Each week Doug Woog sits down with Minnesota Hockey Journal editor Greg Anzelc to discuss the all of the great WCHA action.

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With a split at Anchorage last weekend Minnesota finds itself in 7th place and 7 points out of the final spot for home ice in the playoffs. After scoring 7 goals on Friday the Gophers came out and only scored once on Saturday, which so far this season has been their better night. They had plenty of opportunities Saturday night to score but just couldn't finish. Other than Mike Hoeffel who has 11 goals, Minnesota does not have a goal scorer in double digits. The next closest is a group of guys who have 7 goals including Zach Budish, Jordan Schroeder, Tony Lucia and Patrick White.

The Gophers need better offensive zone play and to be more aggressive around the net. The special teams have been just average, and they are struggling getting into the zone with possession and then creating opportunities. Jordan Schroeder is starting to score goals and that’s what they needed to have happen. The defensemen however, need to score and contribute. It’s been a long time that at this point of the season that the top scoring defenseman has only 2 goals (Cade Fairchild, 2-13-15). This week the team is idle and took a couple of days off. Mike Hoeffel should be back for the Denver series and Taylor Matson might return in time for the UMD series.

Next weekend the Gophers travel to Denver, followed by CC at home, then traveling to UMD, and rounding out the season at home against Wisconsin. All of these teams are among the leage leaders so if Minnesota is going to earn home ice they have to prove they can play with the best in the WCHA.

PTS/GP W-L-T
1 Denver 28/20 12- 4- 4
2 Minnesota Duluth 27/20 13- 6- 1
3 St. Cloud State 26/20 12- 6- 2
4 Wisconsin 25/20 11- 6- 3
Colorado College 25/22 11- 8- 3
6 North Dakota 19/20 8- 9- 3
7 Minnesota 18/20 8-10- 2
8 Alaska Anchorage 17/22 8-13- 1
9 Minnesota State 13/20 6-13- 1
10 Michigan Tech 6/20 3-17- 0

This Week In The WCHA

Games for Friday, February 5:
Minnesota Duluth at Michigan Tech (WCHA), 7:07 pm ET
Alaska Anchorage at St. Cloud State (WCHA), 7:07 pm CT
Air Force at Colorado College (nc), 7:37 pm MT
Mercyhurst at Denver (nc), 7:37 pm MT.


Games for Saturday, February 6:
Minnesota Duluth at Michigan Tech (WCHA), 5:07 pm ET
Alaska Anchorage at St. Cloud State (WCHA), 5:07 pm CT
# Michigan at Wisconsin (nc), 5:07 pm CT
Mercyhurst at Colorado College (nc), 7:07 pm MT
Denver at Air Force (nc), 7:07 pm MT.
# Culver’s Camp Randall Hockey Classic (Camp Randall Stadium).

Minnesota Duluth at Michigan Tech
With UMD's offense and Tech's lack of scoring coupled with their inability to stop the power play, UMD should get 4 points in a couple of lop-sided games.
THE CALL: UMD sweep

Alaska Anchorage at St. Cloud State
St. Cloud should pick up 4 points, but Anchorage got some confidence last week and could get a point this weekend.
THE CALL: 3 points for SCSU