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Hockey Coming to the Cuse?!

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Syracuse University plans to cut the Men’s and Women’s Swimming programs at the school in favor of starting a Women’s Ice Hockey program which would begin play in the Fall of 2008. Syracuse has fielded a club Men’s Hockey program which currently plays in the ACHA Division I.

What does this mean? Well, we’re not really sure yet, but it certainly opens the door for a full expansion of Syracuse Hockey into Men’s and Women’s Division I. While the safe bet is for them to enter into Atlantic Hockey, Brett and I couldn’t help but think about the possibility of them joining the ECACHL and taking a team like RIT or Niagara with them. Suddenly Upstate NY would be buried with college hockey. Of course that would mean 14 teams, conferences folding up, multiple divisions…. but hey, that’s what the summer and beer are for. With the Buffalo Sabres capturing the hearts of the fans in the area, more hockey might be what the doctor ordered.

Frozen Four Semifinal – North Dakota, BC

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

9:41 p.m. — Hakstol takes a good risk pulling the goalie – great stops by Schneider through traffic … now Rooney seals it with an empty net shortie with 50 seconds left.

9:38 p.m. — Hakstol calls timeout with 2:03 left and 1:22 left on PP. I’m thinking about the Sioux’s late two-goal rally on BC in the 2001 national final (BC won in OT).

9:36 p.m. — And, to wit, Shegos makes the even up call with 2:41 left.

9:33 p.m. — The WCHA ref, Shepard, let things go late in the other semifinal … the CCHA ref in this game, Matt Shegos, is less inclined to do the same.

9:30 p.m. — T.J. Oshie scores a shortie with 27 seconds left on the PP … great solo effort, roofs a backhander. The St. Louis Blues first-round pick ignites the crowd. … Oh, but now North Dakota takes another penalty. And North Dakota pays 6 seconds into it. Gerbe. What a game.

9:26 p.m. — Ben Smith scores up high for BC — Lamoureux got a piece with his glove. Nice setup by Gerbe. No one picked up Smith on the outside. Now a BC player was just hammered into the boards by Chris Porter. PP for BC … 6:11 left. Everyone still trying to decipher the news on Whitehead’s mother-in-law. See CHN Front page.

8:45 p.m. — BC survives. Shots were 20-7 BC in the second period. We just found out that Tim Whitehead’s mother in law passed away this morning, and he was coaching under that cloud today.

8:41 p.m. — Anther PP for the Sioux – Cory Schneider reminds everyone who is supposed to be the top goalie here. Can BC survive this period?

8:35 p.m. — BC finally finds the net. 3 PPG in the game. Lamoureux had no chance there.

8:34 p.m. — Boyle hits the bar now, then Lamoureux makes a great save. What did they do with the real Lamoureux?

8:31 p.m. — BC’s Andrew Orpik just rung one off the crossbar – now BC going on the PP — 6:33 left in the second.

8:13 p.m. — North Dakota back on top with Toews goal. BC on PP. Pressuring. Lamoureux playing the game of his life in the Sioux net.

7:40 p.m. — Dan Bertram gets a nice goal playing strong in front of the net. Bina had just come out of the box and Bertram just fought him off and got a nice turnaround shot.

7:25 p.m. — Best save so far by Schneider, as PP winds down – but he didn’t know where the rebound went, and just stood in front of the crease as Porter ripped a wrister top shelf.

7:24 p.m. — Dang, what a sequence. Gerbe broke up a 5-on-3 PP, and started a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Boyle jumped up and couldn’t tuck in the backhand. UND comes back and just misses a few nice chances.

7:08 p.m. — We are under way. No shots early. The Sioux fans are out in force.

6:55 p.m. — A ways until game time still. Things are heating up.

Frozen Four Semifinal – Maine, MSU

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

5:34 p.m. — That is all she wrote. Feel great for the maligned Rick Comley, returning to the final. Feel bad for the maligned Tim Whitehead, who falls short again.

5:30 p.m. — Michigan State’s gonna hold onto this thing. Bishop leaves the net with 1:25 left, faceoff coming up in MSU zone – timeout Maine. Hail Mary attempt.

5:23 p.m. — Only problem with press meal: serving pork on Passover … lowers grade to B-minus. (hasn’t stopped me from eating it)

5:16 p.m. — Attendance of 18,857 is second in FF history to St. Paul in 2002.

5:13 p.m. — Dang, MSU is interrupting the media meal (good one, too – redeems the lousy lunch) … Another goal. Where did this come from? Great first save by Bishop but he left the rebound. Not much he could do.

5:02 p.m. — Maine just botched the heck out of that clear. Good strength down low by MSU. Sparty looked dead early, now they have a first lead. 3-2.

5:00 p.m. — Purcell hits the crossbar, made pile up during Maine PP.

4:58 p.m. — Seats are decently filled up, despite some fears they wouldn’t be. Good passion on both sides. Biggest cheer of the night was still for the introduction of native son Ben Bishop from the locals in attendance.

4:51 p.m. — Second period about to get started. Tied 2-2. So far, things have been solid but unspectacular in St. Louis. But it’s a great venue, with a VIP function literally under the Gateway Arch last night. Downtown scene was a little dead, but it should pick up. Good people, good atmosphere. Typical Frozen Four. OK, back to the game.

The CHN 64

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

Oddly enough, the CHN 64 National Title Game ended up being a preview of tonight’s second game. 

Check out the bracket for the Frozen Four results. 

— 

We have our Frozen Four games set … check out the bracket. I’ll sim these games before the actual Frozen Four to see if we can accurately predict anything. Two teams (BC and UND) made it to the FF, as well as Wisconsin (not in the real NCAA Tournament) and Michigan. 

— 

Just want to let all of you folks know that the Sat. and Sun. games will be updated tomorrow. I didn’t want to update over the weekend in an attempt to not take away from the real tournament. Look for updates during the day/night tomorrow! 

