The New Hampshire Wildcats easily eliminated Denver in opening round action of the NCAA tournament tonight by a final score of 5-2.  The game started out all Denver, as they scored two minutes into the game to go up 1-0.  New Hampshire came back three minutes later when Casey Thrush scored a goal to tie it at 1-1.  But Denver scored another goal with three minutes remaining in the period, taking the 2-1 lead into the locker room, having outshot UNH 19-14.

The defenses held for most of the second period, but New Hampshire tied it at 2-2 with about six minutes remaining, and Dalton Speelman gave UNH the 3-2 lead with about twenty seconds remaining in the second.  In the third, a John Henrion goal extended the UNH lead to 4-2 about eight minutes into the period.  And down by two, Denver added an extra attacker with about three minutes to go, but UNH’s Casey Thrush found the empty net to make the final 5-2, UNH.  UNH will play UMass-Lowell at 3pm Pacific Time tomorrow, to determine which team goes to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

North Dakota Escapes Fall To Niagara

North Dakota prevailed in what was a seesaw battle against Niagara University tonight in opening round action of the NCAA Tournament.  While the first period ended tied at 0-0, it was really North Dakota’s twenty minutes, outshooting Niagara 11-6.  But the second belonged to Niagara as they got the upper hand in outshooting North Dakota 16-12, and scoring six minutes into the period to go up 1-0.  But Niagara could not capitalize on the momentum beyond that single goal, on the scoreboard.  In the third period North Dakota flexed some major highly-ranked muscle, with Andrew McWilliam scoring two minutes into the period to tie the game at 1-1.  And just a minute later, Danny Kristo added a goal to give North Dakota the lead at 2-1.  North Dakota shut down Niagara for the rest of the period to take the 2-1 win.

North Dakota will face Yale, which beat Minnesota earlier today.  This is a rematch of sorts, as North Dakota lost to Yale in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Tourament.  Any players who might remain on the North Dakota team are sure to remember that loss, and the feelings they had as they walked off the ice and headed for the locker room.

The Pool

Neither of these two qualifies as an upset in our pool.  UNH was picked by half — seventeen of the thirty-four entries — of the pool.  And North Dakota was picked by 33 of 34 entrants.