College Hockey Update:  Ok, first things first, and this is important — I have emailed you your own 2016 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); 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.”): 

1.St. Cloud State 2.Boston University 3.University of Michigan 4.University of North Dakota 5.Quinnipiac University 6.UMass-Lowell 7.Boston College 8.Providence College 9.Boston Univ. 10. Univ. North Dakota 11.Quinnipiac Univ. 12.Providence College 13.B. U. 14.Quinnipiac 15.B.U. 3-2 — REMEMBER to give me your final game score.

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 upset winners in the conference tournaments last weekend, so let’s run quickly through this, conference by conference.

Atlantic Hockey:  The news here is that Rochester Institute of Technology beat The United States Air Force Academy 2-1 in OT, and RIT upset Robert Morris 7-4, to advance to the NCAA tournament; RIT also popped into the poll at #21..

ECAC:  Harvard beat beat St. Lawrence by a score of 5-2.  Quinnipiac beat Dartmouth 3-1, and in the championship game it was Quinnipiac, 4-1 over Harvard.  Quinnipiac edged up in the poll to #1, and is going to the NCAA tournament along with Harvard, which edged down to #10, and with Yale, which edged down to #11 on its idle weekend.

Hockey East:  Friday night UMass-Lowell upset Providence 2-1 in a marathon triple-OT game, and a red-hot Northeastern upset Boston College 5-4.  Saturday night it was Northeastern continuing on its rocket-like trajectory, 3-2 over Lowell.  I watched this game, and Northeastern came out hot from the start, and only one minute into the game Mike McMurtry grabbed a pass through the center by Dylan Sikura, and passed it on to Adam Gaudette, who was at the net behind the goalie, and Gaudette scored for the 1-1 lead.  But just a couple of minutes later, Lowell’s John Edwardh (the “h” is not a typo) grabbed a rebound and made a high shot past the goalie to tie it at 1-1.  But . . . . on a power play only three minutes later, a wrist-shot on the net by Northeastern’s John Stevens was scooped up by his brother Nolan, and shot past the goalie to give Northeastern the 2-1 lead, where it stood at the end of the first and most of the second. For most of the second period, Northeastern’s pressure was handled by Lowell’s speed, and with about six minutes remaining, they got the break they needed when Adam Chapie picked up the puck behind the net, came around, and lofted it over goalie Ryan Ruck to tie it at 2-2, where it stood at the end of two.  In the third Lowell continued to keep up their pace, but on another power play opportunity with about nine minutes left in the game, Northeastern prevailed when Zach Aston-Reese found a loose puck in front of the net and a shot in just inside the post to make it 3-2.  With a little over a minute to go Lowell added an extra attacker but Northeastern fought off the assault and prevailed, 3-2.  The Northeastern fans were in total pandemonium and that was just hearing it on TV — what a celebration for those who were there!  On the weekend, Northeastern shot up five spots to #9, leapfrogging past idle teams and teams with losses; Lowell held at #8 while Providence edged down to #4; BC edged down to #5, an idle Boston University dropped a couple of notches to #12, and an idle Notre Dame edged down to #13.  Providence, Boston College, UMass-Lowell, Northeastern, Boston University, and Notre Dame will all be playing in the NCAA tournament.

little six:  in the play-in round, Ohio State beat Michigan State, and Penn State dispatched Wisconsin, to advance to the semifinals.  In the semis, Michigan beat Penn State 7-2, and Minnesota beat Ohio State 3-0.  And in the final, Michigan beat Minnesota 5-3, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament; they also rose up two rungs in the poll to the #5 spot.

NCHC:  North Dakota was upset by Minnesota-Duluth 4-2, but St. Cloud State handled Denver to the tune of 4-2.  In the finals, St. Cloud prevailed to win the NCHC Championship 3-1 over UMD, and in the consolation game, North Dakota and Denver tied at 1 apiece.  So, St. Cloud State rose up a couple of slots to #2 while North Dakota slipped a couple of spots in the poll to #3; Denver edged down to #6, and UMD moved up a couple of notches to #14.  All four of these teams are in the NCAA tournament.

WCHA:  Mankato State beat Bowling Green by a 2-1 score, and Michigan Tech was upset by Ferris State, 1-0,  in the semis.  In the championship game, Ferris State upset Mankato State, 2-1, to win the WCHA Tournament Championship and advance to the NCAA Tournament, and entered the poll at #18.

This year the top fourteen ranked teams, plus #18, and #21, are the field of sixteen teams in the NCAA Tournament.  The outcomes of the conference tournaments seems to have only put two teams into the NCAA tournament:  Ferris State, and R.I.T.  And I suppose we could say the tournament outcomes did impact Michigan Tech and Mankato State, which looked for most of the season as though they’d be in it, but aren’t.  So, this year the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Tournament Contestants, and Regional Assignments are:

• Friday, March 25th, in Cincinnati Ohio, #3 ranked University of North Dakota faces #9 ranked Northeastern University at 11:00am Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #5 ranked University of Michigan faces #13 ranked Notre Dame at 2:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday, March 26th, at 3:00pm Pacific Time, on ESPN2.
• Also Friday, March 25th, in Worcester, Massachusetts, #4 Providence College faces #14 University of Minnesota-Duluth at 1:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN3, and #6 ranked Boston College faces #10 ranked Harvard University at 5:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday, March 26th, at 6:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Saturday, March 26th, in St. Paul, Minnesota, #2 St. Cloud State University faces #17 Ferris State University at 12:00 noon Pacific Time on ESPNews, and #7 University of Denver faces #12 Boston University at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Sunday, March 27th at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Also Saturday, March 26th, in Albany, New York, #1 Quinnipiac University faces #21 Rochester Institute of Technology at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #8 University of Massachusetts-Lowell faces #11 Yale University at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN3. Winners play Sunday, March 27th at 4:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.

So here we go!  Your bracket has been emailed to you.  IMPORTANT:  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.  Your entry, emailed to me, would look like my picks that I listed at the very beginning of this post at top.  Remember, it costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.

ALL PICKS MUST BE SENT TO ME BY THURSDAY NIGHT, MARCH 24TH, AT 8:00PM PACIFIC TIME — THAT IS ABOUT 72 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF THIS POSTING.

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

[table id=131 /]

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

— Tom