WCHA scraps 'Alaska Plan,' will have 8-team playoff

It appears that the revamped Western Collegiate Hockey Association is getting close to finalizing its championship format and playoff venues for its first four years.

And, oh by the way, the controversial “Alaska Plan” is out. But so is a Final Five.

Athletic directors from the 10-team WCHA voted to approve an eight-team tournament with the bottom two teams in the regular-season standings missing out on postseason play. The top four teams would host the next four in best-of-three first-round series with the winners advancing to a single-elimination championship weekend. The championship site likely will rotate between Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich. (2014, 2016), and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul (2015, 2017).

  

The playoff format will not have the two Alaska schools, Anchorage and Fairbanks, automatically playing each other in the first round, as the league announced they would last summer. That plan made some sense from a cost-saving standpoint but was almost universally panned on its competition merits.

Comment: This appears to be a much better plan than what the league came up with last summer. With everything happening with the Big Ten and the NCHC, the WCHA couldn't play the small-potatoes game. It had to be as legit as it's been for much of its history when it comes to playoffs — which ultimately decides the league's NCAA bid. The Alaska Plan hurt that integrity and that was worth more than the money saved in travel costs. As for leaving the ninth and 10th teams out of the playoffs, I have no problem with that. Incentive to get better. The four-, not five-team format in the championship. No biggie there right now. The Final Five brand will be tough to part with, but this might give the league a chance to rebrand itself under its new look going forward.

For more, including some comments from Minnesota State athletic director Kevin Buisman read my story in The Free Press story here.

Friday morning skate

Can we say that it's officially the stretch run? Looking at the jammed-up WCHA standings, we should be in for one heck of a ride over the next five weeks.

"This is a great time of the year," Minnesota State coach Mike Hastings said. "If you want to see good hockey, go see a WCHA game. The want-to, the competitiveness, it's all around college hockey. If you buy a ticket to a college hockey game this time of year, you're going to be entertained."

Perhaps Hastings should have saved that pitch for next week when the Mavericks are at home. But this weekend they're in Duluth to face a UMD team they have defeated just once in their last 16 meetings. 

Minnesota State has been good on the road this season, and they're coming off a much-needed break, but the Mavericks know this is the time to step things up a notch. Eriah Hayes, for instance, hasn't scored a goal in his last six games, and he hopes to change that trend this weekend. Hayes still leads MSU with 12 goals, and his seven power-play goals rank first in the WCHA and are tied for second in the nation.

Hastings has done some line shuffling to try to "get back to using our depth" and to find some consistency, but he added that having last weekend off seemed to energize some players, especially Hayes and Jean-Paul LaFontaine, the latter the coach called "an absolute ball of energy" when he's on his game.

For more on the series, be sure read the sidebar accompanying the Hayes story.

From the Duluth side of things, Kevin Pates of the News-Tribune has his usual outstanding coverage. That coverage will be missed when he retires later this year. I'm looking forward to going to Duluth this weekend and hanging in the press box with Kevin one last time (barring a playoff meeting, of course!). Patesy has always been good to me, ever since I was a pup sportswriter at the Mesabi Daily News not quite 20 years ago and ran into him from time to time in the high school rinks around the Iron Range.

Pates writes that MSU's turnaround under Hastings this season is one of the best stories in the WCHA. Also, Bulldogs hard-shooting forward Caleb Herbert, who had an outstanding rookie season, appears to have come out of his sophomore slump. The rest of the News-Tribune's preview is here.

Going around the WCHA, all 12 teams are in action against each other with some intriguing matchups ...

• Minnesota will try to keep St. Cloud State from running away with the McNaughton Cup when those teams meet at the National Hockey Center for the last time as WCHA foes.

• North Dakota goes to Nebraska Omaha, and Saturday's game will be played outdoors at TD Ameritrade Park, the new home of the College World Series

• Arch rivals Colorado College and Denver will square off in a home-and-home series.

• Alaska Anchorage and Michigan Tech will play in Houghton during Tech's annual Winter Carnival weekend.

• Bemidji State and Wisconsin will play in Madison. Only Anchorage has scored fewer goals than those two teams. So we'll probably see a couple of 6-5 games, right?

I'll, of course, be tweeting and live blogging once I get to Duluth and Amsoil Arena later today. Be sure   check back later.

Another bump

People were a little taken aback a week ago when Minnesota State dropped a spot in the national rankings following its split with No. 1-ranked Minnesota. Well, the Mavericks didn't even play this weekend and they moved up four spots to No. 11. Go figure. Meanwhile, MSU got another bump in the Pairwise on Monday night, creeping up to No. 12 after the Beanpot games in Boston.

