- North Dakota v. Boston College (6 PM EST)
Boston College
Schedule:
BC started the season with the overtime loss to Michigan, before beating RPI to salvage the weekend in Minnesota. They followed that with a stretch where they played NoDak (we'll get to that later) and accumulated a 2-3-5 record. Yes, you read that correctly, they tied 5 of their next ten games before playing BU at the end of November in that rivalry series. That series against the Terriers seemed to revitalize the Eagles as they swept their bitter rivals and along with those wins, went on a 13-3-2 stretch to bring their season back from devastation to a very respectable 15-6-7 record. Unfortunately, they ended the season 1-6-1 to bring their record going into the Hockey East tourney to 16-12-8 and leaving BC in desperate need of a deep conference tourney run. You ask and you shall receive from this bunch with loads of postseason experience as they have reeled off 6 straight postseason victories including the NCAA regionals in Worcester. A team who knows how to win in the clutch is the best way to describe these Eagles as they pulled off victories in OT against New Hampshire (in 3OT) and Miami since the regular season has ended to ensure that they will continue playing in Denver.
Relevant Stats:
These Eagles are a strong team, lead by Hobey Baker Hat Trick finalist junior F Nathan Gerbe (30-30-60 in 42 GP). Gerbe will be the player to watch for sure, as he has done everything in his power this season to make sure this team returns to the Frozen Four and, if not for Kevin Porter, would have a legitimate claim to the Hobey Baker trophy. Gerbe isn't the only player on
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Other Miscellaneous Stats:
- When leading after 2 periods: 18-0-3; when trailing: 2-8-1
- 15.9 PIM/G
- This season: Lost to Michigan 4-3 in OT, tied NoDak 0-0 (game called after 2 periods due to ice conditions)
Schedule:
North Dakota's season started out swimmingly, as they were able to dispatch of the defending national champion Michigan State Spartans in convincing fashion, 6-0, and made the statement right there that they would be a team to reckon with. Now if only they had remembered that there were more games to be played. Following that game 10/13, NoDak would spend the rest of 2007 in split series purgatory, getting a tie and a win in Boston (against BC and Northeastern, respectively) before splitting 8 straight series. After the final split series in that stretch, North Dakota's record was 10-8-1 and the date was January 5th. With half the season gone and the Sioux splitting half their series, it was anybody's guess as to where this team was headed. Well, a sweep of Michigan Tech got the Sioux headed in the right direction, and what followed vaulted North Dakota back into the national debate for number 1 team in the nation. The Fighting Sioux did not lose another game until the first round of the WCHA tournament, compiling a record to end the regular season of 14-0-3 in their final 17 games and an overall record of 23-8-4. In the WCHA tournament, NoDak struggled against the Huskies from Houghton, but were able to win the best of 3 series in 3 games. In their next game in the WCHA semis, they would lose to Denver (the eventual champs) 3-1 before beating Colorado College 4-2 to claim 3rd place in the WCHA. This team is loaded with talent that has been to this stage before, as North Dakota will be making its 4th straight appearance in the Frozen Four to try to win the school's first national title since 2000.
Relevant Stats:
North Dakota is not the scoring machine of past years (see 8 goals against UM last year in the regional) but they still have the talent to score when needed. NoDak averages 3.05 goals per game, well below both BC and UM, and most of that scoring comes from 4 players. Only four players on the Sioux roster have double digit goal totals on the season, all of which have scored
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Other Miscellaneous Stats:
- Goal Differential by period: 1st: +32, 2nd: +7, 3rd: +13
- 18.3 PIM/G
- PP% - 19.1%; PK% - 87.4%
- This season: Tied BC in Boston though the game was called after 2 periods.
- Only played 4 neutral site games this year (in the WCHA tournament and the NCAA Regionals)
While both teams come into this game playing great over the second half of the season, I see this game coming down to more about in-game momentum than incoming momentum. Each team will be so experienced from previous years, not only with how to
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Prediction:
Watch for both teams to come out flying, though J-P will stand tall and Muse will let in an early goal to TJ Oshie. The second period will not be much as both teams clamp down and both goalies see every shot clearly. The third period will see a bad penalty from NoDak result in a PP goal for Nathan Gerbe to knot the score up. Not long after though, Muse lets in a soft goal to Andrew Kozek and from their Lamoureux stands on his head to preserve the 2-1 victory and North Dakota is back in the championship game for the first time since 2005.
