March 23, 2005

SAINT PAUL, MN. - Who else but the WCHA could hold a five-team tournament and have everybody win? That's what happened with the league's annual Final Five playoff, where the five first-round playoff winners convened at Xcel Energy Center. Denver, the top seed by the slim margin of goal-differential over co-champion Colorado College, defeated the Tigers 1-0 to win the Final Five championship.

That was on Saturday night, and on Sunday, the NCAA selection committee named Denver, CC, third-place winner North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin to the 16-team NCAA tournament field, meaning for the first time all five Final Five teams reached the select field for the NCAA tournament.

It was no surprise that Denver and Colorado College, both of whom jockeyed for the nation's No. 1 rank through the last several weeks, were both seeded No. 1 at different regionals. The surprise was that Minnesota, which lost 3-0 to CC in the semifinals, and also lost 4-2 in the third-place game to North Dakota ­ in what was the third game in three days for the Sioux ­ was also named a No. 1 seed. The Golden Gophers were the top ranked team in the nation for three weeks in a row in midseason, before struggling through much of the second half, but their strong first half entrenched their status in the pairwise computer rankings used by the selection committee.

North Dakota, playing its best hockey of the season, defeated Wisconsin 3-2 in the play-in game between the fourth-seeded Badgers and fifth-seeded Fighting Sioux. North Dakota then came back with a strong performance against Denver, losing 2-1 in overtime. The Sioux also lost Robbie Bina when he was checked from behind into the side boards and suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck. Denver's Geoff Paukovich, who was given a minor penalty on the play, was suspended for the league championship game after league officials reviewed the videotape of the hit.

North Dakota also lost star forward Brady Murray with an aggravated shoulder injury, 15 seconds earlier, and played heroically the rest of the way with 10 forwards before losing the game, which was its second in an 18-hour span. When the Fight should have been completely out of the Sioux, they came back the third day and stung Minnesota 4-2 for the third-place trophy.

The Final Five has no special bearing on the NCAA Selection Committee, but North Dakota's courageous three-day run earned the Sioux all-tournament berths for winger Rastaslav Spirko and defenseman Nick Fuher, while Colorado College winger Brett Sterling and goaltender Curtis McElhinney also made the select six, and Denver center Gabe Gauthier ­ who scored both goals in the 2-1 overtime victory over North Dakota ­ and defenseman Matt Laatsch rounded out the all-tourney team. Sterling was named tournament MVP.

Denver coach George Gwozdecky stuck with his alternating goaltender plan, using Glenn Fisher in Friday's semifinal, and coming back with freshman Peter Mannino for the title game 1-0 shutout over Colorado College. Mannino also shut out the Tigers 5-0 in the last game of the regular season, lifting the Pioneers into a tie with CC for the MacNaughton Cup, and earning the top playoff seed in the WCHA on the basis of goal-differential. Gwozdecky had difficulty comparing this team to last year, when Denver was eliminated in the first round of league playoffs by CC, and missed the Final Five, only to get voted back in when the NCAA selected its 16 teams. Rested and ready, Denver went all the way to capture the NCAA championship, with, of all things, a 1-0 title-game shutout.

All season, this team hasn't set any long-term goals, said Gwozdecky. That's given us the opportunity to win every weekend, and we are not emotionally spent.

That stability, as well as their experience and poise, could make Denver the pre-tournament favorite to defend its NCAA crown. They got something of a break in NCAA pairings, where things worked out even though the Pioneers actually ranked as the third-best team by NCAA selection committee reasoning.

In the committee's ratings, Boston College ended up No. 1, and is the only non-WCHA team to gain a No. 1 seed. Colorado College was ranked No. 2, despite the final loss to Denver, which was No. 3. A major decision the committee faced was between Minnesota and Cornell for the Nos. 4 and 5 slots. It came down to the common-opponent phase of evaluation, and the only common foe was Michigan, which beat Cornell, while Minnesota had beaten Michigan 6-1 at Thanksgiving time.

Following Cornell came Michigan, North Dakota and New Hampshire, in order, as the remaining No. 2 seeds, then Harvard, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boston University, in order, as the No. 3 seeds, and Maine, Colgate, Bemidji and Mercyhurst as the four No. 4 seeds. Each regional gets one team of each seeding group.

Had Minnesota been bumped to fifth, it would have become the top No. 2 seed, while Cornell would have been No. 1 at Amherst, N.Y., and then either Denver or Colorado College would have been sent to Mariucci Arena as No. 1. But since Minnesota is No. 1, the Gophers remain home to host to the West Regional, while Denver goes to Amherst, N.Y., as No. 1 seed in the Northeast Regional, and CC goes to Grand Rapids, Mich., as No. 1 seed at the Midwest Regional. North Dakota, which put on a courageous display at the WCHA tournament, is No. 2 seed at Worcester, Mass., in the Eastern Regional, where Boston College is the top seed. Wisconsin remained ranked high enough to be a No. 3 seed at the Midwest Regional.

That leaves WCHA teams in position to challenge for all four Frozen Four spots for the April 7-9 event at Columbus, Ohio. The toughest regional might be the Midwest, where CC faces Colgate, while Wisconsin takes on host Michigan in the other Friday semifinal. In the East Regional, also Friday and Saturday, Boston College is heavily favored over Mercyhurst, and if the highly ranked Eagles prevail, they would face the winner between North Dakota and Boston University in another tough regional.

In the Northeast Regional, Denver is heavily favored over Bemidji State, the College Hockey America champion, while New Hampshire faces Harvard in the other semifinal on Saturday. If Denver beats a strong Bemidji entry, the Pioneers would be solid favorites against either Harvard or UNH for the Frozen Four berth.

Denver, CC, North Dakota and Wisconsin all move eastward, where they will find plenty of competition, but none of them probably mind avoiding coming to Mariucci Arena, where they might have had to beat Minnesota at Mariucci Arena to advance. The Gophers hardly have an easy route, however, facing Maine in the Saturday afternoon semifinal, while Cornell faces Ohio State in the other game. Minnesota may be the No. 1 seed in the regional and Maine No. 4, but the Gophers are trying to regroup after losing twice at the Final Five, while Maine finished the season on an upsurge, losing 2-1 in two overtimes to Boston College in the Hockey East tournament semifinals.

While the WCHA gained five slots in the NCAA field, Hockey East had four, with BC, BU, New Hampshire and Maine, while the ECAC got three, with Cornell, Harvard and Colgate, and the CCHA only got two, with Michigan and Ohio State. If the five WCHA entries all play up to their top potential, the disappointment will be that the Frozen Four only has four openings.

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