Just under a month removed from our last WCHA Power Rankings, the true second half of the college hockey season kicks off tonight with the rare weekend where all six WCHA teams are in action against each other. This will only happen two more times the rest of the season.

There are an intriguing array of games set for this weekend, so enjoy!

1 — Minnesota Duluth (Dec. 16 — 1)

The Bulldogs enter the weekend unbeaten in 16 straight games. That includes their last six, which have all been on the road. UMD hasn’t played at AMSOIL Arena since before Thanksgiving, and it will spend one more weekend on the road tonight and Saturday at Nebraska-Omaha. The Mavericks have done their best to try and sell out tonight’s game at the CenturyLink Center, and at last check, are within 1,000 tickers of doing so. Regardless, it will be the largest crowd to ever see a UNO game in Omaha. In talking with Scott Sandelin earlier this week, the Bulldogs are looking forward to the challenge.

2 — Minnesota (Dec. 16 — 2)

Don Lucia’s bunch has been thoroughly underwhelming for the better part of six weeks now, and since sweeping North Dakota during the first weekend in November, Minnesota is just 6-6-1. They were unable to win their own holiday tournament, again, something that used to be routine for this team. They were asleep for much of their game against Notre Dame last Saturday night before finally waking up with under three minutes to play in a 4-3 loss. With North Dakota heating up and Minnesota cooling down, this could be a crossroads weekend for these two squads. The Gophers need at least 2 points to regain some momentum.

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The WCHA needed a big weekend to salvage it’s at-large hopes for the NCAA Tournament in March. And while it posted a winning record thanks to a late-Saturday rally, a 7-4-1 record on the weekend isn’t exactly what was needed.

What’s truly disappointing is what could have been for the league this weekend. Denver blew a two-goal lead Friday in a 3-2 loss. Minnesota State blew a 3-2 lead late in the third period Friday, allowing two goals in 1:16 in a 4-3 loss. CC had a two-goal lead Saturday and tied. A 10-2-0 record this weekend would have been an unquestioned success. A 7-4-1 record? Not so much.

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I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and I’m excited for what promises to be another great second half of action in the WCHA.

I will jump back into the power rankings prior to next weekend, but I did want to stress how important the nonconference action this weekend should not be overlooked.

Because there are no WCHA games on the schedule, many will look at this weekend’s games and think “who cares?” Well, you shouldn’t care — if all you care about is winning the MacNaughton Cup. January means it’s time to start looking at those Pairwise Rankings a little closer, and for those of you who haven’t checked them out yet, you can find them here.

I am, by no means, a Pairwise expert — very few are. But I can tell you this with certainty: Only two WCHA teams are in good NCAA Tournament position as we head into the second half, as Minnesota Duluth (No.2) and Minnesota (tied for 4th) are the only two locks as of right now. Colorado College is square on the bubble, and would likely be one of the last one or two at-large teams in.

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With the WCHA at it’s true midway point for the next couple weeks, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at how I would vote these awards at the halfway point of the season. Obviously, there is a ton of hockey left to be played, and this is just one man’s opinion… but here is how I’d vote if the ballots were due today. I’m sure I’ll have no trouble soliciting some opinions — especially from North Dakota fans.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody. Rip away!

First Team
F — Jack Connolly (UMD)
F — Nick Bjugstad (MIN)
F —  Rylan Schwartz (CC)
D — Justin Schultz (WIS)
D — Brad Hunt (BSU)
G — Kent Patterson (MIN)
Here’s why: Connolly, Bjugstad and Schultz are no-brainers. Schwartz is tied with Bjugstad for the league lead in goals (16) but has also been clutch: He is second in power play goals and fourth in game winning goals. I love what Hunt brings; he is underrated on both ends of the rink. Patterson has already tied the school record for shutouts in a season.

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The WCHA season has will reach its midpoint this weekend, as four teams have played 12 of the 28 conference games. Those four teams face off this weekend and everyone will be at 28 heading into Christmas.

