WCHA: Omaha, St. Cloud State have best shots at conference title

1. St. Cloud State, 12-5-1, 25 points, alone in first place with a one-point lead.

Lowdown: The Huskies have four games left at home, six on the road. They play three of the four teams with under .500 records. ... Combined records of teams they play is 33-39-18, which is a .467 winning percentage.

Schedule: at Bemidji State, vs. Gophers, at Colorado College, vs. Michigan Tech, at Wisconsin.

2. Gophers, tied for second at 10-4-4, 24 points

Lowdown: The Gophers have four games at home, five on the road, one at a neutral site (Soldier Field with Badgers). They play first-place St. Cloud State and three other teams in the conference race and one under .500 team, Bemidji State on the last weekend of the regular season. ... Combined records of the teams they play is 40-33-17, a .539 winning percentage.

Schedule: at St. Cloud State, at Wisconsin, vs. UMD, vs. Denver, at Bemidji State

2. Nebraska Omaha, 11-5-2, tied for second at 11-5-2, 24 points ... have tiebreaker edge over U because of more conference wins, so would be second seed if season ended now

Schedule: vs. Michigan Tech, vs. North Dakota (one game outdoors), at Alaska Anchorage, vs. Wisconsin, at UMD

4. North Dakota, tied for fourth at 8-5-5, 21 points

Lowdown: UND plays four games at home, six on the road against teams all in the WCHA race. The combined record of the teams they play is 41-35-16, a .533 winning percentage.

Schedule: vs. Wisconsin, at Nebraska Omaha, at Denver, vs. Bemidji State, at Minnesota State

4. Wisconsin, tied for fourth at 8-5-5, 21 points

Schedule: at North Dakota, vs. Bemidji State, vs. Gophers (one game at Soldier Field), at Nebraska Omaha, vs. St. Cloud State. ... Badgers also have nonconference series with Penn State on Feb. 24-25 at home.

4. Minnesota State, tied for fourth at 10-9-1, 21 points ... Mavericks have played two more games than everybody else except Alaska Anchorage

Lowdown: Mavericks have to jump over three teams ahead of them in points and have two games fewer than those teams. It will be tough if not impossible, but MSU has won 11 of 12 this season so Mavericks can get hot. ... Combined record of teams they play is 27-32-13, a .465 winning percentage.

Schedule: at UMD, vs. Michigan Tech, at Colorado College, vs. North Dakota.

7. Denver, alone in seventh at 8-6-4, 20 points

Schedule: at UMD, vs. Colorado College, vs. North Dakota, at Gophers, vs. Alaska Anchorage

8. Minnesota Duluth, alone in eight at 8-7-3, 19 points

Lowdown: The Bulldogs were the 2011 NCAA champions. Chances of them jumping over seven teams to win the MacNaughton Cup are pretty slim. One or two of those teams, at least, will get hot. ... Bulldogs play six at home, four on the road. ... The teams the Bulldogs play have a combined record of 43-34-15, a .549 winning percentage. ... Also play Alabama Huntsville in a nonconference series.

Schedule: vs. Denver, vs. Minnesota State, at Bemidji State, at Gophers, vs. Nebraska Omaha.

So, to repeat, here are the winning percentages of the opponents that the teams in MacNaughton Cup contention still have to play:

Minnesota Duluth, .549

Gophers, .539

North Dakota, .533

St. Cloud State, .467

Minnesota State, .465

Nebraska Omaha, .429

MACNAUGHTON CHAMPION

UNO looks like it is in the best position to win the MacNaughton Cup. The Mavericks are 4-1-1 in their last six games and have already swept two of the teams they still have to play: Michigan Tech and UMD. They do have potentially tough series with North Dakota and Wisconsin, but both are at home.

Their goaltending is a little suspect with John Faulkner and question marks after him, but the Mavericks put a lot of shots on net and can score goals. They could finish 8-2, 7-3 and see if anyone can keep up.

The Gophers? They are in surprisingly good position, considering they have one WCHA sweep all season, beating Alaska Anchorage. They need to string some conference wins together and haven't showed they can. Although they were 8-0-2 until losing to Minnesota State on Friday.