Boston College and North Dakota won overtime games today to grab spots in the Frozen Four. BC beat Miami 4-3 in the Northeast Regional in Worcester. The Eagles took the lead with three goals in less than two minutes late in the second period, had Miami tie it in the third and then won on a Joe Whitney goal at 12:12 of OT. . . . North Dakota was down 2-0 going into the third period against Wisconsin in the Midwest Final, tied it early in the period and then won with a goal 1:47 into OT. . . . BC and North Dakota meet in a rematch in one semifinal at the Frozen Four on April 10 in Denver. The Eagles beat the Fighting Sioux 6-4 and then lost in the championship game to Michigan State. . . . Notre Dame and Michigan meet in the other semifinal in Denver. . . . The Eagles are making their third straight trip to the Frozen Four.
Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA’s Frozen Four with a 3-1 win over defending champion Michigan State in the West Final last night. The Fighting Irish will play Michigan in one of the two semifinal games in Denver on Thursday, April 10. Michigan has been ranked No. 1 in the country most of the season and advanced with wins over Niagara (5-1) and Clarkson (2-0) out of the East Regional in Albany. . . . Boston College plays Miami at 4:30 this afternoon in Worcester for a spot in the Frozen Four. The winner of BC-Miami will play the winner of tonight’s Midwest Regional game between Wisconsin and North Dakota in the other semifinal on April 10.
Nope, doesn’t feel any better this morning. . . . Michigan State, behind the 41 saves of Jeff Lerg, beat Colorado College 3-1 last night and will play Notre Dame for the West Regional title tonight in Colorado Springs. The only good news for the members of Wildcat Nation is they don’t have to scramble to find a place to watch ESPNU and their team tonight. . . . With last night’s 7-3 loss to Notre Dame, UNH closed out the season 25-10-3. . . . The Wildcats lost consecutive games twice all season: once in December and then in the last two games against Boston College in the Hockey East semifinals and Friday night. . . . So yeah, the sun came up. . . . No word on when spirits might.
Blue and white game face? Check. Wildcat hockey jersey? Check. Cowbell at the ready? Check. . . . Game time is fast approaching. . . . And about those Wildcat ‘dos. Senior defensemen and assistant captains Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer started it after the Hockey East tournament and by the time the team left for Colorado on Wednesday several others had joined them with Mohawk haircuts to wear into tonight’s NCAA tournament game against Notre Dame. . . . Flaishans said with graduation approaching it might be his last chance to make such a statement. . . . A quartet of freshmen joined Flaishans and Switzer in their fashion statement. Mike Sislo, Phil DeSimone, James vanRiemsdyk and Matt Campanale all went with the haircuts, too.
And another thing on Notre Dame’s vaunted defense: The Fighting Irish allowed only 23.2 shots a game this year while giving up 2.05 goals a game. UNH averages 33.1 shots while scoring 3.5 goals. . . . “The CCHA, I believe, still plays a very controlled, defensive game,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “I’m not saying Notre Dame is going to sit back with a one-man forecheck. They’re going to come after us. They’re going to get it on the wall and try to beat you up along the wall. . . . We’ve got to get shots. Good shots. I’m not saying that we’ve got to get 40 shots, but we’ve got to get good scoring opportunities.” . . . With leading scorer Erik Condra out with a leg injury, the Fighting Irish do not have a scorer in the CCHA’s Top 30. Ryan Thang leads Notre Dame with 16 goals and 11 assists.
Senior goalie Kevin Regan was named the winner of the 56th Walter Brown Award last night. The award is presented to the best American born college player, playing in New England. . . . Regan was the sixth Wildcat to pull down the honors, following Bobby Miller (1976), Ralph Cox (1979), Ty Conklin (2001), Mike Ayers (2003) and Steve Saviano (2004). . . . Regan was Hockey East’s Player of the Year and is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. . . . He takes a 23-7-1 record, .933 save percentage and 2.12 goals against average into tomorrow night’s first-round game against Notre Dame in the NCAA West Regional in Colorado Springs. . . . UNH freshman James vanRiemsdyk and Providence senior John Rheault of Deering were among the 15 finalists for the Walter Brown.
