Keep Rolling; March On

UMD Worked to Get Home Ice, Can They Finish?

In an up and down season, the Bulldogs are looking to break the ceiling and crash into the NCAA Tourney. A surge at the end of the season goth them home ice and currently has them on the bubble of the PWR at #13.

But all that work to get to today is for naught and their season will definitely end if they cannot find a way to win their first NCHC playoff game and get by the Redhawks for the second straight weekend.

Look for tighter games, but a very confident UMD squad to come out and turn some heads and March On.

Picks by @afiskness. All season the Bulldogs defense and goaltending has been very strong, but the inability to score goals hurt this team over the year.  The scoring appears to have come around while the defense and goaltending has remained strong.  Fans of NCAA hockey are wondering if the UMD Bulldogs have finally "figured it out" since they appear to be playing like the preseason media favorite to win the NCHC.  If the defense and goaltending remains what it has this teams does have the ability to knock off any opponent.

The Bulldogs need to keep winning to stay in the NCAA hunt.  At large teams can't have a losing record, so the Bulldogs must win more games than they lose.  A sweep this weekend would be huge going into the NCHC tournament as they would would likely still be able to finish 4th in the NCHC Tournament and get an at large bid to the NCAAs.  

Picks

NCHC #5 Miami @ #4 Minnesota Duluth:  As George Bush said “There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.” this applies to the Bulldogs this weekend.  They appear to have everything rolling, but I can't pick a sweep.  UMD in three games as they will lay one egg this weekend. 

NCHC #7Western Michigan @ #2 St. Cloud State:  The Huskies absolutely own this series.  In the previous four games played between these teams this year the Huskies scored 31 goals to the Broncos 8.  There will be no change this weekend, Huskies sweep.  

NCHC #8 Colorado College @ #1 North Dakota:  The Tigers long season is nearly over and they do not have enough left in the tank to pull an upset.  Fighting Hawks sweep.

NCHC #6 Nebraska Omaha @ #3 Denver:  The Pioneers are lava hot right now, have one loss in the last 18 games including nine straight wins.  The Mavericks are glacier ice cold with four wins in their last 16 games including six straight losses.  Why would that change?  Pioneers sweep.