SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The first round of the WCHA playoffs took place this past weekend, and the field for the final five coming up this weekend in Saint Paul, is set. Many experts predicted some solid play this weekend, however each and every series ended in a sweep. There was only one upset, coming with the University of Minnesota – Duluth (UMD) upsetting Colorado College (CC) in Colorado Springs. With the best of three game first round complete, the teams will now make their way to the single elimination playoff at the Xcel Energy center to be played this coming weekend. The first game of the final five will be a play-in game between the University of Minnesota and UMD, which is to be played at Mariucci Arena which is on the campus the University of Minnesota. The loser of this game will most likely be eliminated from the NCAA Frozen Four Tournament. The winner of the playoff game will play number one seeded University of North Dakota, while Denver University and the University of Wisconsin face off in the other semi-final game. The winners of the both games will play for the WCHA Final Five Championship on Saturday, March 21st. While the University of North Dakota and Denver University have likely secured their spots in the NCAA Frozen Four playoffs, each of the remaining three teams will likely need to win the WCHA Final Five in order to be guaranteed a spot in the Frozen Four playoffs. Winning the WCHA title guarantees a spot in the tournament. Contact the author at Bryan.Reynolds@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.