Most of the Wildcats are familiar with Colorado Springs and World Arena, site of the West Regional that begins tomorrow night. UNH opened the season there last year with a pair of wins _ 4-3 and 7-2 _ over Colorado College. . . . Another member of the UNH traveling party, director of athletics Marty Scarano, likely feels even more at home there. Scarano was the AD at CC from 1996-2000 before he came to Durham. . . . . Scarano was also the chair of the NCAA Division I hockey committee the past two years and said this week that when UNH lost to Boston College and then North Dakota beat Colorado College in the WCHA playoffs, and the Wildcats slipped to No. 4 in the PairWise rankings, it became clear the Wildcats might be sent West to the Springs. . . . Scarano quickly adopted the same philosophy coach Dick Umile and his team did when they got their assignment. All embraced the idea of getting out of town and getting straight down to business. No distractions. Nothing to focus on but hockey. . . . “And it’s a big sheet of ice,” Scarano said. “That makes going to Colorado that much palatable because we’re playing on the same size ice we do here. That can’t be anything but a benefit to us.”
A year ago, Hockey East sent a record five teams to the NCAA tournament. This season is the first since the 1996-97 campaign that only two Hockey East teams are in the field. Now it’s up to UNH at the West Regional and Boston College in the Northeast in Worcester to uphold the league’s honor. In all but one year since 1992, at least one Hockey East team has advanced to the Frozen Four. The off year was 2005 when all four teams in Columbus, Ohio for the championships were from the WCHA. That 2005 tournament was also the only time in the last four seasons that BC did not make the Frozen Four. The Eagles were the runners-up the last two seasons, losing to Wisconsin, 2-1, in the championship game in 2006 and to Michigan State, 3-1, last season. Getting to the big stage can only help, BC coach Jerry York said after his team beat UNH in three overtimes last Friday night. “. . . They just get better and better under these circumstances. It’s easy to play pond hockey, everybody’s loose. You get to March and you’re trying for some really important trophies, I think it makes it, not easy, but less difficult.”
The University of New Hampshire hockey team leaves for Colorado tomorrow. Wildcat Nation hopes it is the first of back-to-back trips to the Rockies. The Frozen Four, the ultimate goal, will be contested April 10 and 12 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. . . . For now, the Wildcats are bound for the World Arena in Colorado Springs, home to Colorado College. UNH (25-9-3) plays Notre Dame (24-15-4) at 6:30 Eastern on Friday in its first-round game. The UNH-Notre Dame winner plays the winner of a game between Colorado College and Michigan State in the Regional Final on Saturday night. . . . The Wildcats last qualified for the Frozen Four in 2002 and 2003. They have been to the NCAA tournament each of the four years since. Three of those seasons, including last year, they lost their first round game. In 2005, they beat Harvard 3-2 in their first game and lost to Denver 4-2 in the Regional Final in Amherst, Mass.
After a few hours of digesting a bit of both Easter dinner and the NCAA hockey tournaments, it still doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that UNH is headed to Colorado Springs to play Notre Dame in its first game on Friday night. . . . That’s what the selection committee decided. . . . UNH is the No. 1 seed and plays No. 4 Notre Dame at 6:30 Eastern time. Colorado College and Michigan State meet in the second game at 10 Eastern. . . . The winners play Saturday night at 10 for a spot in the Frozen Four. . . . Much speculation had UNH playing in Worcester, in part to take advantage of the number of fans the Wildcats can draw. In fact, Miami is the No. 1 seed and will play Air Force in Worcester. No. 2 seed Boston College plays Minnesota in the other game. . . . In Albany, No. 1 Michigan plays Niagara and St. Cloud State plays Clarkson. In Madison, Wisc., No. 1 North Dakota plays Princeton and Denver plays Wisconsn.
