals, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a St. Cloud State tie.
Seeded 7th/8th with a win by exactly 12 goals, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a St. Cloud State tie.
Seeded 8th with a win, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a St. Cloud State win.
Seeded 8th with a win by 11 or fewer goals, a Nebraska Omaha win or tie, and a St. Cloud State tie.
Seeded 8th with a loss or a tie.
Wisconsin (24 points, at Minnesota) –
Seeded 9th with a win or a tie.
Seeded 9th with a loss and a Bemidji State loss or tie.
Seeded 10th with a loss and a Bemidji State win.
Bemidji State (23 points, at Alaska Anchorage) –
Seeded 9th with a win and a Wisconsin loss.
Seeded 10th with a win and a Wisconsin win or tie.
Seeded 10th with a loss or a tie.
Two-Way Tiebreakers:
Colorado College over Nebraska Omaha (2-2-0 head-to-head, Colorado College more WCHA wins)
Colorado College over St. Cloud State (1-1-0 head-to-head, Colorado College more WCHA wins)
Nebraska Omaha over St. Cloud State (1-0-1 head-to-head)
Nebraska Omaha over Michigan Tech (1-0-1 head-to-head)
St. Cloud State vs Michigan Tech at 28 points to be determined (WCHA goal differential)
St. Cloud State over Michigan Tech at 27 points (1-1-0 head-to-head, St. Cloud State more WCHA wins)
Michigan Tech over Wisconsin (2-0-0 head-to-head)
Wisconsin over Bemidji State (2-0-0 head-to-head)
Three-Way Tiebreakers:
Nebraska Omaha over Colorado College over St. Cloud State (Nebraska Omaha head-to-head, then revert to two-way tie)
Nebraska Omaha over St. Cloud State over Michigan Tech at 27 points (Nebraska Omaha head-to-head, then revert to two-way tie)
Nebraska Omaha over St. Cloud State / Michigan Tech at 28 points (Nebraska Omaha head-to-head, then revert to two-way tie which is to be determined)
CURRENT WCHA MEN’S STANDINGS
WCHA Games
|
|
Overall
|
|
GP
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
Pts
|
GF
|
GA
|
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
GF
|
GA
|
Minnesota
|
27
|
19
|
8
|
0
|
38
|
86
|
56
|
|
23
|
12
|
1
|
128
|
77
|
Minnesota Duluth
|
27
|
16
|
7
|
4
|
36
|
100
|
70
|
|
22
|
8
|
5
|
129
|
89
|
Denver
|
27
|
15
|
8
|
4
|
34
|
93
|
77
|
|
20
|
11
|
4
|
122
|
94
|
North Dakota
|
27
|
15
|
11
|
1
|
31
|
79
|
73
|
|
19
|
12
|
3
|
105
|
94
|
Colorado College
|
27
|
14
|
12
|
1
|
29
|
93
|
86
|
|
17
|
14
|
2
|
108
|
97
|
Nebraska Omaha
|
27
|
11
|
11
|
5
|
27
|
81
|
82
|
|
14
|
15
|
6
|
103
|
102
|
St. Cloud State
|
27
|
12
|
12
|
3
|
27
|
83
|
71
|
|
15
|
16
|
4
|
109
|
96
|
Michigan Tech
|
27
|
11
|
12
|
4
|
26
|
85
|
85
|
|
14
|
17
|
4
|
102
|
107
|
Wisconsin
|
27
|
11
|
14
|
2
|
24
|
75
|
81
|
|
16
|
15
|
2
|
100
|
94
|
Bemidji State
|
27
|
10
|
14
|
3
|
23
|
67
|
85
|
|
16
|
16
|
3
|
92
|
97
|
Minnesota State
|
27
|
8
|
17
|
2
|
18
|
73
|
99
|
|
12
|
21
|
2
|
97
|
119
|
Alaska Anchorage
|
27
|
5
|
21
|
1
|
11
|
56
|
106
|
|
9
|
22
|
2
|
77
|
120
|
And of interest to Tiger fans, UMass-Lowell, coached by former CC assistants Norm Bazin and Jason Lammers, clinched home ice in the Hockey East playoffs and could finish in second in the regular season standings. So, who would like to see a home-and-home nonconference setup with Lowell in the next couple years? Count me in.
Here’s an update on the first round of the CCHA playoffs. Check out the Pairwise rankings, which CC in 20th, behind Notre Dame and Ohio State, which are playing in an elimination game tonight..
In women’s playoff action, Minnesota whipped North Dakota 6-0 Friday behind four points (two goals) from Pine Creek High School graduate Emily West.