NCAA Playoff Time!

It's March, and that means it's time to get ready for college hockey's playoffs and the tournament that follows.

In the CCHA, the Panthers hold rights to three players: Matt Rust (Michigan), Matt Bartkowski (Ohio State) and Ryan Watson (Western Michigan).

Of the three, only Michigan has secured a spot in next week's best-of-three CCHA Quarter-final. There are twelve teams in the CCHA, and only the top four earn a trip straight to the quarter-final, while the remaining eight clubs split off in to four best-of-three series that run tonight through Sunday.

Ohio State has home ice as they take on Bowling Green, a team that they played twice this season on the road. Both games were victories for the OSU Buckeyes. In that weekend series, freshman blueliner Matt Bartkowski was on the top pairing both nights, registering an assist in the first of the two contests. Bartkowski's regular season was a good one. His three goals and thirteen assists among defensemen trailed only to sophomore Islanders' prospect Shane Sims, and he was named CCHA Rookie of the Week twice - first on October 27th, 2008 and then again on January 19, 2009. Bartkowski was drafted in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in the seventh round, 190th overall.

Moving forward, Western Michigan has home ice as well. They're hosting Lake Superior, and in their weekend series this season, the two teams played to a split. Lake Superior won the first game 7-4, while Western Michigan picked up the second by a score of 4-1. In both games, Ryan Watson centered Western Michigan's fouth line. Watson's ice time was limited all year and he's been relied on as a penalty killer for the most part, finishing the season with four goals and two assists. Two points fewer than last year. Watson, like Bartkowski, was a seventh round selection of the Panthers, being drafted 191st overall in 2007.

That only leaves the Michigan Wolverines, but being ranked third in the nation gives them a week off, and I'm not sure which of the series winners they'll be taking on next weekend. As for Matt Rust, while his numbers dropped this season, he was a great penalty killer and face-off man throughout, making his presence known in his second World Junior Championship this past winter. Rust was drafted in 2007 during the fourth round, 101st overall.

In the WCHA, this weekend is the end of the regular season, and while both North Dakota (Derrick Lapoint, though he's done for the season) and Denver (John Lee, Marc Cheverie) have clinched home playoff berths, the two teams are also only separated by one point in the standings as they strive for the regular season title. They aren't playing each other this weekend, but North Dakota's opponent, Wisconsin (ranked 19th in the NCAA) has a chance to move up to third in the standings and secure home ice in the playoffs, while Denver takes on the defending MacNaughton Cup winner, Colorado College, in a game that Denver needs at least a tie to have a shot at the title. Colorado College, on the other hand, can secure home ice with a win of their own. So it's a pretty tight race.

For the Denver Pioneers, you can't help but be impressed with goaltender Marc Cheverie. He was recently named WCHA Player of the Week for the third time this season, and at the time, he was leading all goaltenders in minutes played (1,902), while he was second in save percentage (.918) and winning percentage (.656) and third in goals against average (2.43). Those numbers are not final, though, as Denver still has a game to play tonight.

Also on Denver, defenseman John Lee. The freshman is the younger brother of Ottawa Senators' prospect Brian Lee, although the two are quite different. Lee played regularly, starting on the top some nights and playing on the third pairing on others, with plenty of time in between. Offensively, he hasn't done much, accumulating five assists on the year, but as he has progressed defensively, he's found other ways to contribute to the success of his team and, undoubtedly, has had a hand in helping them to #5 in the nation.

To North Dakota, Florida's prospect is Derrick LaPoint but unfortunately, Derrick's season ended last month when he suffered a broken tibia and fibula when his skate caught the boards after being checked by Minnesota-State's Trevor Bruess.

All that leaves is Brian Foster and Matt Duffy, playing for New Hampshire and Maine, respectively. Maine has had a tough season, although New Hampshire is near the top of Hockey East.

New Hampshire's final weekend series stands only to affect their ranking. They are where they need to be, and while it's always good to want to be better, they will be joining the teams already mentioned as teams that have a chance win it all this season. Brian Foster has had a strong year in net for the Wildcats, and although an injury set him back early on in the season, he's recovered strongly. In fact, Foster was named Itech's Goaltender of the Month for February after he went 6-1-1 with a 1.86 GAA and a .932%. Foster also received the honour back in October, joining undrafted goalies Kieran Millan and Brad Thiessen as the only three to earn the recognition all season. Along with this, Foster has been named defensive player of the week on two occasions.

As for Maine, it was a long season, but one that isn't completely closed up and finished, yet. Senior defenseman Matt Duffy has career highs in goals (7) and assists (7), along with points (14) and penalty minutes (46). Duffy has been solid for Maine, providing leadership and experience in most all situations and was recently named one of the alternate captains for the team. After this weekend's games, Maine will advance to the Hockey East tournament as the eighth seed and take on either Boston University or Northeastern. But the Black Bears did manage a tie against Boston last month while they were ranked #1 in the nation.