The WCHA Final Five has been set.  With St. Cloud's upset victory over
Denver Sunday night, 4-0 (which makes them the third of five teams to win
their series on the road this weekend), there appear to be a couple good
matchups ahead.  Remember that all teams are re-seeded after the first
round, and the records are overall records.
 
Thursday, March 7 @ 7:05 PM CST
(5) St. Cloud (13-21-4) vs (4) Michigan Tech (16-17-6)
Out of all the possibilities, there has to be a matchup of the Huskies and
the Huskies to complicate me writing this.  St. Cloud won three of the four
meetings so far this year.  The home wins were 3-2 and 3-1, December 9 and
10.  In Houghton, the teams tied 4-4 and SCSU won 7-5, during Winter
Carnival, February 2 and 3.  Don't let St. Cloud's record fool you.  From
what I've seen, they can be tough when they want to.
 
Tech has some key victories under their belt this year.  Early in the year,
they beat Minnesota in Houghton, 5-2.  In December, they came to Madison and
split (even though this was when UW was on the down-swing).
 
 
Friday, March 8 @ 2:05 PM CST
(3) Wisconsin (17-18-3) vs (2) Minnesota (27-9-2)
I'll tell you something; I have been waiting to see this for a LONG time.
Wisconsin and Minnesota will face each other for the first time at the
Bradley Center (I personally think that the Badgers should have one of their
home games against Minn at the BC, but it's not going to happen).  In the
'94 Final Five at the BC, a Badger-Gopher championship-game matchup was
prevented by St. Cloud, who beat the Badgers in overtime of the semifinal
game.
 
The two teams split the season series, 2-2, with each winning two games at
home, including the series that no Badger fan who was at the games will ever
forget, a sweep of the Gophs the last weekend of the regular season, 6-3,
7-4.  The Gophers took the earlier series, 8-4 at Mariucci and 5-0 at the
Target Center.
 
Minnesota's pretty familiar with the Bradley Center.  They won the Final
Five there two years ago, and won the College Hockey Showcase there this
season, defeating Michigan State and Michigan on successive nights.
 
The Badgers are red hot, if you don't know by know.  They are undefeated in
their last 11, and are on a five game winning streak.  However, they are
only 1-3 at the Bradley Center this year, with losses to Michigan State,
Michigan and Notre Dame, before winning the consolation game of the Badger
Hockey Showdown over Princeton.
 
I'd like to know who Minnesota will start in goal.  Sophomore Steve DeBus is
1-3 against Bucky this year, including the two demoralizing losses in
Madison.  If anyone from the Minnesota end knows, could they please let me
know before Thursday (when I leave my E-mail here at school in Madison)?
 
 
Friday, March 8 @ 7PM CST
Winner of Thursday night's game vs (1) Colorado College (30-3-4)
Something to look at before you completely count out either SCSU or MTU:
CC could only manage 2 ties in Houghton.  They are 2-0-2 against Tech, and
4-0 against St. Cloud.
 
While they CC is the MacNaughton Cup Champs, they have a recent history of
slipping up in the WCHA playoffs.
 
 
Saturday, March 9 @ 2PM CST
Consolation game:  Semifinal losers
 
 
Saturday, March 9 @ 7PM CST
Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game:  Semifinal winners
 
 
It's always hard to say what will happen in the Final Five.  We'll have to
wait and see.
 
Todd D. Milewski   [log in to unmask]
"U-Rah-Rah Wisconsin!"
 
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