OMAHA, Neb. — Every NCHC team has 14 games left in the regular season, and every one of those games is against a conference opponent.
And if you look at the standings, it’s hard to argue anyone has really gained separation.
Denver 23pt
St. Cloud State 20pt
Colorado College 17pt
Omaha 15pt
Western Michigan 13pt
UMD 13pt
North Dakota 12pt
Miami 7pt
The biggest gap in the league is from seventh to eighth, which isn’t a huge shock given Miami’s continued struggles generating consistent puck possession and therefore keeping its goalies from being constantly under siege.
But a gander at the second-half schedule shows that much is to be decided.
Denver has four games with Colorado College, along with a trip to St. Cloud next weekend and home dates with North Dakota and UMD on back to back weekends in February. St. Cloud State has DU at home next week but still has to go to UND and Omaha, plus the Huskies and UMD meet four times. Colorado College plays Denver AND Western four times each in the second half, plus the Tigers are in St. Cloud this week. Omaha has Miami four times, yes, but also has to go to Western and UND, along with the aforementioned home date with SCSU. Western Michigan has the four games against Colorado College, plus the Broncos host Denver and Omaha, plus face and UMD on the road. UMD has this four-weekend gauntlet before a bye week, then faces Denver and St. Cloud State on the road after that bye.
READ: 8 Thoughts previews UMD vs Omaha
Good luck to everyone, because no one has it easy the rest of the way.
Here, the Bulldogs start the 2023 portion of their NCHC schedule with an Omaha team that started slowly in non-conference play but has slowly heated up in the first half. On the heels of a split in Duluth in November where the Bulldogs arguably deserved a better result, the Mavericks swept Western Michigan in one of the most surprising and entertaining series of the season, rallying from 3-0 down to take a 7-3 lead in the Friday game before almost blowing that lead in the third period.
UMD has tweaked its forward group quite a bit, but with the continued injuries personnel remains the same. Will Francis will wait at least one more day for his return.
Lines?
Lines.
UMD forwards
Steeves – James – Loheit
Olson – Loney – Howard
Mylymok – Jacques – Laderoute
Johnson – Spicer – Bettens
UMD defense
Kaiser – Gotz
Gallatin – Dubinsky
Daschke – Pierce
Bodnarchuk
UMD goalies
Stejskal – Thiessen
Omaha forwards
Randl – Mueller – Miller
Berg – Sullivan – Glynn
Fust – Pivonka – Weiss
Rollwagen – Mitchell – Bohlsen
Omaha defense
Tychonick – Mancini
Proctor – Krenzen
Pennington – Guevin
Lemay
Omaha goalies
Kucharski – Latkoczy – Zab
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