Heading into the last weekend of college hockey, home ice is still up for grabs in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament.
Western Michigan won its first Penrose last Friday after defeating UND 6-4 in Michigan.
“We’ve never experienced it like this,” UND Head Coach Brad Berry told the Grand Forks Herald. “Obviously, we’ve won it. They’ve lost it three times to us. At the end of the day, that’s not where we want to be. But we have to focus on what we have to do, and that’s getting home ice and continuing on with our season.”
The top seed is solidified with Western Michigan’s Friday win, but after Arizona State lost to Omaha and Denver lost to St. Cloud State last Saturday, the standings have shaken up.
The two, three, four, and five seeds will be fought for in two upcoming weekend series. With the top four seeds getting home ice in the first round, the stakes are high.
UND hosts Omaha while Denver and Colorado College play a home and away series against each other. These four teams make up the three through six seeds in the NCHC.
Each NCHC conference game is worth three points. Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, and one point for an overtime or shootout loss.
Arizona State sits in second place with 47 points but has no games left this season. As long as Omaha does not sweep UND this weekend, Arizona’s seat in second is secured.
Omaha is in third place with 41 points and is the only team out of UND and Denver that could jump Arizona State with a sweep.
Denver is in fourth place with 39 points and, depending on the weekend, could move up to third, stay at fourth, or move down to fifth.
UND is in fifth place with 39 points. We are in the same spot as Denver, except we play Omaha, which is ahead. With a sweep at home and a Denver loss or overtime win against Colorado College, it would secure the third seed.
Colorado College is in sixth place with 32 points, and while it cannot jump anyone, it could cause lots of chaos this weekend.
Just one win, a tough overtime finish, or a sweep over Denver could be the deciding factor between UND, Denver, and Omaha being a three, four, or a five seed.
“That’s the No. 1 key right now… trying to get home-ice advantage for the playoffs here,” Berry told the Grand Forks Herald. “We don’t want to rely on anybody else in the standings. We want to control our destiny.”
The Fighting Hawks’ chances of reaching the NCAA tournament as an at-large team are slim to none. They must win the NCHC tournament to make it. The first step on that journey is securing home ice for the quarterfinals series.
“That’s what our season is going to come down to is that tournament,” senior forward Jackson Kunz told the Grand Forks Herald. “To get that [home ice], would be a huge advantage for us. We need to do that.”
UND will host Omaha this weekend at Ralph Engelstad Arena to see if we will return home for another game this season.
Elijah Andrews is the Dakota Student Sports Reporter. He can be reached at [email protected].
