NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship

[LostTexan]

The field was announced today for the NCAA Ice Hockey Championship and all of the games will be televised either live or on tape-delay. The first two rounds will be next Friday through Sunday on ESPNU with the semis on Thursday April 10th at 6pm and 9pm on ESPN2 followed by the finals on Saturday April 12th at 7pm on ESPN.

Complete Schedule:
East Regional
At Times Union Center -- Albany, N.Y.
Friday, March 28
Clarkson (21-12-4) vs. St. Cloud State (19-15-5), 4 p.m., ESPNU
Niagara (22-10-4) vs. Michigan (31-5-4), 7:30 p.m., ESPNU

Saturday, March 29
Regional final, 7 p.m., ESPNU

West Regional
At World Arena -- Colorado Springs, Colo.
Friday, March 28
Notre Dame (24-15-4) vs. New Hampshire (25-9-3), 6:30 p.m., ESPN360.com (tape delay on ESPNU, 1 a.m. on 3/29)
Michigan State (24-11-5) vs. Colorado College (28-11-1), 10 p.m., ESPNU

Saturday, March 29
Regional final, 10 p.m., ESPNU

Midwest Regional
At Kohl Center -- Madison, Wis.
Saturday, March 29
Princeton (21-13-0) vs. North Dakota (26-10-4), 3 p.m., ESPN360.com (tape delay on ESPNU, 12:30 p.m. on 3/30)
Wisconsin (15-16-7) vs. Denver (26-13-1), 6:30 p.m., ESPN360.com (tape delay on ESPNU, 2:30 p.m. on 3/30)

Sunday, March 30
Regional final, 7 p.m., ESPNU

Northeast Regional
At DCU Center -- Worcester, Mass.
Saturday, March 29
Air Force (21-11-6) vs. Miami, Ohio (32-7-1), 4 p.m., ESPNU
Minnesota (19-16-9) vs. Boston College (21-11-8), 7:30 p.m., ESPN360.com (tape delay on ESPNU, 1 a.m. on 3/30)

Sunday, March 30
Regional final, 4:30 p.m., ESPNU

Frozen Four
At Pepsi Center -- Denver
Thursday, April 10
East champion vs. West champion, 6 p.m. or 9 p.m., ESPN2
Midwest champion vs. Northeast champion, 6 p.m. or 9 p.m., ESPN2

Saturday, April 12
National championship, 7 p.m., ESPN

The Hurricanes have 4 players in the tournament:
Jamie McBain - Wisconsin - Sophmore - Defense
Kyle Lawson - Notre Dame - Sophmore - Defense
Tim Kunes - Boston College - Junior - Defense
Nick Dodge - Clarkson College - Senior - Forward

For more on these guys I would recomend checking out Corylav's article fron January on Canes prospects in the NCAA (http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10139/hurricanes_ncaa_prospects_update/)

[corylav]

aw shucks ... thx

[LostTexan]

Clarkson and St Cloud are tied 1-1 in the 2nd at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Dodge almost had a chance at a goal on a rebound but was being grabbed and drew the penalty instead.

[LostTexan]

Clarkson came back to beat St Cloud 2-1.

In other games...
Michigan won 5-1 over Niagara to meet Clarkson tomorrow in the East Regional Final (7pm ESPNU)
Notre Dame upset New Hamshire 7-3

Which means both Lawson and Dodge are moving on.

One more thing about the Clarkson/St Cloud game from Luke:
As the Hurricanes and Thrashers took the ice for warmups, Cole and Todd White met up at the red line for a quick conversation. The two Clarkson alumni had plenty to talk about — their alma mater’s 2-1 win over St. Cloud State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

For Cole, it was a lucrative win, cashing friendly wagers with Carolina’s four St. Cloud products: Tim Conboy, Matt Cullen, Bret Hedican and Joe Jensen.

[LostTexan]

Wow did anybody watch the game between Miami (OH) and Air Force earlier tonight? Miami scored early, late, and then once more in OT to win 3-2. I thought the officiating was less then stellar but that might just be because I was rooting for the Air Force.

Clarkson just killed off over a minute of 5 on 3 but they're still down 2-0 late in the 3rd. Maybe we'll save some on travel, hey Nick, just stay in Albany.

[LostTexan]

This has really been some exciting hockey today. In the first game this afternoon BC beat Miami (OH) 4-3 in OT. After Miami scored the first 2 goals, BC battled back scoring 2 in under 30 seconds and addind a 3rd about a minute or so later to make it 3-2 BC. Miami tied it up in the 3rd but lost in OT.

In the second game today Wisconsin got out to a 2 goal lead (starting with a goal by Canes prospect Jamie McBain) but North Dakota tied it up in the 3rd with 2 goals in under a minute. Which is where we are now 2-2 w/ 13 minutes to go in the 3rd.

[LostTexan]

Well Wisconsin ended up dropping the game in OT to North Dakota 3-2 which means the Frown Four will be Boston College against North Dakota and Michigan against Notre Dame.

The Frozen Four will be Thursday April 10th in Denver at 6pm and 9pm on ESPN2.

[Captain Slack]

Boston College is ACC, so I gotta root for them.

[corylav]

Boston College is ACC, so I gotta root for them.

in hockey they're in Hockey East though.

[Fghtr4jc]

Doesn't BC make the frozen four every year and choke?

[StormShaman]

Lemme go on record here:

GO SIOUX

Thank you. :D

[fightingsioux]

Yes Go Sioux.

Ride the Stache

http://www.undsportszone.com/articles/?id=70434

[car3hur]

Well Wisconsin ended up dropping the game in OT to North Dakota 3-2 which means the Frown Four will be Boston College against North Dakota and Michigan against Notre Dame.

The Frozen Four will be Thursday April 10th in Denver at 6pm and 9pm on ESPN2.

