College Hockey Update:  In opening round action of the NCAA Tournament in Eastern Regional in Providence, R.I., Mankato State jumped out to an early lead that initially seemed it might be insurmountable, scoring three goals in the first period at the eight, eight, and eleven minute marks.  Josh Wilkins converted a power play opportunity a couple of minutes after the third Mankato score to tighten the score at 3-1, and breathing much-need life into the Friars, who seemed in shock up to that point.  Five minutes into the second, Vimal Sukumaran tallied another for Providence, tightening the score to 3-2, and the Friars seemed to start to believe they could be in this game after all.  Mankato had the offensive momentum, out-shooting Providence 14-8 in the first, but they evened things up and took a slight shot advantage over Mankato in the second, 10-9.  And midway through the third Kasper Björkqvist converted yet another Providence power play opportunity, and they were solidly in the game with the score knotted at three apiece, where it stood going into the second break.  The third was a hotly contested period of play, and things seemed to reach a boiling point as Mankato’s Connor Mackey was called for a game misconduct penalty on a hit to the head at the eight minute point, giving Providence a full five minutes to score as many power play goals as they could.  They had already scored two, and they scored two more one minute later by Tyce Thompson, and then another minute later Josh Wilkins was back for more.  When the major expired, Providence had the seemingly unlikely 5-3 lead.  The third played out evenly overall as Mankato pressed to score, but Providence repelled their efforts; the teams each had eleven shots on goal.  With two minutes to go Mankato pulled their goalie, and only seconds later Jason O’Neill found the empty net for Providence, making the final score 6-3 Providence.  This game came down to Providence really capitalizing on power play opportunities, and a Mankato player playing very badly at a very bad time.  Reader John Kriesel summarized it in an email to me: “Couldn’t believe   that DUMB very clearly flagrant elbow to the head by the Mankato player on Providence.  That cost his team the tournament.  They had a good 3-3 game going middle of 3’d.  The 5 minute major gives Providence a man advantage for the full 5 minutes.  They quickly score 2 goals….isch !!”  Yep, this type of play is hard to watch, especially when it costs a team so much.  Providence advanced to play Cornell in the Eastern Regional Final in Providence tomorrow, Sunday, March 31st, at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN2.

This outcome is a huge upset in our pool as 50 of 58 entrants picked Mankato to win this game,  where only 8 picked Providence.

VANDERLAAN, CORNELL, CRUSH NORTHEASTERN

In the late game in the Eastern Regional in Providence, R.I., today, it was all Cornell.  In a game that played out pretty evenly in the offensive stats, Cornell made it happen over and over again, and Northeastern didn’t have any answers for what came their way.  Beau Starrett started it only four minutes into the game to put Cornell up 1-0.  Mitch Vanderlaan scored what would prove to be the game winner only a minute into the second, and Morgan Barron scored nine minutes later to make it 3-0, Cornell.  The weren’t done — Michael Regush scored on a power play three minutes later, and it was 4-0, Cornell.  Three minutes later Northeastern converted a power play opportunity to make it 4-1.  But five minutes into the third Brenden Locke scored yet again for Cornell, making the final a 5-1 Cornell win and whitewashing.  Cornell advanced to play Providence in the Eastern Regional Final in Providence tomorrow, Sunday, March 31st, at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN2.

This outcome is a very big upset in our pool as only 19 entries out of 58 picked Cornell to win this game, vs. 39 for Northeastern.

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

— Tom