#1 Denver Pioneers (24-6-4,16-3-3) NCHC Standing: 1st
@ Omaha Mavericks (16-13-5, 9-11-2) NCHC Standing: T-4th
Friday, March 3rd 7:37pm / Saturday, March 4th 7:07pm
@ Baxter Arena- Omaha, NE
It's the final weekend of the regular season in the NCHC. There is still plenty to be decided when it comes to tournament seeding and who will be playing where so I am not going to breakdown a matchup that we saw a month ago. This is a good time to know what UNO has to play for this weekend against an opponent that has been less than kind to them the past two seasons.
Let's start with the good news for Omaha. They just shut out North Dakota in Grand Forks. The same team that outscored the Mavericks 16-4 in their previous weekend series in January. UNO showed plenty of fight in Friday's loss overcoming an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game twice before falling 6-4. All in all, it was a very good weekend for Dean Blais' bunch. I will get to what is now in front of the Mavs in a moment. The not so good news is top ranked Denver comes to town. Yeah we know how good they are, winners of their last nine games and four games clear of Minnesota-Duluth in the race for the Penrose Cup but it goes further. Omaha has not defeated Denver since January 10th of 2015. The same year the Mavericks skated to their first ever Frozen Four appearance. So there is that. The Pioneers eight game winning streak against UNO has had all sorts of drama and heartache along the way. Denver ended Omaha's season in double overtime last year in the NCHC playoffs that ultimately kept the Mavericks from returning to the NCAA tournament.
If you're a UNO fan there is reason to think both DU streaks come to an end. The Mavericks are coming off an extremely positive weekend but more importantly it's hockey. At some point the law of averages will kick in right? Omaha will get Denver eventually so why not this weekend? The Pioneers could lose a game and nobody would think less of them but if UNO wins just one game then people start to take notice including the all important PairWise rankings. One win, just one win at Baxter could be a season changer for the Mavs.
WHAT IS ON THE LINE: Denver can clinch the NCHC regular season crown with one win this weekend. Minnesota- Duluth trails DU by four points in the standings. It would be the Pioneers first ever Penrose Cup.
Omaha can grab home-ice advantage in the upcoming NCHC Playoffs with a series sweep but more importantly would be the climb in the PairWise rankings. The NCAA takes sixteen teams to the tournament and with automatic bids going to conference tournament champs it is best to find yourself somewhere around 14th or better. UNO is currently 17th. They wouldn't lose much ground with a loss but would gain plenty with a win. Two wins would likely lock the Mavericks into the NCAA tournament.
NCHC FINAL WEEKEND MATCHUPS:
Colorado College @ St. Cloud State (Fri/Sat)
North Dakota @ Miami-Ohiio (Fri/Sat)
Minnesota-Duluth @ Western Michigan (Fri/Sat)
NCHC Standings
1- Denver 16-3-3 53pts
2- Minnesota- Duluth 14-4-4 49pts
3- Western Michigan 12-8-2 39pts
T4- Omaha 9-11-2 29pts
T4- North Dakota 9-12-1 29pts
6- St. Cloud State 9-12-1 28pts
7- Miami- Ohio 5-12-5 23pts
8- Colorado College 3-15-4 14pts
