College Hockey Update:

PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME BACK A COMPLETED BRACKET — THEY ARE VERY HARD TO DEAL WITH!!!!  PLEASE FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AND THE EXAMPLES BELOW IN THIS POSTING AND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BRACKET.  THANK YOU.

Ok, now, first things first, and this is important — I have emailed you your own 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket (my email list just is not as complete as the email list on the system — if you did not get an email from me with a bracket please contact me right away with your email address and I’ll send one to you; my email address appears below right above the rankings table); please open it immediately, make your picks, and email your picks back to me in a single typed line as my picks are below, including the score of your final game. My picks are provided here as an example of how your picks should look when they are sent to me (note that the number before each pick is the number under the space where you would write the score for each game on the bracket; it’s a “game number.”): 

EXAMPLE #1 — HORIZONTALLY:

1.St. Cloud 2.Denver 3.Clarkson 4.UMass 5.Mankato 6.Northeastern 7.Quinnipiac 8.Duluth 9.St. Cloud 10. UMass. 11.Northeastern 12.Duluth 13.UMass 14.Duluth 15.UMass 3-2

EXMPLE #2 — VERTICALLY:

1. St. Cloud
2. Denver
3. Clarkson
4. UMass
5. Mankato
6. Northeastern
7. Quinnipiac
8. Duluth
9. St. Cloud
10. UMass
11. Northeastern
12. Duluth
13. UMass
14. Duluth
15. UMass 3-2

You don’t have to feel like you really know who is going to win, and remember — It costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.  So do it now!

There were three conference winners last weekend that were not the highest ranked team in that conference, so let’s quickly run through this, conference by conference.

Atlantic Hockey:  The news here is that American International beat Robert Morris, and Niagara beat RIT, both OT squeakers, in the Atlantic Hockey semis.  American International prevailed over Niagara in another OT squeaker in the Championship game, 3-2, so they end the season ranked #18, and will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

Big Ten:  In the championship game Saturday, Notre Dame and Penn State traded goals in the first, taking a 2-2 tie into the first break.  Despite being badly out-shot by Penn State all game long, Notre Dame managed to score very late in the second, and hold out the entire third, to win by that one goal margin, 3-2.  Notre Dame ends the season ranked #14; Ohio State at #9, and both teas will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

ECAC:  The news here is that Cornell roasted Brown to the tune of 6-0 in the semis, and Clarkson dispatched with Harvard to the tune of 5-2 in the semis, and then Clarkson prevailed over Cornell in OT, 3-2 to win the conference championship.  Clarkson ends the season ranked #7; Quinnipiac #8; Cornell #10; and Harvard #13, and all four teams will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.  And thanks to our Contributing Field Reporter, Bruce Carlisle, for pointing out that this is the first time since the ECAC/Hockey East split in 1985 that the ECAC has sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament, and has been the conference with the most teams playing in the Tournament.  Congratulations to the ECAC!

Hockey East:  Northeastern found themselves down 1-0 after Boston University scored midway through the second, but the Huskies tied it up at one apiece only on minute into the third; Northeastern handily out-shot BU in the second and third, but BU held them off, forcing OT.  Northeastern again out-shot BU in OT, and found the net sixteen minutes into OT for the 3-2 win in the early game of the Hockey East semis.  In the late semifinal Friday, Boston College had Massachusetts back on their heels the whole way, scoring right at the end of the first, again thirteen minutes into the third, and then again on an empty net right at the end of the game to take the 3-0 win.  UMass badly out-shot BC in the first and third, and BC badly out-shot UMass in the second.  Saturday night Northeastern jumped to a 3-0 lead only twelve minutes into the first period, only to see BC score two power play goals in the first two minutes of the second to tighten the score up at 3-2.  Northeastern narrowly out-shot BC in the first, then BC badly out-shot Northeastern in the second and third, but Northeastern was able to hold BC off for the 3-2 win the Hockey East Championship.  Northeastern ends the season ranked #5; Massachusetts #4; and Providence #11, and all three will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.

NCHC:  Friday night Minnesota-Duluth and Denver played forty minutes of scoreless hockey, and played fifty-eight minutes of one-goal hockey; UMD broke the scoreless drought in the first minute of the third, and held on for the remainder of the third, finding the empty net twice in the last two minutes and extending their lead to the final score of 3-0 in the NCHC semis.  Denver narrowly out-shot Duluth in the first, but Duluth comfortably out-shot Denver in the second and the third; Duluth junior goalie Hunter Shepard, of Cohasset, MN. (a small town next to the city of Grand Rapids), notched the shut out, stopping all twenty-five shots on goal.  In the other NCHC semi Friday night, Colorado College got on the board first, midway through the first period, but went silent as St. Cloud State scored four unanswered goals, twelve and thirteen minutes into the first, then ten minutes into the second, and then seven minutes into the third.  CC did score fifteen minutes into the third to make it a 4-2 game, but two minutes later St. Cloud State scored again, making the final score 5-2.  Saturday night St. Cloud State struck first, having added an extra attacker eight minutes into the first, and Duluth came back two minutes later to send the game into the first break knotted at one apiece.  After a scoreless second, St. Cloud scored in the first minute of the third to take the 2-1 lead, but a short-handed goal by Duluth fifteen minutes later knotted it again, and the 2-2 score sent the teams into OT.  And actually into a second OT, in which freshman Tanner Laderoute, of Edmonton, ALB., scored at the seven minute point to give Duluth the win and the NCHC Championship.  Duluth goalie Hunter Shepard blocked thirty-seven of thirty-nine shots on goal, making his weekend total fifty-four stops on fifty-six shots on goal.  Shepard started all thirty-eight games this season, and has an astounding GAA of 1.87, and a saves % of .918.  Minnesota-Duluth ended the season ranked #2; St. Cloud State #1; and Denver #6, and all three teams will be playing in the NCAA Tournament.  Defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth ended the season with four straight wins, and was 7-2 in their last nine games.  And importantly, they beat St. Cloud State when it counted.  UMD will be playing #15 Bowling Green State in the early game of the Midwestern Regional in Allentown, PA., at 1:00Pm Pacific Time on Saturday, March 30th; the game will be televised on ESPNU.

