Halfway through the college hockey season, there are clear leaders in the polls and rankings. Teams like St. Cloud, Clarkson, and Denver are putting up serious numbers and their fan bases are preparing for long runs in the playoffs this year. Still, college hockey is up for grabs this season and any team seems primed to make a run.
There are three teams that I think could make a run deep into the playoffs even being underdogs. These are teams that aren’t being talked about enough to potentially go the distance.
1. Minnesota State University- Mankato
Mankato is the lone WCHA team that continues to impress and win. They make an impressive mark at #7 in the Pairwise rankings. I covered Mankato earlier this season regarding their status as a rising underdog. The Mavericks are a strong team and lead the WCHA in the standings. They also are the number 3 team in the country in goals with 68 and 8th in the country for goals against. Mankato comes in as number 10 for penalty kill. All these stats add up to show the squad can play well on both sides of the puck. The Mavericks of Mankato are an impressive team that many people count out due to the conference they are in, but will be able to make waves in a national setting.
2. University of Minnesota-Duluth
The Bulldogs made a statement last year as a runner-up, so now they are hungry for the championship they missed last year. Duluth’s record and stats aren’t as impressive as some and their team is young, but they’re extremely talented. With 5 members of their tea
m going to the World Juniors Championship this year, they have potentially the highest ceiling in college hockey. Duluth is young and is making an impression on the pairwise rankings, ranked 16th, with wins against teams like Mankato, and Minnesota. They have the talent to make a run deep into playoffs as an underdog team.
3. Penn State University
The Penn State Lions are a competitive team with a high-end offensive power, leading the nation again in goals. The Lions are a team that (if they can win the games and make playoffs) could have the potential to go deep. Right now they are winning and getting the recognition, currently ranked 11th in pairwise and 15th in the latest USCHO poll. Penn State also leads the nation in shots with an incredible 825 shots on goal (SOG), they throw everything at the net and it shows in their goal total. What Penn state lacks in defense, they make up for in offense, but if they could fix the defensive problems, they could be an underdog story deep into playoffs.
