Destination Denver: The road to the 2008 Frozen Four

This past weekend, college hockey fans from around the nation gathered to watch as their favorite teams fought for the four coveted spots in this year’s Frozen Four tournament in Denver, Colo. The NCAA men’s ice hockey regional tournaments spanned four separate locations: the Midwest regional in Madison, Wis.; the Mideast regional in Worcester, Mass.; the West regional in Colorado Springs, Colo.; and the East regional held in our own backyard in Albany, N.Y. The stage is now set for the University of Michigan Wolverines, the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the Boston College Eagles to battle it out for college hockey supremacy starting April 10.

Midwest Regional—Madison, Wis.

The first of two semifinal games held at the Kohl Center pitted the No. 17 in the nation Wisconsin Badgers against the No. 4 Denver University Pioneers. Underdog Wisconsin started the game out bright, opening up scoring midway through the first period. The Badgers took advantage of the penalty on the Pioneers in the second to build of a 2-0 lead, but Denver scored on the power play a mere seven minutes later to cut its advantage in half. Wisconsin wasn’t content with that and, after 20 minutes of rest between frames, came back fighting. The Badgers added four goals in the third including an empty net goal to take back the win. Denver would also add another goal in the period, but it was not enough to combat the offensive assault. The final score was 6-2, Wisconsin.

Game two saw the No. 3 North Dakota Fighting Sioux dominate the No. 13 Princeton Tigers, winners of the ECAC Hockey Championships held in Albany last week. North Dakota took control of the game early, adding its first tally of the night on a power play goal in the first. With four minutes remaining in the second period, the Fighting Sioux would add another—the eventual game winner. Two empty net goals and a power play goal in the third sealed the deal for North Dakota, even though the Tigers netted a goal with seconds remaining in the game. The green and black advanced to the finals, with a score of 5-1.

Sunday afternoon brought the Badgers and the Fighting Sioux to a close-fought battle for a berth in the Frozen Four. Wisconsin seemed to have the advantage, scoring two goals in the second to take the lead, as well as holding home ice advantage. North Dakota came back early in the third, however, adding two goals of its own within the first four minutes of the frame. Neither team would add another tally in regulation, forcing the game to overtime. North Dakota would prevail when junior Andrew Kozek took control of a wild puck in front of the net and sent it past junior Wisconsin netminder Shane Connelly. “I saw the puck lying there around the hash marks and kind of just took a whack at it,” Kozek said. “I wasn’t really trying to put it anywhere and was just fortunate it went in for us.”

T.J. Oshie, Chay Genoway, Ryan Duncan, and Jean-Philippe Lamoureux of North Dakota were named to the All Midwest Regional team, in addition to Michael Davies, and Jamie McBain of UW.

Northeast Regional—Worcester, Mass.

The DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. hosted a whole weekend packed with action—first the overtime finish of Miami vs. Air Force, followed by the drama that unfolded at the end of the Boston College/Minnesota match-up on Saturday night, and concluded with another overtime fight to the end Sunday night, Boston College against Miami.

The Air Force Falcons entered Saturday afternoon’s contest with high hopes of being only the second Atlantic League team to earn a spot in the Frozen Four. Within the first 20 seconds of the game, the Miami Red Hawks seemed to crush that dream, as a 25-foot wrist shot by freshman Tommy Wingels soared past Falcons sophomore goaltender Andrew Volkening. Despite many close calls throughout the rest of the period, Miami would not add another point on the board. The Falcons did not back down, however. Air Force added two goals less than 10 minutes into the second to take the lead, and kept the Red Hawks at bay for the rest of the period. Midway through the third, Miami knotted things up at two with a power play goal by freshman Carter Camper. Unable to respond with another goal on either end of the ice, the game moved to extra time. Five minutes into overtime, junior wing Justin Mercier killed all of the Air Force’s hopes of advancing with an unassisted goal.

The finale of that evening’s second game was most unusual. The Boston College Eagles entered the third period leading 4-1 over the Minnesota Gophers. With a little less than three and a half minutes remaining in the game, senior Ben Gordon rocketed a shot toward BC’s freshman netminder John Muse, in what appeared to the goal judges as a goal. The referee dismissed the tally, and let play continue until the Eagles’ Brian Gibbons added an empty net goal with 45 seconds remaining in the game. Upon review, Gordon’s goal was allowed, and time was reset back to 3:27—negating BC’s last point in the process, and bringing the Gophers within two. “We were all pretty sure it went in,” said Gordon of his shot. “We were just trying to get a whistle and get the time back on the clock.”

Junior Nathan Gerbe would add another empty netter with 16.2 seconds remaining in the game to pull Boston College ahead 5-2 and seal the win. Muse stopped 31 shots on the night, while Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas stopped 27 in the loss.

Momentum shifted rapidly in Sunday afternoon’s contest, often switching between Miami and Boston College during long plays in their respective offensive zones. Miami took the lead early in the first two minutes of the game, on a four-on-four. The Red Hawks would add another halfway through the second with a goal by senior Nino Musitelli. Boston College brought the game back into their hands during the last four minutes of the period, scoring three back-to-back goals to gain the lead, 3-2. Miami added another tally in the third to tie the game up at three, and to force the eventual overtime. The Eagle’s Joe Whitney fired home a rebound to snag the victory, BC’s third against Miami in NCAA regional final play in as many years.

Gerbe, Whitney, and Nick Petrecki of Boston College, along with Ryan Jones and Alec Martinez of Miami, and Volkening of Air Force were named to the All Northeast Regional team.

West Regional – Colorado Springs, Colo.

