April 5, 2005

MADISON, Wisc. ­ By now, everybody now knows this will be the first time in the 58-year history of the NCAA Division 1 Men's Ice Hockey Championship - i.e. Frozen Four - that four teams from one conference make up the entire field. And that perhaps, is the most significant development of this year's tournament.

It's four Western Collegiate Hockey Association-member teams descending on Value City Arena at The Jerome Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio as defending Frozen Four champion University of Denver takes on Colorado College in the first semi-final matchup on Thursday (April 7) afternoon at 2:00 pm ET followed by the University of Minnesota vs the University of North Dakota in the second semi-final at 7:00 pm ET. Both of those games will be telecast live by ESPN 2.

The national championship game, set for Saturday (April 9) at 7:00 pm ET, will be telecast live via ESPN.

But in addition to the all-WCHA playing field, there will be plenty of other interesting story lines to follow over the next four days.

Denver (30-9-2, 19-7-2 WCHA) and Colorado College (31-8-3, 19-7-2 WCHA) tied for the WCHA's regular season championship and MacNaughton Cup with the Pioneers then blanking CC, 1-0, in the 2005 Red Baron WCHA Final Five championship game to claim the league's playoff championship and Broadmoor Trophy. Minnesota (28-14-1, 17-10-1 WCHA), meanwhile, tied for third in the WCHA during the regular season while North Dakota (24-14-5, 13-12-3 WCHA) finished fifth. Both the Golden Gophers and the Sioux joined Denver, CC and Wisconsin in the Final Five. The Pioneers then won the NCAA Northeast Regional in Amherst, Mass., with a 4-3 (ot) win over Bemidji State and a 4-2 win over New Hampshire. The Tigers captured the NCAA Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich., downing Colgate, 6-5, and Michigan, 4-3. The Golden Gophers claimed the NCAA West Regional in Minneapolis, Minn., with victories over Maine, 1-0 (ot) and Cornell (2-1 ot). And the Fighting Sioux won the NCAA East Regional in Worcester, Mass., knocking off Boston University, 4-0, and Boston College, 6-3.

The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four will feature the four teams occupying the first four places in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Div. 1 Men's College Hockey Poll, with Denver at No. 1, Colorado College at No. 2, North Dakota at No. 3, and Minnesota at No. 4. The WCHA has had at least five of its member teams ranked among the nation's top 15 in every week but one (Feb. 21-27, four teams) during the 2004-05 season. Three of the four Frozen Four qualifiers ­ Denver, Colorado College and Minnesota ­ have been ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine weekly poll during the season while North Dakota has been as high as No. 2 nationally.

The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four will feature four prominent collegiate hockey programs who are all original members of the WCHA (founded in 1951) and who together have won 20 national championships. North Dakota has won seven NCAA crowns (1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000), Denver has six (1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 2004), Minnesota has five titles (1974, 1976, 1979, 2002, 2003), and Colorado College has two (1950, 1957). They also come from a conference that has, since it's founding in 1951-52, claimed 34 national championships with a guaranteed 35th here in 2005. Denver (2004), Minnesota (2002, 2003) and North Dakota (2000) have won four of the last five NCAA championships, with the Sioux finishing second to Boston College in 2001 by an overtime goal.

Three of the four programs involved in the 2005 NCAA Frozen Four have won in excess of 966 games all-time, with Minnesota at 1,512 victories since 1922, North Dakota at 1,166 wins since 1929, Denver at 1,132 wins since 1949, and Colorado College at 967 victories since 1937.

The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four will feature four teams with a combined overall record of 113-45-11 and a winning percentage of .701. Together, they also ran up an impressive 32-5-3 non-conference record and .8375 winning percentage as Denver went 7-2-0 outside the WCHA, Colorado College was 9-0-1, Minnesota was 9-2-0, and North Dakota was 7-1-2. In NCAA regional competition over the March 25-27 weekend, the four teams went a perfect 8-0-0 against the likes of Boston College, Cornell, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine, Boston University, Colgate and Bemidji State.

The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four will match four head coaches who have all been named finalists for this season's AHCA (American Hockey Coaches' Association) Men's Division 1 Coach of the Year honor, or Spencer Penrose Trophy. They are Denver's George Gwozdecky, Colorado College's Scott Owens, Minnesota's Don Lucia, and North Dakota's Dave Hakstol. All four coaches also played college hockey ­ Gwozdecky as a forward at Wisconsin, Owens as a goaltender at CC, Lucia as a defenseman at Notre Dame, and Hakstol as a defenseman at UND. Gwozdecky, incidentally, is the only individual who has won a NCAA hockey championship as a player (Wisconsin in 1977), assistant coach (Michigan State in 1986) and head coach (Denver in 2004).

