As a result of the Wildcats’ split with the Chargers and the Mavericks’ sweep of the Seawolves, Minnesota State moves back into their #1 position in this week’s poll.
Bemidji State suffered two baffling shutout losses to Lake Superior State to drop from #4 to #5.
Ferris State followed up their stunning sweep of Michigan Tech by getting swept by the Nanooks in Fairbanks, dropping the Bulldogs from #6 to #8.
If you’re a Huskies fan with a long enough memory, it’s hard to not sympathize with fans of the Alaska-Anchorage. The Seawolves continue to be the bottom feeders of the conference with only 2 wins, and with goaltender Olivier Mantha on his way out, things in Anchorage are only expected to get worse.
After suffering an embarrassing 7-2 loss at Slater Family Ice Arena, the Huskies came out swinging and looked like a completely new team on Saturday night and earned a 4-0 shutout despite key pieces missing from the lineup such as Brent Baltus, Mitch Reinke, Seamus Donahue, and Alex Gillies.
It’s unsure what ignited the fire under the Huskies on Saturday night, but hopefully the Huskies can keep that momentum going into this weekend’s series against Bemidji State. This is sure to be one of the most important Winter Carnival weekends in the history of the program with significant implications on the direction of the Huskies’ postseason. If the Huskies get swept, they surely lose home ice for the WCHA playoffs. If the series results in a split, the Huskies would have to sweep Northern Michigan and the Wildcats would have to lose all of their other contests. If the Huskies sweep the Beavers, they would gain a sizable foothold on home ice playoff advantage and could afford to lose one game to Northern Michigan.
2017-18 WCHA Web Media Poll - Week 19 - 2/6/2018
| Rank | Team | Pts | LW | Record | PPG | High | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota State (9) | 117 | 2 | 21-7-0 | 2.3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Northern Michigan (3) | 109 | 1 | 18-11-3 | 2.2 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Bowling Green | 97 | 3 | 17-9-6 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Michigan Tech | 80 | 5 | 14-12-5 | 1.5 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | Bemidji State | 75 | 4 | 14-10-6 | 1.8 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | Alabama Huntsville | 52 | 7 | 10-18-2 | 1.3 | 6 | 7 |
| 7 | Alaska | 47 | 8 | 11-15-2 | 1.3 | 6 | 10 |
| 8 | Ferris State | 43 | 6 | 12-19-1 | 1.2 | 5 | 9 |
| 9 | Lake Superior | 27 | 9 | 8-20-4 | 0.9 | 7 | 9 |
| 10 | Alaska Anchorage | 13 | 10 | 2-22-4 | 0.5 | 9 | 10 |
