Hocktopia 2012 officially got underway in St. Paul on Wednesday with the kickoff of the high school tourney. Today marks the start of the next chapter, the first round of the WCHA playoffs, which will determine who moves on to pen the final chapter back at the X next week.
It's been an interesting season in my favorite college hockey league, with no shortage of twists and turns. Minnesota looked unstoppable early, then faltered a bit down the stretch. Duluth was unbeaten for a long portion of the schedule, but has looked anything but the past few weeks. Denver came into the year down their #1 goalie, but now has him back and may be hitting their stride at the right time. North Dakota has once again been better in the second half after an atrocious start, but near-constant injuries have taken their toll. Wisconsin has generally sucked, but can safely be called the most dangerous 10-seed in league history.
My WCHA preview from last October was a mixed bag. After several years of severely overestimating the Gophers, I severely underestimated them this time around. Same with Duluth, who I figured had lost too much to contend for the league title. CC in 2nd place was well off the mark, thought the Schwartz brothers would be more of a force on offense than they turned out to be. I had no idea where Michigan Tech came from, but then again, neither did anyone else.
Beyond that, I'm feeling pretty good about things. NoDak, Omaha, St. Cloud, Bemidji, Wisconsin and Mankato were all within a place of their actual finish, and in a very tight league, half right ain't half bad. Now the playoffs start, and I have an odd feeling that this season of parity is going to do odd things...I just hope it's not at my favorite team's expense.
If the chips fall correctly, we should have a fun batch of squads making the trip to St. Paul next weekend. The top 6 seeds winning would probably make for the most entertaining weekend, given the skill and fanbases they'd bring. But there feels like an upset or two brewing, particularly given the Badgers history in Denver, and the fact that Omaha and St. Cloud are both very tough to peg. I'm not going to bother writing previews of the series', as other places do it better, such as right here. Just going to say Go Sio...er, North Dakota, and leave it at that.
And of course, come up with a limerick for each WCHA city:
There once was a man from Anchorage, come playoffs, the home whites went in storage.
The occasional blips, followed quickly by slips, never did much to encourage.
There once was a man from Mankato, the Gophers he'd pretend to hate-o.
For two weekends a year, but then don Maroon gear, once the Mavericks were shown the gate-o.
There once was a man from Mad-town, who in St. Paul was nowhere to be found.
"Keep your ice and your puck, cause we don't give a f*ck, the hoops team is Final Four bound!"
There once was a man from Bemidji, who found out that it's impossible to rhyme anything with Bemidji.
There once was a man from Houghton, who's location you're probably doubtin.
But it's unlikely he cares, after years of despair, the Huskies have finally got people shoutin.
There once was a man from Omaha, the Final Five he had never saw.
Now time's running short, for the best tourney in sport, as conference alignments redraw.
There once was a man from St. Cloud, who walked around overly proud.
For his team wasn't near, in fact far second-tier, behind fans who deserve to boast loud.
There once was a man from the Springs, saying "Titles? What are these things?"
Often tops in the game, they just can't attain, those pesky championship rings.
There once was a man from NoDak, who cheered on a team full of hacks.
He'd blindly defend, to most outrageous ends, even handshake line attacks.
There once were some fans from Denver, if any showed up here, we'd remember.
For such a good team, the attendance is lean, this fanbase's fire is just embers.
There once was a man from Duluth, who'd lately been acting uncouth.
One title is sweet, but doesn't make you elite, sorry if you can't handle the truth.
There once was a man from Dinkytown, who the last few years wore a frown.
But this fact he forgets, as he puffs out his chest, "We're always the best game in town!"
Yeah, I cheated a bit on a couple of those, Sioux me :)
No comments:
Post a Comment