We are now down to 71 games remaining in the CCHA regular season and we = still have one heck of a fight for the top five spots and by the = remaining six teams for the last three playoff spots. I have my own = computer rating system which I have used to project the remainder of the = season. Mostly I was interested in seeing if we at Alaska-Fairbanks can = hang on with only 3 very difficult games remaining on our home ice, but = for anyone else interested in the CCHA here are the results through = games of 1/14: CURRENT REMAINDER FINAL W L T PTS W L T PTS W L T PTS 1 Michigan 13 3 0 26 14 0 0 28 27 3 0 54 2 Western Michigan 13 4 2 28 10 0 1 21 23 4 3 49 3 Lake Superior 11 4 1 23 12 2 0 24 23 6 1 47 4 Michigan State 14 3 0 28 8 4 1 17 22 7 1 45 5 Bowling Green 9 5 1 19 8 7 0 16 17 12 1 35 6 Ferris State 5 10 2 12 3 8 2 8 8 18 4 20 7 Alaska-Fairbanks 7 13 0 14 2 6 2 6 9 19 2 20 8 Miami 5 11 1 11 3 8 2 8 8 19 3 19 9 Notre Dame 4 10 3 11 2 11 0 4 6 21 3 15 10 Illinois-Chicago 4 12 1 9 1 10 2 4 5 22 3 13 11 Ohio State 3 13 1 7 3 10 0 6 6 23 1 13 =20 PLAYOFF PROJECTIONS =20 =20 Miami at Michigan = =20 Alaska-Fairbanks at Western Michigan = =20 Ferris State at Lake Superior = =20 Bowling Green at Michigan State = =20 Games that are much too close too call (less than 1/2 goal margin) are = marked as ties, but obviously a win in those games or one where a team = is an underdog by any margin but particularly less than one goal would = help. For us at the bottom it looks like 18-20 points might get you = into the playoffs this year. More than that and you are looking very = good. For us at UAF that means we need to come up with 2 to 3 wins on = the road and/or beat Western Michigan at home the last weekend of the = season. In interest of brevity, I won't pass on the projected scores = for the remainder of the season, but if anyone is interested I will = e-mail you privately so you can keep track of the important games and = see which ones could make a difference in the final standings. If there = is any interest, I will continue to update and post this the rest of the = way. Eric Carlson [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.