NAHL Weekend Preview
The Robertson Cup playoffs are here… kind of. The East and South Divisions begin their play-in series this weekend with eight teams battling to advance to the division semifinals. Meanwhile in the Central and Midwest Division, three playoff spots remain in total.
With the latest influx of NCAA commitments, the NAHL is now at 250 total commits with 228 of them coming at the Division I level.
Let’s take a look at whats on tap this weekend…
In the East Division, the division play-in series take place in Rochester and Johnstown. The Jr. Americans are hosting the Northeast Generals while the Tomahawks welcome the New Jersey Titans to their barn.
Rochester has won six of the eight matchups this season against the Generals and finished off the regular season in Attleboro last weekend where the teams split the series. It will be the first run through the postseason for the Americans while the Generals make it back for the the third straight season and are still looking for their first series win in team history.
In the other East series, the Tomahawks took five of the eight games in the season series and both teams come into the postseason on hot streaks as Johnstown has won seven of their last 10 while the Titans have eight wins over that same time frame and have won four in a row.
In the South, El Paso is making their first Robertson Cup playoff appearance and are rewarded with the defending champion Oklahoma Warriors. The Rhinos have won six of their last 10 while Oklahoma comes in riding a five game winning streak. The Rhinos took three of the four meetings in the regular season.
In the other South Division play-in, New Mexico will host Amarillo. The two clubs split the season series 2-2 and both teams come in after up and down stretches over the last 10 games of the regular season. New Mexico is looking to get back to the Robertson Cup after missing the playoffs in 2023 while Amarillo is making their second consecutive appearance in the playoffs.
As for the teams still playing regular season games, the final two spots in the Central Division need to be claimed. Austin and Aberdeen are in the driver seat as they currently hold down the third and fourth seeds. St. Cloud is tied with Aberdeen in points and one point back of Austin with a series with the Bruins coming up. Two wins for the Norsemen will have them in the postseason. It’s an easier path for Austin as a win in either game against the Norsemen will put them back in the Robertson Cup playoffs. Aberdeen is in with a win and a St. Cloud loss in regulation as they own the tiebreaker with the Norsemen. Aberdeen goes up against North Iowa this weekend. Minot and Bismarck go head to head but both teams are locked into the one and two seeds respectively.
It’s a much more simpler puzzle in the Midwest to figure out the final playoff spot there. If the Minnesota Wilderness get a point in either of their games against the Jr. Blues they are in as the four seed. The Anchorage Wolverines also clinch the division title with a point in either of their games at Fairbanks.
The Robertson Cup playoffs get into the full swing next week as the league will begin the division semifinals.
Watch all the action on NAHLTV