The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four will feature some 33 National Hockey League draft picks among the four competing teams, including four first round selections in Colorado College defenseman Mark Stuart (Boston, 2003), Minnesota forward Kris Chucko (Calgary, 2004) and North Dakota forwards Drew Stafford (Buffalo, 2004) and Travis Zajac (New Jersey, 2004).

The 2005 NCAA Frozen Four will feature four schools whose enrollment runs from 48,677 (Minnesota), to 13,034 (North Dakota), to 9,455 (Denver), to 1,950 (Colorado College). Two of the teams ­ CC (Colorado Springs World Arena) and UM (Mariucci Arena) ­ play their home games on a 200 x 100 surface while two teams - Denver (Magness Arena) and North Dakota (Ralph Engelstad Arena) play their home games on a 200 x 85 surface.

By class on their respective team rosters, Colorado College has three seniors, 10 juniors, nine sophomores and six freshmen; Denver has seven seniors, three juniors, 11 sophomores and seven freshmen; Minnesota has six seniors, six juniors, four sophomores and 10 freshmen; and North Dakota has nine seniors, three juniors, eight sophomores, and five freshmen. The team captains for all four teams are veteran defensemen in CC's Mark Stuart, Denver's Matt Laatsch, UM's Judd Stevens, and UND's Matt Greene.

Statistically speaking ­ as teams ­ Denver is No. 2 nationally in scoring offense at 4.00 goals per game, CC is No. 4, Minnesota is No. 5, and North Dakota is No. 25. In scoring defense nationally, North Dakota is No. 8, Colorado College is No. 9, Minnesota is No. 14, and Denver is No. 19. In average scoring margin, CC is No. 3, Denver is No. 4, UM is No. 8 and UND is No. 14. In Div. 1 power-play stats, CC is No. 3, UM is No. 11, UND is No. 18 and Denver is No. 18. In team penalty-killing, UND is No. 8, CC is No. 13, Denver is No. 15 and Minnesota is No. 25. And in team winning percentage, Colorado College is tied at No. 2, Denver is No. 4, Minnesota is No. 9 and UND is No. 14.

Heading into the Frozen Four, Denver is on a seven-game winning streak, Colorado College is 5-1-0 over it's last six ­ with the one loss coming to Denver, 1-0, in the Final Five title game, Minnesota is 8-2-0 over the last 10 games - with both losses coming in the WCHA Final Five to CC and UND, and North Dakota is 7-1-0 over the last eight - with that one defeat coming in the WCHA Final Five to Denver. The longest unbeaten streaks for the four respective teams during the 2004-05 season have been as follows: Colorado College, 11 games (9-0-2 from Dec. 10 to Jan. 22)... Denver, 10 games (9-0-1 from Jan. 8 to Feb. 19)... Minnesota, seven games (6-0-1 from Feb. 12 to March 18)... and North Dakota, seven games (5-0-2 from Feb. 26 to March 18).

The most productive periods this season for each team have been as follows: Denver, 3rd period (have outscored opponents, 52-27)... Colorado College, 1st period (have outscored opponents, 50-29)... Minnesota, 1st period (have outscored opponents, 43-18)... and North Dakota, 3rd period (have outscored opponents, 49-33).

Denver has nine players with at least 20 scoring points this season, led by junior forward Gabe Gauthier with 23-29-52. Colorado College has eight skaters with at least 20 points, led by junior center Marty Sertich with 27-37-64. Minnesota has seven players with at least 20 points, led by junior forward Tyler Hirsch with 11-33-44. And North Dakota has seven players with at least 20 scoring points, led by senior forward Colby Genoway with 13-31-44. Denver has eight players with at least 10 goals (Gauthier leads with 23), CC has five players with 10 goals or more (Sterling leads with 34), Minnesota has six players with at least 10 goals (Danny Irmen and Ryan Potulny share the lead with 24 each), and North Dakota has six skaters with 10 or more goals (Travis Zajac leads with 17). Among 100-point career scorers in this tournament, there will be CC's Sertich (47-85-132) and Sterling (77-52-129), and Denver's Gauthier (49-62-111), Kevin Ulanski (33-77-110) and Luke Fulghum (51-51-102).