— 

Before I share with you the results for the 6pm and 9pm games and complete our first round, I should share with you just how these games are being simulated. I am using the game called, “NHL Eastside Hockey Manager 2007”. You cannot play as college teams in the game, however if you play as an NHL team and are in the offseason, you can schedule tournaments. I basically just schedule an offseason tournament with the Boston Bruins (the team I picked to control) and seven NCAA teams that are in the game with the actual NCAA players (just the names are changed).

For example, Brian Boyle is the game is named Ryan Miskovic, however if you go to BC’s roster and click on that name, you will see Boyle’s career stats.

That is how I get not only a score, but SOG and PP numbers. Just so people know that I am not just pulling numbers out of thin air. Anyway, here are the 6pm and 9pm games to close out the first-round.  

College Hockey News 64

6pm games:
(5) Minnesota State over (12) Alabama-Huntsville, 3-2
(9) Bemidji State over (8) Harvard, 4-1
(5) St. Lawrence over (12) Wayne State, 3-2 (OT)
(2) Clarkson over (15) Canisius, 7-1

9pm games:
(7) Quinnipiac over (10) Providence, 2-1 (OT)
(4) Massachusetts over (13) Sacred Heart, 3-1
(3) Michigan State over (14) Connecticut, 4-1
(13) Army over (4) Colorado College, 2-0

— 

The 3pm games are done; no upsets this time around.

College Hockey News 64

(2) North Dakota over (15) AIC, 5-0
(4) Maine over (13) Bowling Green, 2-1
(7) Ohio State over (10) Colgate, 4-1
(1) Notre Dame over (16) Manhattanville, 11-1 

— 

The early first round games on Friday are complete, and we have our first pretty major upset.

College Hockey News 64

(10) Union over (7) Nebraska-Omaha, 4-3 (OT)
(12) Robert Morris over (5) Vermont, 1-0
(2) New Hampshire over (15) Oswego State, 6-2
(6) Alaska-Anchorage over (11) Alaska-Fairbanks, 2-0 

— 

Sorry for the delay, but here are the 9pm results from the first round of the first day. We should be on schedule tomorrow.

Here are the scores, and once again boxes are on the bracket:

College Hockey News 64

(6) Lake Superior over (11) Brown, 3-2
(6) Minnesota-Duluth over (11) Rensselaer, 6-5 (OT)
(4) Michigan Tech over (13) Air Force, 2-1 (OT)
(3) Boston University over (14) Mercyhurst, 1-0 

— 

Well the 6pm games are complete before they were even supposed to start! How’s that for quickness! Here are the results – mini box scores are available by clicking the link of each games’ score on the bracket.

College Hockey News 64

(3) Denver over (14) Merrimack, 3-0
(3) Wisconsin over (14) Bentley, 4-1
(11) UMass Lowell over (6) Dartmouth, 4-2
(2) Michigan over (15) Holy Cross, 8-1 

— 

The 3pm games are complete … the 6pm games will be updated around 5:00 EST because I’ll be on the road. The 9pm games will likely be updated around 12am.

Here are the results for the 3pm games, remember click the score links on the bracket for further breakdown:

College Hockey News 64

(9) Northern Michigan over (8) Cornell, 4-1
(8) Northeastern over (9) Ferris State, 3-2 (2-OT)
(9) Princeton over (8) Niagara, 3-2
(5) Miami-Ohio over (12) RIT, 4-3 (OT) 

— 

The early games of the first round started a bit earlier than expected because I had a meeting come about. Regardless, here are the results from the 12pm games. The 3pm games should be done this afternoon, and the night games tonight. For those of you that have no clue what I’m talking about, just scroll down a bit.

You can actually click the link on the bracket of any particular game after it is played and you’ll see some notes – score by period, SOG, etc. Here are just the winners:

College Hockey News 64

(1) Minnesota over (16) UMass-Dartmouth, 8-0
(1) St. Cloud State over (16) St. Norbert, 7-1
(1) Boston College over (16) Middlebury, 9-2
(7) Western Michigan over (10) Yale, 4-3

The NCAA Basketball Tournament has 64 teams, why doesn’t the hockey tournament?

Well the answer is really quite simple – there are not 64 Division-I hockey teams in the country. But, what if you took the 59 Division 1 teams and added the top five Division-III teams in the country?

That’s exactly what we did in the first annual, “CHN 64” – first round play starts tomorrow!

College Hockey News 64

There is a link to the bracket below; feel free to check it out and the games will be “played” on the day in which they are scheduled per the bracket. I am going to do my best to add results at numerous points throughout the day in the order in which they are “scheduled” (i.e. the 12pm games on a specific day updated around 2:30pm, etc.), but the results will be updated at the end of each day at the very least.

The seedings were based on the KRACH rankings, as well as some playing with the numbers to avoid conference matches in the first round (something that we all know actually does happen).

Of course this is all fictional, but feel free to follow along and talk about it here on the blog. I’ll post the results on the bracket as we go along, as well as a score and brief summary of each game on the blog.

College Hockey News 64

Live Blog: West Regional – #1 Minnesota vs. #2 North Dakota

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

Theresa again live from Pepsi Center for the NCAA West Regionals. Tonight’s game features a rematch of the 2007 WCHA Final Five title game, pitting the University of Minnesota and the University of North Dakota against each other.

7:07pm MST – … and again, as I type that, Chris Porter becomes the hero and skates it around the net and shoves it short-side past Frazee to send the Sioux to the Frozen Four once again. Porter, from Watkins and Jones, at 9:43. 

7:04pm MST – Both teams have had chances, but nothing has broken through yet.

Side note: I’m all for fans supporting their teams, but the guys directly below me doing the non-stop “Let’s Go Gophers” chant are starting to grate on my nerves … 

6:58pm MST – Overtime has been much like the rest of this game – very back and forth action. These two teams are incredibly evenly matched. 

6:53pm MST – Random facts from the first three periods: Sioux outshot the Gophers 29-26; Penalty breakdown: one in the first, 7 in the second and 5 in the third. 

