WCHA Tournament Predictions and awards

The WCHA regular season saw a lot of ups and downs for some teams. But at the end it was Minnesota who won the McNaughton cup which is given to the regular season champion. At one point the Gophers were trailing by eight points in January, however a 14-1-1 record in their last 16 games gave the Gophers the title as they surpased then first place Wisconsin in February and never looked back.

So now here is the matchups for the WCHA Final Five first round games.

#1 Minnesota vs #10 Alaska-Anchorage
#2 Denver vs #9 Minnesota-Duluth
#3 Wisconsin vs #8 Michigan Tech
#4 North Dakota vs #7 Minnesota State
#5 Colorado College vs #6 St. Cloud State.

Here are the first round predictions.

#1 Minnesota over #10 Alaska-Anchorage (2-0)
#2 Denver over #9 Minnesota-Duluth (2-0)
#3 Wisconsin over #8 Michigan Tech (2-0)
#4 North Dakota over #7 Minnesota State (2-0)
#5 Colorado College over #6 St. Cloud State (2-0)

Since there are 10 teams in the WCHA tournament there will be a play in game Next Thursday. The bottom two teams who won the first round will face each other. In this case it will be North Dakota and Colorado College.

So therefore my pick will be North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux will then play Minnesota in the semi-finals.

Semi-Finals

#1 Minnesota over #4 North Dakota
#3 Wisconsin over #2 Denver

Consolation

#4 North Dakota over #2 Denver

Championship

#1 Minnesota over #3 Wisconsin

Now here are the all WCHA teams.

1st team

Ryan Poltuny JR. F- Minnesota
Brett Sterling SR. F- Colorado College
Joe Pavelski SO. F- Wisconsin
Matt Carle JR. D- Denver
Tom Gilbert SR. D- Wisconsin
Brian Elliott JR. G- Wisconsin

2nd team

Paul Stastny SO. F- Denver
Marty Seritch SR. F- Colorado College
Drew Stafford SR. F- North Dakota
Brian Salcido JR. D- Colorado College
Alex Goligoski SO. D- Minnesota
Kellen Briggs SO. G- Minnesota

All Freshman Team

Phil Kessel F- Minnesota
T.J. Oshie F- North Dakota
Chad Rau F- Colorado College
Chris Butler D- Denver
Brian Lee D- North Dakota
Dan Tormey G- Minnesota State

Awards

Player of the year: Matt Carle JR. D- Denver
Rookie of the year: Phil Kessel F- Minnesota
Coach of the year: Bob Matzko- St. Cloud State 1st year (18-14-4)