Just an overview of some teams looking for wins in their conferences this weekend.  Lots of meaningful games to be played and here's why...

Hockey East

In Hockey East, the battle for first place has come down to a 4-way tie as college hockey rolls into it's final two weekends of play.  Boston College, Massachusetts-Lowell, New Hampshire and Providence all have 28 points, Merrimack with 27, and Boston University with 26, making the battle for first place in Hockey East the spotlight in NCAA hockey.

Boston College at Providence

Boston College is looking for a high seed to help them win the Lamoriello Trophy, extending their streak to 4 years in a row winning the award and seven times in the last decade.  Providence, on the other hand, wants to go from finishing 7th last year to being able to call themselves conference champs on only a year.

The two teams battled earlier this year already, but ended in a 3-3 OT tie.  The tie ended a nearly 4-year losing streak to the BC Eagles, but are still winless.  It should be a great battle for both teams as Boston College tends to perform much worse on the road (6-5-1) and the 7-game unbeaten streak Providence is proudly displaying will only make things more interesting.

Providence		Boston College
13-10-7	...Overall...	18-9-3
11-6-6	Conference	13-8-2
7-3-3	Home	9-4-2
6-7-4	Away	6-5-1
20th	Ranking	4th
25th	Pairwise	6th
0.5193	RPI	0.5420
2.87	Avg. Offense	3.37
2.40	Avg. Defense	2.67
12.3	PIM/G	12.5
14.0%	Power Play	22.3%
81.6%	Penalty Kill	85.4%

Merrimack at Massachusetts-Lowell

Both of these teams haven't finished on top Hockey East on quite awhile, and both will be looking to take the lead.  Both teams have very similar conference records but Umass-Lowell has a five more overall wins and impressive 93 goals scored so far this season to add on the pre-game scratch sheet.

Things are looking better for Umass-Lowell as far as the NCAA tournament goes as they sit in 9th in the Pairwise.  On the other side of the page is Merrimack, who will need to finish out the season strong if they have any hope of making the tourney; they're currently 29th with an RPI of .5108.

Merrimack		Umass-Lowell
14-12-6	...Overall...	19-9-2
12-8-3	Conference	13-8-2
8-5-3	Home	8-4-1
6-5-2	Away	11-5-1
17th	Ranking	12th
29th	Pairwise	9th
0.5108	RPI	0.5448
2.59	Avg. Offense	3.10
2.41	Avg. Defense	2.33
12.3	PIM/G	11.6
15.4%	Power Play	17.3%
86.6%	Penalty Kill	83.6%

WCHA

As far as conference battles go, the WCHA finale will be one helluvan ender with much more meaning than previous years.  As the WCHA will be losing and gaining different teams to kick-off next year, for many teams this is the last chance to win the MacNaughton Trophy by finishing regular season champions.  St. Cloud State currently holds the lead with 33 points, Minnesota with 31, Nebraska Omaha and North Dakota with 30, and Minnesota State with 29.

Wisconsin at Nebraska Omaha

Both of these teams will be fighting for difference reasons this weekend, but have a common goal.  Wisconsin is currently tied with Denver for 6th place in the WCHA, being the difference between earning a home game to start playoffs or taking a road trip.  One might think Wisconsin is only decently-skilled, especially after recently falling to Penn State, but with the exception of that minor speed-bump, Bucky has been firing on all cylinders.

Nebraska Omaha is looking to steal these WCHA points for a different reason...  Currently sitting two points out of first place, tied for third, the Red Mavericks will need as many points as they can to get a jump on things before heading to Minnesota Duluth to end the regular season next weekend.  If they can pull off the home-sweep, things should get very interesting.

Wisconsin		Nebraska-O.
14-11-7	...Overall...	18-12-2
10-7-7	Conference	14-8-2
7-7-3	Home	9-6-1
6-2-4	Away	8-5-1
16th	Ranking	13th
26th	Pairwise	22nd
0.5152	RPI	0.5235
2.34	Avg. Offense	3.50
2.03	Avg. Defense	2.75
13.8	PIM/G	13.7
10.9%	Power Play	18.8%
79.8%	Penalty Kill	80.5%

Denver at Minnesota

Almost identical to the series explain above, but Minnesota sits 2-points out of first place.  The Golden Gophers will be wanting nothing more than to leave the conference as the reigning WCHA champion and to head into the Big Ten's first year with momentum.  This marks the final home series for the Gophers who head to Bemidji State the following weekend, so plan on this team leaving everything on the ice.

Denver is one hell of an inconsistent team, but when the spark plug is pulsing, this team can ruin any team's hopes and dreams.  The Pioneers main drive in this series to get a foot in the door of the WCHA playoffs and even slam it on Wisconsin, who is completing for the same home-ice advantage.

Denver		Minnesota
16-10-5	...Overall...	21-6-5
11-8-5	Conference	13-6-5
11-5-3	Home	13-2-3
5-5-2	Away	8-3-2
10th	Ranking	2nd
12th	Pairwise	2nd
0.5367	RPI	0.5641
3.35	Avg. Offense	3.66
2.81	Avg. Defense	2.00
18.0	PIM/G	10.2
22.2%	Power Play	25.4%
83.6%	Penalty Kill	87.0%

CCHA

This marks the last year of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's existence, so let's have a quick moment of silence...   Alright.  Now In the conference's last year of life (as we know it) there is quite a race for the regular season crown.  Miami sits in first with 56 points, looking down on Western Michigan with 51 and Notre Dame with 50.  Keep in mind that the CCHA does their point system a little bit different than the other conferences.

Western Michigan ventures to Michigan State, Miami hosts Ohio State and Notre Dame hosts Bowling Green.  Now Western Michigan is on the road, but is playing arguably the worst team in the CCHA while Both Miami and Notre Dame play decent teams, but at home.  So I decided to handle this a little different as far as comparisons go.

	Miami	Western Mich.	Notre Dame
Overall	21-8-5	18-8-8	19-12-3
Conference	16-6-4-4	14-6-6-3	15-8-3-2
Home	11-1-3	13-2-3	10-6-0
Away	9-5-2	5-5-4	6-6-3
Ranking	3rd	8th	11th
Pairwise	3rd	10th	14th
RPI	0.5550	0.5384	0.5329
Avg. Offense	2.56	2.29	2.91
Avg. Defense	1.56	1.94	2.26
PIM/G	13.5	12.4	13.4
Power Play	15.9%	18.1%	16.2%
Penalty Kill	89.2%	86.4%	83.2%

Enjoy.

Questions?  Comments?  Ask Below!