Western Collegiate Hockey Association
The Bulldogs seek the WCHA title this weekend |
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WCHA's `Big Three' Poised for Final Weekend
Feb. 21, 2008
By John Gilbert
The coaches and all the players on the Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota and Wisconsin women's hockey teams enjoy the excitement and intensity of playing each other so much that there is truly a mutual admiration society among the Women's WCHA "Big Three." However, as the season hurtles into its final weekend, all three will do whatever they can to avoid playing both of their favorite rivals in the playoffs.
The spotlight of the final weekend is shining on Ridder Arena, where two-time defending NCAA champion Wisconsin faces Minnesota in a Saturday-Sunday set of matinees. The Badgers (19-5-2) trail the Gophers (21-4-4) by three points, so they need to sweep in order to catch, and bypass, the Gophers. To do so they'll have to stop a 21-game undefeated streak by Minnesota (19-0-2). Part of that spotlight will also shine on the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.
UMD is 22-4, clinging to a one-point lead over Minnesota, as they face St. Cloud State (11-11-4) in another Saturday-Sunday afternoon series. UMD has its destiny in its own hands, and can secure the title without question by sweeping the Huskies. But St. Cloud State is a solid fourth in the league, and has senior goaltender Kendall Newell standing in the way of the Bulldogs. Newell and the Huskies upset both the Gophers with a 4-4 tie and 2-1 victory, and surprised the Badgers 2-1 for a split early in the season, creating the gap that still exists.
UMD's players and coaching staff are all aware that if the Bulldogs stumble, Minnesota could easily vault past them by sweeping the Badgers. The Bulldogs had last weekend off to heal up some ailments, and will get star sophomore Saara Tuominen back from a knee injury that has kept her out since January. But the status of freshman Iya Gavrilova from Russia remains in limbo.
Meanwhile, the teams WCHA rivals refer to as "the Big Three" have beaten up on each other all season.
Minnesota is on a record hot streak, having won 11 straight, and undefeated in 21 games, dating back to a 5-0 loss at UMD. A 3-0 Minnesota victory in the rematch, Nov.18 in Duluth, started the record streak for the Gophers. But Minnesota hasn't played another of the "big three" since then, until this weekend.
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In turn, UMD hadn't lost since that 3-0 Gopher game, compiling a 16-game winning streak until Wisconsin topped the Bulldogs 3-2 two weeks ago. That gave Wisconsin an 11-game winning streak, dating back to when they were swept by the Bulldogs in December in Madison. One day after Wisconsin stopped the UMD streak, UMD returned the favor, ending Wisconsin's streak 3-2. The Badgers started a new streak with a pair of shutouts over Bemidji State last weekend, while UMD was idle.
In a scheduling complexity, the Gophers played UMD all four times and Wisconsin twice before Thanksgiving. The Gophers lost 3-0 before rallying for a 3-2 victory and a split of their early November series at Wisconsin.
The Gophers, in fact, beat UMD 3-1, 5-1 for a sweep in October, so with a 3-1 ledger against UMD, and 1-1 against Wisconsin, Minnesota is 4-2 in those games. UMD is 4-4, having gone 3-1 against Wisconsin and 1-3 against Minnesota. And Wisconsin, which is 1-3 against UMD and 1-1 with Minnesota, could sweep and leave all three teams with 4-4 records against each other.
The tightness at the top carries over to national competition as well. UMD ranks No. 3, Minnesota No. 4 and Wisconsin No. 5 in the national polls, although UMD is No. 2 to Harvard in the pairwise computer simulation of NCAA selection procedures. In overall stature, UMD is 25-4-1, Minnesota 25-4-3, and Wisconsin 23-7. UMD tied and won in an early series to knock Mercyhurst out of the No. 1 national rating, and swept two games at highly-rated St. Lawrence, to earn that high rank.
This weekend's games command full attention, however, with strong league playoffs ramifications. While UMD, Minnesota and Wisconsin will be favored to get past first-round foes, once they reach the WCHA FINAL FACE-OFF in Duluth, the top seeded team gets to avoid the other two until the final. If, for example, UMD holds on to take first, and playoff form follows the seeding, Wisconsin and Minnesota would have to meet in the semifinals. All three of the Big Three know it's far easier to beat one of the others than both of them, on successive days.
All three are likely to be invited to the eight-team NCAA tournament, selected after league playoffs, and the playoffs obviously can affect the seeding, because only one team can win all the games in the WCHA playoffs. Outside of the "Big Three," a team like St. Cloud State, Ohio State or Minnesota Strte could fight its way into an NCAA spot with an upsurge in the playoffs. Just added incentive on the final weekend of the regular season.
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