Hockey / 2024 NCHL Conference Tournament: Semifinal Previews

2024 NCHL Conference Tournament: Semifinal Previews

Date:  Source: Northern Collegiate Hockey League
Semifinal #1 - #1 Concordia University WI v. #5 Marian University:
Opening semifinal play will be top seeded Concordia University WI and #5 seeded Marian University. CUW took awhile to get going in their quarterfinal matchup against Roosevelt University but eventually cruised to a 7-1 victory. Marian came out on fire and built a quick lead which had #4 seeded Aurora University trying to play catch up from early on, but Marian gave them no quarter and won 9-2.
 
CUW and Marian have met two previous times in the postseason. Coming out on top in both contests was Marian, with one win coming in overtime, and they averaged 4.5 goals for to 2.5 goals against. Being at the Blue Line Family Ice Center, Marian’s home sheet, could play a significant factor in this matchup as Marian is 6-1 all-time there. During those seven games Marian has a 5.7 to 3.1 goals average advantage. Back in October Marian defended home ice with a 5-3 victory and CUW defended their home ice with an 8-0 victory.
 
One key to a possible Marian victory is slowing down Charles Emme. Emme posted five points, three goals and two assists, against Roosevelt in the quarterfinals. He also had a five point weekend, three goals and two assists, when CUW and Marian met earlier this season. Trenton Sherman will also need to be watched. He had three points, two goals and one assist, against Roosevelt and beat that in their regular season series with Marian, one goal and three assists.
 
DJ Horne started his Conference Tournament off with a bang, tallying one goal and four assists for a five point game against Aurora University. CUW will need to keep him in check as they did during the regular season where he only notched one assist during the two games. Jason Vogler had one of the better weekends against CUW having scored a goal and assisted on another. He also found the back of the net once during the quarterfinals.
 
Semifinal #2 - #2 DePaul University v. #3 Marquette University:
Semifinal #2 will see the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the Black Division, DePaul University and Marquette University, respectively, clash to earn a spot in the conference finals. DePaul had the hardest quarterfinal matchup, needing overtime to beat a relentless UW Oshkosh team. Marquette had a much easier time, dispatching UW Milwaukee by way of a 6-0 shutout, which was the first shutout in the Conference Tournament since 2019.
 
This will be the second time that DePaul and Marquette have met in the postseason, both times the semifinals. In their earlier 2022 meeting Marquette came out on top by a score of 6-3.
 
Back in early December DePaul swept their regular season series. Neither game was a blow out as the winning margin did not exceed two goals. So that close game trend could be a harbinger of what is to come in the semifinals.
 
One player Marquette will need to keep an eye on is Chris Lee. In DePaul’s quarterfinal game against UW Oshkosh Lee tallied two assists. But he was even better in their regular season series against Marquette which was a seven point weekend, two goals and five assists. Also to be aware of is Billy Paschen who scored four goals and added one assist back in December.
 
For Marquette, Michael Helm is a threat to be accounted for. In the quarterfinals Helm scored two goals to lead Marquette and he also scored one during the regular season. Sam Jablonsky should also be watched. During the regular season he assisted on two goals.