Greetings from Grand Rapids, site of this year's WCHA Final Five. This seems like a great city to host a tournament such as this. Lots of downtown restaurants and bars. Plenty of other things to do. Will people show up (they didn't during the first game of the Big Ten tournament in St. Paul)? Will find out at 2 p.m. (1 p.m. CDT) today.
The Final Five features Minnesota State vs. Bowling Green, followed by Ferris State vs. Alaska Anchorage. The coaches involved don't expect a cakewalk for anybody — just like the regular season.
Minnesota State is in the Final Five for the fourth time and is looking for its first win (it's 0-4). The Mavericks will have to do it without two defensemen, Carter Foguth and Josh Nelson, who suffered injuries last Saturday. Expect Blake Thompson and Casey Nelson to take their spots in the lineup.
Speaking of defensemen, junior D Zach Palmquist has upped his game — along with several other players — over the course of the team's 11-game unbeaten streak. A great skater, Palmquist continues to log many minutes — 22-30 a game, coach Mike Hastings said, and probably closer to the latter —as he has since his freshman year.
The Mavericks are still considered a bubble team for the NCAA tournament and are approaching the Final Five with the idea that they probably have to win it. They remain ranked 12th in the Pairwise following Thursday's Big Ten play-in games (including Michigan's 2-1 2OT loss to Penn State).
As for Bowling Green, the Falcons are playing well, entering the weekend with five wins in a row. A big key to their recent success has been their power play, something that Hastings said has kept him up at night.
In the other matchup, Ferris State enters the tournament with the WCHA's only Hobey Baker Award finalist, as goaltender C.J. Motte was named one of the top 10 nominees on Thursday. The Bulldogs could have some home-ice advantage with their campus located just 60 miles away. There was a push in Big Rapids, Mich., to fill five fan buses for the games. Alaska Anchorage won't be a pushover, especially the way the Seawolves played on the road at Alaska last week and the week before. First-team All-WCHA forward Matt Bailey leads the way for college hockey's biggest turnaround team.
All three of this weekend's games are televised on Fox Sports North.
Matt Wellens and I preview the Final Five here and give our weekend picks here.
The Grand Rapids Press also has a tournament primer. Read that here.
For those of you who are in Grand Rapids, a restaurant called Peppino's Downtown Sports Grille is considered MSU's official fan/team restaurant. Also, tonight's game between the Seawolves and the Bulldogs will continue a Friday-night tradition of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the minor-league hockey team that place in Van Andel Arena and will serve $2 beer and $2 hot dogs.
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