What Was Good...
St. Cloud State-I don't normally look at the national polls, but I found it interesting that St. Cloud was only 12th in the polls, while moving up to the cusp of a number one seed in the Pairwise. Their 8-game winning streak really highlights the difference between the two. A human looks at that stretch and thinks there aren't games over that stretch that they should have lost, which accounts for them not moving up much in the polls. A computer looks at it and sees them go from an average team at one game above .500, to being one of the best in the country at 9 games over .500. Is one more right than the other? It's tough to say.
Nebraska-Omaha-There's been a lot of people touting Dean Blais as a coaching genius--and since he helped bring the US a gold medal, there's no argument here--but what gets glossed over is how average UNO has been under him this year. Granted, he's not working with his own players, and I do think he's getting as much out of them as he can, but they haven't been great in a league where a team like Lake Superior, which doesn't have a ton of talent, can compete for a spot in the top four. The Mavericks did pick up 6 huge points this weekend, however, against Northern Michigan, and if they play well down the stretch, they can really move up the standings.
Wisconsin-A three-point weekend at home made the race for the WCHA title a very exciting four-way race. Minnesota-Duluth, Denver, St. Cloud, and Wisconsin are all within two points of each other, and Colorado College is 2 points back, but has also played two more games. I can't remember the WCHA being this close at the top in a number of years.
What Wasn't So Good
Minnesota-It was pretty much more of the same from Minnesota. As bad as things were on the ice for the Gophers, Don Lucia should get some credit for taking some BS question about Gopher hockey being the cornerstone of the state of hockey before Saturday's game, and deflecting it to talk about all the great college programs in the state of Minnesota, which was probably the most airtime those other programs got during the "Hockey Day Minnesota" festivities on Saturday. Not that I'm complaining about FSN's coverage, per se. They had a lot of great material, and I know they've got bills to pay. But celebrating the other college programs in the state has been something FSN has lacked in their hockey day coverage.
Ian Cole-Cole turned down an opportunity to sign with the St. Louis Blues this summer, and so far, his year probably hasn't gone how he hoped. Aside from Notre Dame really struggling, he missed Saturday's game with his second concussion of the year. Hopefully that doesn't become an issue for him in his hockey career.
Colorado College-The Alaska-Anchorage Rope-a-Dope returned, with CC blowing out the Seawolves on Friday night, and then losing on Saturday night.
Western Michigan-They only got one point last weekend against Bowling Green, and with a tough schedule to finish the year, they're almost definitely going to finish in 12th place in the CCHA. That's a program that could really use a major shake-up, perhaps similar to the jolt Bowling Green got last year when their program was on the chopping block, because right now, they're really not going anywhere.