In general the top ranked teams came out on top in conference championships over the weekend, but not all of them.  In the WCHA, a red hot North Dakota team sliced through two of three opponents like butter, having trouble with St. Cloud State in the opener, which was a play-in game to get to the semifinals.  In the CCHA, Michigan was upended by a streaking Western Michigan team.  In the other three conferences, the top seeded teams prevailed.  Two teams swept the weekend and shot up into the highest echelon of the rankings, where one did the same, and only nudged up a couple of slots as a result.  Let’s go quickly through the conference scores and outcomes.

• Atlantic Hockey: Air Force dominated Mercyhurst Friday night, winning 5-2, while RIT squeaked out a 2-1 OT win over Niagra.  In the championship it was all Air Force as they crushed RIT 4-0.  Air Force ends the season ranked #16 and gets the conference autobid into the NCAA tournament.
• CCHA: Bowling Green, recent upset victors over both Northern Michigan and Ferris State, nearly pulled another big upset as they took Michigan to overtime; Michigan prevailed with a 3-2 win.  Meanwhile, Western Michigan upset Miami of Ohio, torching them to the tune of 6-2.  In the championship game, the first two periods were all Western Michigan, as they took a 3-0 lead into the third.  Michigan came through with two third period goals, but did not pull it off, as Western Michigan prevailed, 3-2.  Despite the close win Friday and the loss Saturday, Michigan ends the season moving up one peg to #2 in the rankings; Miami held at #7; idle Ferris State dropped one peg to #9; Western Michigan, despite beating both Miami and Michigan, and winning the CCHA tournament, moved up only two slots to #12, and idle Michigan State moved up one slot to #15.  The CCHA sends five teams to the NCAA tournament — Michigan, Miami, Ferris State, Western Michigan, and Michigan State.
• ECAC: Both semifinal games were one-sided affairs with Harvard leading Cornell 6-0 in the third, and giving up a late goal to take it 6-1.  Union led Colgate 5-1 in the third, with each team adding late goals for the final score, Union, 6-2.  In the championship game, it was much closer, with no scoring in the first two periods.  Harvard scored first in the third, and Union fought back to score two, to go up 2-1.  Harvard put an extra attacker out, but Union scored an empty netter to win it, 3-1.  On the weekend, Union jumped up three slots to the #3 ranking; Cornell dropped one peg to #14; Harvard moved up one to #18; and Colgate dropped down one spot to #21.  The ECAC sends both Union College and Cornell to the NCAA tournament.
• Hockey East: In the semifinals, Maine and Boston University traded goals to a 3-3 tie about midway through the third, when Maine scored to go up 4-3.  BU was unable to answer, and sent out an extra attacker, but Maine scored on the empty net to take it, 5-3.  BU was in the game on the back of goalie Kieran Milan, being badly outshot 32-15 in the first two periods.  BU outshot Maine 16-12 in the third, but it was too little, too late.  Boston College found itself tied with Providence 2-2 going into the second, but they controlled the game from that point on, addding a goal each period, to beat Providence 4-2.  In the championship game, BC scored early, taking a 2-0 lead into the second.  Maine scored early in the second and held BC off most of the period, but BC scored late to take a 3-1 lead to the third.  The third went scoreless despite Maine’s 17 shots, and when Maine put an extra attacker out, BC scored an empty net goal to end it, 4-1.  BC held at #1 in the rankings, BU dropped three spots to the #8 ranking, Maine held at #11, and Mass-Lowell dropped three spots to the #13 ranking.  Hockey East sends four teams to the NCAA’s — BC, BU, Maine, and Mass-Lowell.
• WCHA: Denver faced Michigan Tech in a play in game Thursday night and the teams traded goals in the first and the third, but Denver’s third period goal came with only five minutes remaining, to tie it at 2-2; Denver scored two minutes into OT to take it 3-2 and to advance.  North Dakota played St. Cloud State in the other play in game, and North Dakota took a 2-1 lead into the third.  St. Cloud put an extra attacker on, and in the last minute, North Dakota found the empty net twice, to take a very close game by the not very close score of 4-1.  Friday night, Denver scored early and had a 3-0 lead on Minnesota-Duluth until midway through the second.  UMD scored two in the second, and one in the third, to end it in regualtion at 3-3.  Denver scored eight minutes into OT to take this one 4-3.  In the other semifinal, North Dakota faced Minnesota, and found themselves down 3-0 midway through the second, but then the Sioux exploded for six unanswered goals to take it 6-3.  In the championship game, North Dakota blanked Denver 4-0 to win the WCHA tournament.  North Dakota jumped eight places to the #4 ranking; Minnesota-Duluth dropped three spots to the #5 ranking; Minnesota dropped two spots to the #6 ranking; Denver dropped one spot to the #10 ranking; St. Cloud ends the season at #22 and Michigan Tech at #24.  The WCHA sends four teams to the NCAA’s — North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota, and Denver.

This year the season-ending top sixteen ranked teams are all in the NCAA tournament, and I do not believe I have ever seen that one before.  For the most part, the results of the conference playoffs had little to do with whether or not teams made it to the NCAA tournament.  Michigan is in the NCAA tournament for its twenty-second straight year.  This year’s Division I NCAA Hockey Tournament contestants, and regional assignments are:

• Friday, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, #3 ranked Union College faces #15 ranked Michigan State at noon, Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #7 ranked Miami of Ohio plays #13 ranked UMass-Lowell at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday, March 24, at 3:30pm Pacific Time, ESPNU.
• Also Friday:  In Green Bay, Wisconsin, #9 Ferris State plays #10 Denver at 2:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN- Syndication, and #2 Michigan plays #14 Cornell at 6pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday, March 24, at 6pm Pacific Time, ESPNU.
• Saturday:  In St. Paul, Minnesota, #4 North Dakota plays #12 Western Michigan at 10:30am Pacific Time on ESPN-Syndication, and #6 Minnesota faces #8 Boston University at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN-Syndication.  Winners play Sunday, March 25 at 2:30pm Pacific Time, ESPNU.
• Also Saturday:  In Worcester, Massachusetts, #1 Boston College faces The #16 United States Air Force Academy at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #5 Minnesota-Duluth plays #11 Maine at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN-Syndication.  Winners play Sunday, March 25 at 5:00pm Pacific Time, ESPNU.

It’s here!  What we’ve all been waiting for!  Your brackets have been emailed to you.  This is important:  Each game has a number under the line wher you would write in the game winner.  Once you have made your picks, send them to me in a typed line, in game number order, by game winner.  Your entry emailed to me would look like this example:  1.North Dakota 2.Boston University 3.Minnesota-Duluth 4.Boston College etc….. and then list, at the end, your score for the final game you have picked, eg:  15. Boston University 3-2.  Remember, it costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.

ALL PICKS MUST BE SENT TO ME BY THURSDAY, MARCH 22nd BY 10:00PM PACIFIC TIME — THAT IS ABOUT 72 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF THIS POSTING.

This provides the top sixteen teams as of the end of the regular season, rankings, records, and last weekend’s results:

[table id=44 /]

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers!

— Tom