North Dakota, Minnesota Play For Broadmoor Trophy At 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five Tonight
March 20, 2004
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MADISON, Wisc. A capacity crowd in excess of 19,000 is expected to be on hand Saturday (March 20) night at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minn., when two of the nation's top-ranked teams No. 1 University of North Dakota and No. 5 University of Minnesota take the ice to battle for the 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five championship, the Broadmoor Trophy, and an automatic berth into the NCAA Division 1 Men's Tournament.
Coach Dean Blais' Fighting Sioux (29-6-3, .803), sporting the nation's best overall record and winners of the 2003-04 WCHA regular season title and MacNaughton Cup, will faceoff against coach Don Lucia's defending Broadmoor Trophy-champion Golden Gophers (25-13-3, .646) at 7:08 pm CT with the game being televised live by Fox Sports Net North and audio broadcast live via the Western Collegiate Hockey Association's official web site wcha.com. The two teams faced each other four times during the regular season, with North Dakota taking the series, three games to one.
The Sioux are looking for their eighth conference playoff title overall, having earned or shared the crown in 1967, 1968, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1997 and 2000. The Golden Gophers, meanwhile, are aiming for their 13th league playoff championshiop with previous titles won or shared in 1961, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2003.
In today's 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five third place game, also to be telecast live by Fox Sports Net North and audiocast live via wcha.com, coach Scott Sandelin's No. 3-ranked University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (25-12-4, .659) will take on coach John Hill's upstart University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves (14-22-3, .397) at 2:08 pm CT.
This Week in the WCHA
2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five € Xcel Energy Center - Saint Paul Live television coverage: Fox Sports Net North. Live audio: wcha.com
Thursday, March 18: No. 5 Alaska Anchorage 4 vs No. 4 Colorado College 1 (FSN). Friday, March 19: Alaska Anchorage 2 vs No. 1 North Dakota 4 (FSN); No. 3 Minnesota 7 vs No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth 4 (FSN). Saturday, March 20: Alaska Anchorage vs Minnesota-Duluth (3rd Place Game), 2:08 pm CT (FSN); Minnesota vs North Dakota (Broadmoor Trophy Championship Game), 7:08 pm CT (FSN).
2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five Semi-Final Sets All-Time WCHA Attendance Record
SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) announced on Friday (March 19) night that the sold-out 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five semi-final matchup between the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota-Duluth set both a new tournament record for single-game attendance and a conference record.
The attendance for Friday night's match-up was 19,208, surpassing the previous record set on March 15, 2002, when Minnesota defeated St. Cloud State University, 4-1, before 18,523 fans.
The mark of 19,208 is also the largest crowd ever to see a WCHA hockey game in the league's 52-year history.
Visit the Xcel Energy Center on the Internet at: www.XcelEnergyCenter.com. To learn more about 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five, visit www.wcha.com.
2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five Game Summaries
Thursday, March 18 @ Xcel Energy Center
#5 Alaska Anchorage 4 vs #4 Colorado College 1: 1st: G1 CC - Trevor Frischmon 10 (Brett Sterling 12, Scott Polaski 12), 9:21. 2nd: G2 UAA - Brandon Segal 1 (Chad Anderson 6, Brett Arcand-Kootenay 5), 9:51; G3 UAA - Vladimir Novak 3 (Justin Johnson 8, Spence Gilchrist 6), 10:41; G4 UAA - Brent McMann 2 (Novak 4), 19:24. 3rd: G5 UAA - Dallas Steward 15 (Charlie Kronschnabel 12, Lee Green 9), ENG, 19:43. Score by Periods: UAA 0-3-1 = 4; CC 1-0-0 = 1. Pen: UAA 4-8; CC 4-8. PPs: UAA 0-3; CC 0-3. Saves: Chris King (UAA), 10-17-17 = 44 (60:00); Matt Zaba (CC), 4-3-x = 7 (30:41); Curtis McElhinney (CC), x-3-4 = 7 (27:55). Att: 12,713. Time: 2:20.
