The Matchup: No. 14 Wisconsin vs. No. 7 St. Cloud State
When: Friday, March 22, 2pm CT
Where: St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Ice Sheet: 200' x 85'
TV: Fox Sports North
Radio: WIBA-AM 1310
All-Time Series: Wisconsin leads 44-33-9
Last Meeting: Wisconsin W 3-2
Wisconsin sits alone in the 16th spot in the Pairwise rankings after yesterday's action and that's the good news. The bad news is that's because no one else that mattered outside of Colorado College played yesterday. So, can the Badgers take down the McNaughton Cup champions? They sure can compete with anyone, especially with the luck they drew yesterday in their 7-2 win over Minnesota State. However, they must play more disciplined and they can't get outshot nearly 2 to 1 for the game. What is different about the Huskies from what we saw just two weekends ago? Let's find out…
About St. Cloud State Huskies:
Record: 23-14-1 (18-9-1 WCHA)
Head Coach: Bob Motzko, 8th season at SCSU (160-123-35)
Notable: The Huskies claimed their first ever McNaughton Cup since joining the league in 1990-91 and are looking to win just their 2nd Broodmoar Trophy as the winner of the Final Five. They last won the Final Five in 2001.
Statistics:
Points: Drew LeBlanc – 50 points
Goals: Jonny Brodzinski – 21 goals
Assists: Drew LeBlanc – 37 assists
Save Pct.: Ryan Faragher – .916
Goals Against Average: Ryan Faragher – 2.27GAA
About Wisconsin:
Record: 20-12-7 (13-8-7 WCHA)
Head Coach: Mike Eaves, 11th season
Notable: Wisconsin clinched home ice advantage in the WCHA playoffs 1st round with a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State in the final regular season game of the year. Wisconsin will once again be without the services of Derek Lee.
Statistics:
Points: Michael Mersch – 36 points
Goals: Michael Mersch – 23 goals
Assists: Mark Zengerle – 22 assists
Save Pct.: Joel Rumpel – .933
Goals Against Average: Joel Rumpel – 1.87GAA
Quick Analysis:
St. Cloud State got to the Final Five on the strength of a pair of easy wins over Alaska-Anchorage (6-1,5-1) in their WCHA Playoff 1st round matchup and they are clearly a dangerous team. However, Wisconsin should gain some confidence form the fact that they hung with and beat the Huskies just two weekends ago.
Some may take a look at the UW's 7-2 win yesterday and think this team is rolling and there is a bit of truth to it, but that's not the complete story as Minnesota State netminders were simply awful and Wisconsin got some lucky goals to bounce their way on top of about 4 snipes that would've gone in against anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Wisconsin needs to harness the luck and the good play they had in front of the net offensively again on Friday. However, they also can not take the penalties they did on Thursday either. How the score wasn't flipped based on 9 power plays given up and over 40 shots given up on the game I'll never know. If that happens against St. Cloud they will make you pay more than just twice.
St. Cloud and Wisconsin should be a very good matchup on the smaller ice sheet and it could be to the Badgers advantage to have already played on the sheet and figure out a game plan that works for them. If they can get the same kind of play out of Rumpel that they've gotten since his horrid loss to the Huskies a few weeks ago Wisconsin could be in for a run to the championship game.
Prediction: Wisconsin 4, St. Cloud State 2 – This is a pure gut pick, but Wisconsin's physical style of play seems to match up well and with the "win or go home" mentality firmly in place I expect the Badgers to hit on all cylinders.
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