Saturday’s play in the NCAA DI Men’s Hockey Tournament lacked the drama of Friday’s upsets, but provided some dramatic moments in some of the games.

Sporting their NCAA-compliant, but rather less interesting uniforms, North Dakota took an early 1-0 lead on a Michael Parks wrap-around goal from behind, and held on to that lead through the end of the period.  At the start of the second, Western Michigan was on the attack and controlled the action early on, but nonetheless, North Dakota struck again on a Corban Knight goal to go up 2-0.  when a shot rebounded off a Westtern Michigan player, to Knight in front of the goal, and he put it in.  Ten minutes later Western Michigan’s Kyle O’Kane beat North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell, to close the spread to a single goal, 2-1.  The two teams stalemated from that point on, and when Western Michigan added an extra attacker with time running out in the third, North Dakota found the empty net on a Brock Nelson goal to win it, 3-1.

North Dakota advanced to the Western Regional Final in St. Paul, MN, on Sunday.

North Dakota was favored to win Saturday’s game by 29 of 31 entries in the pool.

Top-ranked Boston College scored early in the first period on a Chris Kreider goal to take a 1-0 lead.  And whle Air Force put up a good fight and kept BC off the scoreboard for almost the entire balance of the game, BC did the same to Air Force.  Solid Air Force offensive attacks were repelled by BC over and over again, making you wonder if anyone could score against this BC defense.  Chris Kreider struck again with only a minute left in the game when BC was on a power play, and BC took the 2-0 win.  BC has made a habit of getting into later rounds of the NCAA tournament over the past fifteen years.  For Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force, this was their fifth first-round exit from the tournament in six appearances, with their sole win being the dominating shutout victory over then top-seeded Michigan in 2009, a devastating anguish that was felt again on Friday for the Wolverines.

Boston College advanced to the Eastern Regional final in Worcester, MA, on Sunday.

BC was favored to win Saturday’s game by all 31 entries in our pool.

Ok, I will admit that my viewing of this game was under less than ideal circumstances, being in a bar dominated by NCAA basketball screens, with the sound of the California DIII high school basketball championship filling the place, and the lone hockey screen at my back at I sat at the bar, requiring me to sit backwards there.  Nonethless, Minnesota started the scoring early in the first on a Kyle Rau power play goal to go up 1-0.  It took BU a long time, but they responed early in the second on a Wade Megan power play goal.  But Minnesota came right back two minutes later when Jake Parenteau scored to regain the lead, 2-1.  And then Ross Gaudet scored for BU, to tie it at 2-2.  And two minutes later Seth Hegelson scored to put Minnesota back in front, 3-2.  Here’s where all heck broke loose.  BU center Justin Courtnall was thrown out of the game on a major penalty, putting BU a man down for five minutes.  Very quickly after that, Minnesota scored on the power play goal and went up 4-2.  Two players were in a skirmish, it turned into a multiplayer skirmish, sending multiple players to both penalty boxes, and at this point the BU penalty box became a standing room only affair.  But early in the third period, BU found itself on a power play opportunity, and Adam Clendenning scored to put BU within one, 4-3.  From this point on Minnesota really appeared to be taking the game over, perhaps due to better depth on the team, and five minutes after the Clendenning score, Nico Sacchetti scored for Minnesota, putting them up 5-3, and there was something about the direction and tone of the play at that point that made you wonder if BU could dig out of this two goal hole.  And then form this point on, BU simply could not escape Minnesota’s grip, and with just under three minutes to go, they had to go for broke, and add an extra attacker, and Minnesota did an excellent job of repelling the attempt.  Minnesota twice found the empty net, first with two minutes to go, and then with one minute to go, for the final of 7-3, Minnesota.

Minnesota advanced to play North Dakota in the Western Region Final in St. Paul, MN, on Sunday.

Minnesota was favored to win Saturday’s game by all 18 of 31 entries in our pool.

Maine scored first, late in the first, to go up 1-0 on UMD.  In the second, Maine took the puck from UMD in the Maine zone, and headed down ice unopposed, scoring their second goal, as the UMD players witnessed one of their players in a collision with the Maine goal, knocking it loose, and so they stopped play.  The Maine goal stood, as the dislodged Maine goal did not affect the play on the UMD goal, and it was just too easy for Maine.  UMD held Maine off for the rest of the game, and a few minutes later started scoring four unaswered goals of their own, by Jack Connolly, Caleb Herbert, and Jake Hendrickson in the second, and by J. T. Brown in the third, to go up 4-2.  Late in the third, Maine added an extra attacker, and UMD’s Jake Hendrickson found the empty net to make the final score 5-2, UMD.

UMD advanced to the Northeast Region final in Worcester, MA, on Sunday.

UMD was favored to win Sunday’s game by 23 of 31 entries in our pool.

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

— Tom