What a mess. Take a look at the top of the WCHA standings and then try to predict who will be the first place team come late Sunday night?

There’s a whole list of possibilities because six teams are within four points of the leader, Wisconsin, which is 7-5-2 for 16 points. But the Badgers are idle this weekend and will stay at 16.

So who could catch or pass them?

* The Gophers, for one. The U has played four fewer games but is 6-1-3 for 15 points. With two ties, or one win over Colorado College this weekend, the Gophers pass Wisconsin.

* Denver also could move into first. The Pioneers are tied with the U in 15 points, coming on a 7-4-1 record. DU plays at Minnesota State Mankato.

* CC is currently alone in fourth with a 6-4-2 record and 14 points.

*Minnesota State Mankato and Minnesota Duluth, which hosts last place Michigan Tech, are tied for fifth with 12 points. If either of them wins, they could tie Wisconsin. Trouble is, either Minnesota or Colorado College will pass the Badgers with four points as stake at Mariucci.

Here is one scenario of what could happen:

Minnesota and CC split; Minnesota State Mankato and UMD sweep …

 If all that happens, Minnesota would be in first with 17 points, Wisconsin, CC, UMD and Minnesota State would be tied for second with 16 points, and Denver would be third with 15. Six teams within two points. Cozy.

I’m not predicted this, just trying to create as much chaos as possible.

The U and CC play again on Feb. 20-21 at Colorado Springs. … DU has won five games in a row; the streak began with a 4-0 victory over the Gophers in Denver when Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky benched four of his top players.

Wisconsin is 9-1-1 over its last 11 games after a 0-6-1 start. In Badgerland, the coach and players probably want to keep playing.

POLL WATCHING

Here is a look at the USCHO.com/CBS Sports national ratings this season. Notre Dame is the fifth No. 1 team. Here is a look at all the No. 1 teams  so far and the Gophers’ climb and fall:

                                         No. 1 team                   Gophers 

Preseason ratings from

 Sept. 22-Oct. 6              Boston College            No. 10

Oct. 13                              Boston College            No. 9

Oct. 20                             Colorado College         No. 7

(U was No. 6 in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll)

Oct. 27                              Colorado College         No. 5

Nov. 3                              Colorado College          No. 4

Nov. 10                            Boston  University      No. 2

Nov. 17                            Minnesota                     No. 1

Nov. 24                            Minnesota                     No. 1

Dec. 1                                Notre Dame                  No. 3

(U was No. 2 in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll)

Dec. 8                                Notre Dame                  No. 2

BIG SCARE ON BARRIBALL

One of the many Gophers hockey web sites was going a little crazy the other day when somebody posted that Jay Barriball would be out for the season.

That’s why I don’t trust rumors on the internet.

Lucia was asked Wednesday on the status of Mike Carman and Jay Barriball, both injured two weeks ago against Michigan.

“Neither of them will play this weekend,” Lucia said. “We are hopeful that they will be back ready to go for our tournament in early January.” That would be the Dodge Holiday Classic.

WORLD JUNIORS A THRILL

The three Gophers selected for the World Junior Championships leave on Monday for Lake Placid, N.Y., and a little team bonding and practice before the championships start Dec. 26 in Ottawa.

“You are always excited for them,” Lucia said. “For Cade [Fairchild] and Jordan [Schroeder], they were both members last year, so they know what to expect a little bit.

“For mike hoeffel, he is real excited to be a part of that, but we got business at hand first.”

That business is CC this weekend.

Fairchild was off to a strong start offensively before going to the World Juniors, then tailed off. He had two goals and eight assists in 17 games before the break, no goals and five assists in 23 afterward.

Is that a concern, coach? “Cade is a year older now,” Lucia said. “He is physically strong. That played into it. Last year the tourn was over in Europe [the Czech Republic], which is even more of a grind coming back.

“his year it is in Canada [Ottawa], which will be great. They won’t come back until midweek before we play North Dakota, so they will just kind of be thrown right back in.

“Also we do have a week off at the end of January, which will give those [three] kids a week off. Cade lost a lot of weight the second half of last year, so he has to keep his weight up and not get worn down.”

THE CC CHALLENGE

Lucia said Colorado College will be a tough opponent. “They only lost four players off last year’s team which won the WCHA title,” he said. “They skate very well. [Richard] Bachman is probably the best goalie in the WCHA, at least he has proven that in the last year and a half.

“Last year’s games were all very tight, it was 3-1, 2-1 OT and 2-1 OT,” Lucia said, “so I would imagine it would be very similar type games.”

Because of injuries to three forwards, the Gophers are down to 13 healthy ones for this series.

“That’s all we have,” Lucia said. “We are missing guys. Two are on the power play, two of them kill penalties. We are missing two of our four centers that we had most of the year, so that changes things not only five on five, even on the penalty kill. two of our centers are gone, which is big for us because there will be draws to start a power play in your own zone. So we will have guys that are not normally centers taking draws on the penalty kill.”

Lucia said he is not worried about Alex Kangas, his sophomore goalie even though he has given up four goals in his last three starts. “I don’t think we did a very good job in front of him,” Lucia said. “A lot of the goals he did give up, we let guys wide-open in front of the net.”

MORE LUCIA

* On Chad Rau, CC’s top scorer: “He is an outstanding player. He is a pure goal-scorer. He is without question there best player up front. He has got a great head and a knack for the net.”

* On coach Mike Guentzel, a former Gophers assistant now on the CC staff: “I am happy that it has worked out well for him. He is getting a chance to coach Gabe. And Gabe is playing very well for them. It’s good to see him doing as well as he is.” Gabe is a freshman defenseman for CC.

* On the WCHA race: “We’ve talked about how even everything is. It is kind of week to week who is the dominant team. There is such a fine line between every team. There is no difference at all, so you try to grind out as many points as you can every weekend.”

LAST WORD

Jordan Schroeder on being on the U.S. team for a second year: “I feel more comfortable out there and feel more ready.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Gophers men's hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.