WCHA:  In Saturday night’s championship game, Bowling Green scored first to take the 1-0 lead fifteen minutes into the first period.  The two teams skated scoreless for the next twenty-six minutes, until Bowling Green struck again one minute into the third for the 2-0 lead.  Bowling Green had controlled the momentum by limiting Mankato’s shots on goal:  In the first Bowling Green out-shot Mankato 10-5, and in the second the two were even at with six shots on goal apiece.  But down 2-0, Mankato sprang to life, and out-shot Bowling Green 15-2 in the period, largely after they added an extra attacked with three minutes to go, which yielded results with a goal at the eighteen minute mark, and another to tie it up at the nineteen minute mark.  Highly efficient stuff, and a 2-2 tie game at the end of regulation.  Mankato had all the momentum, and it stayed that way in OT at even strength, as Mankato scored less than two minutes into the period to take the 3-2 win.  Mankato State ended the season ranked #3, and Bowling Green #15; both teams will play in the NCAA Tournament.

INDEPENDENT:  Arizona State did not play in any post season tournament since they are independent and not in any conference.  Arizona State ended the season ranked #14, and will play in the NCAA Tournament.

This year the top fifteen ranked teams, plus the team ranked #18, comprise the sixteen team field for the NCAA Tournament.  So, this year the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Tournament Contestants, and Regional Assignments are:

• Friday, March 29th, in Manchester, N.H., #4 Massachusetts faces #13 Harvard at 12:00 noon Pacific Time on ESPN2, and #7 Clarkson faces #12 Notre Dame at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday, March 30th, at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Also Friday, March 29th, in Fargo, N.D., #6 Denver faces #9 Ohio State at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #1 St. Cloud State faces #18 American International at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN3.  Winners play Saturday, March 30th, at 6:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Saturday, March 30th, in Providence, R.I., #3 Mankato State faces #11 Providence at 10:00am Pacific Time on ESPNews, and #5 Northeastern faces #10 Cornell at 1:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNews.  Winners play Sunday, March 31st, at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN2.
• Also Saturday, March 30th, in Allentown, PA., #2 Minnesota-Duluth faces #15 Bowling Green at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #7 Quinnipiac faces #14 Arizona State at 4:40pm Pacific Time on ESPN3.  Winners play Sunday, March 31st at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN3.

So here we go!  Your bracket has been emailed to you.  IMPORTANT:  DO NOT SEND ME BACK A COPY OF A COMPLETED BRACKET — THEY ARE VERY HARD TO DEAL WITH.  Each game has a number under the line where you would write the game winner.  Once you have made your picks, send them to me in a typed line, in game number order, listing the winner.  THIS CAN BE DONE HORIZONTALLY OR VERTICALLY — PLEASE SEE THE TWO EXAMPLES AT THE TOP OF THIS POSTING.  Remember, it costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.

Also note, as a result of last year’s pool winner not having the tourament winner, but another participant having the game winner, but not winning the pool, the CHU Board of directors spared no expense in having actuaries do thousands of statistical simulations to devise a pool scoring methodology that should avoid this from happening again for twenty, or possibly twenty-five years.  This change to the scoring rules will now be referred to as The New Wienbar-Ramsey Rule:

• THE NEW WIENBAR-RAMSEY RULE: if you pick the eventual winner, you get TWO additional points for choosing that eventual winner to win, for a total of three points.  Therefore if you tie in number of correct picks with someone who did not pick the winner, your extra points would make you the winner between the two of you.

ALL PICKS MUST BE SENT TO ME BY THURSDAY NIGHT, MARCH 28TH, AT 8:00PM PACIFIC TIME — THAT IS ABOUT 56 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF THIS POSTING.  If you did not receive a bracket email me for one at:  [email protected]

COLLEGE HOCKEY UPDATE FUN CORNER VIDEO OF THE WEEK

This guy is quite a kick.  United States Air Force Academy Hockey Coach Frank Serratore.  Very down to earth, and highly entertaining.  Too bad his team is not in the tournament.

Thanks to reader Dave Ramsey for sending this in.

RANKINGS

This provides the top twenty teams, rankings, records, and last weekend’s results:

[table id=196 /]

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

— Tom