Others will be in nonconference action before the holiday tournaments start in a little over a week. Because there is little action after this weekend until those holiday tournaments, I will be taking a one week break from the power rankings next weekend to enjoy the Christmas holiday with friends and family.

Without further delay, here are the final power rankings of the first half:

1 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 1)

The team that ended last season on top of all the rankings ends the first half on top of these ones. The Bulldogs haven’t lost a game in TWO MONTHS! That statistic alone might be the most amazing one so far. What’s almost as shocking is they’re not running away with the league — not by a long shot. Their three losses this season all came consecutively, and at one point, UMD was 1-3-0. Hard to believe. Duluth plays four conference road series the rest of the way — including one in Mankato and one in Anchorage, so the schedule doesn’t look too overbearing the rest of the way.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 2)

I’ll say it again: When Minnesota plays smart, determined and motivated, there isn’t a team that can run with them. Not even UMD, whom the Gophers swept to kick off the conference schedule. That team showed up in the third period last Saturday. But at times recently — especially on Fridays — Minnesota has not been that team. Yeah, they’re still a good team, but they’re not a great team. If Don Lucia can get this team focused for the stretch run, the Gophers have as good a shot as any to win a national championship.

3 — Nebraska-Omaha (Last week: 5)

Teams 3-5 in this week’s power rankings are so close, you could really pull them out of a hat. UNO gets the third spot because its win at Ralph Engelstad was the most impressive of the weekend. Maverick goaltenders held North Dakota to just two goals on the weekend and salvaged just two points — a statistic that always astonishes me when I see it. You usually see it happen once a year in the league. We’ll see how critical those points are in March. Things will also get a little more difficult for UNO now that Alex Hudson is gone. Since his return from an early season suspension, Omaha has been an outstanding team . They struggled early without him.

4 — Denver (Last week: 4)

The Pioneers split a pair of one goal games at Bemidji State last weekend to remain in neutral in the power rankings. At the halfway point, Denver isn’t nearly as high in the standings as some had predicted, but they’ve overcome a number of injuries to big-time players. As those guys start to work their way back into the line-up, we’ll see who the real Pioneers are.

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Michigan Tech winning in Minneapolis? Alaska-Anchorage winning in Colorado Springs? Yeah, this was a crazy weekend.

Of course Minnesota and CC showed why they’re perennial contenders — finishing games in the third period Saturday night to salvage splits.

There is plenty to love if you’re a Michigan Tech fan though. My Monday feature is on the Huskies and how they’re close — but there’s still some things to learn.

Like handling success with aplomb. Daniel Sova tied the game tonight and shushed the Mariucci crowd. That didn’t sit well with a couple of Gopher players I chatted with after the game. They showed it too, blowing the doors off Tech with four goals in the next 17 minutes. But they’ll learn — and Pearson is a heck of a coach.

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Hi folks, I wanted to hop on and give my power rankings for the week… There is some sort of illness traveling around the Myers household this weekend however (Ebola, it seems like), so this won’t be long.

I will blog again at some point this weekend and I am very excited to take in my first live Michigan Tech game this season (something I thought I’d never say).

Here we go:

1 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 1)

They kept winning. They stay here.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 2)

Read above.

3 — Colorado College (Last week: 4)

They won and didn’t lose, so they moved up.

4 — Denver (Last week: 5)

They lost, but they still moved up. You’ll see why below.

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For much of Friday’s game between first place Minnesota and last place Minnesota State, it was difficult to decipher who was the top team and who was the bottom one. The answer to said question came in the third period, when in the span of about 10 seconds, the Mavericks had a chance to win, and then lost on a goal at the other end.

Playing shorthanded, MSU senior forward Michael Dorr raced in on a breakaway on Gopher goalie Kent Patterson. His shot whistled well high and wide, directed around the glass and onto the stick of a Gopher. Minnesota charged to the other end and Nate Schmidt set up Erik Haula on a slap shot from the blueline — hit not that especially hard — that somehow found its way into the Maverick net.

