Bill Muckalt<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“I don’t like the fact that our last ten games were five and five. That should’ve happened in the first ten games.<\/p>\n
“The big difference in our team has been our offense. In the last five games, we’ve scored 11 goals.”<\/p>\n
Offensively, senior and Hobey Baker candidate Bill Muckalt leads the Wolverines with an impressive 64 points overall. Six other Wolverines — Hayes, Langfeld, Kosick, Herr, Rominski, and Crozier — have 20 or more points in overall play.<\/p>\n
This is a team that should be scoring goals left and right, but that’s just not the case. One goal in each game of the late-season three-game losing streak. They scored five goals in each of the two games after that, but without the 4-1 win over Notre Dame, the Wolverines would be averaging fewer than two goals per game in their last five outings.<\/p>\n
Usually, it’s enough to have Marty Turco in net, as it was in the 1-0 playoff win over Notre Dame. In 29 overall games, Turco’s GAA is 2.06, and his save percentage is .908.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the season, after a rough weekend in Oxford, Oh., Michigan was able to bounce back and spank the Irish 7-2. Turco was a big factor in that game.<\/p>\n
“He’s bounced back before,” says Berenson. “He’ll do it again. He has to. This is single-elimination hockey.”<\/p>\n
The youngsters played well last weekend, as they have done all season. Mike Van Ryn is solid defensively, and Mark Kosick (11-29–40) and Josh Langfeld (18-16–34) are third and fourth, respectively, on the team in overall scoring.<\/p>\n
And don’t forget the experience on this team. Marty Turco, Matt Herr, Bobby Hayes, Dale Rominski — and a host of other Wolverines — were national champions just two years ago.<\/p>\n
“I think our team has done well this season,” says Berenson. “They’re have been some breakdowns, and they’ve cost us of late.”<\/p>\n
What doesn’t cost them is the home crowd. There are few places in the college hockey world that can boast the rowdy support of the Yost crowd.<\/p>\n
Michigan has a lot to prove against Princeton. And if they get by the Tigers, they’ll take it to the Sioux.<\/p>\n
Princeton<\/b><\/p>\n
On Saturday evening, two phrases were uttered for the very first time ever.<\/p>\n
One: The Princeton Tigers are the ECAC champions.<\/p>\n
Two: The Princeton Tigers are going to the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
Both came after the Tigers scored 48 seconds into the second overtime to capture the ECAC tournament championship with a 5-4 win over Clarkson.<\/p>\n
“I thought that the first few shifts of the game told the whole story, that we came ready to play,” said head coach Don “Toot” Cahoon. “There was very little coaching from our part, the motivation was from within, the determination was from within, and all concept of winning the championship was within the kids. They had a challenge and they knew it was a challenge.<\/p>\n
“Everyone told them it was insurmountable, but they never believed it for a second, and they played like they never believed it or thought like that,” he added. “It was 20 guys digging in as deep as they possibly could to get it done. It was a great team effort.”<\/p>\n
Few thought that the Tigers would be a factor; after all, they were the seventh seed in the ECAC tournament and had to travel to play Brown, one of the hottest teams in the ECAC, in the quarterfinals. Then they would play Cornell in the preliminary game on Thursday evening, and then face the number-one seed in regular-season champion Yale the next night.<\/p>\n
The Tigers won 6-2 over Cornell, and then hung on to defeat Yale 2-1 to move into the championship.<\/p>\n
It’s been a long road for Tiger hockey, and the renaissance started in the 1991 when Cahoon was hired to replace Jim Higgins. The Tigers had never won an ECAC playoff game and had only two winning seasons since 1956: 1967-68 with a 13-10-1 record, and 1959-60 with a 12-11-0 record.<\/p>\n
Things started to turn around when Cahoon was hired. In his first season, the Tigers defeated Colgate in an ECAC preliminary game with a 5-4 double-overtime decision. The Tigers fell in the quarterfinal game, 6-3 to St. Lawrence, but a first had been achieved.<\/p>\n
