Friday, March 8, 2019

Friday Morning Skate

Playoff time is here! The No. 4 Mavericks are the top seed in the WCHA tournament and will host Alabama Huntsville in a best-of-three, first-round series.

While much has been made of the play of Hobey Baker candidate Marc Michaelis of front and possible WCHA Rookie of the Year Dyden McKay in goal, the deep, yet somewhat overlooked, Mavericks' defensive corps might be the real strength of this year's team.

Read more about the the series between the Mavericks and the Chargers in The Free Press' College Hockey Gameday and in a preview by UAHhockey.com.

Here are the WCHA other first-round matchups:

Alaska at Northern Michigan: The red-hot Wildcats lost just once in their last nine games to climb into second place in the final league standings. They will host the Nanooks, who, under new coach Erik Largen, had a tough start to the season but finished strong to make the playoffs.

Michigan Tech at Bowling Green: A team that has struggled with consistency over the second half of the season, the Falcons say they're focused for a playoff run, one they'll need to make in order to get to the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, the Huskies, who won the last two league tournament titles, will have to pull off some road upsets and find some consistency in their game, too, to win a third.

Bemidji State at Lake Superior State: The Beavers are on the road for the first round for the first time in three years and are playing at Sault Ste. Marie against a fourth-place Lakers team that missed out on the playoffs entirely last year.

College Hockey News has a league playoff preview, too.

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