WCHA's Record Six Teams in NCAA Tourney All Have a Shot at the Frozen Four
North Dakota's Jean-Phillippe Lamoureux. |
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March 27, 2008
By John Gilbert
Maybe the WCHA should adopt a new motto for the NCAA hockey tournament. How about "six into four into one?" Six teams, scattering into four regionals, all focused on being the final one standing when the Frozen Four is conducted in Denver.
Handicapping the WCHA's chances of winning the NCAA hockey championship for the 37th time this season is tricky at best. Colorado College, the best team from start to finish in the league, is a favorite. So is North Dakota, which struggled through the first half and then became the hottest team in the nation while finishing second. Denver, which dropped out of a two-team race with the midseason blues, caught fire again down the stretch and won the WCHA Final Five title, which makes the Pioneers also rank as a prime candidate for the national championship.
CC, North Dakota and Denver may rank as the WCHA's entries in a catalog of the nation's elite teams, but wait, there are more. Three more to be exact. How can anyone count out Minnesota, which finished a miserable seventh in league play, but suddenly got everything in focus and played its best through the WCHA playoffs before falling to Denver in the Final Five final? St. Cloud State, which finished fifth, lost to sizzling Minnesota at the Final Five, but the Huskies have shown the ability to skate with anybody, and outscore most foes, and they have an interesting alleyway through the East regional. Then there are the Wisconsin Badgers, who seemed hopelessly out of contention after losing two straight at St. Cloud to open the playoffs, but now have a chance to duplicate the feat of the 1981 "Back Door Badgers," which got voted in, then went all the way to the title.
When it came time for selections, Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Minnesota State-Mankato were virtually tied. Mankato, fourth in the final WCHA standings, was left behind. It seemed unfortunate that the team placing fourth in the final standings could be left behind, while those that finished fifth, sixth, and seventh all were invited to the big party. But that's typical of WCHA loyalists -- get six, and moan about not getting seven!
Six WCHA teams play in the four NCAA hockey tournament regionals this weekend, giving the league a route through all four channgels to reach the Frozen Four, which would duplicate the unique 2005 achievement when the entire Frozen Four at Columbus, Ohio, was comprised of WCHA teams.
Six entries may be too many for any conference, but the computer-induced NCAA selection committee made the picks, and the placements, which give the WCHA reason to boast, particularly since the league has dominated NCAA tournaments throughout history, and recently, winning five in a row before Michigan State claimed last year's title.
The WCHA has far more opportunity to reach the Frozen Four and win the NCAA title with six of the 16 slots, compared to the four CCHA teams, or the two from Hockey East and the ECAC. But the CCHA wins political points for getting two of its three teams -- Michigan and Miami -- into the field as No. 1 seeds, while the WCHA only has one, in North Dakota. That's sort of like losing the general election but winning in electoral votes.
On the basis of the whole season, Michigan and Miami are both elite teams, as are New Hampshire and Boston College -- along with North Dakota, Colorado College and Denver. Both Colorado College and Denver are No. 2 seeds, as is Boston College. The CCHA's impressive impact on the NCAA committee shows that both Michigan nor Miami, the CCHA's elite teams, are in regions where they avoid any of the three WCHA elite teams, while two of them, North Dakota and Denver, are in the same region, at Madison.
The Frozen Four will be April 10 and 12 in Denver, with the Northeast regional winner facing the Midwest, and the East meeting the West in April 10 semifinals.
The Regionals come first, of course, and the field, and the pairings, arouse some questions worth raising before the 16 teams start supplying answers Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
*Easiest regional:* The East. Michigan is the No. 1 seed at Albany, and should whip Niagara in Saturday's semifinals, while St. Cloud State, fifth in the WCHA, carries a No. 2 seed and could have trouble against Clarkson, one of only two ECAC teams, but traditionally tough at tourney time. Michigan should cruise over either, but in this "Year of Nonscoring," the Huskies have three snipers who could ruin any goaltender's day.
*Most curious regional: *West. The Colorado Springs regional has an odd mix, because the NCAA chose to leave only Colorado College - the WCHA regular-season champion - in the far-west slot, facing defending NCAA champ Michigan State from the CCHA, while Notre Dame, another CCHA entry, meets New Hampshire in the other Saturday semifinals. Losing a great game against Minnesota in the Final Five semifinals, then losing again to red-hot North Dakota, dropped CC to the No. 2 seed while New Hampshire from Hockey East is No. 1. The pick? CC is 18-2 on home ice, and the Tigers will beat Michigan State, then beat the survivor of Notre Dame-UNH, where New Hampshire ranks as a slight favorite.