But as I write about in today's Free Press column, perhaps we all spend a little too much time clicking refresh on those rankings and worrying about what the national pollsters think and not enough time enjoying the actual games. Read that column here.

Down then up (updated)

Saturday night's WCHA results kept the idle Mavericks in seventh place in the league standings, but the   action around college hockey caused them to bump up a spot to No. 15 in the Pairwise rankings.

Update: After Maine defeated UMass-Lowell on Sunday, the Pairwise adjusted again, putting MSU at at somewhat-more-comfortable No. 13. (Interestingly, they'd be 10th had they defeated Wisconsin in the game in which a late go-ahead goal was waved off. However, before the Maine-Lowell result, changing that Wisconsin loss to a win would have put them eighth. This is where I say, "Enjoy the season," meaning the games on the rinks, not the rankings on the computer screens. If the Mavericks continue playing as well as they have for most of the year, they should be fine. That being said, I'll, of course, continue to monitor their Pairwise position.)

It all sets up a pivotal series this weekend at Minnesota Duluth, which sits just two points behind MSU. The Mavericks are one point out of sixth place and three points out of third.

Around the WCHA: Denver 4, Minnesota Duluth 3 ... Michigan Tech 2, Nebraska Omaha 1 (OT) ... St. Cloud State 4, Bemidji State 1 ... North Dakota 4, Wisconsin 1 ... Colorado College 3, Alaska Anchorage 3 (OT)

WCHA standings, with next opponent

1. St. Cloud State (29 points), vs. UM

2. Nebraska Omaha (26) vs. UND

3. Minnesota (24), at SCSU

    Denver (24) vs./at CC

    North Dakota (24) at UNO

6. Wisconsin (22), vs. BSU

7. Minnesota State (21), at UMD

8. Minnesota Duluth (19), vs. MSU

9. Colorado College (17), at/vs. CC

10. Michigan Tech (14), vs. UAA

11. Bemidji State (12), at UW

12. Alaska Anchorage (8), at MTU

Mavs slip to seventh

Minnesota State is now in seventh place in the WCHA after all but one of the league's games ended on Friday night. The Mavericks are idle this weekend. They want to finish the regular season in a top-six spot and get home ice for the league playoffs. Currently, they're one point out of fourth and three out of third.

Around the WCHA: Denver 3, Minnesota Duluth 0 ... Nebraska Omaha 4, Michigan Tech 3 ... St. Cloud State 4, Bemidji State 0 ... Wisconsin 1, North Dakota 1 (OT) ... Colorado College 2, Alaska Anchorage 2 (OT)

WCHA standings

1. St. Cloud State (27 points)

2. Nebraska Omaha (26)

3. Minnesota (24)

4. Denver (22)

    North Dakota (22)

    Wisconsin (22)

7. Minnesota State (21)

8. Minnesota Duluth (19)

9. Colorado College (16)

10. Bemidji State (12)

      Michigan Tech (12)

12. Alaska Anchorage (7)

Mavs get another Nelson

Fargo Force forward Jordan Nelson announced late in the week that he has committed to Minnesota State for next fall. Read the Force's press release here.

Nelson is a Williston, N.D., native and won that state's Mr. Hockey award in 2010. He is in his third season of junior hockey, having played one season in Alexandria of the NAHL before getting drafted by the USHL's Force ninth overall in that league's 2011 entry draft. In two seasons with Fargo, he has 44 points, including 22 goals, over 96 games. He is fifth on this year's team in scoring.

The 5-foot-11, 186-pounder will turn 21 in April.

Friday morning skate

Minnesota State is idle this weekend, but the Mavericks are sure to be doing some scoreboard watching to find out where they land in the standings come Saturday night.

Ten teams are in action, including:

• Denver at Minnesota Duluth
• Michigan Tech at Nebraska Omaha
• St. Cloud State at Bemidji State
• Wisconsin at North Dakota
• Colorado College at Alaska Anchorage

The Mavericks are sitting smack dab in the middle of the standings with 21 points, tied for fourth place with North Dakota and Wisconsin, so they'll be paying close attention to that series. But Denver-Duluth will shake up the order, too. Meanwhile, Colorado College is trying to get back into the race for home ice, while Nebraska Omaha is hoping to jump to the top of the WCHA, ahead of St. Cloud State.

Meanwhile, Grand Forks Herald beat writer Brad Schlossman writes about college hockey officiating and the problem with diving and embellishing to draw penalties. WCHA supervisor of officials Greg Shepherd told the Herald that he's asking coaches to help get that out of the game.

Puckato's comment? Call the dive! I've seen it penalized just once this year (last Friday at Mariucci on the Gophers' Kyle Rau), and, over the years, I've rarely seen it called alone without a matching minor on the other team.