The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Sorry, in Switzerland at the moment so I haven't had much time to hang around this place. At least the +6 time difference helps me appear to be on time...

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WMU is currently unranked (no votes) in the USCHO poll and unranked (no votes) in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

We're #24 in the PairWise, #24 in the RPI (.5313 / #5 SOS) and #24 in the KRACH.


Note: vertical axis is divided in 5-place increments; 20th is at the bottom, 1st is up top.

NCHC Teams:
#1 - North Dakota ............... 2/20 (1-3 L), 2/21 (2-3 OTL)
#5 - Miami ...................... @11/21 (0-1 L), @11/22 (2-5 L), 1/31 (3-3 SOL), @2/7 (3-4 L)
#6 - Minnesota Duluth ........... @1/16 (2-2 SOW), @1/17 (4-2 W), 3/6, 3/7
#7 - Denver ..................... @11/7 (3-6 L), @11/8 (6-3 W)
#8 - Nebraska Omaha ............. 10/17 (2-5 L), 10/18 (0-3 L), @2/13 (2-1 W), @2/14 (1-3 L)
Unranked - St. Cloud State ...... 11/14 (3-4 L), 11/15 (1-1 SOW), @1/23 (0-7 L), @1/24 (3-2 W)
Unranked - WMU
Unranked - Colorado College ..... 12/12 (3-2 W), 12/13 (1-1 SOW), @2/27, @2/28


Other 2014-2015 Opponents:
Unranked - Colgate .............. @12/29* (1-2 L)
Unranked - Penn State ........... @12/30* (4-1 W)
Unranked - Notre Dame ........... 1/9 (4-2 W), @1/10 (4-3 W)
Unranked - Canisius ............. @10/10 (2-4 L), @10/11 (4-1 W)
Unranked - Alaska Fairbanks ..... 10/24 (0-1 L), 10/25 (4-2 W)
Unranked - Union ................ @11/29* (8-2 W)
Unranked - Ohio State ........... @11/28* (6-2 W)
*In-season tournament game






Note: vertical axis is divided in 10-place increments; 50th is at the bottom, 1st is up top.


NCHC Finish/Playoff Probabilities:


Source: http://www.playoffstatus.com/nchc-hockey...dings.html


Source: http://www.playoffstatus.com/nchc-hockey...ities.html

I'm surprised St. Cloud State couldn't crack the Top 20 after this weekend, with a sweep of UNO and a rise to 14th in the Pairwise. I guess that's what happens when teams like Michigan (and to a lesser extent, Robert Morris) are overrated by the pollsters.

Don't apologize for being in Switzerland. That is a beautiful country, enjoy!

Thanks for posting.

This may be a little premature, but since it looks like we'll be on the road for the first round of the conference tournament, who would you prefer to face off against? Who would you prefer to avoid?

I don't want to see us have to go to North Dakota, though for that to be a possibility they'd have to not win the regular season title. I think they will. Good for them - and good for us.

Miami has had our number this year, at least up to this point. I'd prefer not to have to go to Oxford, though I think we'd have a shot against them if we play well.

We played great in Duluth about a month ago. We still have to face them here in two weeks, so momentum could change based on that series, but as of now I'd like our chances going up against them. We also played fairly well in Omaha a couple of weeks back and they seem to be fading a bit.

Denver is also playing good hockey. Bottom line, it will be a tough first-round series no matter who we face - but it will be a tough series for our opponent, too.

(02-23-2015 06:40 PM)SonOfGoldBlooded Wrote:  I'm surprised St. Cloud State couldn't crack the Top 20 after this weekend, with a sweep of UNO and a rise to 14th in the Pairwise. I guess that's what happens when teams like Michigan (and to a lesser extent, Robert Morris) are overrated by the pollsters.

Talk about over rated, get this, last week MN Gophers were at 17. They beat PSU and then lose to PSU in OT, yet they move up 2 spots ???

(02-24-2015 12:00 AM)The Colonel Wrote:  This may be a little premature, but since it looks like we'll be on the road for the first round of the conference tournament, who would you prefer to face off against? Who would you prefer to avoid?

I don't want to see us have to go to North Dakota, though for that to be a possibility they'd have to not win the regular season title. I think they will. Good for them - and good for us.

Miami has had our number this year, at least up to this point. I'd prefer not to have to go to Oxford, though I think we'd have a shot against them if we play well.

We played great in Duluth about a month ago. We still have to face them here in two weeks, so momentum could change based on that series, but as of now I'd like our chances going up against them. We also played fairly well in Omaha a couple of weeks back and they seem to be fading a bit.

Denver is also playing good hockey. Bottom line, it will be a tough first-round series no matter who we face - but it will be a tough series for our opponent, too.

I would prefer not going to DU, (not that we can't beat them), I just don't like playing Colorado. I don't like playing on big sheet at SCSU either

Omaha has begun their annual slide. North Dakota can't see past their reflection in the mirror. Miami thinks they got our number (guess again)

I fine with UNO, Miami, UMD or even North Dakota. I like our chances in a best of three game series on the road vs any of the teams we have played.

