College Hockey Update:  Both Boston University and North Dakota won NCAA Regional Championships yesterday, Saturday, March 28th.

Boston Squeaks By Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 Late In Game

Boston University and Minnesota-Duluth played a very close, tight, nail-biting, nerve-wracking game yesterday, as Boston U was first on the board with a very unconventional goal by the much-overlooked Evan Rodrigues, seven minutes into the first.  An attempt to keep the puck in the zone sent the puck to the middle high in the air, to Rodrigues, who eyed it, spun all the way around, caught the puck before it hit the ice, and he smacked it out of the air on a line into the goal, much to the amazement of everyone in Manchester and watching on TV, no one, perhaps more so than the Duluth goalie.  Play continued on through the first with both teams playing at a fever-pitch, both ending the period with eleven shots on goal.

A double penalty put the teams on ice, four-on-four, and Duluth quickly capitalized, when Willie Raskob scored about a minute into the period to tie it up at 1-1..  BU responded three minutes later when Matt Lane scored to give the Terriers a 2-1 lead.  Then it looked a little bit like BU became a little lazy.  They lacked any game in transition, and seemed to be only clearing the puck out of their zone, when they could.  This didn’t work well for BU as only four minutes later, Duluth’s Kyle Osterberg scored to tie it at 2-2.  Duluth continued to play better in the period, which ended knotted at two; UMD finished the second with thirteen shots on goal, and BU with only six.

One can speculate that BU’s coach may have had some words for the team at half-time, or one can speculate that with a record of out-scoring opponents by a margin of 3-1 in the third this season, it’s just in their DNA.  Whichever it  was or is, BU came out on fire and in what appeared to be complete command in the third, playing most of the period in the Duluth zone, seeming to be the first to the puck almost always.  Late in the game a penalty put BU on the power play, and with the penalty almost entirely played out, a scrum at the side squirted the puck out to BU, and a pass to one player led to a very quick centering pass which was made to . . . . Evan Rodrigues.  No baseball theatrics this time, but some theatrics, nonetheless.  Rodrigues held the puck in his stick, outstretched behind him, near the goal, with a Duluth defender pressing.  Instead of succumbing to the pressure, Rodrigues held off.  He sort of faked, and carried the puck around the now sliding Duluth defensman; he slowly slid himself in closer to the goal and fired to the outside to the only open space, a sliver at the far left, and scored to give BU the 3-2 lead. Theatrics?  The goal was scored with one second remaining on the penalty.

With the penalty off, in a hole, and time running out, it was time to see what Duluth was made of, and they were made of a lot.  A minute after the BU go-ahead score, Duluth added an extra attacker, pulling their goalie, and they executed on this extra attacker offense nearly perfectly. After BU goalie Matt O’Connor deflected a great shot on goal with less than a minute to play, Duluth ended up with two faceoffs in the last forty seconds of the game.  The first resulted in a flurry of activity near the goal, bodies, sticks, puck flying, and somehow no score.  The second faceoff was similar, but again no goal as time ran out.

Boston University advanced to the Frozen Four on Thursday, April 9th, in Boston, and will play North Dakota.  Let’s see . . . . Thursday, April 9th.  Twelve days away?  Is that sort of like next season or something?  Is that the best the NCAA can do, is to take teams after a weekend like this, and put the tournament into some weird storage for a while?  It seems they could end the season a week earlier and play the tournament on consecutive weekends, or play the same weekend as the basketball finals, playing on Friday and Sunday, since basketball plays on Saturday and Monday.  There has to be a better way to do this than to suspend play for half a month, don’t you think?

BU making it to the Frozen Four is not an upset in our pool, as thirty-four of forty-four entries picked BU to make it there.  Only four of the forty-four picked Duluth.

North Dakota Dominates in 4-1 Win Over St. Cloud State

St. Cloud State got on the board very early in the first period to take a 1-0 lead over North Dakota, but seven minutes later it was North Dakota’s turn, and the game was tied at 1-1.

In the second period, North Dakota scored seven minutes into the period to take the 2-1 lead. Despite good pressure from St. Cloud State late in the second, they could not convert on their efforts, and the second ended 2-1, North Dakota.

In the third, North Dakota continued to press the game in their direction, and they scored to make it 3-1, about three minutes into the period.  St. Cloud State did not look like they had the charge in them at that point to turn it around.  St. Cloud State pulled their goalie late in the game, but the extra attacker did not pay off for them, and eventually, North Dakota seized the empty net with about forty seconds remaining to take home the 4-1 win.

North Dakota looks like one very, very serious team.

North Dakota advanced to the Frozen Four on Thursday, April 9th, in Boston, where they will face Boston University.  That will be after a twelve day layoff.  Twelve days.  Nice scheduling, huh?

North Dakota making it to the Frozen Four is not an upset in our pool, as thirty-one of forty-four entries picked them to do so, whereas only two had picked St. Cloud State to make it that far.

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

— Tom