The WCHA Final Five, as we know it, is coming to an end. Minnesota’s Golden Gophers, along with the Wisconsin Badgers are leaving for the Big Ten Hockey Conference. Heck, even the entire second quarterfinal on Thursday (7pm, FS North) with Colorado College and North Dakota is leaving to be a part of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. So, with nostalgia in mind, let’s do this numbers thing.
94: Minnesota and St. Cloud State finished tied for first in the conference standings heading into the WCHA Tournament, but they also scored an equal amount of goals in WCHA play: ninety-four.
64: Wisconsin was the WCHA’s best scoring defense (in WCHA play), only allowing sixty-four goals in twenty-eight games. That’s 2.29 goals a game.
452: With penalty minutes, this shouldn’t be a shock to those who follow the WCHA on a regular basis much like myself, but it was North Dakota who was the WCHA’s most penalized team with four-hundred and fifty-two penalty minutes.
40: UNO’s Ryan Walters won the WCHA scoring title in the regular season with forty points, but of the WCHA Final Five teams, Minnesota’s Erik Haula and North Dakota’s Danny Kristo finished right behind Walters with thirty-seven points each.
1.93: The WCHA’s best goaltender hails from Minnesota State, as the Mavericks’ Stephon Williams earned a goals against average of 1.93.
.708: North Dakota’s Zane Gothberg played in twelve games, and won seven times, but seeing as it qualified for over 33% of North Dakota’s minutes played, it won him best winning percentage in the WCHA at just over 70%.
.928: With save percentages, another WCHA Final Five goaltender tops the list, but this time it’s Wisconsin’s Landon Peterson. He made two-hundred and eighty-three saves in twenty-two games played (WCHA games only).
165,624: In fourteen home games, the University of North Dakota had the WCHA’s largest total attendance at just under 166,000 people. This averages to having just under 12,000 fans per game at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The WCHA Final Five kicks off Thursday at 2:07pm with Minnesota State and Wisconsin. Thursday night’s game featuring Colorado College and North Dakota will also have a recap right on this page too.
Geoff Discher is Examiner.com's National College Hockey Examiner as well as the Minnesota Golden Gophers Hockey Examiner. Leave a comment below, or feel free to reach him at Disch61@hotmail.com with comments, story ideas, or any general talk surrounding college hockey. You can find him on Facebook as well by clicking here and here, joining the conversation from the social media side as well. He's always chock full of fact and opinion.
Until next time, I’ll see you at the rink!
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