College Hockey Update:  Minnesota-Duluth outlasted Providence in opening round action of the early game in Worcester, MA. on Friday.  A sluggish first period in which Duluth outshot Providence 8-4 was followed by a faster-paced second in which Duluth had a 13-11 shot advantage.  A major penalty for contact to the head gave Duluth a five minute power play and a good chance to go ahead early in the second, but about a minute into the penalty, Duluth managed to get one of their own, cutting two minutes out of the man-advantage, and Duluth came out of the five minute session empty-handed.  The two teams had played scoreless for forty-three minutes before the puck squirted out from a scuffle in the corner to Tony Cameranesi, and he rifled in a  shot to put Minnesota-Duluth on the board with a 1-0 lead three minutes into the third period.  Considering what had happened up to that point, the third period turned into an avalanche of scoring when four minutes later Steve McPartland banged home a rebound in front of the net for a Providence score to tie at one apiece.

About four minutes later Providence had two nearly successive penalties, giving Duluth a near repeat of the chance they had early in the second, but for the second time they could not convert.  Duluth outshot Providence badly in the third, 20-11, yet regulation ended just as the game started out, with the two teams even.  In the first OT Duluth again outshot Providence, this time 13-9, but the score stood at 1-1 for thirty-four scoreless minutes until Karson Kuhlman was in the right place when the puck dribble off of Providence goalie Nick Ellis; Kuhlman guided it in and broke the tie a minute into the second OT, to give Duluth the 2-1 win.  Some how, some way, each team managed to get two shots off in that one minute of the second OT. This win is an upset in our pool, as only 13 of the 48 entries had chosen Duluth to win.  Duluth advanced to play the winner of Friday’s late game between Harvard and Boston College, on Saturday at 6:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.

Michigan Outlasts Notre Dame To Advance

In the late game in Cincinnati, Justin Selman scored midway through the first when he converted a pass which was slipped to him in the middle, after a face-off, to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.  But five minutes later Anders Bjork responded when he shot the puck off the wall to get by a Michigan defender, and when he found himself in a two-on-one break, he took the shot himself for a Notre Dame goal, and the first period, in which Notre Dame had a 13-11 shot advantage, ended knotted at one apiece.  Notre Dame kept up good defensive pressure on Michigan and stayed with them throughout the game.  The second opened with a Notre Dame lightning strike goal by Thomas DiPauli, only twenty-four seconds into the period, which was followed by thirty minutes of scoreless play; Notre Dame outshot Michigan 9-6 in the second.

In the third, Michigan badly outshot Notre Dame, 11-5, and a Zach Werenski goal midway through the period off of a centering pass tied it up at two apiece, which is where it ended in regulation.  In the OT period, Michigan again outshot Notre Dame, 7-3, and a little tick-tac-toe double-feed on the high-scoring Connor/Compher/Motte line led to a goal when Kyle Connor had the puck on the left side and fed it to J.T. Compher on his side, near the net, who one-timed it to the other side of the net, finding Tyler Motte, who scored the winning goal, eight minutes into the period for the Michigan win, 3-2.  36 of the 48 entries in our pool had chosen Michigan to win this game.  Michigan advanced to play North Dakota on Saturday at 3:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN2.

Boston College Handles Harvard, Advances

Despite being outshot 12-8 in each of the first two periods, Boston College had the game in hand by scoring efficiently and taking advantage of a power play.  In the first period BC got on the board eight minutes into the game on a goal by Alex Tuch, and eleven minutes later Austin Cangelosi converted on a power play to give BC a 2-0 lead, which is how the first ended.

Another Alex Tuch goal only two minutes into the second put BC up 3-0.  Eight minutes later a Seb Lloyd goal closed the gap to 3-1 for Harvard, but Harvard could not convert on any more shots against BC goalie Thatcher Demko.  Harvard went with an extra attacker with about three minutes remaining, but Austin Cangelosi got his second goal of the night when only a half minute later when he found the empty net to put BC up 4-1, which is how it ended.  39 of the 48 entries had piked BC to win this game.  BC advanced to play Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday in Worcester, MA., at 6:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.

Our Pool

This year, as referenced above in the three game summaries, we have 48 participants in the pool; it’s the highest number we’ve ever had in the seventeen year history of the pool, and it surpasses last year’s high water mark of 44 by four entrants.  The summary on North Dakota did not contain this information:  34 of the 48 entries had picked North Dakota to win its game against Northeastern.

The 48 entries have picked nine different teams to win it all, as follows:

• Quinnipiac               14
• St. Cloud State        11
• North Dakota            7
• Michigan                   5
• Boston College         4
• Northeastern             3
• Boston University      2
• Minnesota-Duluth      1
• Providence College    1

Saturday’s Games:

• Saturday, March 26th, in St. Paul, Minnesota, #2 St. Cloud State University faces #17 Ferris State University at 12:00 noon Pacific Time on ESPNews, and #7 University of Denver faces #12 Boston University at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Sunday, March 27th at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Also Saturday, March 26th, in Albany, New York, #1 Quinnipiac University faces #21 Rochester Institute of Technology at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #8 University of Massachusetts-Lowell faces #11 Yale University at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN3. Winners play Sunday, March 27th at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.

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

— Tom