College Hockey Update:  One of the very best events in all of sports kicks off tomorrow Thursday, April 9th, at 2PM Pacific Time when #15 Providence College faces #9 Nebraska-Omaha in the first semifinal game of the Frozen Four in Boston, followed at 5:30pm Pacific Time, by #3 North Dakota facing #2 Boston University in the second semifinal game.  Both of these games will be on ESPN2, if you are near a TV at either/both of those times.

This is an exciting Frozen Four inasmuch as three of the teams have not been to the Frozen Four in a very long time, or have never before been here, and only one team has been a regular attendee.  It’s great for college hockey to have teams that have not been here in a while, make it to this point.  It has been six long years since Boston University has been here, and it has been about twenty years since they had a streak as a regular attendee.  For Providence College it has been even longer, with their last appearance in 1985.  For Nebraska-Omaha this is a first ever appearance.  And for North Dakota, they were here last year, and have been here in ten of the last nineteen years.  All four of the teams are excellent; Three of the teams have been highly ranked all season long.  The fourth, Providence, popped back into highly ranked territory late in the season and ended ranked at only #15.  But in the NCAA Tournament so far, they built a big lead against #4 Miami and held on for the win in the opening round, and they held on for a long time and outlasted #6 Denver with a late score to prevail in the second round to get here; Providence is on fire.

A long time ago Boston University was pretty much a regular at the NCAA Tournament, and did a pretty good job of getting to the Frozen Four.  Several years ago the program looked in distress with a host of off-ice player issues, followed up by the retirement of 40-year coach and former player Jack Parker, followed up by the hiring of current coach David Quinn and his totally disastrous first year as head coach last year, winning only ten games all year long.  As to whether or not the team is really ready to be playing at this level, we’ll see tomorrow.  BU is led by a trio of forwards who play on the fist line.  Freshman Jack Eichel, who turned 18 at Halloween, is generally regarded as a top NHL prospect, and has had a good freshman year, as he is tied for first on the team in goals scored, with 24, and is first in assist with 43.  He is also a Hobey Baker finalist, was the Hockey East Rookie Of The Year, Player Of The Year, and Tournament MVP. Senior Evan Rodrigues is fourth on the team in goals scored, with 21, and second in assists, with 40.  And junior Danny O’Regan is third on the team in goals scored with 22, and fourth in assists with 26.  BU has averaged 3.8 goals per game this season.  Will their 7 game winning streak continue?

Providence College has been to the NCAA Tournament ten times prior to this year in the program’s history.  Last year they had an impressive first round 4-0 blanking of Quinnipiac, before falling to eventual Tournament Champion Union College.  They were in the NCAA Tournament seven times in the eighteen season span from 1978 to 1996.  They have a squadron of guys who can find the net, as evidenced by their goal counts, in Trevor Mingoia with 14, Noel Acciari with 14, Shane Luke with 13, Nick Saracino with 13, and Ross Mauermann with 11.  Add to that a sensational goalie in junior Jon Gillies, who has a goals against average of 2.01, and a saves percentage of .929.  They were solid in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament against formidable Miami and Denver teams.  Can they close this deal and show that their end of season #15 ranking, and #15 Tournament Seeding was not on the mark?  Can they stay on this hot streak of NCAA Tournament play and avoid slipping and losing as they did in the first round of the Hockey East Tournament?

Nebraska-Omaha is brand new to the Frozen Four, and has only made the NCAA Tournament twice before this year, in 2006 and 2011, losing both times in the first round.  But this is not new turf for their coach, Dean Blais, who started at UNO in the 2009-10 season; prior to UNO Blais coached North Dakota for ten seasons from 1994-2004, taking teams to the NCAA Tournament seven times, making the Frozen Four three times, and winning it all twice.  Austin Ortega, “The California Kid,” is lethal on the ice, having scored 20 goals this season, and he is joined by a trio of teammates who know where the goal is:  Jake Guentzel with 13 goals, Justin Parizek with 13 goals, and Avery Peterson with 11 goals.  Add in senior goalie Ryan Massa, who can more than hold his own, with a killer goals against average of 1.92, and save percentage of .939.  This team had a six-game unbeaten streak this season, going 5-0-1 in that stretch.  This team has the same question:  Can they continue to play hot in the NCAA Tournament, and avoid slipping and losing as they did at the end of the regular season, and in the NCHC Tournament?

Still without a name for their team (consideration of a new name will start in two months), North Dakota has seven NCAA Championships, and has been to the NCAA Tournament for 13 straight years.  Unlike last year’s team, which featured only two players with goal totals in double digits, this year’s team has five — Drake Cagguia with 18, Mark McMillan with 16, Brendan O’Donnell with 13, Michael “Then Came Bronson” Parks with 12, and Luke Johnson with 10.  This team started hot, faltered a bit mid-season, and then turned in an eight-game unbeaten streak at the end of the regular season to re-establish themselves.  Despite a pair of losses to end the NCHC Tournament, they ended the season very highly ranked in the poll.  And they are another team with the same question: Can they continue their hot NCAA Tournament play, and avoid slipping and losing as they did in the NCHC Tournament?

This will all be over before we want it to be; for those who can get near a TV, it promises to be great viewing.  The icing on the cake will be the NCAA Championship game on Saturday, April 11th, at 4:30PM Pacific Time on ESPN.

So get your viewing all set up, along with your pizza, polish sausage, or if you are at one of those snobby parties in Minnesota, basted brooke trout in a beurre blanc sauce.  But make sure your beer is cold (or your Irish Coffee hot).

And yes, from all the emails and calls, everyone wants to know who is going to win the pool.  This thing sure ping pongs from year to year.  With most people choosing highly ranked teams, it takes an upset or two to narrow the field down.  Last year that really didn’t happen, and after the first round we had four with 10 correct picks, ten with nine, and ten with eight.  But this year we only have three with eight correct picks, and only two with seven.  What a difference!  We will all know who the winner is, soon enough.

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

— Tom