Six teams and three days of hockey action. Why? The Central State Collegiate Hockey League Division I Conference Playoffs is this weekend.
The games will be played this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the US Ice Sports Complex in Chesterfield. General admission will be $6 for adults and $3 for students. Weekend passes are available for adults and students, $25 and $15 respectively.
From the 10 teams in the conference, six of them have proven themselves worthy to play in the playoffs for the Division I Championship. These six teams are as follows in seed order: Iowa State, Saint Louis University, Ohio University, Eastern Michigan University, University of Illinois and University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.
A match-up between the University of Illinois and Ohio University starts the playoffs on Friday at 5:45 p.m., followed by an 8:45 p.m. game between University of Wisconsin, Whitewater and Eastern Michigan University. SLU and Iowa State have a bye for the first game as the number one and number two seeds.
The winner of the first game will play Iowa State on Saturday afternoon at 12:45 p.m. SLU will take on the winner of the second game from Friday at 1:15 p.m in another rink. The winners of the games on Saturday will face off to determine the champions for the conference on Sunday at 1 p.m. The consolation game will be at noon on Sunday.
Each of the teams brings something different to the tournament. The favorite going into the tournament is the first seed team, Iowa State. SLU recently played Iowa and lost two games to them, 6-1 and 4-0.
Also in this bracket, the University of Illinois has a good offense with fast forwards. However, they tend to have problems with their defense and goal. Ohio team may be the hottest team coming into the tournament with a greater percentage of wins over losses. They recently overpowered Penn State, the number one team in the nation.
Another favorite is EMU. With about eight seniors on the team, they have the most power in their bracket. The top scorer in the nation for Division I, Justin Hanaman, will be able to bring a strong defense to the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater’s team.
Overall, the tournament looks to be an aggressive one with good match-ups. All of the teams coming into the tournament are strong and are well-matched in talent.
