For the most part, the top ranked teams did what they were supposed to do, but there were a couple of real squeakers along the way.  With so many games that took place, I’ll just give the scores/outcomes of the conference championship games . . .

• Atlantic Hockey:  Air Force beat Holy Cross 3-2, and RIT beat Connecticut 4-2 in the semis, with Air Force then prevailing on a second period power play goal by Jacques Lamoureux (can you imagine Capt. Jacques flying in an F-15 Eagle in a few years?) to win 1-0 over RIT and take the championship and the automatic NCAA berth.  Air Force demonstrated that they can pull the trigger, outshooting Holy Cross 30-21, and outshooting RIT 40-24.  Meanwhle, Air Force goalie Jason Torf had quite a weekend, denying Holy Cross on 19 of their 21 attempts, and shutting out RIT on all 24 of their attempts.  This is the same goalie who denied Yale on 34 of 37 attempts last November 14, handing Yale one of its six losses on the season, depite Air Force being badly outshot on that outing. 
• CCHA:  In the semifinals, Miami of Ohio scorched Notre Dame with four unanswered first period goals, and prevailed by a 6-2 margin, and Western Michigan dumped four second period goals on Michigan to win 5-2.  In the final, Miami took a 2-0 first period lead, but Western Michigan tied it 2-2 about two minutes into the third.  Miami pulled their goalie about five minutes later and scored an extra attacker goal, then followed with two more third period goals to win 5-2.
• ECAC:  Two basic shellings in the semis — Cornell 3-0 over Dartmouth, and Yale 4-0 over Colgate.  So what else would we expect when the sacrifical lamb of the 19th ranked team is set up for the #3 team, which has lost only six games all year long?  Yale skinned Cornell alive, taking home a 6-0 win.
• Hockey East:  In the semifinals, as I predicted, Northeastern gave Boston College a lot to deal with last Friday night, scoring first, and keeping the game tied midway through the second at 2-2.  And as I predicted, BC came prepared for it, as they followed with three unanswered goals and a 5-2 lead until late in the third.  But with just under five minutes to go, Northeastern capitalized on a two-man advantage, and with just under two minutes to go scored an extra attacker goal to make it 5-4, but BC managed to hold Northeastern off and take home a 5-4 win.  Meanwhile, this year’s surprising Merrimack followed up last weekend’s sweep of Maine with a 4-1 thumping of New Hampshire.  Merrimack gave BC a serious contest with the game tied 2-2 after one, and tied 3-3 with only about six minutes to play in the third, but BC did what it had to do, scoring twice in four minutes to take the 5-3 win and the chamionship.
• WCHA:  This is a really fun one.  It started with six teams showing up to the “Final Five,” a midwestern math anamoly that was further exemplified with the announcement over the weekend that there will again be six conferences in NCAA DI Hockey in two years (as there were until recently) with the introduction of a conference that will be called the “Big Ten,” which will, of course, have six teams in it (are you following this:  6=5, and 6=10; therefore does 5=10?).  Math (or the lack of it) aside, this could be pretty good for college hockey, for, as Minnesota and Wisconsin exit the WCHA for the so-called “Big Ten,” it will perhaps open a space for currently abandoned Alabama-Huntsville in the WCHA, changing the current 12-team composition to an eleven team composition.  And what the heck, they might even rename the eleven team conference the “Western Twelve,” or even the “Western Fourteen,” who knows?  Back to this six team final five . . .   Thursday night, Colorado College generally disposed of Alsaka-Anchorage by a 4-2 margin.  Not so easy the Minnesota-Duluth/Bemidji State game, in which Minnesota-Duluth started hot, scoring twice in the first, once even short-handed, to take a 2-1 lead at the end of one.  But in what was sort of a microcosm of the Bulldog’s season, they cooled as the game progressed:  a stalemate “erupted” over about 23 minutes, and they just could not hold on for the win, as Bemidji scored about a half-minute into the third, and then it was back to the stalemate, ending a 2-2 tie in regulation.  Bemidji took advantage of a power play about six minutes into OT, and took home a 3-2 win.  In the semifinals on Friday night, Bemidji had a 2-1 lead after one, but Denver overcame the 2-1 first period deficit by scoring five unanswered goals, to win 6-2.  Meanwhile, North Dakota shot the lights out of the puck, a 38-21 advantage over Colorado College, but CC was more efficient, and kept this semifinal game a real seesaw, tied 1-1 after one, 2-2 after two, and 3-3 with only seven minutes to go in the third, but Matt Frattin came through with the game winner for North Dakota with about six minutes reamining, and the Sioux were in the finals with a 4-3 win.  In the final, what else would be expect from these math-deficient hockey experts, but another great contest.  Denver scored first, taking a 1-0 lead after one, and North Dakota followed with two unanswered goals in the second taking a 2-1 lead that would last nearly a half-hour of playing time, but with about four minutes to go, Denver tied it at 2-2 to send it to OT.  What a grinder of an OT it was, with the fourth period scoreless.  But about five minutes into the second OT, or the fifth, who would be the hero?  How about Matt Frattin once again saving the day for North Dakota, and this teammate Evan Trupp in on the assist again for the second late, game-winning goal in two nights?  Does it really get any better than this?

