Hockey Tournament—2023 begins on page 3 with post #52; 2022 precedes it.

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

Men's Division I NCAA tournament - USCHO.com | NCAA

2024 bracket Regional first round March 28-29 Regional finals March 30-31 Semifinals April 11 Championship April 13 1 Boston College Michigan Tech Fri 2

www.uscho.com

2022 NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament coverage - College Hockey | USCHO.com

www.uscho.com

A 16 team bracket—four regions—the same format as the basketball tourney. First four games were yesterday; four more today. The eight winners play Saturday and Sunday. Frozen Four semifinals, April 7, and championship game, April 9.

The first link is the bracket, tourney info. and previous champions/runner-ups, and the second link is tournament coverage/news.

 

[JogginFrog]

Men's Division I NCAA tournament - USCHO.com | NCAA

2024 bracket Regional first round March 28-29 Regional finals March 30-31 Semifinals April 11 Championship April 13 1 Boston College Michigan Tech Fri 2

www.uscho.com

2022 NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament coverage - College Hockey | USCHO.com

www.uscho.com

A 16 team bracket—four regions—the same format as the basketball tourney. First four games were yesterday; four more today. The eight winners play Saturday and Sunday. Frozen Four semifinals, April 7, and championship game, April 9.

The first link is the bracket and the second is tournament news

They've added a day off between the first- and second-round games at regionals, paralleling hoops. Hockey teams are used to playing games on back-to-back nights, but that's against the same team. More than the rest day, I think it makes sense to give teams a chance to game plan for a different opponent.

Saw where there was a long video review last night of a short-handed game-winner for Notre Dame against NoDak just as the clock expired. Was called good on the ice, so I was surprised they waived it off, because the evidence didn't seem definitive; it was very close. Didn't matter, though, as the Irish won in OT with a seeing-eye shot through a screen.

I'm no fan of Notre Dame, but no denying that coach Jeff Jackson is one of the best around.

 

[JogginFrog]

Apparently the clock shown on the broadcast screen was slightly different from the official scoreboard clock; the broadcast had the goal as beating the buzzer, but the scoreboard clock showed the goal occurring after 0:00.

 

[froginmn]

Forgot that there were games last night; just took the opportunity to give crap to my friends who are UND (North Dakota, that is) grads about the loss. Opened myself up to return texts if U of MN loses tonight against UMass.

This is one year where I think the top four seeds will be tough to beat, but second round is usually a lot tougher than playing a four seed.

 

[froginmn]

Apparently the clock shown on the broadcast screen was slightly different from the official scoreboard clock; the broadcast had the goal as beating the buzzer, but the scoreboard clock showed the goal occurring after 0:00.

Yep. Ten minutes of review is a looooong time.

 

[bc puckett]

Forgot that there were games last night; just took the opportunity to give crap to my friends who are UND (North Dakota, that is) grads about the loss. Opened myself up to return texts if U of MN loses tonight against UMass.

This is one year where I think the top four seeds will be tough to beat, but second round is usually a lot tougher than playing a four seed.

Well you dodged that bullet

 

[tetonfrog]

I never got into the NHL, but I have gone to many DU games & had a blast. The Pioneers won the title a few years ago & I laughed my ass when the students burned mattresses on University Dr.

Hope they win it all again. Go Pioneers!

 

[JogginFrog]

Hope they win it all again. Go Pioneers!

Pios are very good, per usual.

But I gotta stick up for the boys at CC. Caught a game at their new on-campus arena this year. Nice facility, but I liked the game better on the Olympic-size sheet.

 

[froginmn]

Well you dodged that bullet

The smartass that is me sent texts like, "well, Minnesota won their 57th NCAA tournament game - most in history" and "all of the #1 and #2 seeds advanced. Uh, except one". (the one is North Dakota)

I expect some really good games today and tomorrow.

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

The regional hosts--Albany, N.Y. and Allentown, Pa. are only 131 and 267 miles from Worcester, Mass. Massachusetts and Connecticut fans watched five of their six teams (five from Mass.) play close to home, but only Connecticut’s Quinnipiac Bobcats survived the first round.

Only Loveland, Colo. stepped up for the non-New Englanders and that worked out well for Denver Boone and the Denver Pioneers

I read Sioux Falls and Fargo submitted failed bids to host a regional. Minnesota and Michigan maybe need to submit some winning bids—their hockey fans are missing out on watching their teams at the arena. And then Boston hosts the Frozen Four.

