2004 Great Plains Regional Tournament This Weekend!

The Great Plains' top teams will go for their conference's regional titles on February 28 and 29. The schedules for each day have been uploaded to the website for easy viewing, while the playoff bracket can be found at this link: Regional Tournament Bracket There are some exciting match ups in the round-robin play. In Conference A, Lindenwood University plays against University of Missouri - Rolla at 11:00 AM on Saturday. Lindenwood University won the autobid for Nationals for their conference-leading 16-0-1 record, while University of Missouri - Rolla took top-power-ranked Michigan State into overtime in the NARCh WinterNationals. Lindenwood won each of the previous three games against UM - Rolla, 15-0, 3-2, and 9-2, respectively. Also in Conference A, an exciting match up between St. Charles Community College and St. Louis Community College - Meramec will be played on Saturday at 5:00 PM. Each of these teams are considered Division III schools and this game, along with the rest of their tournament, could be a deciding factor in their placement for the National Championship Tournament later in the year. In Conference B, the undefeated University of Missouri - St. Louis plays the St. Charles County Community College B - Red team on Saturday at 3:00 PM. The UM - St. Louis Rivermen have already won the autobid for Nationals and are going for an undefeated season, while the SCCCC B - Red team is looking for a bid in the B Nationals. In their only meeting of the season, UMSL won the contest 6-3. Another game of note in Conference B takes place on Sunday at 8:00 AM when Saint Louis University takes on St. Louis Community College - Meramec B - Green in an effort to break their regular season tie of 30 points each. In their last meeting of the regular season, Meramec B - Green won the game 5-4. In Conference C, the top goal scoring University of Missouri - Columbia B plays the tough St. Charles County Community College B - Black team on Saturday at 11:00 AM. The Mizzou B team was one point from tying St. Louis Community College - Meramec B - Black for the conference lead, while SCCCC B - Black earned a respectable 12-5-0 record in the regular season. With each Division I and II autobid given out to the regular season champion, the regional tournament conference championship title could be a deciding factor in which teams will be chosen to attend the National Championship Tournament, hosted in Anaheim, California on April 14 - 18. Because the Division III and B teams are chosen from a pool, their play during the tournament will be of particular importance for them to be chosen to play in the National Championship Tournament. On behalf of the Great Plains College Inline Hockey League, we would like to wish the best of luck to all of our teams and we look forward to seeing some great hockey this weekend!