This year there was perhaps a bit less at stake for making the NCAA tournament based on what happened in the conference tournaments.  In fact, three teams made the NCAA’s without picking up a hockey stick over this last weekend:  Union, Nebraska-Omaha, and Rennselaer Polythechnic Institute are all in, and all had very relaxing weekends.  Actually there was one team who probably could have made the tournament with another win, and that was Dartmouth; but with a loss Friday night to Cornell, they go home, and RPI comes out of the wings to play.  Michigan is in the NCAA’s for its twenty-first straight year.  The envelope, please:  This year the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament contestants, in four different regions are:

• Friday:  In Bridgeport, Connecticut, #8 ranked Union College faces #11 ranked University of Minnesota-Duluth, at noon, Pacific Time, on ESPNU; and #3 Yale University plays the #20 United States Air Force Academy (who gave Yale one of its only six losses this season), at 3:30PM Pacific Time, also on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday at 3:30PM Pacific Time, ESPNU.
• Also Friday:  In St. Louis, Missouri, #6 ranked University of Michigan plays #14 ranked University of Nebraska-Omaha at 2:30PM Pacific Time on ESPN Syndication, and #2 Boston College faces #13 Colorado College at 6:00PM Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Saturday at 6:00PM on ESPNU.
• Saturday:  In Green Bay, Wisconsin, #1 ranked University of North Dakota plays #16 ranked Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute at 10:30AM Pacific Time on ESPN Syndication, and #5 ranked University of Denver faces #10 ranked University of Western Michigan at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN Syndication.  Winners play Sunday at 2:30PM Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Also Saturday:  In Manchester, New Hampshire,  #4 ranked Miami University of Ohio faces #12 ranked University of New Hampshire at 1:00PM Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #7 ranked Merrimack Collge plays # 9 ranked University of Notre Dame at 4:30PM Pacific ‘Time on ESPN Syndication. 
  Winners play Sunday at 5:00PM Pacific Time on ESPNU.

And we’re off an running.  Your brackets have been emailed to you.  This is important:  Each game has a number under the line for the game winner.  Once you have made your picks, send them to me in a typed line, in game number order, by game winner.  Your entry emailed to me would look like this example:  1.Miami 2.Merrimack 3.Yale etc….. and then list, at the end, your score for the final game you have picked, eg:  15. Miami 3-2.  Remember, it costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.

ALL PICKS MUST BE SENT TO ME BY THURSDAY, MARCH 24th BY 11:00PM PACIFIC TIME — THAT IS ABOUT 48 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF THIS POSTING.

This provides this week’s top twenty teams, rankings, records, and last weekend’s results:

[table id=23 /]

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

 — Tom