In a game that featured dominating defenses in both zones, Miami of Ohio broke the scoring silence midway through the second period on a Curtis McKenzie goal.  At first it didn’t seem like much, as Mankato shut Miami down for the remainder of the period, and the teams went into the third, 1-0, Miami.  But only two minutes into the second Miami’ struck again with Mark Hagel’s goal, to go up 2-0.  And seven minutes later, Cody Murphy put in yet another to make it 3-0.  Mankato pulled their goalie and added an extra attacker, but Miami’s Max Cook found the empty net, to make the fina 4-0 and to send Miami into tomorrow’s game against St. Cloud State, to determine who goes to the Frozen Four.

St. Cloud State Steamrolls Notre Dame

This one was all St. Cloud, as they got on the board midway through the first on a Ben Hanowski goal.  Notre Dame held for the next twenty minutes, but midway through the second, St. Cloud State scored on a power play goal to make it 2-0, St. Cloud.  Four minutes later, Cory Thorson made it 3-0, and as the St. Cloud State announcer, Dave Reichel said to co-announcer Don Lyons, “Oh, Thorson is playing SOME hockey, Donny!”  Two minutes later St. Cloud’s Jonny Brodzinski added another and the route was on, 4-0 St. Cloud, which is how the second ended.  Seven minutes into the third, Notre Dame got on the board on a shorthander, but four minutes later, St. Cloud State’s Joey Benik put the nail in the coffin, making it 5-1, which is how it ended.  St. Cloud State gave the WCHA its second first round win in six attempts, and actually put some points on the board for a change of pace for the WCHA.  St. Cloud advances to play Miami of Ohio tomorrow with the winner heading to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.

Our Pool

Ok, so some are feeling as though if this were a real pool, it doesn’t have a lot of water in it anymore.  Nonetheless, the Miami of Ohio win was not an upset in our pool as 23 of 34 had picked Miami to win.  On the other hand, St. Cloud’s win was a minor upset, as 20 of 34 had picked Notre Dame to win the game.

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

— Tom