What a weekend!  Three of the four top seeds are out, two of them in the first round.

New Hampshire Puts Miami RedHawks in a Cage  for 2-1 Win

Two teams on seemingly different paths met yesterday, and both reversed their recent courses.  Suddenly hot at the end of the season, Miami of Ohio was cooled off considerably by a New Hampshire team that had ended the season sort of laghuishing, but they came on strong yesterday, when it counted. 

Miami was first to score, only a minute into the game.  But New Hampshire’s Kevin Goumas came back one minute later to tie it up 1-1.  What looked like it was going to be a scorefest changed course quickly; the next 39 minutes of play went scoreless. 

About a minute into the third, Mike Sislo scored New Hampshire’s game winning goal, and the two teams fought each other off until, with about two mnutes remaining, Kevin Goumas got an empty netter to make the final 3-1 New Hampshire.  UNH faces Notre Dame in today’s regional final.

Notre Dame Outlasts Merrimack, Takes Game 4-3 in OT

Merrimack scored first on a power play goal 13 minutes into the first, and came back about three minutes later and scored a short-handed goal to go up 2-0 on Notre Dame.  But Notre Dame came back half a minute later on a power play goal to make it 2-1 after one.

In the second, Merrimack got another goal three minutes into the period.  Notre Dame answered with an Anders Lee goal about ten minutes later, to make it 3-2 after two.

In the third, Billy Maday tied it up for Notre Dame five minutes into the period.  The two teams fought for the game winner, with Notre Dame more in command, outshooting Merrimack 17-4 in the period.  But Merrimack held their ground, and regulation ended with the game knotted at 3-3.

In overtime, Merrimack outshot Notre Dame 6-1, but sometimes it only takes one shot, and Anders Lee came through with the game winner five minutes into OT to give Notre Dame the 4-3 win.  Notre Dame faces New Hampshire in the regional final today to determine who goes to the Frozen Four in St. Paul.

Denver Comes Back Late, Beats W Michigan 3-2 in Double OT

You know, most all of these games have been tremendous contests:  close games, many decided late — very, very late.

As in midway through the fifth period.  Western Michigan looked like they belonged in the NCAA Tournament, make no mistake about it.  After playing more than half of the game scoreless, Western Michigan scored thirteen minutes into the second to take a 1-0 lead after two.

In the third Western Michigan struck again, three minutes into the period, to take a 2-0 lead.  But Denver came alive, outshooting Western Michigan 14-7 in the period, and got on the board with about five minutes remaining, on a power play goal by Kevin Ostrow, to make it 2-1.  Then, two minutes later, Matt Donovan scored to tie it up 2-2, where it stood at the end of regulation.

The teams played the fourth period scoreless, and eleven minutes into the second OT period, or the fifth, Jason Zucker, the WCHA rookie of the year, got the game wining goal, and Denver’s 3-2  win puts them into today’s regional final against North Dakota.

Not a Contest, Call it a Yawner, as North Dakota Decimates R.P.I.

Not every single one of these games has been a great game.  Take North Dakota’s total wipeout of Rennselaer Polythechnic Institute, for example.

North Dakota got six goals from five different players, and pretty much scored one about every four minutes in the second period.

In the first, Brad Malone score five minutes into the game for a 1-0 North Dakota lead.  In the second, Malone scored again, this time four minutes into the period.

The second period had to just be a total nightmare for RPI.  Three more goals by Danny Kristo, Jason Gregoire (on a powerplay), and Corbin Knight (short handed), made the score 5-0 at the end of two.

A minute into the third Matt Frattin, who scored North Dakota’s game winning goals last weekend against Colorado College and Denver, scored again, and the game ended 6-0, North Dakota.  North Dakota gives Denver a one-week-later rematch in today’s regional final.

Minnesota-Duluth Out-Bulldogs Yale for a Frozen Four Berth

This game was all Minnesota-Duluth until very late in the third period.  Whle it doesn’t seem like an appropriate analogy fora game played on ice, Yale just couldn’t get any traction against UMD. 

In the first period, the two teams held each other off, until Mike Connolly scored for UMD with about two minutes remaining, to give UMD a 1-0 lead after one.

In the second, UMD really powered up, with goals by Wade Bergaman three minutes into the period, and by Jack Connolly, on a power play, ten minutes into the period.  Two minutes later Yale also scored on a power play, to make it interesting at 3-1.  But UMD came back with Mike Seidel on another power play goal thirty seconds later, and then again two minutes later with a 5-on-3 power play goal by Justin Fontaine to end the period with a 5-1 lead.  UMD was looking like they were in their early to mid season form.

In the third, Yale scored two goals on power play opportunities eight minutes into the period, and then thirteen minutes into the period.  However, UMD managed to hold them off the last seven minutes, and take the 5-3 win.  With the win, Minnesota-Duluth advances to the Frozen Four down south in the warmer part of their state, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Michigan Jumps Out to Early Lead, Hangs on for 2-1 Win Over CC

Michigan was up 1-0 only three minutes into the first period on a score by senior Scooter Vaughan.  At the end of the first, Michigan capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play opportunity, getting a goal by Lee Moffie, and the score was 2-0 Michigan after one.

In the second there was no scoring, but Michigan controlled the game, outshooting CC 20-7.  It was another case of a game in which a team, this time CC, just couldn’t get traction against their opponent.

The game went scoreless for 39 minutes until Rylan Schwartz netted one on a power play opportunity for Colorado College, to make it 2-1 in the third.  And that was all CC could manage, as Michigan took the 2-1 win, to join UMD in the Frozen Four in St. Paul.