MSU head coach Troy Jutting thought it was a shot that should have been stopped, as were the other two that got through senior goaltender Austin Lee.

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Another change at the top as the red-hot Bulldogs steamroll into December on a mighty-large unbeaten streak:

1 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 2)

The Bulldogs are a buzz saw right now and jump up in this week’s rankings despite being idle last weekend. It will be interesting to see how UMD handles their time off and if any rust developed over their 13-day layoff. Their road trip this weekend to Houghton won’t be easy either — the Huskies have lost just once at home this season. But UMD is 8-0-2 over their last 10 contests and have won five in a row, thrashing helpless Minnesota State (ironically the one team to beat Tech in Houghton this season) two weekends ago.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 1)

The Gophers have struggled on Fridays lately, falling behind early and losing each of their last series lid-lifters against Wisconsin, St. Cloud State and Michigan State. All of those games came on the road however, and the Gophers find themselves with a giant meatball this weekend back at home against Minnesota State. After spending much of the first part of the season on the road — including five of their last six games — Minnesota won’t leave Mariucci Arena until mid-January and play only two road games through Jan. 27.

3 — Nebraska-Omaha (Last week: 5)

If Minnesota and UMD are the top-tier right now, UNO and the next two teams are in that next level. The Mavericks jump up this week because they scored a three-point weekend over St. Cloud State at the CenturyLink Center. If not for a late Ben Hanowski goal Saturday night, it would have been four points. All of the sudden, UNO has a full-blown goaltender controversy. John Faulkner — an All-WCHA pick from a year ago — didn’t even play last weekend and has been supplanted by freshmen Ryan Massa and Dayn Belfour. Perhaps our friend Chuck Schwartz was indeed seeing things clearly about Mr. Faulkner afterall.

4 — Colorado College (Last week: 3)

Yes, they were swept last weekend. But losing a pair of one goal games at Ralph Engelstad Arena is nothing to be ashamed about (although maybe this year it should be… KIDDING of course Sioux fans). I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team get a hat trick from one guy on two consecutive nights and lose both games. CC will get to take their frustrations out on their rivals from the north. If the Gold Pan means anything to these guys, and it does, they’ll need a win Friday at World Arena.

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Sorry for the late post, here. I am in Milwaukee visiting friends and family for the holiday (I normally work out of the Twin Cities), so I haven’t been around my computer much. But I did want to hop on and do my power rankings, because unlike some people (like myself), the WCHA is definitely NOT on break this weekend. Ten of the league’s 12 teams will be in action this weekend, with eight beginning play tonight. This weekend’s docket also includes a trio of conference series:

1 — Minnesota (Last week: 1)

The Gophers have split their last two weekends, I think a disappointing result because the Gophers are clearly better than both teams. Three of those games were on the road however, and the one that was at home was never really close. I still give Minnesota the edge over UMD because of the head-to-head meeting in October, but this gap is narrowing weekly.

2 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 2)

A very impressive weekend by UMD — not because they swept Minnesota State — but because they did it convincingly. Clearly, there is still a ton of firepower in Duluth and if they get continued solid play from Kenny Reiter in goal, they will be up here all season. That Frozen Four run last season has done wonders for his confidence, and it shows.

3 — Colorado College (Last week: 3)

Speaking of taking care if business at home, the Tigers rolled over Wisconsin at World Arena last weekend keeping pace in the WCHA marathon. The key to the weekend was the first period, as CC scored five of their eight goals in the opening 20 minutes — including three on Saturday, virtually ending the Badgers’ hopes of a split.

4 — Denver (Last week: 5)

The Pioneers played one of the oddest games you’ll ever see last Friday against Omaha. The two teams combined for 10 goals through two periods — DU led 7-3 — when all of the sudden, someone turned off the scoring spicket during the second intermission. Neither team yielded a goal in the third and the Pioneers jumped ahead. They ended up taking three big points against a Maverick bunch they will be neck-and-neck with all season.

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