College Hockey Update:  And just like that, it’s over — I wish I could tell you in advance that this will be a tremendously detailed and intricate game summary, but it just won’t be because Minnesota-Duluth just dominated this game from start to finish.  As I wrote yesterday, UMD is a playoff team, and I was right.  I was wrong, however, when I wrote that they are nearly a playoff machine.  They are a playoff machine and there is no question about it.  Yesterday UMD came out skating as fast as lightning — it appeared they were determined to out-skate Massachusetts no matter what it took.  And they pressed everywhere.  Early in the game UMD would follow the puck into the UMass zone as UMass fell back to set up transition to offense.  And when I say back into the zone, I mean all the way behind the net.  The pressure was constant, and the pace was fast and maddening.  Massachusetts also skated fast, but as they did, it seemed the skater nearly always had a UMD skater — or even two — right along with him.  UMass never seemed to get a step on UMD.  There were a few times UMass mounted a good offensive attack, and had hands right at the crease, but they didn’t prevail — UMD goalie Hunter Shepard was up to the task, and was aided by a stalwart defense that made these few episodes short-lived before clearing the puck out of the zone.  The UMD defense smothered UMass — it took away the middle of the UMD zone, allowing no real UMass offense to develop in the slot.  And UMD won in every aspect of the game, including the draws, and they seemed to be first to any loose puck in a very large majority of the instances.  In the midst of all of this, and I say this despite losing to UMD 3-0, UMass played good defense, as they have all year long.  But Duluth was opportunistic, and eventually UMass wore down.  UMD limited UMass to only eighteen shots in the entire game, out-shooting them 31-18.

Duluth senior forward Parker MacKay, of Irma, ALB., and the team leader in goals scored, did what he does, and put UMD on the board only four minutes into the first, for the 1-0 lead, ninety-seconds into a two-minute power play.  This would prove to be the game winning goal (MacKay was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2019 NCAA Hockey Tournament).  The two teams skated up and down the ice frenetically.  The pace was amazing, and it continued almost the entire game.  Back and forth, up and down the ice.  UMass hung in there for another thirty-two minutes, but with four minutes left in the second period, Mikey Anderson tallied another UMD goal and it seemed as though the odds for a UMass comeback narrowed considerably with the score 2-0.  In the third UMD seemed to press a bit less, and that means that it seemed they only had five skaters on the ice, where it had seemed they had six for the first two periods.  It was a bit less of a press, and not what we could call a let-up.  UMass hung in there and tried to get something going, but by the time any UMass player was pulling back to take a shot it seemed a UMD player would get in front of him.  UMass hung tough with UMD for twenty-two minutes after the Anderson score, but at the end they did seem worn down.  UMD capitalized on it when Jackson Cates scored with three minutes left to make it 3-0, the final score, and Duluth’s second NCAA Championship in two years.  In the last fifty years, this has happened only five times:  Denver in 1968 and 69; Boston University in 1971 and 72; then a long drought until Minnesota in 2002 and 03; Denver again in 2004 and 05, and now Minnesota-Duluth.  It seems like a big deal!  After the game, UMD had its usual cake smorgasbord as Louie Roehl and Andrew Dietrich, both of Eden Prairie, insisted, and the cake-eating converts gleefully agreed.  The report is that the team feasted on eleven cakes from the Queen of Cakes Bakery in Edina, flown in for the festivities.

The College Hockey Update Pool

It turns out that all the drama of last year’s pool is absent this year.  This year we have a clear winner.  Congratulations to Mike Michela who had eleven correct picks, including the winner (which is a bonus of two additional points by the new Wienbar-Ramsey Rules), for a total of thirteen points.  A pack of three were right on his tail.  Sort of like the Master’s Golf Tournament today.  When asked about his son’s accomplishment today, Barney Michela — a past pool participant — said, “I’m not the least bit surprised.  He’s an amazing guy and the sky is the limit for him.  He was a great student in college at Fordham.  Keep an eye on him, and be sure to take good notes.  His mother and I are both extremely proud of him, as always.  Well, OK,  we never dreamed he was this good.”

Final College Hockey Update Pool Standings

Winner, Mike Michela  11 correct picks, 13 total points.

10 Picks, 12 Points  Cattermole, Huberty, Shimshock

9 Picks, 11 Points  Carlisle, BOswald

11 Picks, 11 Points  Gallus

8 Picks, 10 Points  Erdmann, KMattson, Miller, Nelly, MPike

10 Picks, 10 Points  Sell

7 Picks, 9 Points  Holte, WRoth, Schwictenberg

9 Picks, 9 Points  Breen, O’Connell

6 Picks, 8 Points  JPike, PReichel, Thorson

8 Picks, 8 Points  Bremer, Clarkin, Esposito, Ryan, GSchreader, DShymanski, TShymanski

7 Picks, 7 Points  Fairbrother, Giuliani, Johnson, Muscarella, Naughton, Olson, Pastor, Peterson, Ragusa, Ramsey, ORoth, Sempere, Slaughter

4 Picks, 6 Points  POswald

6 Picks, 6 Points  Bricknell, Corey, Kramer, PMattson, McLean, Miller, JSchreader, Speare, Wienbar

5 Picks, 5 Points  Bettendorf, Cook, Krajan, MReichel, Schmidt

4 Picks, 4 Points  Kreisel, Sweeney

And I think that about covers it.  Congratulations again to Mike Michela.  Mike, your sweatshirt is on the way.  The Minnesota-Duluth bookstore has bailed us out the past few years as our source for a sweatshirt, but much to our surprise they didn’t have one made this year.  I was on the verge of getting a long-sleeved t-shirt instead, and I remembered that years ago when the tournament was in Philadelphia, I managed to find a sweatshirt at a souvenir store near the arena and have it sent to me.  This year I thought I’d try the McLean network, and as usual, John McLean had about ten friends at the tournament.  Friday night he introduced me via text to University of Denver alum Colby Shepard, who agreed to go early to the tournament on Saturday, take a picture of the sweatshirts inside the arena, and once he had a green light, he bought it for me.  So, Mike . . . . your sweatshirt is on a plane home to Denver with Colby and he’ll mail it to me this week.  Once I have it, I’ll get the custom CHU logo screened on the back and deliver it to you that long haul of four blocks away.  I can’t thank John McLean enough for his resourcefulness in remembering Colby, and in tracking him down.  And I am very grateful to Colby for being willing to help me out with this, and for all the legwork in picking up our trophy sweatshirt this year, and in getting to me here in San Francisco.

Well, it’s over.  What a great season.  Thanks to you all for coming along for the ride, particularly the fifty-eight who entered the pool.  And thanks to my behind the scenes contributors who know a whole lot more about hockey than I do, and who give me insights and technical clarifications from time to time — John McLean, Greg Schreader, and Bruce Carlisle.  And thanks to anyone else who chimed in with a helpful tidbit — I know there were a couple, and I am not remembering who you are right now!

So, that’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers, go College Hockey!

— Tom