Come back each week for a preview of interesting NCAA games coming up and some thoughts on what happened in the previous week's action. Check out Thursday's How to Watch for links to all the weekend's games.
(2) Ohio State at (3) Minnesota
Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 2:00 PM Central
While both these teams are very likely to be NCAA Tournament teams (we don't say anything with certainty at this point), they're playing for position - both in their conference tournament and NCAA Tournament seeding. Each of them has 45 points in the WCHA, but Ohio State has played two more games than the Gophers, giving Minnesota the advantage.
On paper at least, the Gophers have a much harder schedule to close out the regular season, with Wisconsin, St. Cloud State and UMD on deck for the three weeks following this one. Ohio State closes with St. Thomas, a bye week and St. Cloud State.
The two teams last played each other on October 11 and 12 and quite frankly neither of these teams looks anything like the ones that played more than three months ago. OSU won the first game 4-3 and they tied 1-1 in the second game, with OSU taking the shootout. I'm not sure those results tell us much of anything, though. Minnesota has been less reliant on Abbey Murphy to carry their offensive output. I mean, she still scores plenty, but their fortunes don't hinge on her alone and that's made a huge difference in the game they can play. They look looser than they have in years.
It's probably a little silly to say it feels a little like this OSU team is still figuring itself out a bit. They've dealt with injuries and haven't skated a ton of time with the same lines and units on the ice consistently. Don't get me wrong, they're still very good, but they set their own standards really high. After going 35-4 last season, they graduated a ton of players, several of whom are the ones we'll still be talking about years from now. They've had to recalibrate. One thing to keep an eye on for the Buckeyes is where their scoring is coming from. Right now they have just three players with 30 or more points. If they can spread things around and down their line sheet, they're much more likely to come out with the win.
(9) Clarkson at (4) Colgate
(7) St. Lawrence at (4) Colgate
(9) Clarkson at (5) Cornell
(7) St. Lawrence (5) Cornell
Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 3:00 PM Eastern
Ok, I know that's a lot up there, but basically Clarkson and St. Lawrence are each playing at Cornell and Colgate this weekend. Both games on Friday are at 6:00 PM Eastern and both games on Saturday are at 3:00 PM Eastern and all of them will stream on ESPN+.
Things could not be more interesting than they are with this group of ECAC teams. Colgate currently has a 0.5 point lead atop the standings with 38 points. Cornell has 37.5 points. St. Lawrence has 35.5 and Clarkson has 29. The top three teams in the standings are all a pretty good bet for the NCAA Tournament regardless of who actually wins their conference tournament and league auto-bid. But Clarkson's position is more precarious. Of course if they win the tournament, they're in. But a lot of things would have to go in their favor for them to stay high enough in the Pairwise to make the final field as an at-large team.
St. Lawrence beat Colgate earlier in the season and skated to a 2-2 with Cornell. Clarkson lost to both Colgate and Cornell in their previous meeting this year. Add in some recent stumbles (of varying degrees) by each of these teams and this weekend's games look even more intriguing. Each one of these teams needs to get the maximum points they can out of the weekend and obviously that's not possible.
Ultimately, there's not a ton separating any of these teams. Cornell probably has the best goaltending, Colgate has the most dynamic offense, Clarkson's defenders are strong in their own zone and good from the blue line and St. Lawrence has shown themselves to be really well-rounded, creative and gritty.
(1) Wisconsin at (6) Minnesota Duluth
Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 3:00 PM Central
Both these teams had series last weekend they'd rather forget. Minnesota Duluth was swept by St. Thomas while the Badgers looked like they couldn't connect a pass - much less more than one - if their life depended on it on Sunday and they tied St. Cloud State.
Minnesota Duluth is in the more precarious position and have historically been able to slow Wisconsin down in Duluth. The Badgers struggled with breakouts and moving through the neutral zone on Sunday and the Bulldogs will be looking to shut them down in a similar way this weekend. Add in how stellar Ève Gascon can be and it could be a frustrating series for UW. They have the offensive advantage and even a slowed down Wisconsin offense still usually scores goals. UMD can frustrate and cause issues for the Badgers' top lines, but will really have to put in work down the line sheet.
The other game-changer will be special teams. Wisconsin's power play is the best in the country, scoring 40% of the time. The only goals they scored no SCSU on Sunday were on the player advantage. Even when nothing else was really working for the Badgers, the power play was. Minnesota Duluth's penalty kill is near the middle of the pack, successful about 84% of the time.
(Photo: Ohio State Women's Hockey/X)