6:49pm MST – Free hockey time is under way … and Frazee makes the first big save, hitting the puck away with his stick as if he were swatting a tennis ball with a tennis racquet. 

6:32pm MST – … yep. Overtime hockey. 

6:31pm MST – 30.3 seconds left in the third, still 2-2. Will we get our first overtime of the Regional? 

6:19pm MST – Robbie Bina goes off for tripping at 12:26 – if the Gophers are going to score, they better do it now … and they do. Barriball from the left face-off dot fires one past Lamoureux. Tie game, 2-2 at 13:11 of the third.

6:11pm MST – HUGE kill by North Dakota on that one. Then, they turn it around and draw a Gopher penalty to go on the power play themselves – Gordon for holding at 9:40 of the third. Still 2-1 Sioux.

6:07pm MST – North Dakota doing a good job of killing this one off so far – two minutes remain out of the initial five. 

6:03pm MST – Radke gets 5 and a 10 for checking from behind – that hurts the Sioux. Penalty served by Zajac, by the way.

5:58pm MST – Reminiscent of yesterday: UND power play, fairly quick goal – Toews from the side of the net passes it to Robbie Bina crashing the net through the slot – 2-1 Sioux at 2:08.

5:57pm MST – A friend in the stands informed me that a BC jersey has been spotted as well.

Wheeler also just went in the penalty box for holding at 1:46 of the third. 

5:39pm MST – Still tied at one at the end of two – Sioux lead in shots 20-18. 

5:36pm MST – Sioux get a power play to end the period – Carman, contact to the head-high-sticking at 19:03. 

5:31pm MST – Gophers have been applying some pressure, but this period is still moving quickly. Case in point: People up here are more captivated by the UNC/Georgetown basketball game in OT than this one. 

5:26pm MST – Kozek roughing and Flynn hitting after the whistle at 15:59. 

5:25pm MST – The Sioux have definitely had more chances in the latter half of this period. 

5:21pm MST – Never thought I’d say this about a Gophers-Sioux game, but this one’s actually kind of boring.

Although, it could only seem that way because yesterday’s games were so crazy …

5:15pm MST – I had to run away for a second so missed Finley for charging, Stoa for interference and a possible Gophers goal that’s under review, but will not stand since the whistle had blown first. The official reason was player in the crease, but still, no goal is no goal – Still tied at one with 10:28 to go in the second frame. 

5:06pm MST – Finley, interference at 4:41. Gophers PP. 

5:00pm MST – Ryan Flynn, MN, two for hooking at 1:57. UND power play.

The official of this game is once again a familiar face for me – Hockey East’s Tim Benedetto. 

4:59pm MST – Second period is underway.

While wandering around during the intermission, I think I’ve realized one of the little-known laws of college hockey tournaments: No matter who is playing in what tournament, there must be at least one fan in an LSSU sweater and one in an RPI sweater (preferably the Puckman one). There was some guy in an LSSU sweater at the Final Five, there’s always at least one at the Frozen Four … coincidence? I think not. 

4:41pm MST – End of one, tied 1-1. Shots 11-6 in favor of the Gophers. 

4:40pm MST – Duncan two for obstruction hooking at 18:40 for the first penalty of the game – PP Gophers. 

4:36pm MST – Frazee just stopped a shot with his face. 

4:29pm MST – Sign spotted at Pepsi Center: “Sioux is a Girl’s Name.” 

4:22pm MST – Carman and Flynn almost combined for a Gopher goal. 

4:18pm MST – Sioux tie it up – Brian Lee fires a shot from the top of the circles that bounced out to the right of Jeff Frazee right to Ryan Duncan who buried at 6:49.

4:11pm MST –  Mike Carman puts the Gophers up 1-0 with a shot that beat Lammy under his right arm. Assist to Mike Vannelli who sent him the pass across the zone at 2:22.

4:08pm MST – And we’re underway here in Denver – Gophers win the first face-off. Predictably, play is even to start off. 

4:05pm MST – More signs you know we’re in Colorado – No matter what sporting event you go to, you are guaranteed to see at least one Denver Broncos jersey. 

4:02pm MST – Starting line-ups, yay!

For North Dakota:
Duncan-Toews-Oshie
Watkins-VandeVelde-Porter
Fabian-Kaip-Kozek
Radke-Zajac-Miller
Chorney-Lee
Finley-Bina
Lamoureux

For Minnesota:
Stoa-Okposo-Kaufmann
Gordon-Wheeler-Barriball
Lucia-Carman-Flynn
Anderson-O’Brien-Bostrom
Goligoski-Vannelli
Peltier-Johnson
Schack-Fischer
Frazee 

3:57pm MST – Signs we’re in Colorado – some guy in a Detroit Red Wings jersey is seen on the JumboTron and half the arena boos. 

3:54pm MST – Still waiting to hear the starting line-ups, but the Gopher pep band already scored points with me by playing The Who’s “Pinball Wizard.”

I do wonder, however, why the Sioux didn’t bring out their band and cheerleaders – MN brought out both, Michigan brought their band … even Air Force brought  both band and cheerleaders though, admittedly, that was the third or fourth time I’d seen their band this season and the first time I’ve seen cheerleaders at one of the hockey games. Still, for a big game, you bring out the big guns (so to speak).

Northeast Regional Final, Boston College vs. Miami: Live Blog

Sunday, March 25th, 2007

We are blogging live from the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH. The Boston College Eagles and the Miami RedHawks battle for a trip to St. Louis.

5:56p – Benn Ferriero makes it 4-0 BC.

BC 4, MIA 0 – 8:29, 3rd 

5:50p – In Miami’s two third-period power plays, the first unit of Jones, Davis and Kaufman saw little ice time behind the RedHawks’ second unit.  

5:45p – BC looks like they are on their way to St. Louis. Matt Lombardi takes a shot from the slot and while Zatkoff made the initial save, Kyle Kucharski was there to bury the rebound.

BC 3, MIA 0 – 12:12, 3rd 

5:43p – Rooney and Ferriero jsut broke in on a 2-on-0 (that’s right, and they’re killing a penalty), but Jeff Zatkoff came up with the HUGE save sprawling from his right to left to make the pad save. 

