College Hockey Update:

NOTICE:  

                        Picks are DUE THURSDAY, March 23, by 9AM Pacific Time ! ! ! !

    The NCAA Tournament Begins on THURSDAY!!

PICKS ARE DUE TO ME WITHIN 39 HOURS OF THE TIME THE EMAILS GO OUT.

                      Picks are DUE THURSDAY, MARCH 23RD by 9AM Pacific Time ! ! ! !

                                NO EXCEPTIONS.   NO EXTENSIONS.

          PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME BACK A COMPLETED BRACKET FORM.

                             THEY ARE VERY HARD TO DEAL WITH!!!! 

PLEASE FOLLOW DIRECTIONS AND THE EXAMPLES BELOW IN THIS POSTING AND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BRACKET.  THANK YOU.

NOW, FIRST:  IF YOU are going to the Frozen Four in Tampa on April 8 and 10 (or if you know someone who will be going), please email me right away and let me know — thanks.

Ok, THIS IS IMPORTANT — I have emailed you your own 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket (my email might not be as complete as the email list on the system — if you did not get an email from me with a bracket please contact me right away with your email address and I’ll send one to you; my email address appears below right above the rankings table); please open the bracket document immediately, make your picks, and email your picks back to me in a single typed line as my picks are below, including the score of your final game. My picks are provided here as an example of how your picks should look when they are sent to me (note that the number before each pick is the number under the space where you would write the score for each game on the bracket; it’s a “game number.”):

EXAMPLE #1 — HORIZONTALLY:

1. Boston University 2. University of Denver 3. St. Cloud State University 4. University of Minnesota 5. Harvard University 6. Quinnipiac University 7. Pennsylvania State University 8. University of Michigan 9. Boston Univ 10. Univ Minnesota 11. Quinnipiac Univ 12. Univ Michigan 13. Boston Univ 14. Univ Michigan 15. Boston Univ, 3-2

EXMPLE #2 — VERTICALLY:

1. Boston University
2. University of Denver
3. St. Cloud State University
4. University of Minnesota
5. Harvard University
6. Quinnipiac University
7. Pennsylvania State University
8. University of Michigan
9. Boston Univ.
10. Univ. Minnesota
11. Quinnipiac Univ.
12. Univ. Michigan
13. Boston Univ.
14. Univ. Michigan
15. Boston Univ, 3-2

You don’t have to feel like you really know who is going to win, and remember — It costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.  So do it now!

Let’s quickly run through the conference tournament results over this last weekend, and the teams going to the NCAA Tournament, conference by conference.

Atlantic Hockey:  Semifinals had already been played two weekends ago.  In the championship game Saturday, Canisius beat Holy Cross, but Holy Cross made it tough on them, keeping them off the scoreboard for the first 38 minutes, and adding an extra attacker late in the game down only that one goal — two empty netters later, and Canisus is in the NCAA Tournament. So Atlantic Hockey sends one team, it’s champion, Canisius, ranked #24 in the last poll, on to the NCAA Tournament field of sixteen.

Big Ten:  Semifinals had already been played two weekends ago.  In the championship game Saturday, Michigan beat Minnesota. You know, I wrote this exact same thing last year. This time it was a scorcher of a back-and-forth affair that saw the winning goal scored with about eight minutes left in the game, and felt as though it wasn’t over until the final buzzer. So the Big Ten sends four teams to the NCAA Tournament field of sixteen:  #1 Minnesota; #2 Michigan; #8 Ohio State, and #11 Pennsylvania State.

CCHA: Semifinals had already been played two weekends ago.  In the championship game Saturday, Mankato State beat Northern Michigan — Makato State was shut out until the final three minutes then scored two goals to tie it up, and they found a way to win in OT over #23 Northern Michigan. So the CCHA sends two teams, it’s champion, #10 Mankato State, and #13, Michigan Tech, to the NCAA field of sixteen.

ECAC:  Colgate surprised and beat Quinnipiac with a very stingy defense in one semifinal, and Harvard survived a difficult defense from Cornell in the other semifinal.  In the championship game Colgate’s persistent stingy defense prevailed over Harvard.  So the ECAC sends four teams to the NCAA field of sixteen: #3 Quinnipiac; #7 Harvard; #12 Cornell, and #19 Colgate.

Hockey East:  In the first semfinal Boston University squeaked past the stifling defensive play of Providence College, but only by late third period, and overtime, scoring. Merrimack prevailed over UMass-Lowell in the other semifinal, but only as each team broke the scoreless deadlock with late third period scoring, and then the Merrimack score in OT. Saturday’s championship game was a back and forth affair with BU having to come from behind to tie it twice, the second time late in the third, and then score in OT to squeak out the win. Hockey East sends two teams to the NCAA tournament field of sixteen, #5 Boston University, and #14 Merrimack College.

