College Hockey talk

[foofnik]

UMasssss. Debating about driving up to Buffalo for the final.

[Matthew]

MAKAR wwiiiiinnnnnnnssss the Hobey bakeerrrrrrrr

Also, frozen four final tonight

[Shoalzie]

Flipped over briefly to watch that game along with Bruins-Leafs. Duluth definitely was the better team last night. Back-to-back champs, 3 straight trips to the title game and 3 championship this decade...definitely one of the top programs in college hockey right now.

[Shoalzie]

The 2021 tournament is underway...

A bit of a surprise with Bemidiji State knocking out Wisconsin...the end of Cole Caufield's college career?

A downer for me...Michigan had a positive COVID test ahead of their game today and they had to forfeit. Minnesota-Duluth get a free pass to the second round...faces the winner of North Dakota and AIC. A real shame...this was one of the more stacked Michigan rosters they've had in a long time. I'll be curious to see to if any of that freshman class returns...Kent Johnson, Owen Power and Matt Beniers will be draftees this spring...Brisson and Bordeleau from this past draft. Luke Hughes will join the program next year.

[Brian]

It’s truly a shame that the new Michigan Fab Five didn’t get chance. Those guys are fun to watch.

[Shoalzie]

Notre Dame got knocked out of the tournament because of COVID also. BC moves onto Sunday.

North Dakota vs. Duluth will be a good one tonight. Only played each other twice...one goal win for the ND and the other game went to a shootout.

My two favorites heading into the tournament were North Dakota and I really like Minnesota. In a one-and-done tourney, teams with strong goaltending can win this...Boston College with Knight can definitely make a run.

[koomzzz]

5OT night in Fargo. Unbelievable

[Arian The Insider]

Crazy, just tuned in for the quick 5th OT. Crappy goal to end it

[Shoalzie]

North Dakota vs. Duluth will be a good one tonight.

Didn't see a 5OT game happening but I guess I wasn't wrong. I actually turned the game off late in the third before North Dakota rallied from down 2-0 in the final minutes of regulation.

Boston College vs. St. Cloud and Minnesota vs. Minnesota State to round out the Frozen Four today.

I'm big on Minnesota winning the tournament but Dryden McKay would be the type of goalie to steal a game and knock them out. Minnesota's goalie is a Jack LaFontaine who transferred from Michigan two years ago...had a really good senior year. Sampo Ranta has been one of the hottest players in college hockey.

[Shoalzie]

Bumping this thread...the tournament starts tomorrow. And I guess there's some basketball games too. (I kid)

I haven't decided who I'm favoring this year. I really would like to see Michigan make a run considering how their tournament last year was cut short due to Covid.

[koomzzz]

Bumping this thread...the tournament starts tomorrow. And I guess there's some basketball games too. (I kid)

I haven't decided who I'm favoring this year. I really would like to see Michigan make a run considering how their tournament last year was cut short due to Covid.

I have a feeling Notre Dame is gonna make a run.

[Brian]

Michigan is 1-4 against Notre Dame, and 28-5 against everyone else. That's nutso.

[Shoalzie]

It's interesting that Michigan is on the opposite side of the Frozen Four draw from Minnesota and Notre Dame.

Overall, Michigan has a good resume. They swept UMass in January and beat both Duluth and Minnesota State at the Ice Breaker in October. They've split with Western Michigan. I'm not shocked that their stiffest competition in conference was Notre Dame and Minnesota.

I can't see them having a lot of trouble this afternoon with AIC but this is a one game scenario so you can't look past anyone. It's going to be a battle the rest of the way.

I saw a good part of Harvard-Minnesota State yesterday...crazy to think how good Harvard could've been if the Ivy League wasn't shut down due to Covid a couple years ago and it lead to Beniers transferring.

[koomzzz]

Tough way to go out for Northeastern today

[Brian]

Tough way to go out for Northeastern today

Agreed. I was hoping Northeastern would move on just so I could watch Levi play some more this weekend. How freaking good is he?

[Shoalzie]

Michigan has had a bad habit lately of building a big lead and then booting it away. They almost blew a 4-1 lead against Minnesota for the conference title and Quinnipiac almost erases a 4-0 deficit where the Wolverines even chased statistically the best goalie in the country after two periods.

Quinnipiac gets a power play at 4-3 and didn't score and then later, an interesting choice by Pecknall to pull St. Cyr with close to 4 minutes left in the game. I think he saw momentum on his side but this is kind of why I don't like this new school thinking of pulling the goalie earlier than the last minute to 90 seconds of a game. Hell, they scored the first three goals 5-on-5. I still think pulling the goalie is the ultimate desperation move you save for the closing moments of the game.

Bias aside, I love this Frozen Four group...

[Shoalzie]

Not a big fan of the 5 p.m. start for Michigan...going to miss the first period. Two really fun games on the docket tonight.

[koomzzz]

DU deserved the win. Disappointed not to get to the championship. But a good game nonetheless.

[Shoalzie]

It was interesting that Michigan's best periods were the 2nd and OT when they had the long change. They were very fortunate to even tie the game and take it OT. It's rare you can say a team had a dominate OT win but Denver clearly won the possession battle and badly outshot them. Much was talked about the fact Michigan never got a power play but you need posses the puck more to draw penalties.

Teams like Michigan and in previous years like Boston University...they'll collect the top USDP talent but rarely do these teams win the title. You basically have to catch lightning in a bottle with those particular groups. Most of the recent champions are teams that mature as a group and win with upperclassmen who are battle-tested. You don't really see a lot of young hot shot teams win. They'll come close. Eichel's BU team in 2015 lost 4-3 in the finals to Providence.

They'll probably lose Power, Beniers and any of Brisson, Bordeleau, Kent Johnson, Hughes...but they're bringing in more 1st round talent like Adam Fantilli, Frank Nazar, Seamus Casey and Rutger McGroarty. No guarantees this next group is any better or worse than the group leaving. This less of a college program and more a stepping stone for talented players on the way to the NHL. Not many of them stay for more than two years.

Michigan's last finalist team in 2011 was lead mostly by upperclassmen and had less flashy names. Good college players and a few guys went onto to have NHL careers...Hagelin, Glendening, Merrill.

[Shoalzie]

Minnesota State really clamped down the Gophers after they fell behind in the first. The Mavericks play a defense-first style similar to Denver but Denver does have some flashier talent across the board.

I'll be very curious to see how good McKay is on the next level because he's not big like the modern goalie of today and it's quite possible he's a product of the Minnesota State's defensive system. He played the most minutes in goal this year but faced much fewer shots than other goalies who played similar minutes. Oddly enough, he and Magnus Chrona both played 2000+ minutes and saw less than 850 shots this year. Compared to Dobes at Ohio State that won co-Big Ten freshman of the year with Luke Hughes, he faced almost 300 more shots than McKay. I guess if McKay gets in with the right organization, he can be very good on the next level.