Battles for second, 10th tonight in WCHA

North Dakota easily -- pointwise at least -- won the WCHA regular--season title with 41 points. Probably 43 after tonight.

But the battle for second place is unbelievable.

Denver (16-8-3) and UMD (15-7-5) are tied for second with 35 points, with DU having the tiebreaker. So if they finish tied, DU is the second seed.

Also in the mix is Nebraska Omaha (16-9-2) with 34 points. The red Mavs have the tiebreaker over DU and UMD.

Big game tonight is UNO at UMD. Denver, meantime, hosts St. Cloud State.

10TH PLACE SCENARIO

Bemidji State (8-15-5) and Minnesota State (8-16-4) are in a heated battle for 10th place. The Beavers, with Friday's 3-3 tie with the Gophers, have the edge with 21 points, the purple Mavs have 20.

So who gets the tiebreaker between BSU and MSU?

Actually, it goes to the fourth tie-breaker with them, which is goal differential in WCHA games.

Going into Friday's games, BSU was a minus-15 in conference games, MSU a minus-16. As close as you can get without being tied. The WCHA doesn't list a fifth tiebreaker if they are still tied.

But after Friday, that seems unlikely now. BSU tied the Gophers 3-3, MSU lost 4-0 to Alaska Anchorage so the Beavers now have a five-goal cushion in goal differential.

In other words, if BSU beat the Gophers 1-0 on Saturday, MSU would have to beat Alaska Anchorage 6-0 to tie them in goal differential and 7-0 to have the edge in that category. Ain't happening.