The next year, they defeated Vermont in the prelims before losing to Harvard in the quarterfinals. The year after, the Tigers lost to Cornell in the preliminary game. But the next year was a different story.<\/p>\n
In Cahoon’s fourth season, the Tigers finished 18-13-4, their first winning record since the aforementioned 1967-68 season, came into the tournament as the sixth seed, and advanced to the championship before falling. History was being made.<\/p>\n
The next year the Tigers went out in the preliminary Game, but last year the Tigers advanced to Lake Placid once again, and lost in the semifinals. Then came this year’s breakthrough.<\/p>\n
“It’s what we’ve been working for,” said tournament MVP Jeff Halpern on this season’s title. “It started four years ago when we first got [to Lake Placid], and it shows that we’re headed in the right direction.”<\/p>\n
“This solidifies the Princeton hockey program as a solid program at the Division I level,” added Cahoon.<\/p>\n
The story this season for the Tigers has been the up and down year, racked with injuries, and weekends of splits, sweeps and one-pointers. But it all came together.<\/p>\n
“We kept saying that if we could make an honest effort week in and week out, and if we knew that we could get everybody healthy, that we could be a real good team before this year was over,” said Cahoon. “People were writing us off when we were picking up one point per weekend and splitting, playing one good game and one game that we were struggling. If we could get get some of those bodies back we could make a pretty good playoff run.<\/p>\n
“Never in my wildest dreams did I dream that we would play ourselves into such a low [ECAC] seed and have to come up with six great performances,” he added.<\/p>\n
Now the Tigers, effectively the last team into the NCAAs, have to come up with four more great performances in order to win a tournament that they are in for the first time — ever.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the ball, Cinderella.<\/p>\n
PICKS:<\/b><\/p>\n
Paula C. Weston: The Wolverines were so dispirited after their loss to Ohio State that the players didn’t even talk to the press (which, by the way, doesn’t sit well with us). Michigan will be playing angry, and they’ll be playing at home. God save the Tigers at the hands of an angry mob (bonus points to anyone who can email me the literary work to which that — in a convoluted way — alludes). Michigan 3, Princeton 1<\/p>\n
Dave Hendrickson: Michigan 4-2. Midnight for Cinderella.<\/p>\n
Scott Brown: Home ice, better talent, more to prove — Michigan 5, Princeton 2<\/p>\n
Jayson Moy: Princeton is playing in the NCAAs for the first time. The downside? An opponent hosting the regional. It’ll be closer than a lot of people think, but Princeton will go down to the Wolverines, 4-3.<\/p>\n
Scott Tappa: Yost crowd gives boost to lethargic Wolverines. Michigan over Princeton<\/p>\n
No. 1 Michigan State (31-5-5) vs. Ohio State\/Yale
\nSaturday, 6:00 p.m. ET, Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich.<\/b><\/p>\n
Michigan State reclaimed the top spot in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll this week after becoming the only regular-season champion to also take home the conference tourney hardware. With their CCHA finals win over Ohio State, the Spartans also earned the number-one seed in the West regional, but face the prospect of a tough return match with the Buckeyes if OSU gets by Yale Friday.<\/p>\n
The Spartans and Buckeyes know one another well by now, and though MSU holds a 3-1-0 edge this season, it’s safe to say that most Spartan fans will be rooting for Yale in the first round.<\/p>\n
Michigan State<\/b><\/p>\n
Ron Mason also doesn’t think that the Buckeye season will end against the Bulldogs. He’s preparing for a rematch on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
“I’m anticipating that. I’d be surprised if it isn’t. I think it’s a good match for both teams. In our case, we know what we can expect from Ohio State.”<\/p>\n
While perhaps only the Spartans know what to expect from the Bucks, nearly everyone in the nation now knows what to expect from Michigan State.<\/p>\n
Excellence. Period.<\/p>\n
The Spartans have defeated every potential NCAA opponent they’ve faced this season, and lost to none save Ohio State.<\/p>\n
