College Hockey Thread
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And here it is on Tim Army
http://www.projo.com/pc/content/PC_Friars_Army_hockey_Driscoll_03-12-11_STMV7_v2.e165ef.html
Begs the question, which job is better long term? IMO both jobs are bottom feeders, but UML probably has more resources to be a better program long term. PC can't compete with the elite in HE and now that Merrimack has established itself as a viable alternative in the league to UNH, Maine, BC and BU, where does that leave UML and PC? If I am PC I look to move to the ECAC or Atlantic . It is just an easier road to the NCAA and perhaps they can be more competitive. As for UML there is nothing good about Lowell....nothing. But I think the facilities are better and the prgram probably is more relevant on campus (if there even is one there) than PC. At PC, no one cares about hockey any more and that is a shame. But Schneider is a relic and needs major overhauls or they might think of moving some games to the Civic Center to stir some interest. It is old, too small and with no tradition of wining in the last 10 years, the place is a hard sell. But the campus is very nice and you get a good education.
Sadly, bu needs to beat nu tonight to keep any hope of making the NCAA tourney alive. I think they need to win tonight and also in the semis to have a chance
There's actually a decent chance they need to win Hockey East to advance. I think they stand 18 in the PairWise right now IIRC.
Actually they are 13th as of right now after Maine, colorado, WMU, dartmout and mineesota all lost last night. But it is incredibly tight and all of those teams are home sans ME. So point remains. have to win and likely win again to have a chance. May or may not have to win HET to make NCAAs at that point
the BU-NU game is Sunday night. BU women play tonight
the BU-NU game is Sunday night. BU women play tonight
Silva scores AGAIN for NU against BU, taking a 3-1 lead in game 3, 3rd period. Looks like the basketball team will be playing later than the hockey team which is . . . unusual.
BU cuts it to 3-2, then NU gets 2 more, BU with a final push last two minutes gets it to 5-4 with 14 seconds left. No miracle. NU goes to the Garden.
Merrimack has Da Costa - we'll see if they can keep it up without him over the next 2-3 years. I'm not ready to put them with the big 4 yet. I think the league is the Big 4 (UNH - BU - BC - Maine) and the rest.
UMass is a big state school and has landed solid recruits, Vermont is similar; their results have been average at best though. Northeastern has been consistently poor but is appealing due to its location in the city and having a spot in the Beanpot. They should be better. Merrimack is a small private school (the only one) and was poor until the new coach and Da Costa came in. A good small academic school has some appeal and is different than other schools but the rink is not great. I agree that Lowell and Providence are the bottom feeders.
Providence is a D1 school with less appeal than Northeastern and the Big 4; Lowell is a D2 school that's pretty similar to UMass, Vermont and UNH but with less appeal. Lowell does however have something good - the arena. The school owns the Tsongas arena and its one of the better arenas I've been to. The school and the city aren't appealing to a hockey recruit though. As a D2 school with a D1 hockey program, their is some interest in the team; Merrimack has this going for it as well.
With all that said, what do you think of Blaise Macdonald's performance? He had a competitive team every 3rd (or so) year but there were no home playoff series (top 4 HE seeds) in his final 9 years and he never made the NCAA tournament. Still, he ran a clean program that was competitive. Should Lowell have been satisfied? Lowell is going to be a bottom feeder but there has to be goals.
I was prepared to give Blaise one more year but I don't disagree with the firing/resignation. There are 16 bids for only 55 teams and I think a tournament bid every ~10 years is a fair goal.
So with Yale hopefully locking up a #1 seed in the tournament, I am starting to get ahead of myself and thinking about going to the Frozen Four, which, being a Yale hockey fan, I've never come close to attending in the past. I see that it is sold out according to the NCAA website. Do schools that make the Frozen Four get allocated tickets, so I could hopefully buy them through the Yale athletics department, or am I at the mercy of StubHub and the like?
I had the opportunity to buy tickets for BC through the school for three of the last four years. I was a student then so I'm not sure if it changes or anything but I'm sure I'll find out in a few weeks time.
I am about 85% sure that the school gets an allotment but that it's a pretty small one.
Conference Final Fours starting today. Denver is about to bounce Bemidji, RIT is up 3-1 on UConn and Miami is killing Notre Dame (4-0 after one). Yale-Colgate and Northeastern-BC scoreless in the first.
Before the WCHA games yesterday there was an outside shot that 5 ECAC teams could get into the tourney, but RPI is on life support now. Dartmouth, Colgate, and Cornell all need to win the tourney to get in. Yale and Union are safely in.
Northeastern has to win the Hockey East tourney to get in - BC, UNH, and Merrimack should be safe.
Before the WCHA games yesterday there was an outside shot that 5 ECAC teams could get into the tourney, but RPI is on life support now. Dartmouth, Colgate, and Cornell all need to win the tourney to get in. Yale and Union are safely in.
Northeastern has to win the Hockey East tourney to get in - BC, UNH, and Merrimack should be safe.