(02-23-2015 06:40 PM)SonOfGoldBlooded Wrote:  I'm surprised St. Cloud State couldn't crack the Top 20 after this weekend, with a sweep of UNO and a rise to 14th in the Pairwise. I guess that's what happens when teams like Michigan (and to a lesser extent, Robert Morris) are overrated by the pollsters.

Yep, similar to how Notre Dame usually hangs high in the USA Today poll every season far longer than their record supports.

(02-23-2015 07:10 PM)WesternSkillet Wrote:  Don't apologize for being in Switzerland. That is a beautiful country, enjoy!

The views are indeed quite nice. Just here for work, so I haven't had much chance to do any sightseeing and such.

It does, however, seem a bit unusual to travel to Switzerland in Feb and enjoy much warmer weather than we've been dealing with at home!

(02-24-2015 12:00 AM)The Colonel Wrote:  This may be a little premature, but since it looks like we'll be on the road for the first round of the conference tournament, who would you prefer to face off against? Who would you prefer to avoid?

I think I'd have to prefer Duluth at this point... though, selfishly, I'd take Miami as well since that's a 45 minute drive from home for me!

(02-24-2015 12:27 AM)BroncoFever Wrote:  

(02-24-2015 12:00 AM)The Colonel Wrote:  This may be a little premature, but since it looks like we'll be on the road for the first round of the conference tournament, who would you prefer to face off against? Who would you prefer to avoid?

I don't want to see us have to go to North Dakota, though for that to be a possibility they'd have to not win the regular season title. I think they will. Good for them - and good for us.

Miami has had our number this year, at least up to this point. I'd prefer not to have to go to Oxford, though I think we'd have a shot against them if we play well.

We played great in Duluth about a month ago. We still have to face them here in two weeks, so momentum could change based on that series, but as of now I'd like our chances going up against them. We also played fairly well in Omaha a couple of weeks back and they seem to be fading a bit.

Denver is also playing good hockey. Bottom line, it will be a tough first-round series no matter who we face - but it will be a tough series for our opponent, too.

North Dakota can't see past their reflection in the mirror.

They're the best hockey team I've seen all season (live or on TV). We played some of the best hockey we are capable of and only scored 3 extra attacker goals on the weekend...

(02-24-2015 11:33 AM)JerrySeymoursParoleOfficer Wrote:  

(02-24-2015 12:27 AM)BroncoFever Wrote:  

(02-24-2015 12:00 AM)The Colonel Wrote:  This may be a little premature, but since it looks like we'll be on the road for the first round of the conference tournament, who would you prefer to face off against? Who would you prefer to avoid?

I don't want to see us have to go to North Dakota, though for that to be a possibility they'd have to not win the regular season title. I think they will. Good for them - and good for us.

Miami has had our number this year, at least up to this point. I'd prefer not to have to go to Oxford, though I think we'd have a shot against them if we play well.

We played great in Duluth about a month ago. We still have to face them here in two weeks, so momentum could change based on that series, but as of now I'd like our chances going up against them. We also played fairly well in Omaha a couple of weeks back and they seem to be fading a bit.

Denver is also playing good hockey. Bottom line, it will be a tough first-round series no matter who we face - but it will be a tough series for our opponent, too.

North Dakota can't see past their reflection in the mirror.

We played some of the best hockey we are capable of and only scored 3 extra attacker goals on the weekend...

Zane is one of the top goalies in the country, top 3 for sure. What makes him so good, besides consistently stopping that 1st shot, is his rebound control. Seldom do you see a loose puck more than 12" from him and then he quickly gobbles those up.

But on Friday, Zane had a horse shoe in his back pocket, making three very lucky saves. Saturday, he was just lights out good.

But teams can score goals with traffic in front, like WMU did on Saturday, regardless if it is EV or PP. I like our big bodies vs the North Dakota defensemen, as they can create some real match up problems in front of the net. But I don't think we did a very good job of trying to exploit this match up and getting more shots from our points

But any team is going to have a hard time getting more than two goals on Zane when he is playing well, especially if you are not taking away his eyes.

Broncos also had a few untypical structure mistakes on both Friday and Saturday which cost WMU a couple goals. If WMU plays a solid, structure game (like we did vs UMD on Saturday) vs North Dakota, it will be a 1 goal game which could go either way.

Bottom line, if that is the legit #1 team in the country, we have allot to get excited about and to look forward to come playoff time

There's definitely no question that this conference has us prepared to play anyone come NCAA time - as long as we make it in, of course.

Only question is exactly what we're capable of in that situation - which is somewhat hard to judge when 5/8 of the NCHC is Top 10 in the country. Our conference record isn't great but what exactly does that mean? Not to mention it only takes a good run at the right time...