College Hockey Update:  Quinnipiac handled UMass-Lowell Sunday in Albany, NY, after a first period in which UMass-Lowell had controlled the pace of the game for most of the period.  Lowell’s Dylan Zink put his team up 1-0 on a power play goal about three minutes into the game, although Quinnipiac came around late in the period and eventually outshot Lowell 10-6 in the period, but to no avail as the Riverhawks took the one goal lead into the break.  But the second period was dominated by Quinnipiac, outshooting Lowell 13-4; Quinnipiac was quick to the puck, and managed to put defenders in front of Lowell potential shooters over and over again, depriving Lowell of what would have otherwise been many good shots on the net. Landon Smith tied it up at one apiece about eleven minutes into the period, and a minute later Sam Anas backhanded a shot past Lowell goalie Kevin Boyle to make it 2-1.

About three minutes later a penalty expired and Dylan Zink stepped onto the ice behind everyone in the Lowell zone, received  a puck, and sped down the ice on a breakaway with a chance to tie at a two, but he was halted by a blocker save by Quinnipiac goalie Michael Garteig.  With two minutes left in the second, a goal by Scott Davidson made it 3-1, Quinnipiac, and the Bobcats took that lead into the break, having drastically outshot Lowell 13-4 in the period.  The third period was also dominated by Quinnipiac, outshooting Lowell 12-5, and adding a final goal by Travis St. Denis with about four minutes left in the game, giving Quinnipiac the 4-1 win.  This win was not an upset in our pool, as 43 of 48 entries had picked Quinnipiac to win this game, and only two had picked Lowell.  Quinnipiac advanced to the Frozen Four in Tampa, FL., and will play Boston College at 2:00pm Pacific Time on Thursday, April 7th on ESPN2.

Strong Denver Third Period Overwhelms Ferris State University

In a game in which Denver outplayed and badly outshot Ferris State, Denver was somehow not out of the woods in this one until there were less than five minutes left in the game.  Denver started things off by getting off all ten of the first ten shots of the game.  On a power play, Danton Heinen slapped in a rebound to give Denver the 1-0 lead six minutes into the game.  Nine minutes later Gerald Mayhew was fed the puck from a face-off and made a breakaway goal to tie it at one apiece.  A Dylan Gambrel wrister off of a feed out of a face-off gave the Pioneers the lead again at 2-1 with only 1:20 left in the first.  But a minute later Corey Mackin came from behind the goal and shot the puck across the crease — it found the stick of a Denver defender, deflected off, and just like that, Ferris State went into the break tied with Denver at two apiece. Denver had outshot Ferris State 15-3 in the first, but Ferris State managed to somehow get two goals from just three shots — Ferris State was just not going away!

In the second things evened up and Denver held a 13-11 shot advantage, but three minutes into the period, Trevor Moore made it to the net on a breakaway and put in a shot to give Denver the lead again at 3-2, and that was the score at the end of the next seventeen minutes of stalemate.  In the third, Kyle Schempp made a shot from the middle, and tied it once again at three apiece, seven minutes into the period — after twenty-four minutes of stalemate.  Eight minutes later Blake Hillman took a shot from the point, over a laid-out defender, and it went into the net, high, for the 4-3 Denver lead.  Only twenty-five seconds later, Nolan Zajac out-skated a defender and made a shot to extend the Denver lead to 5-3.  And with only two minutes left in the game, Quentin Shore drove in a rebound to give Denver the final goal of the game and the winning score of 6-3.  On one hand this game was not an upset, since three entries picked Denver to win this game, and none picked Ferris State.  On the other hand, if only three out of 48 picked Denver to win this game, one might call that a bit of an upset . . . .  Denver advanced to the Frozen Four in Tampa, FL., and will play North Dakota at 5:30pm Pacific Time on Thursday, April 7th on ESPN2.

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

— Tom