Gophers in good position -- to finish 6th and claim last home-ice spot

Let North Dakota, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth battle it out for the MacNaughton Cup, which goes to the team with the best regular-season conference record.

There is another heated WCHA race going on. It's for sixth place and the Gophers are in first there. Too bad there is not a trophy for finishing sixth, maybe The Last Team Standing, or The Best of the Rest, or The Woog Cup, to pick on my favorite hockey broadcaster. That would add a bit of prestige to sixth.

Here is a breakdown of that race:

6. (tie) Minnesota (8-8-2. 18 points). The Gophers are tied with Colorado College for sixth place, but have the first tie-breaker on the Tigers, head-to-head competition. The U swept CC at the World Arena and the two teams don't play again.

The Gophers have six road games and four home games left, which sounds bad, but isn't. They have a better road record (5-3-0) than a home record (6-7-3).

Here is there remaining schedule: at UMD (split, 2 pts.), Denver home (one tie, 1 pt.), at Wisconsin (Badgers sweep, 0 pts.), Michigan Tech home (sweep, 4 pts.), at Bemidji State (split, 2 pts.). So the Gophers finish 12-13-3, with 27 pts. That should be enough for sixth.

The other contenders for the Best of the Rest Trophy:

8. (tie) St. Cloud State (7-9-2, 16 pts.): at Nebraska Omaha (split, 2 pts.), at UMD (tie, 1 pt.), North Dakota (split, 2 pts.), Wisconsin (split, 2 pts.), at Denver (Pioneers sweep, 0 pts.). So Huskies finish 10-15-3 for 23 pts.

8. (tie) Alaska Anchorage (7-11-2, 16 pts.): The Seawolves have only eight games left, so they would really have to get hot to get in the race for sixth. They have earned at least one point in eight of WCHA series, so that is impressive. Their schedule: Michigan Tech (sweep, 4 pts.), at North Dakota (tie, 1 pt.), Nebraska Omaha (split, 2 pts.), at Minnesota State (split, 2 pts.). So UAA finishes 11-14-3 for 25 pts.

9. Minnesota State (5-11-4, 12 pts.): The Mavericks are another longshot for sixth because like UAA the also have just eight games left but if they should tie the Gophers for sixth, they have the tiebreaker. Their schedule: Bemidji State (sweep, 4 pts.), at Colorado College (tie, 1 pt.), Minnesota Duluth (tie, 1 pt.), Alaska Anchorage (split, 2 pts.). So Mavs finish 8-14-6 for 22 pts.

There is one other team that could possibly slide down to sixth place. Nebraska Omaha (10-6-2, 22 pts.) is in fifth place, four points ahead of the Gophers and CC. Could they collapse?

They play three ahead of them in the standings and two below. Here is there schedule: St. Cloud State (split, 2 pts.), Wisconsin (split, 2 pts.), at Alaska Anchorage (split, 2 pts.), Denver (Pios sweep, 0 pts.), at Minnesota Duluth (tie, 1 pt.). So red Mavericks will finish 13-12-3 for 29 pts.

5. UNO 13-12--3 29 ... couldn't fall enough for sixth

6. Gophers 12-13-3 27 ... Best of Rest Trophy, nearly one point per WCHA game

7. CC 12-14-2 26 ... DU, UMD and Wisconsin still on schedule

8. UAA 11-14-3 25 ... Two more WCHA wins than any previous Dave Shyiak coached team

9. SCSU 10-15-3 23 ... Disappointing season for Huskies picked high in preseason