News

St. Mary’s University of Minnesota hopes to open their season with a statement as they take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the lone NCHL matchup of the weekend.  SMU faces an uphill battle as UMD is coming off a sweep of 1st place Waldorf College.  The other challenge for SMU is that UMD has played 7 games, mostly against quality opponents.  But as we’ve learned in conference play, anything can happen.

Last year these two clubs played two close games.  UMD won both by scores of 3-2 and 2-0.  Nonetheless, the Cardinals had a quality squad last year and look to build on that in their opening weekend.  

This series could very well be a goaltending matchup, as both teams have even offensive attacks and quality defense.  Alex Glockner from UMD played extremely well last weekend stopping 93% of the shots he faced.  For SMU, Ricky Williams looks to continue his strong performance in net for his senior season.  

Overall, this weekend will provide 2 close games, but the scale probably tips in UMD’s favor. A sweep by either team makes the conference standings really interesting. UMD could take over 1st place by a 3 point margin, while SMU could create a 3 way tie for 2nd at 6 points.

Non-Conference Battles

In non-conference games, Northern Michigan is hosting St. Norbert College JV, Waldorf College hosts Lindenwood-Belleville, and Robert Morris Univ.-Maroon welcomes Louisville University to town.  NMU should sweep SNC JV, as SNC hasn’t played well against their previous opponents.  Waldorf College hopes to get back to their winning ways against Lindenwood-Belleville, but that won’t be an easy task as L-B is currently 8-0 and sit atop the latest power rankings published by MyHockeyRankings.com.  RMU-Maroon will look to continue their winning ways against Louisville, but the games will be hard fought.

UW-Oshkosh and Michigan Tech are idle this weekend.