BC is probably the most talented team in the country, probably by a pretty decent margin too. Hell, I've even jumped on the John Muse bandwagon. The only glaring weakness they really have is the fact that they take so many stupid penalties it's absurd. I think they took three in the final 5 minutes of the Northeastern game and in the process almost blew a three goal lead. The worst part is that the ones taking them are the leaders of the team.
I think Yale can play with them, but I base that mostly off of watching Yale continuously embarrass Cornell over the last three years. Case in point - the ECAC final is now 5-0 Yale with more than a period to play.
BC projected the #1 seed in the west by USCHO, who usually nails this thing. BC can't stay east because they'd have to play UNH in the first round and the committee doesn't allow for inter-conference first round games, and UNH cant be moved because they're the host school.
USCHO had it exactly right. Here's your bracket.
Friday:
East Regional (Bridgeport, Conn.)
4 Air Force vs. 1 Yale (6:30 pm)
3 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 2 Union (3:00 pm)
West Regional (St. Louis)
4 Colorado College vs. 1 Boston College (9:00 pm)
3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 2 Michigan (5:30pm)
Saturday:
Midwest Regional (Green Bay, Wis.)
4 RPI vs. 1 North Dakota (1:30 pm)
3 Western Michigan vs. 2 Denver (5:00 pm)
Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.)
4 New Hampshire vs. 1 Miami (4:00 pm)
3 Notre Dame vs. 2 Merrimack (7:30 pm)
Friday:
East Regional (Bridgeport, Conn.)
4 Air Force vs. 1 Yale (6:30 pm)
3 Minnesota-Duluth vs. 2 Union (3:00 pm)
West Regional (St. Louis)
4 Colorado College vs. 1 Boston College (9:00 pm)
3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 2 Michigan (5:30pm)
Saturday:
Midwest Regional (Green Bay, Wis.)
4 RPI vs. 1 North Dakota (1:30 pm)
3 Western Michigan vs. 2 Denver (5:00 pm)
Northeast Regional (Manchester, N.H.)
4 New Hampshire vs. 1 Miami (4:00 pm)
3 Notre Dame vs. 2 Merrimack (7:30 pm)
Wow, is Barry Melrose an idiot or what? He spent the whole time devoted to Yale's #1 seed to trashing its goalie, but when asked who's going to win the championship, he cited Rondeau as a reason Yale might be able to beat anybody. He talked said that he had a seen a done "a lot" of Yale games this year, "a lot" apparently meaning two, which is the number of times he said earlier he had seen Rondeau play. He called BC the most talented team in the country, but then said North Dakota was also the most talented team in the country. And I still haven't figured out who he predicted to win because he seemed to predict Yale, North Dakota and BC. So I take it he's the Harold Reynolds of college hockey?
Good draw for Yale - I'm obviously glad that we clinched the #1 seed and got to play Air Force instead of a team from a top conference, and a presumed 2nd round game against Union isn't going to scare them. Hopefully a fun weekend in Bridgeport.
Good draw for Yale - I'm obviously glad that we clinched the #1 seed and got to play Air Force instead of a team from a top conference, and a presumed 2nd round game against Union isn't going to scare them. Hopefully a fun weekend in Bridgeport.
Had no idea Union was any good this year until a couple weeks ago when I saw the guys on MSG talking about Travis Zajac's brother. My best guess is that their game will go to five or six overtimes before losing tragically.
Melrose is an NHL analyst. I'd take anything he says about college hockey with a grain of salt. Whatever he "knows" was probably what he read and watched this morning in preparation for the show.
So Miami's the #1 seed (well, the #4/last #1) and gets to travel to Manchester to play UNH, and then either play Merrimack (who isn't exactly far away) or Notre Dame. I don't watch enough college hockey to say how these matches will turn out on the ice, but it seems like a rough draw (but UNH being a host school and BC being a #1 kind of made that happen). Of course, Miami (OH) has beaten UNH in a reversed scenario (as a four seed v. UNH's 1) in 2007 in Manchester and UNH has struggled in the Verizon on the whole.
This could cause a lot of teams to change conferences. I'm not sure how it impacts Hockey East long term but short term Hockey East should be the premier NCAA conference. The Big Ten conference will have Michigan and Minnesota in the same conference. Rumors have Ohio and Notre Dame moving to the WCHA.
If that's how it goes the CCHA is losing all of its best college hockey teams and the WCHA is weaker but still a great conference.
Any draw where NoDak, Denver, Michigan, and most importantly BC are all on the other side of the bracket is a lucky one for Miami in my opinion, even with the UNH in Manchester draw. I know a lot of my fellow Redhawk fans disagree, but as a UNH fan 2nd, I can never trust them with anything in March.
I have no complaints about Notre Dame's draw either. It's hard to create a regional where no other team can boast of a larger trophy case than the Fighting Irish.
UMD beats Union in Bridgeport 2-0. Union had a "just happy to be here" look about them - nervous, slow, lots of stupid penalties. The goal that broke their back was on a power play after a very dumb penalty. And the vaunted Union power play was impotent. Hard to tell if UMD was good because Union looked so weak.
Relax ... this isn't hockey it's NCAA tourney hockey ... very early ... this is heading to an 8-6 type score