Unlike the first round of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs where the road teams came out on top, last weekend’s quarterfinal series all went to the home teams. Only Holy Cross needed three games to advance,meaning the host schools went 8-1. This sets up the following matchups for this weekend’s AHA championships at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y.:
Semifinals (Friday, March 18):
No. 6 Connecticut vs. No. 1 Rochester Institute of Technology 4:05pm
No. 3 Holy Cross at No. 2 Air Force 7:35pm
Championship (Saturday, March 19):
Semifinal Winners meet at 7:05pm
Looking back on a quarterfinal weekend:
The lone series to go the distance was between Holy Cross and Canisius. The Crusaders won 6-3 on Friday and held a 2-0 lead with about six minutes to play on Saturday before the Griffs staged a comeback that saw Kyle Gibbons score with 3.5 seconds left to tie the game and then get the game-winner in overtime. Another Canisius comeback attempt fell short in the deciding game on Sunday, with Holy Cross outlasting the Griffs 7-3.
RIT punched its ticket to the Blue Cross Arena with a convincing sweep of AIC. Shane Madolora posted his sixth shutout of the season on Friday, and the Tigers erased a 1-0 deficit with four second period goals on Saturday in a 5-1 win.
Connecticut beat Mercyhurst 5-2 with three third period goals on Friday and then withstood a wild comeback by the Lakers on Saturday to eventually triumph 4-3 in overtime.
It wasn’t exactly a goaltender’s duel on Friday when Air Force defeated Sacred Heart 7-5. Saturday was a different story with the Falcons limiting the Pioneers to just 16 shots en route to a 4-0 win.
How’d I do?
I picked three of the four series winners, going 8-3 overall. Check the blog and Thursday’s column for more leading up to the crowning of the 2010-2011 AHA champion on Saturday.
