College Hockey Update:  It couldn’t have come much closer to a second consecutive overtime game for Notre Dame Saturday in second round play of the Eastern Region in Bridgeport, CT.  In Friday’s early game of opening play, Michigan Tech took the early second period 1-0 lead, but goals by Dylan Malmquist and Joe Wegwerth at the four and seven minute points of the second gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead.  A Michigan Tech goal one minute into the third tied it at two apiece, but Joran Gross scored five minutes later to give Notre Dame the 3-2 lead.  With only six second left, Michigan Tech scored again to tied at three apiece, and send it to OT.  Deep into OT A Michigan Tech flurry in front of the net yielded a point-blank shot on goal that seemed as though it would end the game, but it didn’t happen, and Notre Dame was able to get a fast break down the ice into the Michigan Tech zone.  Notre Dame was able to quickly set up its offense and generate a flurry of action, and Jordan Gross scored his second goal sixteen minutes into OT to give Notre Dame the 4-3 win, and line them up to face Providence.  This result was not remotely an upset in our pool as 45 of 50 participants had picked Notre Dame to win, where only five participants had picked Michigan Tech.

On Friday Kasper Björkqvist converted on a power play opportunity only four minutes into the first to give Providence an early 1-0 lead.  Providence held onto that one goal margin for the remainder, playing a stingy game that yielded only 18 shots to Clarkson all game long, and the 1-0 win lined Providence up to face Notre Dame on Saturday.  This result was not an upset in our pool as 29 of 50 participants had picked Providence to win, where only 21 had picked Clarkson.

Providence started out Saturay’s game as they did Friday — a goal two minutes into the first, by the exact same player as on Friday, for the early 1-0 lead.  And Providence was able to sit on this one goal lead for a very, very long time, but gave it up 36 minutes of play later when Andrew Ogelvie scored for Notre Dame with only two minutes left in the second.  The two teams battled to a stalemate for almost the rest of the game, but Notre Dame pulled a “Michigan Tech,” and Dylan Malmquist scored his second goal in two days with only 27 seconds remaining to give Notre Dame the 2-1 lead, and win, to advance to the Frozen Four. Malmquist is a certifiable cake eater from Edina, Minnesota, and he celebrated after the game with three cakes ordered from the Queen of Cakes; two were to be eaten by the team, and the third was to have just to look at.  He commented after the game that this was his favorite cake at the cakeateria at his high school, Edina High School; he clarified that this is separate from the cafeteria at his high school.

This result is not an upset in our pool as 40 of 50 participants had picked Notre Dame to win this game, where only six had picked Providence, two had picked Clarkson, and two had picked Michigan Tech.

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

— Tom