NAHL Weekend Preview
30 games are on tap over the next three days in the North American Hockey League and more playoff tickets can be punched this weekend.
A large number of commitments were announced this week as the NAHL is now up to 219 NCAA commits on the year.
The Maryland Black Bears and Shreveport Mudbugs joined the Lone Star Brahmas in the Robertson Cup playoff field. For Maryland, it’s their second straight playoff appearance while for the Mudbugs, they have made the playoffs every season since their inception into the league in 2016-17. If you missed the announcement of the 2024 Robertson Cup playoff format, you can read up on the changes here.
In the Central Division, a huge home-and-home series goes down between St. Cloud and Austin as the Norsemen have a one point advantage over the Bruins for the final playoff position. Austin has been the hotter team of the two as they are 6-3-1 over their last 10 games. St. Cloud is 4-3-3 over that same span with the overtime points helping them keep pace in the Central Division standings. Minot hosts Aberdeen as they try to gain ground over red hot Bismarck. They are playing host to North Iowa this weekend who they are 10-0 against this season and have won 17 straight head-to-head meetings.
In the East Division, the Rochester Jr. Americans and Maine Nordiques will look to inch closer to punching their playoff tickets. The Jr. Americans visit the Jr. Hat Tricks while the Nordiques will head to Attleboro for a date with the Generals. Elsewhere, the Tomahawks visit the Mountain Kings in New Hampshire while a rivalry is renewed as the Black Bears take on the Titans in New Jersey.
In the Midwest Division, the Wisconsin Windigo can punch their ticket tonight with a win and a loss by the Chippewa Steel. The Windigo are in Minnesota taking on the Wilderness while the Steel are hosting Janesville. Then we’ve got two games in the final frontier as Kenai River is in Anchorage. Then Springfield is in Fairbanks for a battle with the Ice Dogs.
Finally in the South Division, El Paso has the potential to clinch a Robertson Cup playoff berth for the very first time. They will need to get some points against the top seeded Lone Star Brahmas. Shreveport will be in Oklahoma taking on the Warriors for the second straight weekend. Odessa is in New Mexico looking to stay in the playoff hunt while Colorado is in Corpus Christi taking on the IceRays.
Watch all the action on NAHLTV