Friday, March 19 @ Xcel Energy Center
Alaska Anchorage 2 vs #1 North Dakota 4: 1st: G1 UND - Brady Murray 19 (Zach Parise 28, Brandon Bochenski 30), 15:56. 2nd: G2 UND - Rory McMahon 10 (Ryan Hale 8, Mike Prpich 6), 2:15; G3 UND - Zach Parise 21 (Bochenski 31, Murray 25), 9:01; G4 UAA - Curtis Glencross 20 (Justin Bourne 13, Brandon Segal 5), PPG, 10:30; G5 UND - Hale 3 (Matt Jones 14, McMahon 11), 15:50. 3rd: G6 UAA - Lee Green 2 (unassisted), 17:18. Score by Periods: UAA 0-1-1 = 2; UND 1-3-0 = 4. Pen: UAA 12-24; UND 16-32. PPs: UAA 1-8; UND 0-3. Saves: Chris King (UAA), 15-14-12 = 41 (58:34); Jordan Parise (UND), 7-7-8 = 22 (60:00). Att: 13,597. Time: 2:25.
#3 Minnesota 7 vs #2 Minnesota Duluth 4: 1st: G1 UMD - Luke Stauffacher 15 (Tim Stapleton 24, Marco Peluso 14), 2:08; G2 UMD - Evan Schwabe 15 (Jesse Unklesbay 9, Beau Geisler 24), 9:06; G3 UM - Troy Riddle 22 (Ryan Potulny 8, Matt Koalska 23), PPG, 14:03; G4 UMD - Schwabe 16 (Justin Williams 15, Junior Lessard 29), 14:21; G5 UM - Danny Irmen 12 (Gino Guyer 18, Jake Fleming 12), 19:25. 2nd: G6 UM - Irmen 12 (Keith Ballard 24), SHG, 4:51; G7 UM - Ryan Potulny 6 (unassisted), 14:25. 3rd: G8 UMD - Williams 11 (Schwabe 35, Lessard 30), 0:40; G9 UM - Thomas Vanek 23 (Riddle 25, Koalska 24), 3:45; G10 UM - Andy Sertich 8 (Jon Waibel 8, Mike Vannelli 9), 14:41; G11 UM - Barry Tallackson 10 (Waibel 9, Fleming 13), ENG, 19:24. Score by Periods: UM 2-2-3 = 7; UMD 3-0-1 = 4. Pen: UM 6-12; UMD 5-10. PPs: UM 1-4; UMD 0-5. Saves: Kellen Briggs (UM), 15-7-5 = 27 (59:52); Isaac Reichmuth (UMD), 7-10-17 = 34 (57:45). Att: 19,208* (sellout/all-time WCHA record). Time: 2:22.
WCHA First-Round Playoff Results - March 12-14
Best-of-3. Friday, March 12: #10 Michigan Tech 2 @ #1 North Dakota 6; #9 Minnesota State 4 @ #2 Minnesota-Duluth 3 ot; #8 Alaska Anchorage 3 @ #3 Wisconsin 2; #7 Colorado College 4 @ #4 Denver 3; #6 St. Cloud State 1 @ #5 Minnesota 6.
Saturday, March 13: #10 Michigan Tech 3 @ #1 North Dakota 4 ot (UND wins series, 2-0); #9 Minnesota State 2 @ #2 Minnesota-Duluth 6 (series tied 1-1); #8 Alaska Anchorage 0 @ #3 Wisconsin 4 (series tied 1-1); #7 Colorado College 6 @ #4 Denver 1 (CC wins series 2-0); #6 St. Cloud State 3 @ #5 Minnesota 7 (UM wins series 2-0).
Sunday, March 14: #9 Minnesota State 5 @ #2 Minnesota-Duluth 6 (UMD wins series 2-1); #8 Alaska Anchorage 4 @ #3 Wisconsin 1 (UAA wins series 2-1).
