Running College Hockey Thread

That was Bobby Orr times 10. What a play.

(P.S. Why do they have the Final *Five* in the WCHA?)

 

BU did win the Hockey East tournament last year, so they must have cared about it some.

Re: Minnesota, thanks for the link, zeke. Big Ragu put it best ... to get wrapped up in that game for three periods and then overtime to see that play happen, that's something else. Wow.

 

10 teams play best-of-three playoff series (1-10, 2-9, etc.). Winners advance to Final Five. 5 plays 4, then the winner plays 1 and 2 plays 3 in the semifinals. Winners play for title.

Best show in college hockey, except for the Frozen Four.

 

Outstanding shot!

 

Wow... unreal....

 

The field is set:

2007 NCAA Tournament

Denver
1 Minnesota vs. 4 Air Force
2 Michigan vs. 3 North Dakota

Grand Rapids
1 Notre Dame vs. 4 Alabama-Huntsville
2 Boston University vs. 3 Michigan State

Rochester
1 Clarkson vs. 4 Massachusetts
2 St. Cloud vs. 3 Maine

Manchester
1 New Hampshire vs. 4 Miami
2 Boston College vs. 3 St. Lawrence

 

Good to see UAH in the tournament, and ditto for Air Force. Hockey East has a formidable represenation in the tournament - Maine, however, is proof that early season, non-conference victories (Minnesota and North Dakota) carry a lot of weight with the selection committee. I'm curious to see how the Black Bears do with Ben Bishop returning and after a collapse in the HE tournament.

 

Gotta disagree with you on a couple things - UAH is a joke of a program (Doug Ross "retiring" after the year, but actively pursuing other jobs). I've heard rumblings that UAH is forcing him out and rather than replace him, slashing the program. Of course, this might delay that decision for a season or two, though now there's debate about where they'll play since CHA is on life support.

Maine's a pretty good team - I saw them in Florida over Christmas, and thought they were far better than UNH. Their weakness is actually in goal - Bishop is quite possibly the worst goalie in the field this year. Of the three goals he allowed during the game I saw him play, one was a puck that he misplayed off the boards, went through his legs to an oncoming attacker who put it in the empty net, and another was a misplayed dump-in that he let go in. He makes decent saves, but he lets in some very soft goals.

And Minnesota's played well all year -they deserve the top seed. North Dakota had a miserable start to the year - on Dec. 16, they were 7-10-1. They're quite possibly (along with BC) the most dangerous teams in the field.

I'll go out on a limb here and say St. Cloud (Rochester), Notre Dame (Grand Rapids), BC (Manchester) and NoDak (Denver) will make it to St. Louis. Rochester might be the most balanced region, while Denver is brutal.

 

BU pays the price for not advancing to the finals in Hockey East. Might as well be a home game for third-seeded Sparty.

 

I'll take minnesota, ND, Maine and Miami in the Frozen Four.

 

I'm admittedly a homer, but the Gophers got screwed on that draw.

No way they should have to beat North Dakota again just to get to the frozen four.