NCAA Hockey Tournament: Open Thread

Submitted by gwkrlghl on

I'm not the only one watching, right?

(1)BU tops (4) Yale, 3-2 in OT

(2) Michigan Tech chokes, gives up a goal to (3) SCSU with under a minute in regulation and then loses 3-2 in OT

(2) Duluth appears to be moving on, being up 4-1 on (3) Minnesota late in the 3rd

(1) NoDak vs. (4) Quinnipiac upcoming

gwkrlghl

March 27th, 2015 at 8:34 PM ^

I was pulling for them to be a Cinderella. Pissed they lost - they were the only team I cared about.

I suppose I'll just pull for someone to win their 1st title this year then. Most likely for that is probably Mankato

bacon1431

March 27th, 2015 at 8:48 PM ^

Huge indictment on the current format. NH is not dense in terms of population, but it's a fairly hockey minded state and the NE is pretty big on hockey. Minny and UMD are big time programs and so is Boston and it's only a few hour drive. And they can't get anyone at the games. CAMPUS REGIONALS at the very least please.

ckersh74

March 27th, 2015 at 8:31 PM ^

Bad hockey night in the state of Michigan in general. Adrian loses in the D-3 semis as well. 

Sounds like Minnesota got drubbed from the get go.

gwkrlghl

March 27th, 2015 at 8:44 PM ^

Kind of fascinating that, for how obscure North Dakota is outside of the sports and oil drilling world, that of their two main state schools one is a power in football and another in hockey

Go Quinnipiac

gwkrlghl

March 27th, 2015 at 8:58 PM ^

Historically North Dakota has done very well drawing from Canada where I think other schools have started to fail and/or go a different direction. NoDak always has a lot of guys from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I don't think the WHL or OHL has a strong pull there on the same level we fight with the OHL for Toronto-area recruits.

The downside to that, is I don't think anyone suffers more defections than North Dakota. They get burned often, but also hit often enough that they're solid year in and year out

ironman4579

March 28th, 2015 at 4:19 AM ^

The WHL is a huge pull for the top kids. It's the most NHL like in terms of schedule and style of play (or at least used to be in the rough and tumble days).

I had a couple friends that were recruited by North Dakota, and I think they do a fantastic job of selling school as a better option for late bloomers and second tier (non superstar) type guys. This was back in the 90's, so it may be different now, but I was told their presentation of the school vs the crappy CHL scholarship thing was just top notch. I actually wish Michigan would recruit the prairie provinces more heavily.

gwkrlghl

March 28th, 2015 at 10:23 AM ^

I get the impression that back in the day the prairie provinces were huge for a number of colleges at certain times. Red was the start of the 'Regina Regiment' at Michigan, no? I think Denver and CC have historically been built on guys from that region too, but I get the impression no one is as successful out there anymore

ironman4579

March 28th, 2015 at 8:15 PM ^

I don't know about minor hockey in Ontario, but I can say that growing up in the prairies we went to a lot of cross border tournaments (North Dakota, Illinois, Montana, Colorado, even Arizona) and actually did get quite a bit of exposure to college hockey. Being from Michigan, I always had love for U of M, but a lot of guys learned about the college route on those trips.

ironman4579

March 28th, 2015 at 4:19 AM ^

The WHL is a huge pull for the top kids. It's the most NHL like in terms of schedule and style of play (or at least used to be in the rough and tumble days).

I had a couple friends that were recruited by North Dakota, and I think they do a fantastic job of selling school as a better option for late bloomers and second tier (non superstar) type guys. This was back in the 90's, so it may be different now, but I was told their presentation of the school vs the crappy CHL scholarship thing was just top notch. I actually wish Michigan would recruit the prairie provinces more heavily.

Wolverine Devotee

March 27th, 2015 at 8:51 PM ^

North Dakota will choke. Hakstol never fails. Maybe not be against Quinny, but they will choke somewhere.

They were the best team in the country in 2011 and lost, they lost to Minnesota with 0.6 seconds or whatever it was last year in regulation.  

Saw UMD beating UMTC all the way. 

gwkrlghl

March 27th, 2015 at 8:52 PM ^

The contrast between the environments for this North Dakota game vs the Minnesota-UMD game we just saw is a big reason why regions should go to the 1-seeds home site

Great atmosphere, sold out arena, and some actual advantage for the higher seed? Or stale library atmosphere in front of 100 people

Wolverine Devotee

March 27th, 2015 at 8:55 PM ^

Not sure what the NCAA is gaining financially by doing this with regionals.

THREE sports, THREE, can get away with non-campus sites and fill the house. Football, Men's Basketball and Wrestling. That goes for conference tournaments and NCAA games. 

The B1G and the NCAA are both in denial having WBB and Hockey tournaments anywhere but campus sites unless it's the Final/Frozen Four.

chatster

March 27th, 2015 at 9:21 PM ^

First weekend, games played at campus sites for top eight seeds. If the regular home arena isn’t available for some reason, give the higher seed an option to play at an available nearby arena.
 
Second weekend, re-seed the remaining eight teams and play at home arenas of four highest seeds. Again. if the regular home arena isn’t available for some reason, give the higher seed an option to play at an available nearby arena.
 
Third weekend is the Frozen Four, rotated between Boston and Minneapolis/St. Paul for two of every three years, and have the third year’s Frozen Four in some other large-city location where there's an NHL arena.

gwkrlghl

March 27th, 2015 at 9:35 PM ^

but the Frozen Four is enough of an attraction that it'll do well anywhere. I don't see any reason to restrict it to those cities. Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, NYC, etc. Any of them would sell out.

My favorite format right now would be best-of-3, so probably hosted by the top 8 teams (being hosted by the 1-seeds in a best-of-3 would mean your 2 and 3 seeds are flying to the same city in back-to-back weekends). No reseeding after that but let the top seed in each remaining match-up host. Then Frozen Four as usual or best-of-3 if at all possible, though I have a hard time seeing how you do that without home sites again

Canadian

March 28th, 2015 at 12:15 AM ^

Why would you have two best of three series at one venue? That makes no sense. If you are goin to split into series at the beginning (which I'm in favor of) you have the top 8seeds host.
And the 1 seed hosts both weekends even if they lose the first weekend? You don't see attendance being subpar for a 2 vs 4 series that stretches 3 days?

gwkrlghl

March 27th, 2015 at 9:03 PM ^

North Dakota fans are probably fighting back flashbacks of our 2011 game with them. They should be a bit nervous that they haven't scored yet

Doc Brown

March 27th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^

i have mixed feelings. Yeah, i miss the old ccha for the ferris, northern, lake state, western match ups. However, the sport has been growing much faster with realllignment. Next season, Arizona state will be joining D1 hockey. There is more momentum for starting programs than I can ever remember.




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

InHopsWeTrust

March 27th, 2015 at 10:29 PM ^

I don't know if its the Oberon or if Dakota is really that good but I'm super impressed with their defense and penalty kill. Wow.

Who coaches those for them? Mr. Hackett, are you watching? Go. Get. Him.