College Hockey Update:  In second round action of the NCAA Tournament in Bridgeport, CT. yesterday, Bemidji State did not seem to have the same energy they had in their first round route of Wisconsin on Friday.  Massachusetts put up a stingy defense that didn’t allow a lot of Bemidji shots.  Twelve minutes into the first period, UMass committed a hooking penalty, followed by a tripping penalty just a minute later, giving Bemidji State a five on three for a minute.  Bemidji sensed they had their moment, but didn’t run around crazy and smack their opponents in the head like some of those Minnesota teams would have.  UMass managed the penalty kill well, and on one clearing play, shot the puck lightly out of the zone, instead of to the other end.  Carson Gicewicz outraced a Bemidji player to the puck, and snagged it.  When the Bemidji player closed on him, Gicewicz passed to his teammate Oliver Chau who had joined in the pursuit.  When the Bemidji player then pursued Chau, he passed back to Gicewicz, who one-timed it in for the 1-0 lead, with six minutes left in the period.  And five minutes later Gicewicz deflected a hard shot into the net to extend the lead to 2-0, UMass.  UMass only managed nine shots in the period, but contained Bemidji to only five.

Seven minutes into the second a UMass player found a way from the blue line to up close to the net, and then passed off the Gicewicz on the other side of the crease.  Gicewicz greased one right under the Bemidji goalie for the 3-0 lead, and the first hat trick of his college career. Other than that, the second was very much like the first, UMass out-shooting Bemidji ten to six. The third played much as the first two, with UMass out-shooting Bemidji nine to seven, and containing and stifling the Beavers.  Bemidji added an extra attacker, pulling their goalie Driscoll, with three and a half to go, but Oliver Chau found the empty net half a minute later to make the final score 4-0, Massachusetts.  Massachusetts, now 18-5-4, and ranked #6, advanced to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, where they will face Minnesota-Duluth in a semifinal Thursday, April 8th, at either 2:00pm Pacific Time, or 6:00pm Pacific Time, on ESPN2. This shouldn’t be a problem for Minnesota-Duluth, which beat UMass 3-0, the last time they met for the 2019 championship.

The outcome of this game is an upset in our pool, as an extension of the upset win by Bemidji State over Wisconsin on Friday.  Of fifty-two participants, only fifteen picked Massachusetts to win this game, compared to only seven who picked Bemidji.  Twenty-eight picked Wisconsin, and two picked Lake Superior State.

I received a few inquiries about the link I posted yesterday regarding the young Minnesotan who is such a model for other athletes everywhere.  The link was produced as body copy and not as a blue hypertext link, meaning you can’t click on it; you have to copy and past it into your browser url bar.  This provides the link again.  This also provides a link to another great example of this from another midwestern university, located in a town that sits about 100 yards over the Minnesota border.

Yesterday’s link:

New link today:

Again, if you can’t click on these, highlight, copy, and then paste into your browser url bar.

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

— Tom