There was no change in the top three spots this week, but Huskies fans have to be scratching their heads about how Michigan Tech could swap spots with Bemidji after the Black and Gold split the weekend against Northern Michigan. Well, to start, they were only one point apart last week; Bemidji had 80 points to MTU’s 79. That aside, the Beavers gave up a lot of goals on the weekend as they got swept by (an admittedly strong) Mankato side, with a series score of 13-8. Scoring 8 goals in a weekend is normally an admirable result, but giving up 13 surely shook some confidence in the defense and goaltending.
Further down the table, Lake Superior State took a precipitous drop after a pair of road losses to Bowling Green, though this may be due to the series between Alaska-Anchorage and Alabama-Huntsville, where the Chargers took a runaway win on Friday, but just eked on out against the Nanooks in overtime. It’s hard to say what exactly the thought process was, but the Lakers’ spot at the bottom of the WCHA standings must certainly be hurting their polling.
Looking to next week, there is no question that the marquee matchup comes as Bowling Green visits the Verizon Wireless Center to take on a powerful Minnesota State squad. The two schools sit atop our poll and atop the WCHA standings. Bowling Green stands a chance of pulling ahead in the standings on wins, but even a split with the Mavericks might convince one or two voters to transfer their top selections over to the Ohio team.
Fans in the UP will want to watch as Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan travel to the two Alaska schools. Either Michigan school dropping a game is sure to make an impact on the standings. Look for a big shakeup if there are any upsets in the 49th state.
The most recent results are below, but the latest poll results can always be found on our Polls page.
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Feeatured image credit Rob Gilreath
Alex Slepak is the former Editor-in-Chief of Tech Hockey Guide. Alex was a Student Conductor of the Huskies Pep Band and graduated from MTU in 2014 with a B.S. in Scientific and Technical Communication. After graduating, he moved to the Twin Cities where he now writes software manuals for a living.
