On Mon, 23 Mar 1998, Eric J. Burton wrote:
 
> I would actually think that BU has the toughest draw, they have to play
> the winner of the Wisconsin and Clarkson game, I put my money on Wisconsin.
 
You mean UNH. Wisconsin and UNH play in the first round. Clarkson plays CC.
 
I would argue that BU's road back home is easier than BC's. BU is going
to either have to play Wisconsin or UNH. UNH ended the regular season on
a losing streak. It's true that Wisconsin is on a 5-game winning streak,
but it's equally true that their sweep at the hands of Michigan Tech is
not that long ago. One should also bear in mind that their WCHA
tournament performance was probably helped by playing bascially at home
for the entire tournament.
 
The Clarkson-CC matchup, OTOH, gives us teams who have been on definite
hot streaks to end the year. CC was on a 9-game winning streak coming
into the WCHA Final Five, and has now won 10 of 11. Clarkson has won 12
of its last 14, and was on a 10-game winning streak until Princeton
snapped it. Come tournament time, I don't want to be facing a team riding
a wave like that.
 
> I have heard a lot of comments about how UND looks real beat able, what
> about Michigan, they lost to Notre Dame and BU losing to Merrimack. The
> Sioux lost one game to a team with a losing record Minnesota. I don't
> think the other top seeds can say that.
 
Given a one-game playoff, every team is beatable. Going into last year's
tournament, Michigan seemed to be unbeatable. But the banner for last
year hangs in Grand Forks, not Ann Arbor.
 
If I were a UND fan, I would be worried about their seemingly lacklustre
performance in the postseason. I would think they should have handled
Mankato State better than they did, and they just about let St. Cloud
back into the WCHA semifinal.
 
That said, I think you could find something for every team to worry about.
 
See you later,
John
 
--
John Edwards - Carleton (ON) '96, Manitoba '00 - [log in to unmask]
                         Behold the power of cheese.
The opinions expressed are mine alone, because everybody else says I'm weird.
   NOTE: I reserve the right to forward any obnoxious and/or stupid mail.
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.