5:42p – Mike Brennan goes to the box again, this time for holding and Miami is on the power play.

BC 2, MIA 0 – 14:49, 3rd 

5:32p – As we start the third period, Miami will be on the power play after Mike Brennan took a penalty at the 20 minute mark of the second. 

5:29p – According to an official in the press box, the BC goal was not allowed because the net came off the moorings before Brennan’s shot crossed the line. 

5:26p – We are at the end of two in a game that has seen 44 shots combined for the two teams (24-20 in favor of Miami). The RedHawks will see their season on the line in the third period. Last year, it was the Eagles that eliminated Miami with a 5-0 in the first round of the tournament.

5:01p – It looked like BC had taken a 3-0 lead but it was ruled no-goal, here’s how it happened:
Pat Gannon took a shot from the right boards – Zatkoff made the initial save but the puck squirted back out in front. Matt Price was crashing the net and had another shot and then ended up on top of Zatkoff as Mike Brennan flew in from the blueline and knocked the puck out of mid-air into the net. It was ruled no goal and we will try to get an official to tell us why.

BC 2, UNH 0 – 5:40, 2nd 

4:41p – It’s Rooney again. He steals the puck from Robbins and wraps around for the goal.

BC 2, MIA 0 – 13:48, 2nd 

4:36p – BC takes the 1-0 lead. Benn Ferriero came in on ther right side and slashed towards the middle through Miami defender Brad Robbins and fed Joe Rooney for the one-timer in the left circle.

BC 1, MIA 0 – 16:48, 2nd 

4:17p – End of the first period and we are scoreless. Miami has outshot BC 11-6 through the first frame and Brian Boyle and Nathan Davis were having a long conversation with the officials as they were leaving the ice.  

4:08p – Either a lot of people from Miami flew out last night, or there are a lot of UNH fans still around that are cheering against BC because it sounds like the building is pro-RedHawk. Speaking of the building, we are a about 3/4 full. Jersey roll call (so far): 
Miami
BC
Maine
UNH
Merrimack
BU
Minnesota

That’s all for now anyway

4:04p – And the officials are whistle happy in Manchester – Motherwell (holding) and Filangieri (slashing) are in the box for BC, meanwhile on the otherside Kaufman (hooking) and Steffes (slashing) are in the box for Miami. 

4:01p – Brett Motherwell takes ANOTHER penalty for the Eagles and the RedHawks are back on the power play.  

3:52p – Boyle just went off for obstruction-hooking (his second penalty in the first ten minutes) and for Miami, great timing with a TV timeout to rest their top-line of Jones, Davis and Kaufman 

3:45p – Brian Boyle goes off for high-sticking, so now the RedHawks will actually have an eight second power play. Then it will be four-on-four again. SO for those of you not paying attention, that means that the Eagles will have only spent 1:08 of Guerin’s five-minute major actually on the power play

3:42p – Ryan Jones just cut in front while shorthanded and drew a penalty when BC’s Motherwell slashed him. Four-on-four hockey for th enext 2 minutes

BC 0, MIA 0 – 15:45, 1st 

3:39p – Marty Guerin just got a 5:00 major for hitting BC’s Tim Filangieri from behind. He gets to sit down for the night.  

3:34p – The puck is about to drop 

Live Blog: West Regional, #2 North Dakota vs. #3 Michigan

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

This will be, for the most part, a not-quite-as-oft-updated live blog (unless this game gets less crazy …) for the NCAA West Regional game between the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and the University of Michigan Wolverines.

8:14pm MST – Game is over; we get a rematch of the WCHA Final Five title game for the West Regional final game. 

8:09pm MST – T.J. Oshie gets the empty-net short-handed hat trick goal to put the Sioux up 8-5 and effectively kill any hope of the Wolverines to come back.

Of course, there are two minutes left in this game and anything can happen in this crazy game … 

8:04pm MST – Matt Watkins gets two minutes for tripping with 3:19 left in the third, giving the Wolverines their best chance for a comeback. 

7:55pm MST –  Kampfer probably should have gotten a call for taking down Andrew Kozek – dangerously close to a knee-on-knee hit.

7:50pm MST – Hensick got a 10 minute misconduct for something with about 11:45 left in the third – that hurts the Wolverines. 

7:45pm MST – Seen on the JumboTron – 1st Period: first 5 minutes, 4 goals. 2nd Period: first 5 minutes, 4 goals. 3rd Period: first 5 minutes, 0 goals. 

7:37pm MST – Hey, a minute in and no goals … and the fans here cheer. A few know what had been going on … 

7:35pm MST – Third period under way here in Denver. 

7:19pm MST – UND 7, UMich 5 after two. Shots 23-20 in favor of the Wolverines.  

7:14pm MST – Genoway, two for holding I think I said (stupid internet) at 16:36; Wolverine power play. UND’s Taylor Chorney also went somewhat limping off to the bench after blocking a shot.

7:13pm MST – Attendance 11,171 – ten more people than the first game. 

7:08pm MST – Sioux get a 15 second 5-on-3 – Jack Johnson gets two for not being able to stop and crashing into Lammy. 5:48 left to play in this one; Sioux still up 7-5. 

7:06pm MST – T.J. Hensick with an amazing short-handed breakaway chance, but is stuffed by Lamoureux who tossed the puck away after the save. 

7:03pm MST – Kolarik gets two minutes for hooking down T.J. Oshie on a partial breakaway at 12:27 … and somehow I missed a Robbie Bina hooking call about a 1:10 earlier so we have four-on-four hockey here. 

6:56pm MST – Summers, two minutes for contact to the head roughing … and surprise, surprise, T.J. Oshie scores one for the Sioux – knocked in a Bina rebound. 7-5 Sioux. 

6:50pm MST – Sioux goal scored by Rylan Kaip off a centering pass from Chris Porter at 4:53 – 6-5 UND.

As noted by someone else up here in the press box, this game seems to have had more lead changes than a basketball game.

