College Hockey Update:  In opening round action of the NCAA Tournament in Bridgeport, CT. today, Bemidji State jumped out to an early lead over Wisconsin, and the Beavers never really looked back.  Elias Rosen picked off a pass at the blue line and funneled a shot to score, and and then Ross Armour fired one in from the top of the crease.  Despite missing a couple couple of power play opportunities, the Beavers took their 2-0 lead into the break, after a first in which they dominated the pace, outshooting Wisconsin 16-7.  Two quick, early second-period penalties on Bemidji put them double-shorthanded, and Wisconsin netted the five-on-three goal to tighten it at 2-1.  Very even play ensued for the next twelve minutes, and Ethan Somoza, at the left face-off circle, one-timed a pass from a corner scrum through the bodies and into the net for the 3-1 lead.  Two minutes later a Bemidji penalty put them short-handed, and Owen Sillinger controlled the puck behind the net in the Wisconsin zone, and made a nifty wrap around shot for the 4-1 lead, and sending the Badger goalie to his bench.  A blitz was on!

Six minutes into the third Ethan Somoza delivered a carbon copy of his second period goal, when, again at the left face-off circle, he one-timed a pass into the net for the 5-1 lead.  But two minutes later Wisconsin narrowed the score to 5-2 on a power play goal.  And with five minutes left in the game, Wisconsin scored again to make it 5-3.  But Bemidji never relented, pressing, playing to score throughout the entire third period.  Wisconsin added the extra attacker and pressed, but Bemidji was effective at stopping the attack by sending the puck out of the zone, over and over again.  But to make it more thrilling, shortly after the Badgers went to six-on-five, a slashing penalty put a Beaver in the tank for the remainder of the game.  Despite the odds, Bemidji eventually got a break down the ice, and Brendan Harris snagged an empty-netter to make the final, 6-3, Bemidji State, advancing the Beavers to play tomorrow, March 27th, at 1pm Pacific Time, on ESPNU, against the winner of this afternoon’s UMass-Amherst vs. Lake Superior State game.

The outcome of this game is a huge upset in our pool, as thirty-five of the fifty-one participants picked Wisconsin to win this game, compared to only sixteen participants who picked Bemidji.

VIRUS IMPACT ON TEAMS, TOURNAMENT AND POOL

Ok, we all know that St. Lawrence had to withdraw from the tournament because of the virus. Well, the latest news is . . . . same for Notre Dame, AND for Michigan.  These games will go down in the NCAA records as no-contest, advancing both Boston Collge and Minnesota-Duluth. As regards the impact on the pool, the College Hockey Update Board of Directors held three meetings between last night (when it was known Notre Dame was out), and this morning (after learning Michigan was out).  After considering three options, it was decided that we will handle these, effectively, as first-round forfeits, or losses, for both Notre Dame and Michigan, and carry on.  It is possible that there could be more teams to drop out, and this was the only way to make sense of our bracket.

OUR POOL THIS YEAR

We have 51 participants in our pool, seven short of our highest number ever, 58 in the last pool, in 2019.  However, this is our second highest number ever, besting the 2018 number of 50.  Our 51 participants picked eleven different teams to win the NCAA Championship this year. I haven’t looked it up, but I sort of think that’s a new record as well — it only leaves five teams that no one picked to win it all, and it is three more than were picked by the 58 participants in 2019.   This provides the teams picked to win it all, how many participants selected each of these teams:

• North Dakota           14
• Boston College          9
• Minnesota                  9
• St. Cloud State          4
• Wisconsin                  4
• Minnesota-Duluth      3
• Bemidji State             2
• Boston University      2
• Massachusetts          2
• Mankato State           1
• Michigan                    1

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

— Tom