The Spartans own a 10-1-0 record against the rest of the field in 1997-98. Michigan State is 4-0-0 against Michigan, 2-0-0 against Wisconsin, 1-0-0 against Boston University (although a win against both the Badgers and the Terriers came in exhibition play in the Team Cheerios Icebreaker Cup), and 3-1-0 against the Buckeyes. Alban was the goalie of record in each of those games.<\/p>\n
Alban is, simply put, the best goaltender in college hockey this season. His GAA against teams in the NCAA tournament is 1.41; his save percentage against those teams is .941.<\/p>\n
Those are impressive numbers against the top 12 teams in the country.<\/p>\n
Alban has an 11-game winning streak and a 12-game unbeaten streak on the line in Michigan State’s second-round game. He’s allowed two or fewer goals in 32 of his 39 games this season, including the phenomenal performance against the Buckeyes last weekend at The Joe.<\/p>\n
Senior Sean Berens says of Alban, “When you’ve got a goaltender like Chad Alban in the net, it makes your job that much easier. The way it works is we let Chad do his job, and we take care of our opportunities when we get the chance.<\/p>\n
“We concentrate on defense first and let the offense take care of itself.”<\/p>\n
And what a defense it is. Alban is an excellent defender as well as a goaltender, and he has a great core in front of him. Tyler Harlton, Mike Weaver, Brad Hodgins, Jeff Kozakowski, Chris Bogas…this defense is probably the best in the country.<\/p>\n
This week’s Spartan press release says that it can be argued that Michigan State has the best defense among teams in all leagues in North America, because the Spartan GAA of 1.67 is better than that of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils (1.95) and Dallas Stars (2.02).<\/p>\n
More to the point here, the Michigan State GAA is better than that of any other Division I team. The next closest D-I stat is Boston University’s 2.22.<\/p>\n
This isn’t fiction, folks.<\/p>\n
Often overlooked on this tough defensive squad are Hodgins and Kozakowski, good defensemen and the pointmen on the excellent Spartan power-play unit.<\/p>\n
Hodgins had an outstanding weekend at The Joe, playing great defense against Northern Michigan, and picking up assists for each of Mike York’s power-play goals. With a goal and 17 assists in overall play, Hodgins is hard to miss.<\/p>\n
Okay, okay, he’s at minus three. Nobody’s perfect.<\/p>\n
As Berens said, when the defense is taken care of, the offense just seems to happen for the Spartans, and it seems to happen most with York’s and Berens’ involvement.<\/p>\n
That one-two punch is responsible for 41.2 percent of the team’s goals, and 28.6 percent of its points. With 58 and 54 points, respectively, York and Berens increase the Spartans’ chances of scoring simply by being on the ice.<\/p>\n
They’re also integral to the Michigan State power play. Berens and York are first and second in the nation, respectively, for power-play goal totals (Berens 14, York 13). Rookie Rustyn Dolyny has 10 power-play goals.<\/p>\n
It was the power play, in fact, that won the title for the Spartans last weekend, with help from Hobey-Baker finalists Mike York and Chad Alban.<\/p>\n
This is a team that has won every tournament it’s entered this season. Team Cheerios, the GLI, the CCHA — all of which came after a six-year drought in which the Spartans didn’t win a single tournament.<\/p>\n
Do you think these guys are ready?<\/p>\n
“We’ve been setting goals this whole season, and thus far we have done a good job of attaining them,” says Berens. “That’s the way this team goes about things — we take things one step at a time. I think we have a tough bracket, but hopefully we can attain our goals and make it to the Final Four.”<\/p>\n
The players don’t care who they’re playing, even if Mason thinks it will be Ohio State. Says Harlton, “If it’s going to be Ohio State it will be a lot of the same as last [week]. That was a hard-fought game for 80 minutes. I haven’t seen Yale play yet this year, but a team has to be good to win the regular-season title. We know how tough that is.”<\/p>\n
“Whoever we play is going to be a tough team,” says Berens. “We know Ohio State is very good, and I am sure that Yale is an outstanding team.<\/p>\n
“When you get down to 12 teams in the nation, any team you play is going to be great competition.”<\/p>\n
