Frozen Four times apparently set

Submitted by kevin holt on

I was just refreshing the bracket on ncaa.com, and happened to see that the Semifinal times are no longer TBA. It says the UMD-UND (Not That UND, Except Yes That UND In Any Sport Except Hockey) game is at 5pm and ours is at 8:30 (both are Eastern Time).

Interesting. We figured the UMD game would be later since they can obviously fill the seats in the home state, but maybe they didn't consider that. Or possibly the only 1-seed remaining gets the later game.

bdsisme

March 29th, 2011 at 1:25 AM ^

I think that the times have already been discussed on the board, but your "Not That UND, Except Yes That UND In Any Sport Except Hockey" is so clever I +1'd.

kevin holt

March 29th, 2011 at 1:32 AM ^

I hate to say "I didn't see it posted yet," because that generally means "I'm an asshole who didn't bother to check," but I have an obsession with refreshing the board and reading most stuff, especially when I have something due (like today).

If it was posted, my bad. Thanks for the chuckle though.

jg2112

March 29th, 2011 at 7:49 AM ^

Both games are sold out, and have been sold out for a long time. The issue of whether UMD can fill more seats is irrelevant.

The fact is more eyeballs on TVs will be interested in Michigan and North Dakota than Notre Dame and Minnesota-Duluth. The former is a way more attractive matchup.

Plus, remember - Minnesota-Duluth doesn't have that big of a fanbase in Minnesota. For the great majority up here, people don't care if the Gophers aren't involved.

Adrian

March 29th, 2011 at 8:24 AM ^

What are our chances in winning? I haven't really been following hockey. The only game I caught was the ot victory. I'm just curious how big of an underdog are we? I saw that theyre ranked 1st. I can't really do any research from my iPhone so just a little curious about our team.

JustGoBlue

March 29th, 2011 at 8:53 AM ^

is really good.  NoDak is better.  In a perfect world where the paper decides everything, Michigan probably loses a tight one.    They are 2nd in goals per game at 4.14/game and 3rd in Goals allowed/game with 2.14/game.  And unlike Yale (or Union, the only teams ahead of them in either category (Yale is #1 in both), those numbers aren't inflated by playing in the ECAC.  NoDak has played one of, if not the toughes schedule in the country, this year. For comparison, Miami is 4th in both (3.74 scored, 2.18 given up) and Michigan is 13th in scoring and 6th in D (3.38 and 2.26).  But, Michigan has been playing better recently, so those numbers that average the enitre season are a little misleading. 

It's not going to take a miracle to win.  But it's also going to require everything that everybody on the ice, especially Shawn Hunwick, every second that they are on that ice, to win.  And they might still have to hope for some Sioux mistakes. 

The Sioux also have the #1 goalie in GAA and the #1 goal scorer (2nd in points) on their team.  They are #1 in the polls for a reason and should be.  BC was really good, Miami was really good.  NoDak is probably better than either of them.  Tough game.  But winnable.  Everything is always winnable, in one and done...

Stats from http://www.uscho.com/stats/overall/division-i-men/2010-2011/

JustGoBlue

March 29th, 2011 at 11:13 AM ^

NoDak likes to play a really physical game, punishing you time and again and trying to control the ice with their hitting.  They probably have the size advantage on us, but we probably have just a touch more speed.  FWIW, I don't think we match up horribly with NoDak (last few games against them nonwithstanding...), for the most part, we have the size and skating on D to match them and I love the defensive abilities of our forwards.  I also think that the more defensive mind-set Red has had this year might be the better strategy than the more run'n'gun we're used to.  I don't think that NoDak is going to be able to score too much against us, but I think we might have an even harder time scoring against them.  At the same time, there is too much scoring talent on both teams for it to be too low-scoring.  I would expect, if both teams play well, a 2ish-3ish affair.  If we get a lucky bounce or two, that three is ours, if not, it's probably their's.  NoDak also has a lot of seniors, so don't expect them to blow too many leads or to panic too much if they're down.  Scoring the first goal is obviously huge, but I think it's more important for us, because we're probably the more defensive team is this match-up, this time around (it still feels really weird to type "defensive-minded" about a Red Berenson team, but whatever wins...)

mfan_in_ohio

March 29th, 2011 at 10:25 AM ^

a 36% chance.  KRACH is a regression-based system that gives each team a rating based on its record and the teams it plays over the course of the season.  The KRACH rankings are published on uscho.com.  FWIW, 36% feels about right to me.

Mich_Faithful

March 29th, 2011 at 11:19 AM ^

Any chance the games are going to be broadcasted on a local channel? Or will I be huddling around my computer again?

EDIT: I see the comment above me was posted while I typed mine, touche.

Blazefire

March 29th, 2011 at 12:12 PM ^

seems to me a bit the the '80 Olympics. We will be the surprisingly good USA team playing the fantastic Russia. If we win, we'll still have to beat the equivalent of Sweden for the gold.