Quarterfinal round of playoffs set for this weekend
March 10, 2010 04:08 PM
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – The quarterfinal round of the CCHA Tournament will take place this weekend with four best-of-three series, March 12-14. Miami, Michigan State, Ferris State and Northern Michigan will be hosting the quarterfinal round.
No. 10 Michigan State (19-11-6, 14-8-6-2 CCHA) welcomes seventh-seeded Michigan (21-17-1, 14-13-1-0 CCHA) to Munn Ice Arena for a series that includes two televised games. This will be the third ever CCHA best-of-three series between the two squads. The Spartans swept the first two in 1986 and 1987. Michigan State also took three-of-four meetings from the Wolverines during the regular season, winning both games at Munn Ice Arena and the game at Yost Ice Arena while Michigan won the game at Joe Louis Arena. Friday and Saturday’s contests can be viewed on Comcast Television, channel 900.
No. 2 Miami (24-5-7, 21-2-5-2 CCHA) is the top seed in the CCHA Tournament for the third time in program history and will host eighth-seeded Ohio State in Oxford, Ohio this weekend. The RedHawks were 3-0-1-0 against the Buckeyes in the regular season. Miami took the first three games before OSU won a shootout in the regular-season finale following a 0-0 tie. Friday’s game is scheduled for a 7:35 p.m. start.
No. 13 Ferris State (19-11-6, 13-9-6-4 CCHA), the third seed, will look to avenge last year’s first-round sweep this weekend by hosting No. 18 Nebraska-Omaha (20-14-6, 13-12-3-2 CCHA) at Ewigleben Ice Arena. The Bulldogs took both regular-season meetings, 2-0 and 3-1, in Big Rapids, Dec. 4-5. This will be the first league playoff series that Ferris State has hosted since sweeping Western Michigan in the opening round in 2008.
No. 16 Northern Michigan (17-11-8, 13-9-6-3 CCHA) hosts No. 12 Alaska (18-9-9, 11-9-8-4 CCHA) in a matchup of the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds and the only two CCHA squads that play on Olympic-sized ice sheets. Only one of four regular-season games between the two schools was settled in regulation with Northern Michigan taking the final matchup, 3-2, in Marquette. The other three contests were decided in shootouts with the Nanooks taking two and the Wildcats taking the other. All games in this series will begin at 7:35 p.m.
All games begin at 7:05 p.m. local time unless noted otherwise