The NCAA tournament began with four No. 1 seeds playing four No. 4 seeds and will pick up in two weeks with two No. 1 seeds playing two No. 4 seeds. As usual, the 16-team tournament provided some surprises, but if you watch hockey or any sport with a one-game elimination playoff scenario, you were never left in a state of total shock.
Despite blogging every day with predictions based on the new matchups, I went 7-5 with my predictions this weekend (and I’m not ashamed of it). There will be a new national champion this season and all four teams still alive are as deep into a season as they’ve ever been in Division I hockey.
In case you missed it, it’s Yale versus UMass-Lowell and St. Cloud State versus Quinnpiac in the Frozen Four. Here’s how it happened:
WEST REGIONAL | Van Andel Arena | Grand Rapids, Mich.
Yale 3, Minnesota 2
A season with high expectations for Minnesota came to an abrupt end against unheralded Yale, the No. 15 overall seed capitalized off a Gopher mistake nine second into overtime to win 3-2. After putting the Gophers against the ropes with two second-period goals, Minnesota responded with tallies by Nate Schmidt and Zach Budish in the third to gain all the momentum. In the in the only nine seconds of overtime the entire weekend, the Gophers won a faceoff back into their own zone and misplayed a pass behind their net. Kenny Agostino swooped in and gave Jesse Root a gaping net to finish the game with and Root didn’t miss.
North Dakota 2, Niagara 1
In what was a better game than many expected, Niagara jumped ahead with a Jason Beattie goal, but Hobey Baker finalist Carsen Chubak couldn’t keep UND off the board in the final frame as the two-seed barraged him with 18 shots. Andrew MacWilliam knotted the score early in the period before Danny Kristo ended hopes of an unprecedented Yale-Niagara regional final less than a minute later. With rival Minnesota out of the way, a spot in the Frozen Four was North Dakota’s to lose.
Yale 4, North Dakota 1
Corban Knight put UND up seven minutes and the rout was on, right? Wrong. Yale hung around until the final eight minutes of the game when it needed a goal to tie the game and keep its season alive. The Bulldogs didn’t get one–they got four. Outshooting UND 39-25 finally paid off as Alabama-Huntsville transfer Clarke Saunders finally broke down after a solid performance, allowing three goals in 5:14 before Agostino capped it with an ENG.
NORTHEAST REGIONAL | Verizon Wireless Arena | Manchester, N.H.
UMass-Lowell 6, Wisconsin 1
The most highly-anticipated game game of the week was a dud. Two teams that combined for a 43-8-6 record over 57 games and won conference championships couldn’t produce a contest that indicated those impressive facts were true. UMass-Lowell’s Joseph Pendenza got the River Hawks on the board in the first and his teammates added two in the second and three in the third as Connor Hellebuyck lived up to his stud billing with 31 saves, allowing UML to cruise to victory.
New Hampshire 5, Denver 2
Two teams that came into the NCAAs with plenty of rest played a relatively predictable game. UNH was essentially at home and was looking for its fourth consecutive first-round win and it got it. The Wildcats fell behind 1-0 and 2-1, but caught fire in the final 40 minutes to guarantee that a Hockey East team would reach the Frozen Four.
UMass-Lowell 2, New Hampshire 0
The River Hawk train kept on rolling, giving UNH its fourth second-round NCAA loss in five years. Hellebuyck was stellar again, pitching a 28-save shutout. He stopped 59 of 60 shots on the weekend…pretty good. To the Wildcats’ credit, they kept it interesting, but Scott Wilson‘s goal with 30 seconds left in the second period proved to be a back-breaker. Adam Chapie scored midway through the third and as fast as New Hampshire’s national championship hopes were raised with a win over Denver, they were done and UMass-Lowell’s more-realistic hopes were confirmed.
MIDWEST REGIONAL | Huntington Center | Toledo, Ohio
St. Cloud State 5, Notre Dame 1
Notre Dame‘s biggest nonconference game of the season before the playoffs was a bust as the then-No. 2 Fighting Irish fell 4-1 to then-No. 1 Minnesota. Minnesota’s WCHA co-champion St. Cloud State outdid the Gophers, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first 35 minutes and rode out the game to a win. Freshman Joey Benik had a coming out party with two goals and an assist in a game that really wasn’t ever game.
Miami 4, Minnesota State 0
I was right about this game but I was also wrong. Unlike its lone WCHA Final Five game, Minnesota State didn’t concede three goals before the fans got a chance to sit down, but any team that faced the Mavericks this season would have expected more than 20 shots on goal in such a big game and more than four shot on goal in the third after entering the final frame with a one-goal deficit. Miami was impressive and ended up with a shot to kill the WCHA as we know it for good with a win Sunday…
St. Cloud State 4, Miami 1
…The Red Hawks didn’t end the WCHA as we know it win a win Sunday. In fact, St. Cloud State ended the CCHA (not as we know it, just in general–it’s dead). SCSU had another rock solid outing as Benik proved his big game was no fluke by scoring the first two goals of the game and narrowly missing a hat trick soon after. Miami made it a game with a goal by Blake Coleman, but Cory Thorson put the nail in the coffin against the Huskies’ future NCHC rival with a pair of goals of his own. After being traded from Pittsburgh to Calgary for Jarome Iginla earlier in the week, it turned out both SCSU’s Ben Hanowski and Yale’s Kenny Agostino would end up back in the Steel City, helping lead their respective teams to their first Frozen Fours there.
EAST REGIONAL | Dunkin Donuts Arena | Providence, R.I.
Quinnipiac 4, Canisius 3
That was close, huh? After Quinnipiac started what many fans assumed would be a blowout, the Golden Griffins looked like they were primed to pull off one of the most improbable first-round wins in recent memory. After the second intermission though, QU decided it would back up its No. 1 overall seeding and filled up the Canisius net in the third. Trailing 3-1 with 12 minutes to go, Saturday hero Matthew Peca got the comeback started before the only actual Connecticut native on the Connecticut-based Bobcats, Jordan Samuels-Thomas. Kevin Bui capped the rally and scored the winner before you knew it.
Union 5, Boston College 1
Parker Milner single-handedly lifted Boston College to a national championship last April, but…yikes. What many assumed would be a bye of a region for BC ended up being a bye of a first round for Union. Every time I see Union play, Josh Jooris scores. He gave the Dutchmen a 2-0 lead and before the Eagles could blink, Milner let in another goal (one he’d probably like to have back). BC couldn’t get on the board until it was down 5-0 in the waning minutes of the game and just like that, the Eagles were sheets.
Quinnipiac 5, Union 1
Based on the results of the first day, you’d expect Union to make a return to the Frozen Four, but after UC glided in the third period in a big 5-1 win and Quinnipiac looked like the best team in the country in the final 20 minutes of its own NCAA opener, the Bobcats continued their momentum from Friday into Saturday and gave Union a role reversal from Friday. Peca gave fellow ECAC member Union a first-round knockout blow in the second round of the tournament by notching a natural hat trick in the game’s first 13 minutes. QU led 5-0 after two periods and completed a three-game season sweep of Union with the W.
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