NCAA tourney- Day 1- Let the fun begin!!!
The first day of the NCAA hockey tourney is in the books, we have 4 teams out of the running for the trophy (Clarkson, St. Cloud, BU, and UAH) so we have a #1, 2 #2, and a #4 seed gone. There were 2 overtime games, one going to 2 overtimes, and one going scoreless into overtime. I got to see 2 of the games. The first game I watched was the Maine-St. Cloud game. This game was totally dominated by Maine, 4-1 win. St. Cloud did score first on a very weak goal. At that time I thought it was going to be a long night for Maine, as Ben Bishop, who hasn’t played in a month due to a groin injury, seemed to go down very slow to stop the shot. I was watching with a couple Maine fans, after that goal I was talking to one of them and we both questioned Bishops health. Well we were wrong, that would be the only goal he would let in. Maine would turn around and get 2 pretty weak goals themselves off of St. Cloud goal Booby Goepfert, a Hobey Baker finalist. The Black Bear would score on their first 2 power plays, and there would be no looking back from their. Main’s special teams would be the story of this game, not only their power play but their penalty kill was superb, they would kill all 9 power plays for St. Cloud. Both of these teams came into the tourney on very negative notes. St. Cloud loss both games last weekend in the WCHA tourney. Maine had lost 4 straight games 2 at the end of the regular season and 2 in the first weekend of the Hockey East tourney. Maine was by far the one who bounced back the best. It looks like having Big Ben back in net was a confidence booster for the Black Bear.
Maine lost all 4 of the games to UMass, all at Umass. So as luck has it these 2 teams will met again Saturday night with a trip to the frozen four on the line. UMass playing in their first ever NCAA tourney pulled out a 1-0 overtime win against #1 seed Clarkson. I do wish I had got see this game, dam them for starting the game at 2:30. From what I read and heard this was a very good game going back and forth, with UMass controlling the first period, Clarkson controlling the second , and a back and forth 3rd and OT. Both goalies came up with some huge saves. So this sets up an all Hockey East regional final. Can UMass beat Maine 5 times in a row? Will the return of Bishop be the missing link for Maine to get past the Minutemen? This should be a very interesting game. Maine does have the experience in the tourney, but UMass has the confidence that they can beat Maine. Not sure how much of this game I will get to see, but it should be one hell of a barn burner.
As we have an Hockey East final in the East region, we have an All CCHA Final in the Midwest. The first came should have been a cake walk, not even a close game. Had the #1 team in the polls and #2 seed in the tourney, playing a team what was well below 500 for the year in the weakest league in the country, had to come from behind in every game of the CHA tourney to win the automatic bid. Anyone looking at this would think Norte Dame would have their way with Alabama Huntsville (UAH) , but they would wrong. As UAH would bring the Fighting Irish to double overtime, with Norte Dame pulling out a 3-2 win. Of course I didn’t get to see this game either, sounds like a good game to me. Did get to see the other game in that bracket, BU-Michigan State. Like the Maine- St. Cloud game, the higher seed, BU, got the first goal, then the lower seed got all of the rest. Michigan State would skate to a 5-1 win. This game was all Spartans. BU played very undisciplined hockey. They would take 2, 5 minute major and just played sloppy and stupid. They end with 2 total stinkers this game and their Hockey East semi final lost to BC. BU should what they were a team lacking scoring all year, relied to much on John Curry . BU is some serious trouble next year with Curry, and no scoring. So what about the all CCHA regional final? I will have to go with Michigan State. They really impressed me last night. Their goalie, Lerg also known by yours truly as the mighty midget. Really impressed me last night as did Tim Crowder for them. He looked really good to me.
I will be in Manchester for the Northeast regional first round games. UNH-Miami Ohio at 1, followed by BC- St. Lawrence. Depending on what happens and how long these games go depends on what other games I will see.
Here is hoping for a Cats win today, and they move on to play Sunday!!!GO CATS!!!
Maine lost all 4 of the games to UMass, all at Umass. So as luck has it these 2 teams will met again Saturday night with a trip to the frozen four on the line. UMass playing in their first ever NCAA tourney pulled out a 1-0 overtime win against #1 seed Clarkson. I do wish I had got see this game, dam them for starting the game at 2:30. From what I read and heard this was a very good game going back and forth, with UMass controlling the first period, Clarkson controlling the second , and a back and forth 3rd and OT. Both goalies came up with some huge saves. So this sets up an all Hockey East regional final. Can UMass beat Maine 5 times in a row? Will the return of Bishop be the missing link for Maine to get past the Minutemen? This should be a very interesting game. Maine does have the experience in the tourney, but UMass has the confidence that they can beat Maine. Not sure how much of this game I will get to see, but it should be one hell of a barn burner.
As we have an Hockey East final in the East region, we have an All CCHA Final in the Midwest. The first came should have been a cake walk, not even a close game. Had the #1 team in the polls and #2 seed in the tourney, playing a team what was well below 500 for the year in the weakest league in the country, had to come from behind in every game of the CHA tourney to win the automatic bid. Anyone looking at this would think Norte Dame would have their way with Alabama Huntsville (UAH) , but they would wrong. As UAH would bring the Fighting Irish to double overtime, with Norte Dame pulling out a 3-2 win. Of course I didn’t get to see this game either, sounds like a good game to me. Did get to see the other game in that bracket, BU-Michigan State. Like the Maine- St. Cloud game, the higher seed, BU, got the first goal, then the lower seed got all of the rest. Michigan State would skate to a 5-1 win. This game was all Spartans. BU played very undisciplined hockey. They would take 2, 5 minute major and just played sloppy and stupid. They end with 2 total stinkers this game and their Hockey East semi final lost to BC. BU should what they were a team lacking scoring all year, relied to much on John Curry . BU is some serious trouble next year with Curry, and no scoring. So what about the all CCHA regional final? I will have to go with Michigan State. They really impressed me last night. Their goalie, Lerg also known by yours truly as the mighty midget. Really impressed me last night as did Tim Crowder for them. He looked really good to me.
I will be in Manchester for the Northeast regional first round games. UNH-Miami Ohio at 1, followed by BC- St. Lawrence. Depending on what happens and how long these games go depends on what other games I will see.
Here is hoping for a Cats win today, and they move on to play Sunday!!!GO CATS!!!
posted by Qman16 at 11:04 AM
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