College Hockey Update:  One of the very best events in all of sports kicks off tomorrow, Thursday, April 7th, at 2PM Pacific Time, in Tampa, when #6 Boston College faces #1 Quinnipiac in the first semifinal game of the Frozen Four, followed at 5:30pm Pacific Time, by #3 North Dakota facing #7 Denver in the second semifinal game.  Both of these games will be on ESPN2, if you are near a TV at either/both of those times.

Frankly, this group of teams in the Frozen Four is about as fresh and exciting as a paint company coming out with a new shade of beige.  Three of these teams are in the NCAA Tournament over and over and over again, and two are regulars in the Frozen Four.  The only shining piece of new life in this quartet is Quinnipiac University; this is their fifth total NCAA appearance (fourth in a row), and they’ve only been to the Frozen Four once before this year when they lost to Yale in the final game.  On the other hand, first year coach Brad Berry has North Dakota in the NCAA Tournament for their fourteenth straight year, they’ve been in the Frozen Four in seven of their previous thirteen trips, and they already have seven NCAA Championships.  Denver already has seven as well, and they are back in the NCAA Tournament for their ninth straight year.  (Yawn) Boston College is making its seventh straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, and has been in the frozen four in four of their previous six trips, winning the NCAA Championship two of those four times (and bringing to five their total number of NCAA Championships).  All four of the teams are excellent, coming into the tournament ranked #1, 3, 6, and 7.  Three of the teams were ranked highly all season long; Denver started out with an up and down season, but finished strong.

Quinnipiac first appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2002, losing in the first round, which they repeated in 2014 and last year as well.  This season the team is 31-3-7, including an eleven game winning streak, and two seventeen game unbeaten streaks.  They did not lose a game until December 12th.  In mid-season they went through a fourteen game “weird” streak, in which they went 6-1-7, with nine of the games going into OT.  Five team members are in double digits in goals scored — Sam Anas has 24, Travis St. Denis has 22, Tim Clifton has 18, Landon Smith has 11, and Soren Jonzzon has 10.  And goalie Michael Garteig has a 1.83 GAA. Quinnipiac has averaged 3.9 goals per game this season.  Will their current five game winning streak continue?

North Dakota is a regular in the NCAA Tournament, and last year  they were in the Frozen Four.  This season the team is 32-6-4, including a nine game winning streak.   They also have a squadron of guys who can find the net — Brock Boeser has 26 goals, Drake Caggiula has 21, Bryn Chyzyk has 12, Luke Johnson has 11, and Nick Schmaltz and Rhett Gardner each have 10.  Oh, and toss in goalie Cam Johnson with a 1.67 GAA.  Will they close out this deal, and avoid slipping and falling as they did in the NCHC Championship Tournament?

Denver is another regular in the NCAA Tournament, and third year coach Jim Montgomery has them back for his third time.  This season the team is 25-9-6; they started out up and down, and had a terrible December.  But when they came back they went bonkers, including an eleven game winning streak.  And their top scorers are Danton Heinen with 20 goals, Dylan Gambrell with 17, Quentin Shore with 13, and Trevor Moore and Matt Marcinew with 11 each. Can Denver get over the hump this week, which they couldn’t find a way to do at the NCHC Championship Tournament?

Boston College.  Talk about beige, even their “special uniforms” are beige — same as the special uniform color for Denver, as pictured two above.  BC is a regular in the NCAA’s, and one could easily contend that the last nineteen years has been the era of Boston College, as they have been in NCAA Tournament now seventeen times in that span, and this year makes their twelfth trip to the Frozen Four in that span.  In their previous eleven appearances in the Frozen Four they advanced to the final game eight times, and won the championship four times.  No other team comes remotely close to those numbers.  This is their seventh consecutive appearance in the Tournament.  This season the team is 28-7-5, including an eleven game winning streak and a fifteen game unbeaten streak.  And they walk in the door with a staggering eight players with double digit goal totals (the most of the Frozen Four contenders) — Ryan Fitzgerald has 23, Austin Cangelosi has 20, Colin White has 19, Alex Tuch has 17, Zach Sanford and Teddy Doherty have 13 each, Adam Gilmour has 12, and Miles Wood has 10.  And let’s not forget Thatcher “The California Kid” Demo in the net with his 1.85 GAA.  Boston College has averaged 3.9 goals per game this season.  Will they avoid the fall they took in the semifinals of the Hockey East Tournament?

This will all be over before we want it to be; for those who can get near a TV, it promises to be great viewing.  The icing on the cake will be the NCAA Championship game on Saturday, April 9th, at 5:00PM Pacific Time.  No decision yet on the broadcast station — it will probably depend on who is in the final game as to whether it is on ESPN or ESPN2.

So get your viewing all set up, along with your pizza, polish sausage, or if you are at one of those snobby parties in Minnesota, basted brooke trout in a beurre blanc sauce.  But make sure your beer is cold (or your Irish Coffee hot).

And yes, from all the emails and calls, everyone wants to know who is going to win the pool. This thing sure ping pongs from year to year.  With most people choosing highly ranked teams, a big upset narrowed the field down a bit this year.  We will all know who the winner is, soon enough.

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

— Tom