With Denver’s late victory over St. Cloud State, the Pioneers finally solved the mystery 10 of the league’s 12 teams were waiting to have answered. Even after five of the WCHA’s six games were completed, only Michigan Tech and North Dakota knew where they were going.

Here are the final standings for the regular season:

1 – North Dakota

2 – Denver

3 – Nebraska-Omaha

4 – Minnesota Duluth

5 – Minnesota

6 – Colorado College

7 – Wisconsin

8 – Alaska-Anchorage

9 – St. Cloud State

10 – Bemidji State

11 – Minnesota State

12 – Michigan Tech

 

Here are the playoff matchups for next weekend:

Michigan Tech at North Dakota

Minnesota State at Denver

Bemidji State at Nebraska-Omaha

St. Cloud State at Minnesota Duluth

Alaska-Anchorage at Minnesota

Wisconsin at Colorado College

 

There are definitely some intriguing series mixed in. North Dakota is really the only runaway favorite in all of those contests. Even Minnesota State gave Denver a run (led late in both games, but ended up with only one point) two months ago when the teams met in Mankato. Bemidji finished the year 3-0-1 against UNO. Anchorage split with Minnesota at Mariucci in early February. Wisconsin and CC split this weekend in their only meeting of the year. St. Cloud hammered Duluth 8-2 Feb. 11 before adding a tie the following night at Amsoil Arena last month.

Sunday, March 6th, 2011 - 12:41 am | Commentary