St. Cloud and the University of North Dakota are going to be in the NCAA tournament.
They aren’t just going to make it, they’re going to go far. I am convinced now and you should be, too. The teams faced off in two hardcore battles this weekend. The games were ferocious and full of strong offense and defense. It was worth the crowd’s money this weekend, with the teams having everything you want in a great hockey battle: intensity, speed, skill, feistiness, to name a few adjectives of the games.
First, these teams are good, really good. I’ve already talked about St. Cloud’s season this year. Friday night after a 2-2 tie, and a scoreless 5 on 5 OT, the teams played a 3 on 3 OT. During a point in that 2nd overtime, of the 6 skaters on the ice (not counting goalies) 4 of them had already been drafted by an NHL team. A lot of talent was on the ice. The teams have 11 players combined drafted by the NHL (SCSU 4, UND 7).
The Huskies are consistently ranked 2nd in the nation, and lead the Pairwise.
The Fighting Hawks of UND came in at a respectable 5th in weekly polls, and 6th in the pairwise. The teams that faced off are top teams. The numbers all show that these teams can go far. UND and SCSU both tied for point in the NCHC, after the tie on Friday night.
They faced off for first-place of the NCHC on Saturday night.
St. Cloud took over Saturday night. The Huskies earned a 3-goal lead with 8 and a half minutes left in the 2nd. The Fighting Hawks got their only goal of the night with 0.6 seconds left in the 2nd period. We wouldn’t see any more scoring the rest of the game. The teams played back and forth, showing why they’re both ranked so highly. As a result of St. Cloud’s win, they took the 1st overall in the NCHC. St. Cloud continues to prove they are the best team in the nation.