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

Quinnipiac beat St. Cloud State 5-4 but fired only 16 shots on goal to St. Cloud’s 34. None of the goals were on power plays. Only one penalty in the game.

Boomer the Bobcat and Blizzard T. Husky—

 

[froginmn]

The Regional hosts--Albany, NY and Allentown, PA are only 131 and 267 miles from Worcester, MA. Massachusetts and Connecticut fans watched five of their six teams (five from MA) play close to home, but only Connecticut’s Quinnipiac Bobcats survived the first round.

Only Loveland, CO stepped up for the non-New Englanders and that worked out well for Denver Boone and the Denver Pioneers
View attachment 11126
I read Sioux Falls and Fargo submitted failed bids to host a regional. Minnesota and Michigan maybe need to submit some winning bids—their hockey fans are missing out on watching their teams at the arena. And then Boston hosts the Frozen Four.

I thought it was a bit of a screw job that 3rd seed UMass got to play in Mass. Obviously a financial benefit but UMN had to basically win a road game.

Minnesota hosts the Frozen Four again in two years.

One issue in Minnesota is that the Xcel Energy Center is the obvious arena to use but is home to the Minnesota Wild as well as concerts (I saw Elton John there Wednesday).

U of MN has a great arena that seats about 10,000 and has hosted regionals.

One weird thing for Minnesota this year is that they're playing with their backup goalie. Starter Jack LaFontaine left the team to sign an NHL contract in the middle of the season. Everybody assumed this team was done, since last year's "co-starter" Jared Moe had transferred to Wisconsin.

His backup Justen Close (who in three years had played 90 minutes on the ice) has been really good.

Cool story and hope he keeps it going!

 

[JogginFrog]

Quinnipiac beat St. Cloud State 5-4 but fired only 16 shots on goal to St. Cloud’s 34. None of the goals were on power plays. Only one penalty in the game.

Boomer the Bobcat and Blizzard T. Husky—
View attachment 11127View attachment 11128

The Minnesota Gophers beat the UMass Minutemen in OT, 4-3. Three of four Minnesota teams and two of three Michigan teams advance to the final eight.

Minnesota is having better luck with its backup goalie than St. Cloud, who as TACL noted got a .688 save pct. performance from its sub. The regular starter, fifth-year senior David Hrenak, is the Huskies' all-time wins leader, but has been out for more than 2 weeks with an unspecified illness. Tough way to see your season end.

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

The Minnesota Golden Gophers beat the UMass Minutemen in OT, 4-3. Three of four Minnesota teams and two of three Michigan teams advance to the final eight.

Goldy Gopher and Sam the Minuteman—

 

[Hoosierfrog]

 

[froginmn]

The Minnesota Golden Gophers beat the UMass Minutemen in OT, 4-3. Three of four Minnesota teams and two of three Michigan teams advance to the final eight.

Goldy Gopher and Sam the Minuteman—
View attachment 11129View attachment 11130

Here's Goldy in action

 

[Frozen Frog]

There is an East Coast bias when it comes to college hockey! My guess is one of the issues with the Xcel Center is that it is used for the MSHSL tournaments over a 2 week span in March. I thought it was also being used for a college tournament. In order to host all of these events it limits the Wild to their home for one weekend the entire month of March. That isn’t fair to them.

Denver is never a bad location given the number of teams out West. I think Mariucci gets avoided due to the rink size. There are several other arenas throughout the Midwest (MN, ND, WI, and even NE) that could be used. It would also seem that a site in MI, OH, IN, or even Western PA could be used.

This is Michigan’s tournament to lose, but in hockey anything can happen.

 

[This Ain't Chopped Liver]

Hey Hoosier—the Notre Dame Leprechaun is battling the Minnesota State Mavericks today at 5:30.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

Hey Hoosier—the Notre Dame Leprechaun is battling the Minnesota State Mavericks today at 5:30.
View attachment 11137

I’m from Houston. So not of big interest. Notre Dame is a more entitled version of UT. I haven’t watched a hockey game since Gordie Howe played for the Houston Aeros. But I root for whoever plays ND regardless of sport.

 

[froginmn]

LOL it's a Denver lovefest on ESPNU. Never mind that UMD won three of the five matchups between the teams this season.