- Notre Dame v. Michigan (9:30 PM EST)
Notre Dame
Schedule:
Notre Dame came into the season expected to move past the powerhouse program in the CCHA, Michigan, and lead a 3 team race atop the CCHA with themselves, Miami, and Michigan State. While those 3 teams lived up to their parts, Michigan crashed the party, ruining what was supposed to be Notre Dame's official coming-out party as an official top-rung hockey program. The season that was supposed to be amazing, started slowly, with a loss to Wisconsin and a win against Mercyhurst (ugh!) in the Lefty McFadden Invitational. They followed that with a split against Denver, a win over BG, and a split with Ferris State, bringing their record to 4-3 at the end of October, not the start the Irish faithful were expecting. But the luck of the Irish picked up after that, with a 12-1 record in Notre Dame's next 13 to move the Irish to 16-4 and in great position moving into the holiday break. Unfortunately, out of those 13 games, only a split at Miami could be considered anything of significance, leading to trouble come later in the season. Heading into the holiday season with a 16-4 record and a trip to Tampa for a winter tournament made for what seemed to be a bright future for Notre Dame. In Tampa, they lost their first game
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Relevant Stats:
Offensively, Notre Dame is horrible in comparison to the rest of the teams in the Frozen Four, with an anemic 2.89 goals per game. That offense seemed to have taken a hit when the Irish lost their leading scorer, Eric Condra (15-23-38) in the CCHA tournament. Notre Dame proved that was the not the case when they put up 10 goals in the regionals against 2 of the top 4 goalies in the nation (Kevin Regan of UNH and Jeff Lerg of MSU). This team will still not be able to keep up with the Wolverines in a shootout, but if the Wolverines overlook the Irish offense (especially Ryan Thang or Kevin Deeth), they could be in deep trouble. Defensively, the Irish are one of the best in the nation, allowing only 2.04 goals against per game. With a great blue line corps (starring Brock Sheahan, Dan VeNard, and Kyle Lawson), this team has the distinct possibility of causing the Wolverines offense problems. The defense is especially great on the penalty kill, killing off 89.6% of their opponent's powerplay opportunities. Expect the Irish to play for a 1-0 or 2-1 score and if they get up early, watch out, the Wolverines could be in trouble. In net for the Irish will be junior goaltender Jordan Pearce, who touts a 1.95 GAA and .917 save percentage. The play of Pearce and the blue line corps will be important, but in the end, the integral play will be that of Deeth and Thang and whether they can outscore the amazing Wolverine offense.
Other Miscellaneous Stats:
- Goal Differential by period: 1st: +6, 2nd: +23, 3rd: +10
- 13.3 PIM/G
- PP% - 15.4%; PK% - 89.6%
- This season: Swept by Michigan in a home-and-home (with ND's home game at the Palace)
- Swept Michigan in the regular season last year before beating them again in the postseason (in the CCHA championship).
This is a second straight all-CCHA matchup for the Fighting Irish, as they beat the Spartans to get here, while the Wolverines will try to continue their winning ways against Notre Dame following last season's sweep at the hands of the Irish. Jeff Jackson versus Red Berenson; Jordan Pearce versus Billy Sauer; Brock Sheahan and Dan VeNard versus Chad Kolarik and Kevin Porter; Mark Mitera and Scooter Vaughan versus Ryan Thang and Kevin Deeth; loads of great matchups show up in this game, but the game will play out in my mind, more on the shoulders of the Michigan offense. Notre Dame cannot be expected to put up more than 3 goals, and more likely will only put up 1 or 2. Therefore, it will come down to whether the Wolverines can put goals against the strong Irish defense and the jitters of being in their first ever Frozen Four.
Prediction:
This game will probably be played much closer to the vest, as neither team has players who have been to the Frozen Four with coaches who have. Therefore, the coaches will probably try to keep things simple to make sure the players feel comfortable. Expect a lower scoring game and the team to score first to have a huge advantage. I see the Wolverines and Irish playing close for the entire first period with a 0-0 score after 1. In the second period, the Wolverines will finally get on the board, thanks to Louie "Light the Lamp" Caporusso. That leaves the score at 1-0 after 2, but then the fireworks will start. Both coaches will look at their teams and tell them that we are in for a fight, so let's go out play our hearts out over the final 20 minutes. I see plenty of scoring in the third, with the teams combining for 5 goals. The final score will be...4-2 Michigan after a late goal (EN) to push the lead back to 2.
This should provide you with all the info you need to know about the 3 teams other than Michigan in the Frozen Four, which starts on Thursday. Remember, we will be broadcasting live from Denver, CO, so listen to 88.3 FM Ann Arbor if you are in the area, or just tune into listen to us live on the sports stream at WCBN.org.
By the way, a little trivia to impress friends with: When was the last time the Frozen Four did not feature one of the following 3 teams(Michigan, Boston College, or North Dakota)? Answer: 1994 (Lake Superior State [who won while coached by Jeff Jackson], Boston U, Harvard, Minnesota)
1 comment:
A little off topic, Guys... I have a question. Last weekend I trapped on this site:
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They say you can play online Fight Night game tournaments on any console for cash... had anyone tried that before? Looks like a cool idea...
Are there any other sites where you can play sports games for real moneys? I Googled and found only Bringit.com and Worldgaming.com but it looks these guys don't specialize in sport gamez. Any suggestions?
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