6:46pm MST – Sioux back on the power play – Summers, two minutes for … something that the announcer didn’t even bother announcing. This time, Robbie Bina takes only five seconds to score a goal to re-tie the game – his shot from the point makes it five-all (T.J. Oshie on the face-off-winning assist).

Random: Are we going to see a team get to double digits in this one?? 

6:40pm MST – Goaltender Philippe Lamoureux took a penalty for slashing right at the end of the first period and, somehow fittingly, Michigan re-ties the game – T.J. Hensick from Kevin Porter and Matt Hunwick … and then re-takes the lead – Lammy in the corner tries to pass the puck; however, Cogliano intercepts it for the easy empty net goal.

For those keeping track at home, yes, the Wolverines have started off both periods with two goals in the opening minute. 

6:25pm MST – This game has been INSANE. 4-3 Sioux after one; shots 13-7 in favor of the Wolverines.

6:22pm MST – Matching minors – Summers for Michigan high-sticking, Miller for UND unsportsmanlike diving at 18:58.

6:18pm MST – 5-on-3 for the Sioux – Matt Hunwick went in for interference. And, as the way this game goes, Sioux goal. Robbie Bina skated down the right side on Sauer and fired it across the crease for Toews who was hugging the post – Sioux take first lead of game; 4-3.

6:17pm MST – Brandon Naurato, two minutes for roughing after the whistle at 17:24 – Sioux power play. For the curious, shots are 9-7 in favor of the Wolverines. A goalie duel this is not. 

6:13pm MST – … Sioux tie it up – T.J. Oshie backhanded it in past Sauer. 

6:07pm MST – Wolverine penalty on Jack Johnson – two for cross-checking … and once again, North Dakota scores – this time, eight seconds into the power play. Brad Miller took a shot from the top of the circle that was tipped in by Porter at 15:26 – 3-2 Wolverines … and yes, it’s still only the first.

5:58pm MST – Score is 3-1; shots are 5-5. Crazy, isn’t it? Also, just spotted an RPI jersey.

T.J. Oshie also gets a penalty for cross-checking at 10:06 of the first. 

5:50pm MST – With the way the this game is going, I’m never going to get my game stories done – T.J. Hensick walks in front of the net from the corner after fighting with Jonathan Toews and fires it past Lamoureux – 3-1 Wolverines. 

5:45pm MST – UND gets the first power play of the game – Chad Kolarik gets two for tripping at 2:27 … and the Fighting Sioux score 18 seconds into the power play – Chris Porter knocks in a rebound off a Chay Genoway shot from the point (that Chris VandeVelde first tried getting past Billy Sauer) – 2-1 Wolverines. 

5:41pm MST – Andrew Cogliano comes barrelling down on Lamoureux, who makes the initial save, but Chris Summers is able to knock the loose puck in the net – 2-0 Wolverines … all within the first minute of play.

5:39pm MST – I just finish that and Michigan gets the early lead – Kevin Porter assisted by Jack Johnson and T.J. Hensick. Completely missed how that one got scored – perhaps off a rebound?

5:36pm MST – Just about to get underway for this one – won’t be as many posts as I try to get my stories from the first game done. Still, I’ll at least keep you updated on goals, penalties and things of that nature.

Michigan’s band is here, but UND brought out neither their band nor their cheerleaders. However, the Sioux definitely have more fans in the building.

Line-up: Fighting Sioux:

Duncan-Toews-Oshie
Watkins-VandeVelde-Porter
Fabian-Kaip-Kozek
Radke-Zajac-Miller
Chorney-Lee
Finley-Bina
Jones-Genoway
Lamoureux

Line-up: Wolverines:

Porter-Hensick-Rohlfs
Summers-Cogliano-Kolarik
Naurato-Miller-Turnbull
Lebler-Ciraulo-Fardig
Johnson-Hunwick
Kampfer-Dest
Cook-Mitera
Sauer 

NCAA Northeast Regional Live Blog

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

We are blogging live from the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH. The Boston College Eagles and the Miami RedHawks battle for a trip to St. Louis.

5:01p – It looked like BC had taken a 3-0 lead but it was ruled no-goal, here’s how it happened:
Pat Gannon took a shot from the right boards – Zatkoff made the initial save but the puck squirted back out in front. Matt Price was crashing the net and ended up on top of Zatkoff as Mike Brennan flew in from the blueline and knocked the puck out of mid-air into the net. However, since the puck left the crease and Price was on top of Zatkoff, it was ruled no-goal.

BC 2, UNH 0 – 5:40, 2nd 

4:41p – It’s Rooney again. He steals the puck from Robbins and wraps around for the goal.

BC 2, MIA 0 – 13:48, 2nd 

4:36p – BC takes the 1-0 lead. Benn Ferriero came in on ther right side and slashed towards the middle through Miami defender Brad Robbins and fed Joe Rooney for the one-timer in the left circle.

BC 1, MIA 0 – 16:48, 2nd 

4:17p – End of the first period and we are scoreless. Miami has outshot BC 11-6 through the first frame and Brian Boyle and Nathan Davis were having a long conversation with the officials as they were leaving the ice.  

4:08p – Either a lot of people from Miami flew out last night, or there are a lot of UNH fans still around that are cheering against BC because it sounds like the building is pro-RedHawk. Speaking of the building, we are a about 3/4 full. Jersey roll call (so far): 
Miami
BC
Maine
UNH
Merrimack
BU
Minnesota

That’s all for now anyway

4:04p – And the officials are whistle happy in Manchester – Motherwell (holding) and Filangieri (slashing) are in the box for BC, meanwhile on the otherside Kaufman (hooking) and Steffes (slashing) are in the box for Miami. 

4:01p – Brett Motherwell takes ANOTHER penalty for the Eagles and the RedHawks are back on the power play.  