2004 Red Baron Final Five Live Television Broadcasts € Tournament Games being Telecast by Fox Sports Net North
Both of today's third place and Broadmoor Trophy championship games from the 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five are being televised live by Fox Sports Net North. The telecasts are being produced and distributed by the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the Minnesota Wild. Producing the games are Patrick O'Connor, Director of Broadcasting for the Minnesota Wild, and Rick Lee.
Having all five Final Five games telecast live means that every one of the 17 WCHA post-season tournament games here in 2003-04 have been televised live.
TV Timeouts: There will be four 1:00 television timeouts scheduled per period of all five 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five games, to be taken at approximately the 16:00, 12:00, 8:00 and 4:00 marks on the clock. Television timeouts will not be taken during power-plays or during the final 2:00 of regulation.
WCHA Providing Complete Live Audio Coverage of 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five via WCHA.com
The 2004 Red Baron WCHA Final Five is also be broadcast live over the internet for the fourth consecutive season via the league's official web site wcha.com.
All five games of the tournament championship are being broadcast live on wcha.com, with Jack Swanson, former play-by-play voice of the Wisconsin Badgers and owner, station KJ102 in Roseau, Minn., and Jim Rich, voice of This Week in the WCHA (the league's weekly radio show) handling the commentary. The league will also rotate special guests throughout the broadcasts.
Strength of WCHA in '03-04 Reflected in Polls, Results
The overall strength of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 2003-04 is evident in on-going national polls, pairwise rankings and on-ice results.
In non-conference play (vs teams from other Div. 1 conferences) through games of March 19th, WCHA member teams owned a noteworthy 54-19-9 record and a .713 winning percentage. WCHA teams have been particularly strong outside league play the past three seasons, forging a 57-27-8 (.663) non-conference record in 2002-03 and a 56-24-2 (.695) non-league ledger in 2001-02.
Six WCHA teams are listed among the top 15 in the latest USCHO.com Div. 1 Men Pairwise Rankings for March 20th. North Dakota (29-6-3) is tied at No. 1 (with Boston College and Maine), Minnesota (25-13-3) is No. 4, Minnesota-Duluth (25-12-4) is No. 5, Denver (23-12-5) is No. 7, Wisconsin (21-12-8) is tied at No. 9 (with Ohio State and New Hampshire), and Colorado College (20-16-3) is No. 14. Also of note, St. Cloud State (18-16-4) is tied at No. 16 and Alaska Anchorage (14-22-3) is tied at No. 30.
Six WCHA teams were also ranked among the nation's top 15 teams in the most recent USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll and USCHO.com polls issued for the week of March 15-21. North Dakota was No. 1, Minnesota-Duluth was No. 3/4, Minnesota was No. 5, Denver was No. 9, Wisconsin was No. 11, and Colorado College was No. 14. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association has had at least six teams ranked among the nation's top 15 the past 12 consecutive weeks, has had at least five teams ranked among the nation's top 15 in the national polls in 22 of 24 weeks, and has had seven of it's 10 teams among the top 15 five times overall.
Seven WCHA teams currently (thru March 19th) have overall winning percentages of .526 or better. North Dakota (29-6-3) is at .803, Minnesota-Duluth (25-12-4) is at .659, Minnesota (25-13-3) is at .646, Denver (23-12-5) is at .638, Wisconsin (21-12-8) is at .610, Colorado College (20-16-3) is at .551, and St. Cloud State (18-16-4) is at .526.
Also of note, six WCHA teams have reached the 20-victory plateau this season in North Dakota (29), Minnesota-Duluth (25) and Minnesota (25), Denver (23), Wisconsin (21), and Colorado College (20). One season ago in 2002-03 six WCHA-member teams also finished the season with at least 20 victories in Colorado College (30), Minnesota (28), North Dakota (26), Minnesota-Duluth (22), Denver (21), and Minnesota State (20).
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