We're down to just three games left in the season and these two semifinals seem poised to deliver some of the best hockey we've seen all season. Check out How to Watch for the links to these games.
(3) Cornell vs. (2) Ohio State
Friday at 4:00 PM Central
Explosive offensive team meet defensive brick wall. There is going to have to be some give in this game and the fun will be figuring out where and when it will happen. These two teams played each other back in October with Ohio State taking a 7-3 win, but even OSU coach Nadine Muzerall said that game and result were irrelevant to Friday's game. Their first meeting was just the fourth game of Cornell's season since the Ivy League starts their winter season later.
Both teams have grown tremendously. Cornell's Ashley Messier said that when these two met in October, the Big Red didn't even have their lines set. Since then, this team, which is on the younger side, has gelled together and found their identity. They aren't going to overwhelm anyone on offense and there's no single standout star. Instead, their scoring can come from anyone at any time. That makes them difficult to defend, but does leave them vulnerable when push comes to shove and they need one player to pick a corner, beat the goalie and place the puck.
Ohio State is susceptible to being shut down, but it does seem that most teams are incapable of holding them back for an entire 60 minutes. They've played a number of games where they're down or tied heading into the final period only to walk away with a multi-goal win. They tend to score in bunches when they finally do break through and will be looking to put Cornell on their heels and just keep pushing until they have a clear path into the zone.
Cornell coach Doug Derraugh said his team had to take calculated risks in order to win this game and it does feel a bit like the two coaches are playing chess while we all wait to see how their strategy pays off.
(4) Minnesota vs. (1) Wisconsin
Friday at 7:30 PM Central
Wisconsin has won all five games against the Gophers this season, though they needed a goal in the final 25 seconds of the WCHA title game to take the victory and crown two weeks ago.
But despite the loss, Minnesota left that game with nearly as much confidence as if they'd gotten the win. After a rough set of games in the regular season, they proved to themselves that they could take the Badgers wire to wire. They have the utmost belief in themselves and they get the bonus of playing at home.
The semifinals are sold out and the majority of that crowd is in Minneapolis to see this game in particular. It's going to be loud and raucous and whichever team can feed off that or tune it out without being affected by it is going to come out on top.
There's no way to sugarcoat for the Gophers to win, Abbey Murphy has to take another step up. She's already a world class player, but the Badgers have been able to neutralize her recently. She's the nation's top goal scorer and she scored eight goals and five assists so far in the post season. But this season against Wisconsin, she has just two assists. Wisconsin averages more than five goals a game and their goalie, Ava McNaughton, was named national Goalie of the Year on Friday.
It's difficult to get through Wisconsin's defense, difficult to score on McNaughton and difficult to beat the Badgers without scoring more than a goal or two. Minnesota has their work cut out for them, but both teams said at media day that the previous five games and even the rest of the regular season have no bearing on this game. Right now, the season is one game long and both of them are trying to win it.
(Photo: Minnesota Athletics/Bjorn Franke)