3:52p – Boyle just went off for obstruction-hooking (his second penalty in the first ten minutes) and for Miami, great timing with a TV timeout to rest their top-line of Jones, Davis and Kaufman 

3:45p – Brian Boyle goes off for high-sticking, so now the RedHawks will actually have an eight second power play. Then it will be four-on-four again. SO for those of you not paying attention, that means that the Eagles will have only spent 1:08 of Guerin’s five-minute major actually on the power play

3:42p – Ryan Jones just cut in front while shorthanded and drew a penalty when BC’s Motherwell slashed him. Four-on-four hockey for th enext 2 minutes

BC 0, MIA 0 – 15:45, 1st 

3:39p – Marty Guerin just got a 5:00 major for hitting BC’s Tim Filangieri from behind. He gets to sit down for the night.  

3:34p – The puck is about to drop 

 

6:32p – UPDATE: Petizian was rolled onto his back as a doctor came out to the ice along with the Saints’ trainers. Petizian got back up slowly and skated right towards the crease putting his mask back on and getting right back into position.

6:24p – A silence has come over the crowd in Manchester after Saint Lawrence freshman goaltender Alex Petizian went down after apparently taking a puck off the throat. Petizian has been down on the ice for several minutes and is flat on his stomach and not moving. 

5:31p – Scratch that – SLU just scored their first of the game to make it 2-1. The Saints are also outshooting BC 13-10.

BC 2, SLU 1 – 17:40, 2nd 

5:30p – After getting UNH quotes (and some dinner of course), we are back upstairs at the Verizon Wireless Arena. BC just scored their second of the game and hold a 2-0 lead over St. Lawrence in the second period.

BC 2, SLU 0 – 19:06, 2nd 

3:37p – We have our second fourth seed beating a one seed in the tournament. The Wildcats’ season is over and the RedHawks move on.  

3:34p – UNH is in the power play with 27.7 left. Miami just took their time out.  

3:31p – Alec Martinez just got called for interference in front of the net for the Wildcats will have a power play in 18 seconds after Mike Radja’s penalty expires.

UNH 1, MIA 2 – 0:58, 3rd 

3:23p – WAKE UP CALL! Mike Radja just scored a shorthanded goal and the fish is finally on the ice at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Radja was being hauled down and stilled flipped the puck up on his backhand with only one hand on his stick. The UNH fans are awake and just got reprimanded by the PA announcer for throwing the fish on the ice.

UNH 1, MIA 2 – 4:45, 3rd 

3:15p – The wind was taken completely out of the Verizin Wireless Arena after Miami scored its second goal. UNH fans are sitting on their hands and are starting to come to the realization that their season is all but over. … That is unless their offense stops sitting on their hands too.

UNH 0, MIA 2 – 7:55, 3rd 

2:54p – Miami just took a 2-0 lead 39 seconds into the second period. The puck looked like it hit Nathan Davis in front – either way it’s now 2-0 RiverHawks and the Wildcats’ season is at stake.

UNH 0, MIA 2 – 18:47, 3rd 

2:36p – The score stays the same through two perionds. UNH really turned on the jets in that frame looking as if they woke up after a sluggish start. The building is now about 75% full and there are not a lot of BC and St. Lawrence fans here yet, so it should be full by the time this game ends.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – End of 2nd 

2:30p – Miami’s Jeff Zatkoff has turned away all the shots shots that UNH has thrown his way thus far. The Wildcats have had a barrage of shots in the last five minutes and are starting to pour it on (at least in shots, they still haven’t scored). Mike Radja had the best chance of the period for UNH.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 2:34, 2nd 

2:27p – Miami’s Ganzak goes off for holding – UNH on the power play again

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 4:50, 1st 

2:17p – Fornataro had a nice bid to tie the game but was hooked by Ray Eichenlaub so UNH goes on the power play. The scoring chance woke up a relatively quiet Arena.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 11:11, 2nd 

2:12p – UNH takes another penalty, this time Charlebois goes off for interference. Miami power play again. 

2:07p – Some great up and down play Nathan Davis and Miami as well as Mike Radja’s line for UNH.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 15:21, 2nd 

2:03p – Miami’s Mitch Ganzak interferes with UNH goaltender Kevin Regan and we have some four-on-four hockey.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 17:42, 2nd 

2:01p – Right after they went back to even-strength, Greg Collins took a slashing call 48 seconds into the second period so the RedHawks are back on the power play.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 18:49, 2nd 

1:59p – Despite UNH outshooting the RedHawks 12-7, Miami has controlled the play. UNH looks more like the team that lost to Boston College last Saturday night.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – End of 1st 

1:42p – Thomas Forntey goes off for hooking and the RedHawks will get another power play.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 1:00, 1st 

1:29p – As Mike Machnik put it, “UNH looks like the team that has been on the layoff.” At least in the early going Miami is the one out-performing the Wildcats in every facet of the game. UNH’s power play has been offside an alarming three times in just four minutes.

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 7:19, 1st 

1:27p – With the UNH power play over, the RedHawks come back and almost net their second of the game. Joe Cooper’s centering pass gets bounced around and ends up under Kevin Regan. Cooper then gets called for interference on the faceoff and UNH is back on the PP

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 8:39, 1st 

1:22p – Michael Findorff goes off for a hook and the Wildcats will enjoy their first man-advantage of the game.
UPDATE: As I write this, Jeff Zatkoff just made thre incredible saves, two at the top of the crease, to keep the game 1-0. UNH still on the PP

UNH 0, MIA 1 – 10:50, 1st

1:20p – The building is about half-full with the Boston College and St. Lawrence fans still not arriving at the arena yet. There are some kicking around, but not nearly the contigent that is sure to be here closer to 4:30.

1:16p – Bobby Butler goes off for a hook and Miami goes on the power play. 

1:11p – The goal marks the first time that Miami has had the lead in 10 years. They are 0-4 in their four NCAA tournament games and have had the lead just once – a loss to Cornell in 1997. 

1:08p – It took just 1:47 and the fourth seed takes the 1-0 lead. Nathan Davis puts home the rebound off a Brian Kaufman shot

UNH 0, UMO 1 – 18:00, 1st 

1:07p – The puck has dropped and the first game is underway.

