Western Collegiate Hockey Association
2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five Gets Underway Thursday at Xcel Energy Center
March 17, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
MADISON, Wisc. - An intensely-competitive and nationally-ranked field of five Western Collegiate Hockey Association-member teams - Colorado College, North Dakota, Denver, St. Cloud State and Minnesota - will converge on Saint Paul and the 18,064-seat Xcel Energy Center this week to participate in the 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five championship tournament. In this week's (March 17) two Div. 1 men's national polls - the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll and the USCHO.com/CSTV Poll, the Tigers are No. 2, the Fighting Sioux are No. 4/5, the Pioneers are No. 6, the Huskies are No. 7/8 and the Golden Gophers are No. 12.
Set to get underway on Thursday, March 20 and conclude on Saturday, March 22, this will be the 21st edition of the league playoff championship since the conference adopted the new format of four/five teams playing for the Broadmoor Trophy at a common site beginning with the 1987-88 season. It will also be the eighth consecutive year the Final Five has been played at Xcel Energy Center, where the championship has continued to draw record crowds. A season ago, the 2007 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five at Xcel Energy Center set a tournament record with a total of 88,900 fans attending the five matchups, including a Broadmoor Trophy championship game record and sellout of 19,463, a Friday night record and sellout crowd of 19,359, a Friday afternoon record crowd of 17,511 and a Thursday evening record gathering of 16,449. Over 20 seasons of the WCHA's final four/Final Five playoff championship format, the league's showcase event has drawn 1,282,161 fans.
The 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five will open at Xcel Energy Center on Thursday (March 20) evening when No. 4 tournament seed St. Cloud State (19-14-5) faces-off against No. 5 seed Minnesota (17-15-9) at 7:07 pm CT. The Huskies swept No. 6 seed Wisconsin last Friday and Saturday, 3-0 and 4-3 (ot), at the National Hockey Center. The Golden Gophers, meanwhile, took two of three in a dramatic, overtime-laden series with host and No. 4 seed Minnesota State at Alltel Center in Mankato. After dropping a 1-0 double overtime decision last Friday, Minnesota came back with a 2-1 overtime win last Saturday and a 3-2 double overtime victory last Sunday, with head coach Don Lucia's son - Tony - netting the game-winner at 16:59 of the second extra session. The three games featured spectacular goaltending from both UM's Alex Kangas (115 total saves) and MSU's Mike Zacharias (116 total saves).
On Friday (March 21) afternoon, the first 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five semi-final will match No. 2 tournament seed North Dakota (25-9-4) against No. 3 seed Denver (24-13-1) at 2:07 pm CT. The Fighting Sioux captured a hard-fought three-game first round playoff series against No. 9 seed Michigan Tech at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks on March 14, 15 and 16. After a 4-0 UND triumph in game one, the Huskies battled back to nail down a dramatic 3-2 overtime win in game two, with Tyler Shelast scoring a shorthanded, extra attacker goal at 19:54 of the third period and then followed with the game-winner on a power-play at 1:59 of the extra session. Game three, another sellout, saw North Dakota center T.J. Oshie score two goals as the Sioux rallied from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 over Tech.
Then on Friday evening, the winner of Thursday night's game between St. Cloud State and Minnesota will do battle with top-seeded Colorado College (28-9-1) at 7:07 pm CT. The Tigers, who captured the WCHA regular season title and MacNaughton Cup with a 21-6-1 league mark, swept 10th-seed Alaska Anchorage, 4-1 and 3-2 (ot) at the Colorado Springs World Arena. But it wasn't easy as the visiting Seawolves were tied at 1-1 with CC in the second period of game one and held leads of 1-0 in the first period and 2-1 in the second of game two.
On Saturday (March 22), the third place game will face-off at 2:07 pm CT followed by the Broadmoor Trophy championship game at 7:07 pm CT. The winner of the 2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five and Broadmoor Trophy will receive the league's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
The Final Five field of five teams also includes also includes some of the nation's hottest teams of late - with Colorado College standing 8-2-0 over the last 10, and both North Dakota and St. Cloud State at 7-1-2 over the last 10. Minnesota enters the championship with a 5-3-2 mark in their last 10 contests while Denver is 5-3-0 over the last eight outings.
In terms of individual talent, the 2008 Red Baron WCHA Final Five field will include nine of the league's top 10 scorers overall and five of the top seven-ranked goaltenders (based on goals-against average). There will be a total of 37 players in the tournament who have played at least 100 collegiate games, with Colorado College having seven, North Dakota 11, Denver 6, St. Cloud State 6 and Minnesota 7. There will also be a total of 43 players hitting the ice in Saint Paul who have so far been drafted by National Hockey League-member teams, with Colorado College having five draftees, North Dakota 11, Denver eight, St. Cloud State five, and Minnesota 14.
2008 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five • Xcel Energy Center • Saint Paul, MN
Games for Thursday, March 20: No. 5 Minnesota vs No. 4 St. Cloud State, 7:07 pm CT.
Games for Friday, March 21: Semi-Finals: No. 3 Denver vs No. 2 North Dakota, 2:07 pm CT; Thursday Winner vs No. 1 Colorado College, 7:07 pm CT.
Games for Saturday, March 22: Third Place Game, 2:07 pm CT; Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game, 7:07 pm CT.
In terms of teams, the field consists of four of the league's top five offensive teams (based on goals per game) and all five of the league's top defensive clubs (based on average goals-against per game).
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