Says Alban, “Every team is good at this point and deserves to be here. It’s a one-game shot, so anything can happen. We know that we will have to play our best to win.”<\/p>\n
Evidence of players well-coached both on and off the ice.<\/p>\n
Michigan State will benefit from having a night off before playing the winner of Friday’s early game, but Mason says that fatigue probably won’t be a factor for Michigan State’s opponents. “At this point in the season, teams are pretty well-conditioned. Ohio State certainly is.<\/p>\n
“The team that plays the Friday game usually comes out and plays pretty well early in the Saturday game because they’re used to it, and you have to be careful because you’ve been off.<\/p>\n
“If we have our wits about us, it will be an advantage as the game goes along. These players are used to playing two games in a row, though, so it’s not as big an advantage as you might think.”<\/p>\n
For the record, Michigan State is 1-1-0 in second-round games when it’s had the bye in the first game.<\/p>\n
Whatever the outcome of Friday’s game, no matter who Michigan State faces, getting to Boston via the boys of East Lansing is the toughest road in the tournament.<\/p>\n
PICKS:<\/b><\/p>\n
Paula C. Weston: Neither the Buckeyes nor the Spartans played their best game at The Joe last weekend. Folks who haven’t seen much of these teams may be surprised to hear it, but neither has peaked yet. Ohio State may surprise a few more people come Saturday night. Yes, I’m picking against the odds, but I don’t care. If OSU stays out of the penalty box, the Spartans may have a tough time scoring on Maund, who played uber-hockey last weekend. It’s just a shame that both of these teams can’t go to Boston. The “loser” of this match — no matter which team — may be the only one who can eliminate the other from the tournament. Ohio State 3, Michigan State 2<\/p>\n
Dave Hendrickson: OSU 3-2. It’s a CCHA championship-game replay, but this time the Yost crowd gets OSU over the hump against the Spartans. Rumors that this pick was made solely to tick off my editor, a Michigan State alum, may be true. Editor’s note: &$#*@$!! I’ll get that $*!#ing Hendrickson yet…<\/p>\n
Scott Brown: Possibly the showcase game of the regional. MSU 3, OSU 2 (OT)<\/p>\n
Jayson Moy: MSU will win the rematch with OSU, 3-1; if it’s Yale, MSU wins 6-1.<\/p>\n
Scott Tappa: Three-overtime thriller even better than CCHA finale. Michigan State over Ohio State.<\/p>\n
No. 2 North Dakota (30-7-1) vs. Michigan\/Princeton
\nSaturday, 9:00 p.m. ET, Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor, Mich.<\/b><\/p>\n
A loss in the WCHA championship game might just haven been the tonic needed to get the Sioux going. The 1997 NCAA champs put it in cruise control after securing their second straight WCHA regular-season title, going 4-3-0 and looking vulnerable against Mankato State, St. Cloud and finally Wisconsin in the postseason.<\/p>\n
If that’s the case, feel for UND’s opponent, because no team in the country wants to face the defending champs when they’re angry.<\/p>\n
North Dakota<\/b><\/p>\n
Star forward Jason Blake has a reputation of being somewhat of an agitator. With foes and fans alike, Blake never shies away from brief exchanges of pleasantries.<\/p>\n
![\"Jason](\"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/images\/colorscans\/archives\/und_j_blake.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Jason Blake<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“I love when that happens,” said Blake, who was UND’s best player during the Sioux’s second-place run in last weekend’s WCHA Final Five. “Things seem to go better for me and my linemates.”<\/p>\n
So it should come as no surprise that at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center, where the second-ranked Sioux won the national title a year ago, Blake was the object of much derision from the ungracious hosts from the University of Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
“They’re mean,” Blake said.<\/p>\n
If Blake thought Milwaukee’s fans were ill-tempered, wait until he gets a whiff of the fans at Yost Arena. As the second seed in the West Regional, North Dakota will, barring a Princeton upset, meet Michigan for the right to advance to Boston.<\/p>\n
Sioux coaches and players have been anticipating the likely matchup, and discussed the challenges of road play during the postseason.<\/p>\n