NCAA East Regional Final

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

A near miss on the empty net after a steal, and thats game. Maine advances to the Frozen Four 3 to 1!!

Now under three to go. No goalie pull yet. But now a UMass PP with ninety second remaining and we’re going for any extra attacker coming out of the timeout.

A little under seven to go here in Rochester. UMass having a horrible time trying to move the puck out of their zone for the past two minutes. Still 3-1.

Note to Maine Pep Band. Smashmouth was not even good in its original form. I disagree with your decision. Shots now 27 to 25 in favor of UMass with about ten to go.

Maine heads to the PP now and now a 5 on 3 and any opportunity for Maine to go two up….. And they do! Max Duffy makes it 3-1 with thirteen to go.

Nothing doing in the third so far four minutes in except a wild Maine opportunity that almost scored moments ago.

End of 2, 2-1 UMaine.

Bishop coming up huge for Maine on another PK but UMass finally tallies a goal, and a solid one at that with 1:46 left in the 2nd to make it 2-1 Maine. Goal by Fenton.

UMass with some 5 on 3 time now. Final now, BC 4 – SLU 1. As the two man advantage ends UMass is having a hard time finding the zone. Bishop almost killed one of his own fans throwing the puck out of play. I’m surprised the NCAA hasn’t instituted the delay of game penalty that the NHL has. I suspect that most NCAA arenas have less protection than NHL rinks and it removes the tossing the puck out to get a change ploys.

3300 or so here tonight. A Cheel Arena type number. Maybe a little less than Maine is used to playing in front of.

Quite the day so far around the NCAA. Minnesota storming back from two goals down in the third to beat Air Force and stave off messagw board banter for another year. UNH loses to Miami today completing the sweep of ‘Greatest Teams to Never Win an NCAA Title.’


While I write that… Boom! Another goal for Maine! This time off the goalies head by Mike Hamilton. He fist pumped, I’m not sure that goal was ‘fist-pumpable.’

Wow, UMass picked it up on shots, up 8 to 0 this period. Yet on Maine’s first shot it’s a goal! Maine is up 1 to 0 on a goal from Tyler with 14:37 left in the second.

Both teams underway here for the second period and UMass comes out firing on the PP which is killed. Wow Bishop got totally turned around but the puck stays out. Speaking of Bishop the man is a giant for a goalie, also some Maine fans feel that he is ‘Ben-Believable.’

The period ends with both teams tied at zero. A lot of action, 13 to 5 in favor of UMaine.

Just a heads up to all of you looking for Nick Tahou’s on Lyell to get a famed Garbage Plate either before or even after the game, it has been renamed to Steve T’s Potatoes and Hots. Same spectacular food, just a different name due to a rumored family dispute.

After arriving late to the Blue Cross Arena, I’m not surprised to find UMass and Maine knotted at 0-0, more than midway through the first. I AM surprised at the full half of the arena filled with Minutemen and Black Bear fans, any excellent turnout. Maine’s band is here and sounds good as well. Maine with a ton of pressure, but UMass kills a lengthy 5 on 3. Fun hockey so far.

Live Blog: West Regional: (1) Minnesota vs. (4) Air Force

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

For those tuning in, this is a live blog from the NCAA West Regional in Denver, Colo., for the Minnesota/Air Force game. 

4:06pm MST – Falcons got a standing ovation from the crowd and also acknowledged the crowd after listening to their band play some song – will try to find out what that was … ETA: Song was just a more somber verse of their fight song. Thanks to Milo Bryant of the Colorado Springs Gazette for that information.

4:03pm MST – Final, Gophers 4, Falcons 3. That was one hell of a game and I’m going to drop my impartiality here and say that I really wish Air Force could have pulled that one off. Final shots 37-31 in favor of Minnesota. 

4:02pm MST – 39.5 seconds left and Air Force ices it, forcing them to put Volkening back in net.

3:57pm MST – Air Force cheering section has apparently dwindled down to just the actual Air Force fans, which is really not what the team needs right now. With 2:08 remaining in the third, coach Frank Serratore decides to take his time-out … and pull Volkening.  

3:50pm MST – The Gophers may have taken the lead, but that one I bet is going to be reviewed – puck took some weird bounces … and it’s a Gopher goal – Minnesota takes their first lead of this game, 4-3, with four and a half to play. Goal ends up being credited to Mike Carman. 

3:47pm MST – Tie game – Jim O’Brien deflects an Erik Johnson shot stick-side past Volkening.

3:45pm MST – That goal really gave the Gophers the momentum – the play has hardly left the Falcons’ zone since – 6:01 to play in the third.

3:43pm MST – Seven seconds later, the Gophers make the exact same play, this time with Stoa scoring to cut the Falcons lead to one – 3-2 Air Force. 

3:41pm MST – 8:27 left in the third, Volkening makes a save on Ryan Stoa on the backdoor on a pass across from Kyle Okposo. Let’s call that one save of the game #2. 

3:39pm MST – Frank Schiavone with the save – shot comes on net and d-man Schiavone just happened to be there to take it in the gut. Still, he got a cross-checking penalty called on him from a bit earlier at 10:02. 

3:37pm MST – Figures, Air Force scores and the internet spazzes again. 

3:31pm MST – Brett Nylander skated down the right side and put in a wrap-around on Briggs to give Air Force a 3-1 lead at 5:32 of the third period. Assists go to Fairchild and Schiavone. 

3:26pm MST – University of Wisconsin jersey spotted as well – have half the WCHA represented here. 

3:21pm MST – More signs that this game is even: AF 1-4 on the PP, Minnesota 0-3.

And we’re underway to start the third and (hopefully) final frame of this one …

3:15pm MST – At the end of two, Air Force leads in shots 26-24 and is winning the face-offs 18-17 … oh, and they lead 2-1 as well. Since I covered Air Force for a local hockey magazine this year (Denver native), I will admit that it is reeeeeally hard for me to stay impartial during this game.