Among the nation's individual statistical leaders on display at the Frozen Four will be the top two scorers in points per game in Colorado College's Marty Sertich (No. 1, 1.52) and Brett Sterling (No. 2, 1.50), and Denver's Gabe Gauthier (No. 12, 1.27). Sertich and Sterling are among the three finalists for the 2005 Hobey Baker Memorial Award, along with Cornell goaltender David McKee. Sterling also leads the country in goal-scoring with 34. In assists per game, Sertich is tied at No. 2 while Minnesota's Tyler Hirsch is No. 9. In power-play goals, Sterling is No. 1 nationally with 18 while the Minnesota duo of Ryan Potulny and Danny Irmen have 14 and 13, respectively. In-game winning goals, Sterling is tied at No. 1 in the nation with seven. In points per game among Div. 1 defensemen, Denver's Matt Carle is No. 2 at 1.00, Denver's Brett Skinner is tied at No. 7 and CC's Brian Salcido is No. 11. In points per game among rookies, the Pioneers' Paul Stastny ­ son of NHL Hall of Famer Peter Stastny ­ is No. 4 at 1.05 while North Dakota's dynamic first-year duo of Rastislav Spirko and Travis Zajac are No. 14 and No. 15. And among the nation's top-ranked goaltenders, CC's Curtis McElhinney is No. 12 in goals-against average (2.09), UND's Jordan Parise is No. 13at 2.10 and Philippe Lamoureux is No. 16 at 2.19, Denver's Peter Mannino is No. 17 at 2.25 and Minnesota's Kellen Briggs is No. 22 at 2.37. In saves percentage, McElhinney is No. 6 at .927, Mannino is No. 12 at .922 and Parise is No. 18 at .919. And in winning percentage among Div. 1 goaltenders, McElhinney is No. 1 at .860 (21-3-1), Mannino is No. 5 at .786 (16-4-1), Denver's Glenn Fisher is No. 7 at .725 (14-5-1), Parise is No. 9 at .700 (16-6-3) and Briggs is No. 16 at .656 (21-11-0).

The four players who were named Most Outstanding Players at their respective NCAA regionals two weeks ago will hit the ice at the Frozen Four, in Colorado College forward Trevor Frischmon (Midwest Regional), Denver forward Gabe Gauthier (East Regional), Minnesota goaltender Kellen Briggs (West Regional), and North Dakota goaltender Jordan Parise (East Regional).

Some of the prominent alums who have played for this season's four NCAA Frozen Four programs include the likes of Colorado College's Bill OeRed' Hay, Eddio Mio, Dave Delich, Doug Palazzari and Brian Swanson, Denver's Bill Masterton, George Konik, Keith Magnuson, Ron Grahame and Dallas Gaume, Minnesota's John Mayasich, Neal Broten, Aaron Broten, Corey Millen and Robb Stauber, and North Dakota's Bill Reichart, Bill Steenson, Reg Morelli, James Patrick, Tony Hrkac, Greg Johnson and Karl Goehring. All of these players were honored by the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 2001-02 as members of the WCHA's Top 50 Players in 50 Years promotion with four of those ranking as their team's all-time leading scorer. Delich leads the Tigers with 285 points (111g,174a) in 153 games from 1975-79; Gaume leads the Pioneers with 266 points (78g,188a) in 145 games from 1982-86; Mayasich leads the Golden Gophers with 298 points (144g,154a) in 111 games from 1952-55; and Johnson leads the Fighting Sioux with 272 points (74g,198a) in 155 games from 1989-93.

These four programs have also produced numerous National Hockey League players over the years, including more than a dozen who have played more than 900 NHL games in the likes of Colorado College's Doug Lidster, Denver's Glenn Anderson, Peter McNab and Kevin Dineen, Minnesota's Reed Larson, Mike Ramsey and Neal Broten, and North Dakota's Murray Baron, Dave Christian, Troy Murray, Craig Ludwig, Ed Belfour and James Patrick.

And oh yes, four players have, or will be, celebrating their birthdays during this Frozen Four week. Happy Birthday wishes go to Colorado College's Joey Crabb (4/3), Denver's Ryan Dingle (4/4), North Dakota's Scott Foyt (4/6), and Minnesota's Judd Stevens (4/9).

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