College Hockey Update:  In another fast, furious, and attacking semifinal game yesterday, Quinnipiac seemed to gang up on St. Cloud State from the get-go.  By the time the game was five minutes old, Quinnipiac had struck twice for the 2-0 lead.  Early in the game it was Jordan Samuels-Thomas, a sophomore forward from West Hartford, CT, who seemed to be everywhere.

He scored the first goal on a wrap-around from behind the net during a powerplay only two minutes into the game.  And three minutes later he repeated this effort, and when the shot was repelled, his teammate, senior forward Ben Arnt, fired the puck into the net for the 2-0 lead.  And six minutes later Quinnipiac senior forward Jeremy Langlois, of Tempe, AZ, struck again to make it 3-0.  Quinnipiac’s fiery assault caught St. Cloud State off guard, and was just too much for them to handle.  St. Cloud State did come alive late in the first, and they mounted a solid attack of their own, but Quinnipiac seemed somewhat ready for it, and they were able to repel the St. Cloud effort.  The period ended with a St. Cloud advantage in shots on goal, 13-9, but with Quinnipiac up 3-0.

In the second period, St. Cloud came out and played a steady game on the attack.  But again, Quinnipiac was up to the task, holding St. Cloud off, and making a game of it.  St. Cloud scored six minutes into the period on a goal by Joey Benik, seeming to recast the game into a real contest.  But Quinnipiac would have nothing to do with it, putting the clampers on St. Cloud, and then eight minutes later their junior forward Kellen Jones, of Montrose, B.C., scored to make it 4-1.  There was something about that goal, even though there were still twenty-six minutes of play remaining, that seemed to put the game out of reach for St. Cloud.  Quinnipiac was playing too solid of a game.  And their game is great to watch — it’s really about skill, getting to the puck first and controlling it, and the team constantly finding the right place to be to take advantage of whatever is happening on the ice.

Quinnipiac played very solid defense for the rest of the secod period an for the duration of the game, and it ended 4-1, Quinnipiac.  The Bobcats were just in control of this one, and now they are off to the championshp game tomorrow, Saturday, at 4:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN.

This Tournament

What a tournament!  What has happened here?  The ECAC sent in three teams.  The only one not in the tourament now, lost to . . . . another ECAC team, when Quinipiac beat Union College (only after Union College soundly dismissed Boston College).   When this tournament is over, one of the three ECAC tems will be the NCAA champion, and the other two will have only lost to other ECAC teams.  The CCHA’s two teams went in the first and second rounds.  Atlantic Hockey’s two teams both went out in the fisrt round (but both played great, close games, Niagara against North Dakota, and Canisisus against Quinnipiac).  Hockey East sent three teams, one lost in the first round while two won in the first; one then lost to anohter Hockey East team in the second; and yesterday the third lost in overtime in a semifinal.  Six teams were sent in from the WCHA.  Four of the six were shown the door in the first round.  The fifth in the second.  And the sixth in a semifinal yesterday, in which they just could not get in the game.  Something to think about, this supposed “pecking order.”

Championship Game

Tomorrow there will be an all-ECAC championshp game, #1 Quinnipiac against #15 Yale, at 4:00pm Pacific Time, on ESPN.  Don’t think you will want to miss this.  Two extremely good teams that play team hockey.  Both very fast.  Both quick out of the gate on the assault.  Should be a great game.

The Pool

There will be a pool winner.  I know it might seem hard to believe, but there will be.

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go College Hockey!  Great teams are playing great hockey everywhere.

— Tom