It's the first week of the NCAA conference playoffs. Teams all play a best-of-three series with the top four seeds hosting.
(9) Robert Morris at Lindenwood
Syracuse at Penn State
Friday at 6:00PM CT and 4:30PM ET, Saturday at 2:00PM ET/1:00PM CT.
Watch: Games at Penn State available on a paid stream through BTN2GO. Game at Lindenwood available on a paid stream through Stretch Internet.
While the other conferences all start their post-season tournaments, the CHA will have one more weekend of the regular season and do their full tournament next weekend.
Robert Morris is currently in the top spot in the league but are just two points clear of Syracuse. They're hoping to earn their first-ever conference title. They're also looking to maintain their ranking/Pairwise spot to be in the running for an at-large bid should they be unable to win the conference tournament and win the NCAA auto-bid.
Robert Morris should know what Syracuse did when they take the ice tonight but the two play at the same time on Saturday.
The Colonials have had the run of the CHA for most of the season. It would be a shame if they lost it on the final weekend.
(10) Quinnipiac at (8) Princeton
Friday and Saturday at 3:00 PM ET. Sunday if necessary.
Watch: Paid stream available through the Ivy League Network.
The only meeting of ranked teams this weekend. Quinnipiac needs to win to continue their season. Princeton snuck into the final home-ice spot and may have a chance to make the NCAA tournament even with an early conference tournament exit.
Princeton won both the team's regular-season meetings, but that probably has little bearing on how Quinnipiac will play when their entire season is on the line.
I expect this one to go three full games and probably a few extra periods, as well.
Colgate at (7) Cornell
Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00 PM ET
Watch: Paid stream available through the Ivy League Network.
Colgate already took the first game in this series. The teams had split their regular-season games. All three of those games ended 2-1, so this is a series that looks like it will be decided by inches.
If Colgate advances, it may be the end of the season for Cornell. They'd be at the mercy of the other teams packed close around them in the 7-11 spots in the Pairwise.
Stick Taps and Snark
↑Patty Kazmaier Top Ten Finalists -- Wisconsin's Ann-Renée Desbiens and Annie Pankowski, Minnesota's Kelly Pannek and Sarah Potomak, St. Lawrence's Brooke Webster and Kennedy Marchment, Princeton's Kelsey Koelzer, Clarkson's Cayley Mercer, Minnesota-Duluth's Lara Stalder, and BC's Megan Keller.
↓Boston College -- The Eagles dropped a game to Providence in the final regular season weekend. Not the kind of finish a top team wants heading into the final do-or-die weeks of the season.
↑Bemidji State's Britni Mowat -- The senior goaltender is now the Beavers' career leader in games played (131), minutes (7718:31), wins (61), GAA (2.04), save percentage (.931) and saves (3,522).
↓Harvard -- The Crimson failed to qualify for the ECAC tournament for the first time in the NCAA DI era.
↑Boston College's Kristyn Capizanno -- She scored her 100th point last weekend.
↑Merrimack -- The Warriors got a win against Vermont and earned their first-ever post-season berth in just their second NCAA DI season.
(Photo credit: RMU/Twitter)