NCHC:  Denver lost a in a semifinal surprise to another persistently stingy defense, this one put up by Colorado College, and St. Cloud State had a monster back and forth game against North Dakota, with St. Cloud State scoring very late in the third to tie it up, and then finding a way to beat North Dakota in OT. In the championship game St. Cloud State faced a determined Colorado College, but St. Cloud scored late in the second, held CC off, and then St. Cloud scored two more early in the third to take a commanding win for the NCHC Championship. So the NCHC sends three teams: #4 Denver; #6 St. Cloud State; and #9 Western Michigan, to the NCAA field of sixteen.

INDEPENDENT:  The University of Alaska at Fairbanks came did not fare well on the weekend with the upset winner in the ECAC. Alaska ended ranked #15, and would have made the tournament, but won’t be making the trip because room was needed for Colgate. At least Colgate came crashing through at the end, appearing to have a good chance of making their presence interesting.

This year the top fourteen ranked teams, plus two teams ranked #19 and #24, comprise the sixteen team field for the NCAA Tournament.  This provides this year’s NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Tournament Contestants, Regional Assignments, and broacast schedule:

• Thursday, March 23rd, in Manchester, N.H., #5 Boston University faces #9 Western Michigan at 11:00am Pacific time on ESPN2, and #4 Denver faces #12 Cornell at 2:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNews.  Winners play Saturday, March 25th, at 1:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Also Thursday, March 23rd, in Fargo, North Dakota, #6 St. Cloud State faces #10 Mankato State at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #1 Minnesota faces #24 Canisius at 6:00pm Pacific Time on ESPN2.   Winners play Saturday, March 25th, at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.
• Friday, March 24th, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, #7 Harvard faces #8 Ohio State at 11:00am Pacific Time on ESPU, and #3 Quinnipiac faces #14 Merrimack at 2:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNews.  Winners play Sunday, March 26th, at 1:00pm on ESPN2.
• Also Friday, March 24th, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, #11 Pennsylvania State faces #13 Michigan Tech at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, and #2 Michigan faces #19 Colgate at 5:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.  Winners play Sunday, March 26th, at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPN2.

So here we go!  Your bracket has been emailed to you.  IMPORTANT:  DO NOT SEND ME BACK A COPY OF A COMPLETED BRACKET — THEY ARE VERY HARD TO DEAL WITH.  Each game has a number under the line where you would write the game winner.  Once you have made your picks, send them to me in a typed line, in game number order, listing the winner.  THIS CAN BE DONE HORIZONTALLY OR VERTICALLY — PLEASE SEE THE TWO EXAMPLES AT THE TOP OF THIS POSTING.  Remember, it costs nothing to play, and the winner gets a prize.

REMEMBER THE WIENBAR-RAMSEY RULE: if you pick the eventual winner, you get TWO additional points for choosing that eventual winner to win, for a total of three points.  Therefore if you tie in number of correct picks with someone who did not pick the winner, your extra points would make you the winner between the two of you.

ALL PICKS MUST BE SENT TO ME BY THURSDAY MORNING, MARCH 23rd, AT 9:00AM PACIFIC TIME — THAT IS ABOUT 39 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF THIS POSTING.  If you did not receive a bracket email me for one at:  [email protected]

DO YOUR PICKS AND SEND THEM NOW ! ! !

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

Rnk	Team	(First Place Votes)	Record	Points	Last Poll
1	Minnesota	(34)	26-9-1	979	1
2	Michigan	(9)	24-11-3	916	4
3	Quinnipiac	(4)	30-4-3	903	2
4	Denver	(2)	30-9-0	855	3
5	Boston University	(1)	27-10-0	825	5
6	St. Cloud		24-12-3	749	7
7	Harvard		24-7-2	703	6
8	Ohio State		20-15-3	607	8
9	Western Michigan		23-14-1	537	9
10	Minnesota State		25-12-1	528	12
11	Penn State		21-15-1	506	11
12	Cornell		20-10-2	471	10
13	Michigan Tech		24-10-4	449	13
14	Merrimack		23-13-1	385	14
15	Alaska		22-10-2	257	15
16	Northeastern		17-13-5	157	16
17	North Dakota		18-15-6	130	17
18	Michigan State		18-18-2	111	19
19	Colgate		19-15-5	82	NR
20	Omaha		19-15-3	79	18

Others receiving votes: UMass Lowell 72, Notre Dame 57, Northern Michigan 38, Canisius 36, Connecticut 34, Providence 14, RIT 10, Colorado College 5, Boston College 4, Holy Cross 1

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

SEND ME YOUR PICKS!

— Tom