If you’re a college hockey fan, these next few weeks are going to be a good time. All the blue bloods of the sport are back involved and there’s more than enough star power to go around.
The brackets get released on Sunday. BU, BC, North Dakota and Denver hold down the one-seeds entering the weekend. Western Michigan and Colorado College – both idle after being eliminated in the NCHC quarterfinals last weekend – are currently the last two teams in with potential bid-stealers lurking behind in Cornell and St. Cloud State.
The committee will have its hands full regardless of what happens. There’s a prospect of five NCHC teams, four Hockey East and four Big Ten teams making it, which makes the task of avoiding intra-conference matchups in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as tall as ever. The inclusion of regional hosts UMass (Springfield) and Omaha (Sioux Falls), meaning both clubs have to play in those respective regionals, throws a wrench in it all.
If you’ve had a hard week at work, just imagine being on that committee.
It’ll be a fun weekend. What will ultimately happen is anyone’s guess. Here’s my attempt to do so:
Hockey East: BU over BC. This is as exciting a Hockey East final four as we’ve had in some time. Both BU and BC are at the Garden, the first time since 2019 in which that has happened, while Maine, which holds the most Hockey East titles of any school without a Commonwealth Ave address, makes its return. UMass accounts for two of the last three conference titles. And I’ll say this – don’t be surprised if UMass upsets BC. The last meeting between these two teams came in February, a 6-4 BC win in Chestnut Hill that came via three unanswered goals in the third period – a five-on-three goal followed by a power play goal followed by an empty net goal at the end. UMass will take the Garden ice Friday with that game fresh in mind.
But I’m just going to put one on the fairway here and put BU and BC in the final Saturday night. These have been the best two teams in the country all year and have made light work of Hockey East despite how strong the conference has been this season. BU captures the Lamoriello Trophy – the Terriers are the better team from top-to-bottom and were the better team for much of the three matchups between these two clubs this season, despite the Eagles holding the 2-1 advantage.
NCHC: North Dakota over St. Cloud State. North Dakota, Denver, Omaha and St. Cloud State descend upon the Xcel Energy Center this weekend and don’t be surprised if at least one of these four clubs are back there next month for the Frozen Four. North Dakota remains my favorite to be the ones raising the national championship trophy in the Minnesota Wild’s house and I’ll take them to win a ridiculously-competitive NCHC, which has six of its eight teams ranked in the top 17 of the USCHO.com poll. They take down defending champ St. Cloud State in a rematch of the 2021 Frozen Faceoff title game, a 5-3 NoDak win. The Huskies, the current second team out in the pairwise, moves past Denver on Friday as they try to claim a spot.
Big Ten: Michigan State over Michigan. All you have to ask yourself this time of year is which team is more likely to keep the puck out of its own net. To me the easy answer here is the Spartans. Both teams have actually allowed the same number of goals per game (3.0), but Michigan State has tightened up in that area down the stretch, allowing two goals or fewer in six of its last eight games going back to early February. I trust Trey Augustine to make the saves moreso than Jake Barczewski.
ECAC: Quinnipiac over Dartmouth. You know when you go on and on about something hasn’t happened and it always seems like said thing ends up happening? Well I feel like I’ve been droning on and on about Quinnipiac’s inability to go up to Lake Placid and take the ECAC title despite their recent success. Well, I think the Bobcats do it this year.
Last year, Colgate shockingly won this tournament in a final four field that included tournament-bound teams in Quinnipiac, Cornell and Harvard. There may be another Colgate lurking this year in Dartmouth. The Big Green head into Lake Placid winners of six straight, their last loss coming on February 3rd at Quinnipiac. They’re all but assured of a 10-loss season (barring a run to the unlikeliest of national titles), their fewest in a season since 1978-79. Dartmouth is backstopped by 6-foot-8 goalie Cooper Black, who has a .911 save percentage and 2.52 GAA in 29 games this season.
CCHA: Bemidji State over Michigan Tech. This might be the best game of the weekend. Two teams playing some of the best hockey in the country right now, with Bemidji riding a nine-game winning streak and Michigan Tech winners of six of seven. The Beavers have 14 double-digit point scorers that includes a pair of 20-point defensemen in Kyle Looft (28) and Eric Pohlkamp (24). Michigan Tech is led by freshman Isaac Gordon, who is tied for eighth in the country among freshmen with 36 points. Star netminder Blake Pietila, who has a 2.10 GAA and .922 save percentage in 140 career games, has found his form in the second half.
Atlantic Hockey: RIT over AIC. The Tigers are a potential tournament dark horse, ranking top-10 in the country in both goals per game and goals allowed per game and a resume that includes win over Notre Dame and UNH. Their No. 21 ranking in the pairwise is right behind Northeastern and Arizona State and ahead of Notre Dame and Penn State. RIT has six players with 30-plus points – two of which are defensemen in Gianfranco Cassaro and Aiden Hansen-Bukata. Denver, with a blueline led by brothers Shai and Zeev Buium – a second-round pick and projected 2024 top-10 pick, respectively – is the only other team with multiple 30-point defensemen. At the other end of the rink, Tommy Scarfone has a 2.19 GAA and .928 save percentage. RIT is also riding a six-game win streak.
Puck Watching 