Freakin Wisconsin. They can't do anything right. >:|

[LostTexan]

Bumping this up because The Frozen Four starts tonight on ESPN2.
6:00pm Boston College vs. North Dakota
9:00pm (9:30 according to TWC's guide) Michigan vs. Notre Dame

[brindyfan]

well I decided to watch the ND-Michigan game. For some reason, I have just not been able to get into the NHL playoffs. anyway, great game. I cannot believe how into this game I got considering I have never watched college hockey before. Great up & down action & lots of hitting. ND wins in OT 5-4 after blowing a 3-0 lead in the second period. 1st time a No. 3 seed has ever made the final 4 much less the championship game. Go Irish on Saturday! Only because I love an underdog story.

Thanks for the heads up on the game LT.

[LostTexan]

Thanks for the heads up on the game LT.
No problem, glad you got to enjoy the game.


I only caught some of the first game between BC and North Dakota which saw BC (a 2 seed) destroy North Dakota (a 1 seed) 6-1. Nathan Gerbe got a hat trick for BC scoring a short handed, even strength, and powerplay goal.

As brindyfan mentioned Notre Dame (a 4 seed and one of the last teams to get in) knocked off the overall number one seed Michigan 5-4 in OT. ND got off to a 3 nothing lead and it looked like it was going to be another route but Michigan came out with a new goaltender in the 2nd and scored 2 goals to close the gap before tying it at 3 early in the 3rd. ND retook the lead in the 3rd but Michigan tied it back up with just over 5 minutes to go on a shot that some how found its way between the post and the ND goaltender. Calle Ridderwall was the hero for Notre Dame scoring the game winner 5:44 in to OT. It was his 5th goal of the season, after he got only his 4th of the season to open the scoring in the 1st.

Tomorrow at 9pm on ESPNU will be the NCAA Ice Hockey Skills Competition.

The finals between Notre Dame and Boston College will be on ESPN on Saturday at 7pm.


BTW: I think the Canes need a pep band in the RBC Center.

[StormShaman]

That was such a painful game for me to watch.

I freaking hate BC.

[nccanes]

Wish I'd seen the ND/Mich game -- sounds like quite the story. Go Irish!

[corylav]

Wish I'd seen the ND/Mich game -- sounds like quite the story. Go Irish!

For ND to win that game with all the *crucial* mistakes they made ... wow. It's one of those games that was so exciting not b/c of the plays made, but the mistakes.

Billy Sauer showed his true colors. Terrible.

[SoCalcaniac]

I think the Canes need a pep band in the RBC Center.

Totally agree. Would be fun!

I remember a couple years back, we had that battle of the bands thing at one of the games (this had to be pre-lockout maybe in the dreaded Eric Staal Sweepstakes year?02-03??? can't remember) anywhoo, it was State and UNC, in the intermissions- and they had them up in that area that is now the Champions Club. Ya'll remember that? I thought it was really neat because people got really into the sounds of a pep band.

I had another experience with this up in - of all places- D.C. at a Caps game. They had the Georgetown pep band playing during a Canes/Caps game, and they were good they had alot of the cheer/music thing going with this group, very vocal and had a rah-rah vibe about them (obviously) and the crowd got into that. This was one of the few games when we went to DC and we didn't jinx the Canes and they won. :lol:

I love the enthusiasm that College sports bring- College Hockey is always awesome. I really got into it during the lockout- and since my own Alma Matter only has Intramural Hockey, I've adopted a couple schools that I cheer for (ND, Michigan and the Boston Schools- yep, I'm all over the map, lol) just for fun. I Tivo'd the game so I'll be interested in seeing what transpired. Very cool story for ND.

[nccanes]

I'll never forget Irbe's quote after that game. When the crowd boo'd everytime UNC band played he said "they don't like the blue band, no?". :lol:

[RangersCanesFan]

I thought it was during the 01-02 season. I kind of remember it being against Vancouver on Martin Luther King Day. The game ended 7-5. It was a non-21 game plan game.

State's band got cheers, while the holes were booed as soon as they started.

[LostTexan]

Anybody watch the skills competition on ESPNU? I only watched parts of it and thought it was pretty good (the production value was at least as good as the NHL one). They had a shootout competition that wasn't giving out points on creativity but most of the guys did creative stuff.

It looks like it'll be on again at 4:30am in case you're up (or own one of those magic recording machines)

[LostTexan]

So this Nathan Gerbe kid is having another solid game, having now scored 5 goals in the 2 games in Denver. I was curious to see more about him and found out he's a Buffalo Sabres draft pick (5th round 2005). But is he ever small, 5'5"/5'6" which compared to some of the Canes small guys like Whitney and Rosey who are listed at 5'10".

It's now 3-0, Gerbe only got an assist on the last one though.

[LostTexan]

Kyle Lawson took an elbow to start the 3rd period but came back and was in on the rush and deflected the puck in off his skates and it was ruled a no goal after a very lengthy review.

And less then a minute later Gerbe makes a sick pass out front to Ben Smith, so it goes from being 3-2 (before the goal was waived off) to now being 4-1.

[LostTexan]

The final ended up being 4-1 BC w/ Nathan Gerbe winning the tournament MVP (big shocker there).

Here's a link to the ESPN write-up. (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=3344323) I thought this was kinda interesting:
The game was shown on the scoreboard at Fenway Park during a rain delay of the Red Sox game against the New York Yankees. Those remaining in the stands cheered when Gerbe made it 1-0 when he took a pass from Brian Gibbons and one-timed it from the lower left circle past Jordan Pearce 2:23 into the second period.

I think they said Canes prospect and Notre Dame Defenseman Kyle Lawson made the all tournament team.


BTW: Next year the Frozen Four will be held at the phone booth in DC.