“You just try to come out and get a quick goal, maybe quiet them up a bit,” said Hobey Baker finalist Curtis Murphy, the WCHA’s lone representative for college hockey’s most prestigious award. “But if they get going, it’s kind of like a sixth skater out there. For us it’s a little motivation to try to come in and win one in front of their fans.”<\/p>\n
Yet, crowds will have little to do with North Dakota’s title defense if the team doesn’t get its house in order first. While its championship-game loss to Wisconsin and semifinal win over St. Cloud State were by no means lackluster, the Sioux failed to dominate clearly less-talented opponents.<\/p>\n
In the St. Cloud game, North Dakota lacked killer instinct, allowing the Huskies to rally from a three-goal deficit to within one with 1:32 to play. Then, Wisconsin outshot North Dakota 36-31, holding the Sioux scoreless in the third period, ordinarily their most productive.<\/p>\n
A major concern for North Dakota is the health of freshman phenom Karl Goehring. Goehring (23-3-1, .913 SV%, 2.27 GAA) reportedly hurt his groin in practice this week, and is questionable for this weekend.<\/p>\n
However, North Dakota has the uncommon luxury of bringing in Aaron Schweitzer, who started last year’s championship game against BU. While Schweitzer has been less than spectacular this season (7-4-0, 4.23 GAA, .859 SV%), he has big-game experience under his belt.<\/p>\n
Offensively, coach Dean Blais got production from all four lines last weekend, most prominently the Blake (24-26–50)-Lee Goren (3-12–15)-Brad DeFauw (9-11–20) third line, and the Wes Dorey (11-11–22)-Jesse Bull (12-16–28)-Peter Armbrust (4-5–9) line.<\/p>\n
Perhaps troubling is that Blais’ Panzer Division (brothers Jay (18-21–39) and Jeff (14-23–37)), along with David Hoogsteen (19-22–41), which entered the Final Five on an absolute tear, was held to two assists, both accrued on a power play against St. Cloud.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, North Dakota was solid in its own end, as well as the neutral zone, a testament to the corps of blueliners led by Murphy and gritty captain Mitch Vig, as well as a responsible group of forwards.<\/p>\n
“We at times take a lot of chances forechecking, because we have a lot of creative forwards,” Blais said. “We like to gamble at times.”<\/p>\n
Gambling may land defenseman Tim O’Connell on the bench more often in the tournament. Against Wisconsin, O’Connell took the third-period penalty which led to Joe Bianchi’s game-winning power-play goal.<\/p>\n
But don’t expect these Sioux to beat themselves. They’ve been there, done that, and are looking to do it again.<\/p>\n
“Last year, we hadn’t been there before; it was a new experience for us,” Murphy said. “When we got there, the emotions were so high. This year, it’s the same thing, but we’ve been there, we know what it’s like.<\/p>\n
“We’ve just got to get a win and get to Boston.”<\/p>\n
“We’ll be ready,” said Blais.<\/p>\n
PICKS:<\/b><\/p>\n
Paula C. Weston: This may be the toughest game to call. NoDak may have an injured goalie; they are, however, the defending national champs, and a tough team to beat, and their “backup” won a national title last year. Michigan may have a faltering offense; they are, however, playing at home. I’m just going with the defenders here. North Dakota 3, Michigan 2<\/p>\n
Dave Hendrickson: The Alan Alda Matchup — both teams are oh-so vulnerable. North Dakota picks the wrong place and time to try to squeak past another opponent. Michigan 5-4.<\/p>\n
Scott Brown: The defending NCAA titlists show why. UND 4, Michigan 3<\/p>\n
Jayson Moy: No matter who comes through, the Sioux will advance to Boston because they are consistent and deadly. UND 6-4 over Michigan, or 7-2 over Princeton.<\/p>\n
Scott Tappa: Sioux goaltender lit up in testament to home-ice importance. Michigan over North Dakota.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The only real dust kicked up by this year’s selections lay in East Lansing and Columbus, where some fans are grousing about the committee’s decision to leave the Ohio State Buckeyes West as the fourth seed, setting up a potential second-round collision with top-seeded (and top-ranked) Michigan State. That contest would be a repeat of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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