*Best regional for an upset:* The Northeast, at Worcester, Mass. Minnesota, after a season-long struggle, suddenly found a way to transform its team defense from awkward to awesome and got by Minnesota State-Mankato in a best-of-three overtime marathon, then upset CC before losing a tight one to Denver in the Final Five. Playing their best, by far, of the season, the Gophers could blindside favored Boston College in Saturday's semifinals. But the real shocker could come from the other bracket, where Air Force, which proved itself last year by coming within a minute of taking out No. 1 overall seed Minnesota, is primed and ready as unranked No. 4 seed to challenge No. 1 seed Miami of Ohio. CCHA power Miami has the most victories in the nation (32-7-1). Smart pick would say BC faces Miami in Sunday's final, with the final being a toss-up, but two of the likeliest upset possibilities could make it Minnesota-Air Force. If a team added at-large from a smaller conference is ever going to win the whole thing, the stars are all aligned right for the Falcons.
*Most likely finalists region:* Midwest. The Badgers (15-16-7) finished sixth in the WCHA, lost in two straight to St. Cloud State in league playoffs, then went home. They were picked ahead of MSU-Mankato, which finished fourth in the WCHA and lost only after five overtimes in three days against Minnesota. The Mavericks have reason to be disappointed, just as the Badgers have reason for joy, and providing a home site in Madison was obviously a good factor in Wisconsin's favor. Both Saturday semifinals rank as lopsided, with WCHA playoff champ Denver, playing its best hockey of the season, facing the Badgers, while North Dakota (26-10-4) is No. 1 seed against Princeton from the ECAC. Never count the "Back-Door Badgers" out, but the Pioneers and Sioux are likely to collide in an epic regional final. Denver slipped past North Dakota in the Final Five semifinals, but the Fighting Sioux, fresh from a school-record 18-game unbeaten streak, won't suffer from that loss, and should reassert themselves. If North Dakota's offense clicks, the Fighting Sioux should trip the Pioneers, and make the whole WCHA wonder why they weren't split up so both could have a shot at reaching the Frozen Four. The NCAA granted that courtesy to the CCHA's Michigan, Miami, and Michigan State, which are all in different regions, and to Hockey East, where co-favorites New Hampshire and Boston College could win without facing each other.
*Best goaltender:* Impossible to pick. Every team in the field has outstanding goaltending, and goals could be at a distinct premium. Alex Kangas of Minnesota is red-hot, but that only elevates the Gophers to where North Dakota (with Jean-Philippe Lamoureux), or Colorado College (Richard Bachman), or Denver (Peter Mannino), or Boston College (Kevin Regan), or Michigan State (Jeff Lerg), are already stationed. All of them have ice-water in their veins, to coin a phrase. Picking which one might get hottest, Mannino has a tad of extra incentive, because he won the NCAA as a freshman, and now a long-awaited chance again as a senior.
*Biggest star buildup:* Kevin Porter of Michigan got the gushing nod to win the Hobey Baker Award from Bob Norton, the Eastern "expert" ESPN always brings in for its season-ending dip into college hockey. Love the Boston accent, and also love the ease of predicting Bob's "objective" picks for regional winners (New Hampshire in the West, Boston College in the Northeast, and a warning that Princeton could surprise North Dakota). This guy might be the only remaining loyalist who is unaware that the West seems to do pretty well in playoffs. Tiny Nathan Gerbe of Boston College is another standout, and Hobey finalist.
*Best player:* T.J. Oshie is the reason why North Dakota could go all the way. For his intensity shift after shift, Oshie, who will be wearing No. 7, is the best player in the country, also a Hobey finalist, and is remindful of a bigger, tougher, and equally outstanding Zach Parise. Meanwhile, Chad Rau, overlooked by Hobey voters and by many who rank Colorado College high only for its outstanding team concept, also could light up his home World Arena and lift the Tigers to the top.
*Best record:* Miami (32-7-1) has the most victories and Michigan (31-5-4) the fewest losses, which may verify the theory that the disparity in the CCHA leads top teams to feast on bottom ones. WCHA boosters point with pride to the fact that no team could get through their league with only four or five losses.
The regional and conference rivalries are the fun of playoff time, as usual, and that's why the WCHA deserves to have the most respect, and the highest expectations. Again. Six teams can't all win in four regionals, but the bottom line, for the WCHA, is that only one team can win the NCAA title, and a WCHA team is likely to be the last team celebrating.
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