ONE DAY UNTIL THE SIOUX HIT TOWN ...
The Gophers' predicament Halfway through the WCHA schedule, the Gophers are in seventh place with a 6-7-1 for 13 points. In the past 10 years, the fifth-place conference team has had between 27 and 32 points, the average is 30 points. In the same span, he third-place team has had between 31 and 39 points, the average is slightly over 35 points. So the Gophers would have to finish: * 8-5-1 to reach the fifth-place average ... Certainly doable with some sweeps and some splits and avoiding getting swept. * 11-3 to reach the third-place average ... Much tougher. Gophers would need to get hot and put long winning streaks together. The fifth-place team is the lowest team with home ice for the first round of the conference playoffs, the third-place team, if it reaches the Final Five, has a quarterfinal bye. Until UMD did it last year, no team that had played in the play-in game under the present format had won three in a row to win the conference title. So teams want to be in the top three at the end of the season.
