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.
It's the final week of the regular season for Hockey East, NEWHA and WCHA and the first week of the postseason for AHA and ECAC.
(10) Quinnipiac at (9) Clarkson (Best of three series)
Friday at 3:00 PM, Saturday at 2:00 PM, Sunday at 2:00 PM (if needed) Eastern
It says so much about the ECAC that this is a quarterfinal series in their conference tournament. These two teams split their regular season series, with Quinnipiac winning 3-0 back in November and Clarkson taking a 3-1 victory in early February.
Two of Clarkson's top three scorers are defenders - Haley Winn and Nicole Gosling. The Golden Knights are good at getting bodies in front of the net and screening for their shots from distance, though both players are adept at creeping in from the blue line and shrinking the zone. Both are also stellar defenders, making this a tough scheme to crack.
The Bobcats rely heavily on their top line and if they are going to advance into this tournament, I think they'll need bigger contributions from players down the line sheet. We've seen players like Emerson Jarvis and Zoe Uens come up big at times this season, so it's not a matter of if they're capable, but if they can pull it off.
Both teams are playing for their NCAA Tournament lives. I haven't played with the BC Interruption Pairwise Predictor on this, but I'm guessing that the team who loses here is going to be on the outside looking in. All playoff games have win or go home implications, but I can't remember a quarterfinal game with such big implications before.
(11) St. Cloud State at (6) Minnesota Duluth (Best of three series)
Friday at 2:00 PM, Saturday at 1:00 PM, Sunday at 1:00 PM (if needed) Central
SCSU is still playing for the postseason life. There is a slim chance that they can earn themselves an NCAA at-large bid based on their spot in the Pairwise, but they need to sweep the Bulldogs first and foremost. UMD took three of four wins in the season series. The fourth game was a tie and Minnesota Duluth took the extra shootout point.
Neither team had the final weekend they'd have liked. SCSU lost two games to Ohio State while UMD was swept by Minnesota. But both are well-prepared and poised to make a run in the playoffs.
This looks to be a goaltending and defensive duel, with three of the best goalies in the country on these two rosters. Sanni Ahola and Emilia Kyrkkö have split time for St. Cloud while Ève Gascon has handled nearly all the duties for Minnesota Duluth. Their defenses are stingy and effective, slowing down the game, clogging the middle and frustrating the offense. Neither team has been super prolific on offense and it seems likely goals will be at a premium here, so both teams have to capitalize on the opportunities when they arise.
St. Cloud is particularly good on breakouts and in transition, so UMD has to be mindful of leaving too much open ice, but also find a balance where they aren't just hanging back in case of a breakout and taking away from their own team offense.
Vermont at Boston University (Single elimination)
Saturday at 4:00 PM Eastern
With the chaos that reigned in this conference this season and the fact that Hockey East has a single-elimination tournament, I'd argue every one of their games is must-watch. This one is of particular note because I think Boston University is one of the teams on a mission this postseason. They just missed out on the regular season title, but I'd bet they'd take an NCAA berth as pretty good balm for that wound. I think the Terriers are a team with a lot driving them right now and nothing to lose.
BU took two of three games against the Catamounts this season, but Vermont has proved unpredictable and difficult for teams up and down the Hockey East standings as the season wound down. They don't give up and in the second half of the season had two wins over Northeastern and one each over BC and BU, plus OT and one-goal losses to UConn. They are pesky and persistent and buoyed by an overtime win on Wednesday to send them to this game.
For the Terriers, they have to channel the disappointment of last weekend into a new goal. This is second season and nothing that happened before matters. No matter how it ends, BU made a big statement this season and far exceeded expectations. But they're also plenty talented enough to take this tournament and give themselves a better ending.
(Photo: Twitter/Quinnipiac women's hockey)