The New Hampshire Wildcats appeared to be able to hold their own during their Friday afternoon game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, remaining tied at two at the end of the first period. Notre Dame stepped up its game at the start of the second, adding two quick goals to pull ahead 4-2, after UNH failed to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play. “That was a key moment in the game,” said Wildcat’s Head Coach Dick Umile. “We didn’t score on the five-on-three, they came down and scored the fourth goal to go up 4-2 so that was a key moment, that whole exchange.”

New Hampshire responded with a single goal at 13:09 of the period, but was unable to combat the devastation caused by the Fighting Irish in the third period, which saw Notre Dame add three goals to their lead, including two empty netters, and leave the game with a 7-2 victory.

Colorado College was able to end Michigan State’s Jeff Lerg’s shutout streak of 87:15 minutes of goalless play—dating back to last year’s NCAA Frozen Four final against Boston College—but it was not enough to take the game. Tied at zero at the end of the first, the Michigan State Spartans added three goals in the second period, including two within the final minutes of play before intermission. The Colorado College Tigers would add one goal from senior Derek Patrosso, at 12:07 of the third.

“They were a tough team to play against,” said Lerg. “I think that since this is my third year here and third year in the national tournament, that’s when good players have to step up.”

In a rematch of last year’s Midwest Regional final, the Fighting Irish faced off against the Spartans. Notre Dame took the lead early on in the second, with a goal by junior Christian Hanson at 2:43. MSU added their reply at 9:05, with a goal by junior Justin Abdelkader to tie the game at one. The Fighting Irish could have taken back the lead towards the end of the frame; however, the goal was disallowed. “It was another tough call but honestly we’ve had that happen a few times to us,” said senior Norte Dame captain Mark Van Guilder. “We were real calm on the bench when we were sitting there waiting for the call and decided either way, we’ve got to keep coming.”

Two goals in the third brought Notre Dame back up 3-1, which would be the final score of the contest. This was the first time a No. 4 seed has advanced to the Frozen Four since the implementation of the 16 team bracket in 2003.

The All West Regional team includes Mark Van Guilder, Hanson, and Brock Sheahan, of Norte Dame; and Jeff Petry, Justin Abdelkader, and Lerg of Michigan State University.

East Regional – Albany, N.Y.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the ECAC hockey league both played host to the East Regional of the NCAA tournament this past weekend at the Times Union Center, which saw No. 1 Michigan Wolverines grace the ice, along with the Niagara Purple Eagles, the St. Cloud State University Huskies, and the Clarkson University Golden Knights.

Friday’s matinee dealt the green and gold of the Clarkson Golden Knights against the red and white of the St. Cloud Huskies. After sitting out in the ECAC championship, Clarkson was determined to win. “In my eyes, if we didn’t win this game, the season was a disappointment,” junior goaltender David Leggio said. “We were motivated. We had to watch the ECAC championships in this arena last week, and we came to the arena every day ready to work. You can’t control whether you win or not, but you can control your effort, and it was definitely unbelievable tonight.”

Despite allowing the Huskies six power play opportunities, the Knights were able to blank St. Cloud on each opportunity, not something that can typically be done against one of the top power plays in the nation. Clarkson goaltender Leggio played a solid game, only allowing one goal with 25 shots on net in the victory. Junior David Cayer and sophomore Shea Guthrie added goals for Clarkson in the second and third periods respectively, while sophomore Garrett Raboin tallied for the Huskies in the second. St. Cloud still remains without a win in the NCAA regional tournament in eight total appearances.

Senior Hobey Baker candidate Kevin Porter of the Michigan Wolverines added a record-breaking four goals in a regional game, including a third period natural hat trick, along with the help of classmate Chad Kolarik who assisted on all five Wolverine goals to propel Michigan over Niagara University, 5-1. The Purple Eagles couldn’t seem to get a break, as the Wolverines continuously kept the puck in their zone. “We didn’t have any answer for their top line,” said Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “There are some special players across the bench and they’ll be playing on television for a very long time.” Niagara was able to add one goal at the end of the third, but it was not enough to stave off top-ranked Michigan.

The Golden Knights faced the Wolverines in the East Regional title game. Clarkson’s offense was completely shut down, as the team experienced its first shut-out loss since last year’s regional against the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

“They’re the best defense we’ve seen this year,” said Clarkson senior Nick Dodge. “They’ve got size and they’ve got speed.”

Michigan opened up scoring late in the first, with a power play goal by freshman Aaron Palushaj, who drew Leggio from the net and quickly wrapped the puck around the iron post. “The first goal was an important goal, obviously,” said University of Michigan coach Red Berenson. “You’re hoping you can get a power-play goal, and these games come down to power plays and special teams … and we got that goal.”

Kevin Porter added his fifth of the tournament barely 30 seconds into the third period with a pretty goal that slid through Leggio’s five hole. “The second goal was a backbreaker,” observed Berenson. “Kevin has set the bar for this team, and Chad is hanging onto it, making sure that [Kevin] holds it high.” Michigan is 21-1-2 when Porter scored in a game.

Clarkson refused to give up though, pulling their goaltender in favor of the extra skater and peppering UM goalie Billy Sauer with a flurry of shots to end the period. “I was just glad I got some work,” said Billy Sauer on the last minute battles to maintain his shutout victory. “I didn’t get a lot the whole game. It was actually a lot of fun. I kind of like to have to make a difference.”

This will be the Wolverine’s 23rd trip to the Frozen Four, as they seek to gain their 10th national title, both NCAA records.

The Frozen Four begins Thursday April 10th at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., with Boston College facing off against the University of North Dakota, followed by the University of Michigan battling Notre Dame. The winners of both games will then go head-to-head that Saturday for the national title.