Hello everyone!  The first round of the WCHA Playoffs are history and as
many expected, all five home teams advance with 2-0 sweeps.  A few games
were close, but the home teams dominated for the most part.  Let's look
at each series and how they turned out.
 
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MICHIGAN TECH AT NORTH DAKOTA.
 
Firday Night: UND 4, MTU 1
 
Saturday Night: UND 3, MTU 0........SIOUX SWEEP SERIES 2-0.
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The Sioux overcame Michigan Tech's frustrating defensive style and chippy
play to sweep their home playoff series with the Huskies and return to
the Final Five for the first time since 1995.  On Friday Night, MTU held
the Sioux scoreless for all of the first period and the first half of the
second before Peter Armbrust scored his 9th of the year unassisted at the
7:29 mark.  Senior foreward Kevin Hoogsteen added another goal in the
second, which proved to be the game winner as the Sioux went on to win
4-1.  On Saturday Night, Kevin Hoogsteen scored his 15th of the year in
the first period.  That goal proved to be the game winner as Aaron
Schweitzer stopped all 21 shots he faced for his 4th shutout of the
season.  The Sioux went on to win 3-0 and will move on to the Finve Five
in St. Paul.
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ALASKA-ANCHORAGE AT MINNESOTA.
 
Friday Night: UM 8, UAA 2
 
Saturday Night: UM 5, UAA 1........GOPHERS SWEEP SERIES 2-0.
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The Seawolves and their clutch and grab defensive style were no match for
the home-town Gophers.  Minnesota sweeps the series and will advance to
the Final Five.  On Friday, the Gophers raced to a 7-0 lead enroute to an
8-2 drubbing of Anchorage.  Brian LaFleur and Mike Crowley each had a
goal and three assists, while Steve Debus made 24 saves.  On Saturday, the
game was scoreless until the 32 second mark of the final period when
Brian LaFleur scored.  That opened the floodgates for the Gophers as
Reggie Berg scored twice, and added two assists for a four point night.
The Seawolves could not mount much offense as they put only 14 shots on
net, 13 of which were stopped by Steve DeBus.
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MINN-DULUTH AT DENVER.
 
Friday Night: DU 4, UMD 1
 
Saturday Night: DU 7, UMD 3.......DENVER SWEEPS SERIES 2-0.
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The Pioneers stayed hot at home with a two game sweep of the Duluth
Bulldogs.  On Friday, Denver's Paul Comrie scored twice and DU goalie
Stepehen Wagner made 26 saves as DU won 4-1.  On Saturday, the Pioneers
completed the sweep with a 7-3 win.  Jon Newman put Denver ahead for good
at the 15:04 mark of the first period for a 2-1 lead.  Anders Bjork added
two goals as the Pioneers advance.
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NORTHERN MICHIGAN AT ST. CLOUD.
 
Friday Night: SCSU 5, NMU 2.
 
Saturday Night: SCSU 3, NMU 2.....ST. CLOUD SWEEPS SERIES 2-0.
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St. Cloud State took care of business at home with a sweep of the
improving Northern Michigan Wildcats at the National Hockey Center.  On
Friday, Mark Parrish had 4 goals as the Huskies raced to a 5-0 lead on
their way to a 5-2 win.  On Saturday, NMU took an early lead as John
Coyle scored on the powerplay in the first.  But the Huskies outscored
the Wildcats 3-1 the rest of the way with Sacha Molin getting the GWG, as
SCSU completes the sweep with a 3-2 win.
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WISCONSIN AT COLORADO COLLEGE.
 
Friday Night: CC 9, UW 3
 
Saturday Night: CC 1, UW 0 (4 OT)......TIGERS SWEEP SERIES 2-0.
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This series was the tale of two games.  On Friday, the Tigers scored
three powerplay goals in the opening period enroute to a 9-3 waxing of
the Badgers.  On Saturday, it was a different story.  CC's Judd Lambert
and UW's Kirk Daubenspeck put on a goaltending clinic as the game was
scoreless for sixty minutes of regulation and the first three overtimes.
Finally, in the fourth 20 minute overtime, CC's T.J. Tanberg scored at
the 9:30 mark to give the Tigers the win and the sweep.  Lambert had 60
saves for the Tigers, while Kirk Daubenspeck had a WCHA-Record 75 saves
for the Badgers.  CC will play rival Denver in the Thursday 4 vs. 5 game
in St. Paul.
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Now that the playoffs are over, it's time to focus on the Final Five, to
be held at the St. Paul Civic Center this coming Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday.  I'll have a special, in-depth preview on Wednesday.  Until
then, later.
 
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