Dec. 1, 2008

MADISON, Wis. - Four Western Collegiate Hockey Association series are on the docket for the opening weekend of December, with defending MacNaughton Cup champion Colorado College hosting Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State and St. Cloud State engaging in a home-and-home set, Wisconsin entertaining Alaska Anchorage, and Denver traveling to Michigan Tech.

The Tigers (9-4-3, 6-3-1 WCHA) and Bulldogs (6-4-4, 3-4-3 WCHA) will face-off at the Colorado Springs World Arena (7,343) on Friday (Dec. 5) and Saturday (Dec. 6) evenings in what will be the only two matchups of the 2008-09 regular season between the two teams. CC is in second place in the WCHA, two points behind Minnesota, and with the Golden Gophers idle this week, the Tigers have a chance to re-gain the top spot. UMD enters the weekend with a three-game (2-0-1) unbeaten streak.

Minnesota State (8-3-3, 5-3-2 WCHA) and St. Cloud State (8-6-0, 3-5-0 WCHA) will hit the ice first at Alltel Center in Mankato on Friday (4,832) and then at the National Hockey Center (5,371) in St. Cloud on Saturday. MSU is in the midst of a four-game unbeaten streak at 3-0-1 and is 4-0-1 vs SCSU over the last five meetings. The series will be the first of the season between the Mavericks and Huskies, who then meet again in a second home-and-home set to conclude the regular season on March 6-7.

The Wisconsin (7-7-2, 5-5-2 WCHA) vs Alaska Anchorage (7-5-2, 4-4-2 WCHA) series at the Kohl Center (15,237) in Madison this weekend will also mark the first series of the campaign against the two rivals with the final two regular season games set for Jan. 9-10 at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage. The on-coming Badgers have won three straight are 7-1-1 over their last eight games while the Seawolves, who were idle over Thanksgiving, have already topped their conference win total of three from a season ago.

In the one other league series on Dec. 5-6, Denver (9-5-1, 5-4-1 WCHA) will take on host Michigan Tech (2-11-1, 1-8-1 WCHA) at John MacInnes Student Ice Arena (4,128) in Houghton. The Pioneers currently sport a three-game winning streak. The second two-game series between the two clubs this season will occur on Jan. 9-10 at Magness Arena in Denver.

Outside the league this weekend, North Dakota (5-8-1, 4-5-1 WCHA) will head east to take on ECAC Hockey-member Harvard (4-4-2).

Heading into the month of December, just five points separate the top six teams in the current WCHA standings while just six points separate the top seven. Minnesota leads the MacNaughton Cup race with 15 points, followed by defending conference champion Colorado College with 13, Minnesota State and Wisconsin tied for third with 12 points each, Denver fifth with 11, Alaska Anchorage sixth with 10, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota tied for seventh with nine points each, St. Cloud State ninth with six, and Michigan Tech 10th with three. Only four teams - UM, CC, MSU and DU - have winning records in league action, nine of the 10 have at least three league losses, and seven have at least four victories. In WCHA play, there have eight ties to date this season, 16 conference games have been decided by just one goal, 10 games have been decided by two goals, and 14 have been decided by three goals or more.

In results over the Thanksgiving weekend, there was just one league game contested, with host Minnesota Duluth skating to a 5-1 victory over St. Cloud State last Saturday (Nov. 29) at the DECC. That marked the second straight 5-1 verdict for the Bulldogs over the Huskies. In non-conference play on Nov. 28-29, WCHA-member teams posted a collective 7-5-2 record, led by two victories each from both Denver and Wisconsin. The Pioneers won 6-1 over Colgate last Friday and then handed Air Force it's first defeat of the season with a 4-1 triumph last Saturday. The Badgers, meanwhile, captured the annual College Hockey Showcase with a pair of wins over visiting Michigan State (3-1) last Friday and visiting Michigan (3-0) last Saturday. Minnesota State earned a 2-2 (ot) tie and 5-3 triumph over host Bowling Green, Colorado College fell 4-1 at Air Force before rebounding for a 3-2 victory over visiting Colgate, and host North Dakota split with Cornell, winning 7-3 and falling 2-1. Host Minnesota lost 6-3 to Michigan and then tied Michigan State 4-4 (ot) in the College Hockey Showcase while Michigan Tech suffered a pair of losses at Bemidji State, 3-0 and 2-1. WCHA-member teams are now a combined 26-13-6 (.644) in non-conference play in 2008-09.

Looking ahead to the second weekend of December (Dec. 12-14), WCHA series find Michigan Tech at Minnesota Duluth, Denver at Minnesota State, St. Cloud State at North Dakota and Colorado College at Minnesota (Sat-Sun) Both Alaska Anchorage and Wisconsin will be idle. There will be no conference play between Dec. 15-Jan. 8, with the league slate set to resume with a full group of five head-to-head series on Jan. 9-10.

In this week's (Dec. 1, 2008) USCHO.com/CBS College Sports XXL Div. 1 Men's Poll, there are five WCHA-member teams ranked among the 20 in the nation. Minnesota is at No. 3, Colorado College is at No. 5, Denver is up to No. 8, Minnesota State is No. 11, and Alaska Anchorage has moved up to No. 15. Other WCHA-member teams receiving votes this week were St. Cloud State, Wisconsin and Minnesota Duluth.


This Week in the WCHA
Games for Friday, December 5: North Dakota at Harvard, 7:00 pm ET (nc); Denver @ Michigan Tech, 7:07 pm ET (WCHA); Alaska Anchorage at Wisconsin, 7:07 pm CT (WCHA); St. Cloud State at Minnesota State, 7:37 pm CT (WCHA); Minnesota Duluth at Colorado College, 7:37 pm MT (WCHA).

Games for Saturday, December 6: North Dakota at Harvard, 7:00 pm ET (WCHA); Denver at Michigan Tech, 7:07 pm ET (WCHA); Alaska Anchorage at Wisconsin, 7:07 pm CT (WCHA); Minnesota State at St. Cloud State, 7:07 pm CT; Minnesota Duluth at Colorado College, 7:07 pm MT (WCHA).

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