Each week during the season, we look at the big events and big games around Division I men’s college hockey in Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Jim: Ed, it’s difficult for me to believe because yesterday seems like October 1, but we’re already at the NCAA tournament. And what a tournament field it is.
This might be the most competitive field I can recall with all 16 teams ranked in the top 22 of the PairWise. I can’t look at a single 1 vs. 4 matchup in any region and not believe that the four seed has some modicum of belief that it can win.
To me, though, the 2 vs. 3 matchups in each region are elite. Boston University vs. Ohio State will kick off the entire tournament on Thursday afternoon our in Toledo before Minnesota takes on UMass in Fargo, Providence against Denver in Manchester, and the first-round game I think might be the best, Connecticut against Quinnipiac.
The Bobcats lost again in Lake Placid but have perennially rebounded well in the NCAA tournament reaching three Frozen Fours since 2013. And while I think UConn can beat this Bobcats team, this is also a Huskies club making its first tournament appearance and may be a little wide-eyed on this stage.
To me, that’s the best first-round game, but all eight will entertain. What game has your attention in the opening round?
Ed: I agree with you about this being a terrific field. You detailed the 2 vs. 3 games. I’ll take a look at the 1 vs. 4, which all have my attention. I just can’t pick one.
Western Michigan has a formidable opponent in Minnesota State, a team that has allowed just 1.5 goals a game this season. Will the Mavericks prevail, or will the Broncos run them over with their 4.1 goals scored per game?
Can Cornell contain Michigan State? If they can, Mike Schafer can keep coaching for one more game. That will be a strong first-round tilt in Toledo.
Meanwhile, Maine as the overall No. 3 seed has the honor of taking on the host in Allentown, Penn State. I think that could be the most entertaining game of the 1 vs. 4 match ups.
Then there’s huge underdog Bentley taking on Boston College. BC is a prohibitive favorite, but I don’t expect the Falcons to roll over easily. They’ve played a disciplined, system-driven brand of hockey under second-year coach Andy Jones, and they won’t be intimidated by the Eagles. I mean, the two programs have played twice in the last seven seasons, and Bentley has won both on the road and at home.
Jim, it wasn’t long after the selection show on Sunday that news came from North Dakota that the Fighting Hawks were parting ways with coach Brad Berry after 10 seasons. Berry led them to a national championship in his first season.
As others have mentioned, I remember the news conference after that 2016 win in Tampa when captain Gage Ausmus, alternate captain Drake Caggiula and goalie Cam Johnson were excused after answering questions from reporters. Berry paused things to give each player a hug before they left. Many on social media have mentioned acts of kindness from Berry over the years.
Were you surprised by Berry’s dismissal? And what does that portend for his replacement?
Jim: I was very surprised by Berry’s dismissal but it certainly proves North Dakota is a “what have you done for me lately?” school.
Berry is a coach who won a national championship, five regular season trophies, an NCHC championship and appeared in five (would’ve been six if not for COVID) NCAA tournaments. By most standards, that’s a world class coach.
But North Dakota is different. My question is who wants the job? If you can have success by most standards and still be in position to be fired, it’s a job that always feels in peril.
Do you feel like this is a search that will be expansive or is this a situation where the next coach has already been identified?
Ed: I don’t know how long this has been in the works, but I doubt it was a rash decision. So we should expect a well-planned process. It’s indeed possible they have someone in mind.
Going back almost 70 years, only two head coaches have not been North Dakota alumni, and one of those was Dean Blais, a Minnesota grad.
I guess the question has to be what the Fighting Hawks are looking for in a coach. If he needs to be a North Dakota alum, that really narrows the field a lot. But there are a few candidates who would fit that description. We also don’t know if an assistant within the program will be considered, as Berry was.
If it’s a non-North Dakota selection, I would think that it would have to be someone with significant experience as a head coach and someone who could stand constant scrutiny. I used to think that the most difficult place to be in the spotlight as a coach was Minnesota, but if a head coach with Berry’s record is not sufficient for that university, its fans, and its alumni, then maybe I need to rethink that.
Is this a position that an up-and-coming top assistant from outside the program could step into, or would you agree that it requires someone with head coaching experience at a high level (not to mention a super-thick skin)?
Jim: The next North Dakota coach needs to have flame-retardant skin, in my humble position. It is a tough job to manage but success in Grand Forks has to feel like something beyond imagine.
Before we close, I wanted to get your take on the 10 Hobey Baker finalists. I spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the Hockey East staff that was understandably upset than none from the group of Cole O’Hara, Jacob Fowler and Albin Boija. I don’t disagree as the league produced 6/16th on the NCAA field but only produced one of the top 10 players.
But then I step back and wonder which of the top 10 should be left off. And that’s where I have a difficult time.
You’re a little less biased in this case, Ed. How did you feel about the top 10?
Ed: I completely understand why the folks at Hockey East feel that way.
I think it’s a lot harder for goalies with the existence of the Richter Award, and so that may have figured in Fowler and Boija – two very deserving players – not getting in.
As far as O’Hara, perhaps he’s not as well known outside Hockey East as some of the others in the top 10. (Or perhaps it’s because of another point I’ll make after describing the selection process.)
We know the steps for selecting candidates to some extent. First, the 64 programs all were able to nominate up to three players. Then coaches voted for those who in their opinion were the top three from their league and the top three nationally. That’s 99% of the vote for the Top 10, with the other 1% from fans.
Then the voting committee members each cast ballots for their top three next week after the NCAA regionals, with a fan component included as in the previous round.
What is not public is how votes are weighed. And I think it’s possible that a league with a lot of deserving talent might dilute its vote compared to another with only a couple of standouts. Plus, you’d expect coaches to vote for their conference’s player of the year, and all six players of the year are in the Hobey top 10.
So that leaves just four spots left.
I’m not going to suggest who comes off the list, but I guess we should look at this like the tournament bracket. You get six conference winners and the rest are sort of “at large.”
Someone is going to get left out, and there will no doubt be one or two of these 10 who fans will say were snubbed for the Hobey Hat Trick.
