NCHC Rocks On
ND and Denver in Frozen Four, Minnesota talent leads the way
This past weekend, the NCAA 2016 Division I Men’s Hockey Championship tournament was played in four different locations the past weekend. Sixteen teams (including four NCHC teams with Minnesota roots) competed for spots in the Frozen Four, four teams (#1 seeded Quinnipiac, #3 seeded North Dakota, Denver, and Boston College) advanced to the Frozen Four winning a ticket to Tampa. The four NCHC teams had a shot at three of the Frozen Four spots and won two. North Dakota beat Michigan 5-2 to win the Midwest Regional and Denver beat Ferris State 6-3 to win the West Regional. Ferris State upset St. Cloud State 5-4 in overtime in the West knocking one NCHC team out of the running. The fourth NCHC team, UMD, rallied from a 3-0 deficit to lost 3-2 to Boston College in the Northeast Regional finals. The four NCHC teams had come within a single goal of sending three NCHC teams to the Frozen Four. The two NCHC teams will play each other April 7 in the opening round of the Frozen Four assuring that NCHC will have one team playing for the 2016 NCAA national championship. The NCHC rocks on.
Sixteen teams opened play last Friday in the tournament. Easter Sunday, only four were left. Both North Dakota and Denver advanced. In ten days, the two NCHC teams will play each other for a berth in the championship game. How did they get there? Read on. Saturday, in one of the most exciting games played, Ferris State upset #2 seeded St. Cloud State at the Xcel 5-4 in overtime. That game plus game summaries of all 12 regional games follow with notes as always with a Minnesota connection. Consider this a quick primer before going to or watching the NCAA Frozen Four Tournament to be played this year in Tampa FL (April 7th and 9th). Both Frozen Four semifinal games will be aired on ESPN2 April 7th starting at 4:00 PM CDT with Quinnipiac playing Boston College and 7:30 PM CDT with North Dakota and Denver meeting. The championship game will be aired on April 9th at 7:00 PM CDT. For an advanced taste of the action, below is a picture of Ferris State’s overtime game winner with the puck suspended over the goalie’s stick save attempt before it hits the net.
Jared VanWormer (#17) scores the Ferris State winning goal 5-4 over St Cloud St 2016 NCAA West Regional at the Xcel in St. Paul MN.
Friday Night Games (Midwest and Northeast Regional Semifinals)
When the dust had settled Friday night in the opening round of the Midwest and Northeast Regionals, both NCHC teams had advanced to the regional finals. As expected, North Dakota, #1 seeded in the Midwest) beat #4 seeded Northeatern 6-2. The Dakota team was led by Burnsville’s Brock Boeser. Boeser scored one goal and assisted on two others. East Grand Forks’ defenseman Tucker Poolman scored one goal in the six goal win. In the Northeast Regional, #4 seeded UMD upset #1 seeded Providence College 2-1 ending the Friars attempt to repeat as champions. Esko/Cloquet’s Karson Kuhlman scored the winning goal in the first minute of the second overtime batting in a puck rebounding behind Providence goalie Nick Ellis into the net. Hasting’s Willie Raskob and Wayzata’s Tony Cameranesi got the assist. Cameranesi scored the first goal of the game in the third period unassisted.
In other regional games Friday night, Michigan beat Notre Dame 3-2 in their opening game in the Midwest Regional. The Wolverines’ Tyler Motte scored the game winner eight minutes into the overtime. Halfway through the third period, Michigan’s Zach Werenski scored to tie the game 2-2. Justin Selman opened the scoring in the first period to give Michigan a 1-0 lead. Notre Dame’s Anders Bjork tied the game late in the period 1-1. The Irish’s Thomas DiPauli scored in the first minute of the second period to put Notre Dame up 2-1 before Michigan came back to win the game.
In the picture right, a Ferris State fan pounds on the glass after a Bulldog goal. FSU fans were few at the Xcel, but vocal in their support. St. Cloud State fans filled both sides of the Xcel in great support of a Huskies team that had a great season. All that can be said for the SCS after losing a tough game, is "here come the Poehlings".
Boston College beat Harvard 4-1 behind two goals off the quick hard shot of Minnesota Wild draftee Alex Tuch. Tuch scored the first goal of the game halfway through the first period and scored in the first two minutes of the second period to put the Eagles up 3-0. Autin Cangelosi late first period goal made put BC up 2-0 going into the second period. Canelosi scored in the third period for the fourth Boston College goal. Harvard’s Seb Lloyd scored the lone Crimson goal. North Dakota moved on to play Michigan Saturday for the Midwest Regional championship; UMD played Boston College Saturday for the Northeast Regional championship game.
