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.
(3) Minnesota at (1) Wisconsin
Saturday at 2:00 PM and Sunday at 12:00 PM Central
Minnesota is coming off a weekend split with Ohio State, but the loss on Saturday involved five unanswered goals from the Buckeyes and a whole lot of physicality and penalties. Wisconsin took five of six points at Minnesota Duluth with an overtime and regulation win over the Bulldogs.
When these two teams met in Minneapolis in October, the Badgers swept with a 5-0 win in the first game and a come-from-behind 4-3 victory in which they scored four unanswered. Despite the similarities to their last series, the Gophers have improved quite a bit over the course of the season. Abbey Murphy is still their main offensive driver, but Natálie Mlýnková, Ella Huber, Peyton Hemp and Josefin Bouveng have all stepped up and picked up some of that load. Most importantly, rookie Hannah Clark has stepped into the starting role in goal and been outstanding.
The Badgers have had some small stumbles the last few weeks, but in the end they still have just one regulation loss. They have four of the top five scorers in the country (Minnesota's Murphy is the other one) and goalie Ava McNaughton is first in the country in goals against and 2nd in save percentage. They're also notoriously difficult to beat at home and have the opportunity to secure the WCHA regular season title. Wisconsin has a 17 point lead on the Gophers, but two fewer games left to play. Heading into the weekend, the Badgers have four games left while Minnesota has six. UW needs a point to secure at least a share of the WCHA conference championship.
The officiating in the Minnesota/Ohio State series last weekend left a lot to be desired and the games got very chippy and really out of hand and it would not be surprising if several (or all) of those officials are assigned to this game. I guess we'll see if any lessons were learned. These games will be fast and physical and honestly, the goal should be that we don't even notice the officiating, but I fear that might be far too much to ask here. It feels like it will either be just as messy or they'll go so far in the other direction that it's nothing but whistles. I hope I'm wrong, because these Border Battle games are usually some of the best of the year.
Connecticut at (14) Boston University
Friday at 6:00 PM Eastern
Hockey East is bringing the drama in the final three weeks of their regular season. Boston University took a four point lead atop the conference standings last weekend, putting as much space as anyone has had in Hockey East between them and UConn. Unfortunately for the Terriers, three of their final six games are against the Huskies. It feels a bit like this first one will really set the tone and both teams will be looking to give themselves an edge. It's a given that every point will matter, but there's also a mental battle here. The teams will close out the season with a pair of games in two weeks, but for now, they have this first matchup.
Connecticut won their first-ever HE title last season and BU is looking for their first title since the 2012-2013 season. The Terriers finished seventh in the conference the last two seasons and were picked to finish in a similar spot this year, but have defied expectations. BU is on a five game win streak and are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over Northeastern on Tuesday. The Huskies had won four in a row before losing to Northeastern on Saturday.
Boston University will be without the Welcke sisters, who are with Germany at Olympic qualifiers this weekend. But they've been successful this year in part because they aren't relying on any one line or player to carry they offense. That makes them difficult to defend and for opposing coaches to plan matchups. But UConn has some of the best goaltending in the country and will be relying on a strong defense to give them the base to build from. BU has to not get frustrated, get traffic in front of the net and pay attention to UConn in transition.
Mercyhurst at (8) Penn State
Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 2:00 PM Eastern
With just four games left in the regular season (and therefore 12 possible points) Penn State, who have a 10 point lead on Mercyhurst, can secure the AHA regular season title with three points from this series.
The Nittany Lions get the boost of playing at home and, oh yeah, they do not have a loss in conference play. When the two teams met at the start of December, Penn State won 4-2 and 3-2. But Mercyhurst has just one loss since the sweep by PSU and it came at the hands of #2 Ohio State. They did tie RIT last weekend, though they took the shootout.
Penn State have played themselves to a fairly secure spot in the Pairwise, meaning they are likely to make the NCAA Tournament, even if they don't get the AHA auto-bid. Mercyhurst is playing for their post-season life and they'd like nothing more than raining on Penn State's party as they hope to celebrate a regular season title at home. These are two teams that have been building steam over the past two months and this is setting up to be a really big clash.
(Photo: Gopher Women's Hockey/Bjorn Franke)
