College Hockey Playoff Time

The WCHA Final Five tournament runs in St. Paul at the Xcel Center from Thursday to Saturday. The WCHA is once again a tough conference this season, and some great college hockey will be in store. And thank goodness Time-Warner Cable and Fox Sports North settled their dispute so that a lazy, crowd-shunning loner like myself can once again watch college hockey from the comfort of my futon. I was worried that I might actually have to drive over to St. Paul and drink plastic bottles of beer while listening to all the Minnesota fans repeatedly spell the name of the state they live in, making their second-grade teachers proud. Here are my predictions as to how the tournament will play out.

Play-in Game:

North Dakota vs. Minnesota Duluth ... Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin graduated a year ahead of me from UND. It was over fifteen years ago, so by now I can make up stuff like telling you that he and I split pitchers of beer at Whitey's in East Grand Forks after finals. This will be an interesting matchup as protege (Sandelin) faces the mentor (UND coach Dean Blais.) UND wins 4-3.

Semifinals:

Colorado College vs. UND ... CC is arguably the best team in the country, while UND will likely be winded after playing its fifth game in a week - and two of those went to overtime. But both teams have pretty uniforms, so it'll have a nice visual feel. CC wins 5-2.

Minnesota vs. Minnesota State-Mankato ... I want MSU-M to win because then I can sing "who is the tall dark stranger there? Maverick is the name" to unsuspecting Gopher fans. But Minnesota will win so I'll hum The Rockford Files theme instead. Minnesota wins 5-3.

Final:

Colorado College vs. Minnesota ... After seeing Grant Potulny score that clutch goal last weekend with a second left in a period, it gave me the gut feeling that this defending national champion Gopher team will keep winning until somebody delivers them the knockout punch. That may not happen until the NCAA Frozen Four. Minnesota wins 5-4 in overtime.

For more WCHA Final Five picks, stay tuned as the Elder has promised to post his predictions here sometime before the first face-off Thursday night.