Oh, and I’d like to add one of the reasons I love college hockey: you see this at the Frozen Four to a much greater degree, but you spot jerseys from all sorts of other college teams at these games. Despite the usual suspects (Minn., UND, Mich., AF) and the obvious (Denver and CC), I’ve also seen Boston University (a Drury one, no less), Alaska (Fairbanks), UAA and the University of Maine represented … as well as Holy Cross (hmm, I wonder why …).

Attendance: 11,161 – much better than anyone predicted. 

3:04pm MST – Air Force takes advantage of the 5-on-3 to take the late lead with 36.7 seconds left. Andrew Ramsey camped out backdoor on Briggs to get the rebound off of Mike Phillipich’s shot through traffic. Falcons, 2-1 … and will still have a :41 second power play to start the third. Michael Mayra was added an assist as well.

3:01pm MST – Air Force gets its first power play of the second period with just under two to play – Bostrom goes in the box for interference. Then, 40 seconds later, Tony Lucia (Don’s son) goes in for the same reason to make it a 5-on-3 for the Falcons.

2:59pm MST – A sign of how even this game is – shots (23) and face-offs (16) are dead even here … as well as the score (1-1).

2:56pm MST – We have a loud “Air” … “Force” cheer going on in the arena – the “home” team getting some support from the visitors from North Dakota and Michigan as well as their local fans. 

2:55pm MST – While the Gophers have taken more control of this game (shots: 22-20 MN), Air Force is definitely still in it, with about 5:30 to play in the second.

2:50pm MST – Josh Frider with a short-handed spin-o-rama move on Briggs – didn’t score, but was cool to see.

2:49pm MST – The Air Force band does the “Superman” theme so much better than the BU band (BU alum here). The Gophers have also officially hit 20 shots on net. 

2:47pm MST – Are things starting to unravel for the Falcons? Charbonneau goes in the penalty box for holding the stick at 11:23. 

2:45pm MST – Just realized that a familiar face (for me) is doing this game – Scott Hansen from Hockey East. 

2:41pm MST – Air Force almost goes up two-nothing with a give-and-go in front of the Gopher net, but then the Gophers go right back the other way, three-on-one, and Barriball puts in a shot that squeaked through Volkening’s five-hole. Assist to Vanelli at 9:00 of the second.

2:40pm MST – Volkening doing a cartwheel in the crease on the Gopher power play – save of the game right there.

2:38pm MST – Internet is wacky here … we were six minutes into the second without a Gopher shot, but that has since changed since Josh Schaffer went off for holding. 

2:32pm MST – 2:30 into the second and so far Minnesota hasn’t had a shot on net, while Air Force has had four.

2:27pm MST – Lost internet here in the press box, but continuing to blog – second period is underway here at Pepsi Center, with Air Force controlling play thus far.

2:11pm MST – Air Force leads 1-0 at the end of the first period. Frank Serratore was right, too – the Air Force cheering section is wherever there aren’t Minnesota Golden Gopher fans.

Shots 11-9 Air Force; once again, the Falcons are holding their opponents to a nominal amount of shots. 

2:08pm MST – Mike Carman goes off for hooking at 18:05. Air Force had a goal-mouth pass across go behind Briggs as their first power play chance, but there was no angle there. Air Force is definitely controlling the play now, while it was Minnesota’s game the first half of this period. 

2:04pm MST – Blake Wheeler collided with teammate Evan Kaufmann and went off clutching his arm – not a good sign for the Gophers. Still, no sign of athletic trainer-assistance, so maybe he’s okay. 

2:00pm MST – That goal gave Air Force a lot of confidence – they are putting more offensive pressure on the Gophers. Still, the game action is relatively back and forth. 

Michael Mayra’s head is also not screwed on straight, as he has had a lot of defensive lapses for the Falcons. (6:29 remaining in the first, by the way)

1:54pm MST – Remember how I said the Falcons didn’t look that outmatched? On the penalty kill, they do a bit. Still, they were able to kill off Hajner’s penalty.

Hajner, fresh out of the penalty box, skates down the left side and wrists one past Kellen Briggs short-side under his right arm. 1-0 Air Force, at 9:57 of the 1st period, from Matt Fairchild.

Almost the entire arena cheered for that one, by the way.

1:50pm MST – Air Force has made some defensive lapses in their own zone, but nothing has yet come out of them. Other than that, the Falcons don’t look quite as outmatched as you’d think against the Gophers.

Also, Air Force takes their first penalty – Jeff Hajner, two minutes for interference at 7:33. 

1:47pm MST – Gophers successfully kill the penalty. 

1:44pm MST – Jay Barriball takes the game’s first penalty, giving Air Force the early power play. Barriball, Tripping, 3:59. 

1:42pm MST –  Just saw that Miami won … this year has been upset central which, of course, bodes well for the boys in blue. Air Force has actually gotten some good chances, however.

 Of course, Volkening has also had to make some great saves as well.

1:39pm MST – Predictably so, Minnesota comes out strong, controlling the play.

1:35pm MST – One thing I’ve always found cool about the Air Force team is that they stand ramrod straight during the National Anthem. I also noticed that the Gophers followed their lead and were barely rocking back and forth on their skates.

Air Force also went all out, sending their band as well as some of their cheer teams along (something I haven’t seen at any of their other games this year). 

1:30pm MST – Hi all, Theresa Spisak here live from Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., ready for the West Regional game against the No. 1-ranked University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and the No. 4-ranked Air Force Academy Fighting Falcons.

 Line-ups Gophers:

Stoa-Okposo-Kaufmann
Gordon-Wheeler-Barriball
Lucia-Carman-Flynn
Anderson-O’Brien-Bostrom
Goligoski-Vannelli
Peltier-Johnson
Schack-Fischer
Briggs

Line-up Falcons:

Ramsey-Ehn-Phillipich
Print-Schaffer-Hajner
Frider-Zacour-Reese
Medenwaldt-Nylander-Fairchild
Flynn-Devoney
Schiavone-Charbonneau
Gineo-Mayra
Volkening