UMD Comes Out on Top in Defensive Battle, Shuts Union Out 2-0

Minnesota-Duluth seemed to shake off its end of season lull today with a stout defensive performance, shutting out Union College 2-0. But Union also put up a solid defensive effort, and was only scored on when they were short-handed.

UMD got on the scoreboard first with a power play goal by Kyle Schmidt about fifteen minutes into the first. The two teams held each other scoreless for about thirty minutes of play, until UMD’s Justin Fontaine tallied another power play goal for the Bulldogs, about six minutes into the third period.

UMD then awaited the winner of the upcoming game between #3  nationally ranked Yale and the #20 United States Air Force Academy, probably expecting a Yale blow-out; see below on that one.

 UNO Takes Early Lead, But Michigan Fights Back, Wins 3-2 in OT

Michigan had its hands very full of Nebraska-Omaha today, as UNO started very hot, scoring a short-handed goal only about two minutes into the game, and then following that up with another goal about seven minutes later, for a quick 2-0 lead. But fates and fortunes can turn by periods, and so it was in the second, as Michigan came back scoring at nearly the exact same times on the second period clock as UNO had scored in the first.

Michigan’s first goal in the second period was on a power play opportunity, and they scored to tie it up at 2-2 with both teams at full strength. After battling to a scoreless third period, Michigan scored the winning goal about three minutes into the overtime period.

Michigan now awaits the winner of the Boston College vs. Colorado College game — our pool contestants have overwhelmingly picked BC as the favorite in this one.

Yale Survives Defensive Dogfight with Air Force Academy in OT

Wow, what a bunch of nail-biters and defensive struggles to start the NCAA Tournament!  After battling through a scorelss first, Yale scored first about seven minutes into the second period, and Air Force scored at the end of the second to tie it up 1-1. 

After another a scorelss third period, the game went into OT.  Seems like Air Force had clearly demonstrated that its November win against Yale on its Colorado Springs ice was no fluke. 

In OT, Yale’s Chad Ziegler scored the winning goal.  Yale will face Minnesota-Duluth tomorrow to decide who goes to the Frozen Four in St. Paul.

It will be interesting to see which of each of these teams shows up for this regional final.  Will it be the UMD team that seemed to languish the last several weeks of the season, or will it be the team that rose up to it today and built a brick wall around its goal?  And will it be the high flying Yale team that blew through the ECAC tournament, or the mere mortals that were pushed to the limit today by Air Force?

Our Pool — This Year’s Participation

We have 35 entrants in the pool; that’s the highest number we have ever had, surpasssing the 2009 high water mark  of 28.

Of the 35 different entries, we have nine different eventual winners chosen, of course some more often than others.  This provides a summary of which teams were chosen, and how many times they were chosen:

• Boston College—-11      
• North Dakota———9   
• Miami Ohio————6     
• Denver——————3
• Michigan—————-2
• Merrimack—————1      
• New Hampshire——-1      
• Union———————1      
• Yale———————–1

A season-ending note:  Congratulations to Aaron Bogosian, cousin of our reader, Debra Bogosian, as he finishes his college career, and a great one, at St. Lawrence University.  We might see his name in the NHL, where his younger brother already plays.

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