Denver's Quentin Shore (#27) gets checked on this screen as Pioneer defense man Elk River's Blake Hillman scores (Hillman is not in the picture) to put Denver up 1-0 against Boston University.
Saturday’s Games: West Regional Semifinals
Ferris State-5 St. Cloud State-4 (overtime)
To say hockey is an emotional game would be an understatement after watching two tough, but dissimilar teams battle at the Xcel Saturday afternoon. St. Cloud State had Ferris State beat at the forwards, but true to the Bulldogs name, the FSU defense never stopped forcing the Huskies wings to go that extra foot. The key play came with a gasp on the fourth Bulldog score. Loose and wild around both nets, the refs coughed and the game turned. It opened simply enough, Ferris State’s Mitch Malony scored three minutes into the game. A minute later, St. Cloud tied the game off a rush led by Jacob Benson to tie the game 1-1. With less than 30 seconds left in the period, the Bulldogs’ Jared VanWormer put the FSU up 2-1 at the end of the opening period.
The second period opened with a third Ferris State goal scored by Kenny Babinski. Three minutes later, Mikey Eyssimont made a quick cut coming off the left faceoff dot and beat Ferris State goalie Darren Smith to cut the lead to 3-2. At that point in the game came the quick play and the ref cough. A Huskies defenseman was easily beating a Bulldog forward to a puck along the end boards behind the St. Cloud goal, when he was taken down from behind and slid violently into the boards. The trailing St. Cloud players relaxed expecting at least a two minute penalty or more while the defender along the boards struggled to get up. The refs collectively swallowed their whistles and Ferris State move the puck quickly to Gerald Mayhew alone in the slot for a quick hard shot on the net. The Bulldogs held that 4-12 lead through the second period.
At the start of the third period, Ferris State drew a penalty. This time Mikey Eyssimont got the goal when the puck rebounded on a shot from the right side to Eyssimont in the lower left crease. Eyssimont one timed the hard rebound into the open net to cut the lead 4-3. Five minutes later, the Huskies’ Joey Benik scored from the top of flipping a rebounding puck through a defender’s legs. The pucked popped in a short arc into the open net. The game remained tied. Less than 20 seconds into the overtime period, a Bulldog wing rushed down the left boards cut to the slot and fired on the net taking the St. Cloud State goalie right. The puck bounced back into the slot to VanWarmer who’se shot beat a diving stick save by the Huskies’ goal. Ferris State won 5-4.
Denver-7 Boston University-2
In the second West Regional game, Denver beat Boston University 7-2. Denver scored twice in the first period, three times in the second period to take a five goal lead into the third. The Pioneers scored twice late in the first period. Elk River’s Blake Hillman scored the opening goal; Dylan Gambrell got the second score from the left center slot area. Will Butcher scored the first of his two goals in the game in the opening 30 seconds of the second period.
Boston U's Brandon Hickey's eyes watch this shot by Denver's Dylan Gambrell hitting the back of the net to put Denver up 2-0 in the Terriers 7-2 loss to the Pioneers.
FSU's Gerald Mayhew (#20 right) celebrates scoring to put the Bulldogs up 4-2 at the end of the second period in their 5-4 overtime upset of St. Cloud State.
Matt Marcinew and Evan Janssen each scored a second period goal. Butcher opened the third period with his second goal of the game pushing the Pioneer lead to 6-0. Danny O’Regan cut the lead to 6-1 with a score with seven minutes left in the game. Trevor Moore scored the seventh Pioneer goal; Mike Moran scored the final goal of the game for the Terriers. Denver won 7-2. Moran’s wing mate on his BU line is Chase Phelps from Edina. Phelps skated with Jordan Greenway, another Terrier wing, at Shattuck/St. Mary’s. Greenway should get the feel of the Xcel ice, the 6’5”, 230 lb winger was drafted #2 by the Wild in the 2015 NHL draft.
SCS's Mikey Eyssimont (left) and Patrick Russell celebrate cutting FSU lead to 4-3 late in the game amid images of NCAA and a concerned FSU fan.
Saturday Games: East Regional Semifinals
In Saturday games played at Times Union Center in Albany NY, #1 seeded Quinnipiac beat #4 seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) 4-0 in the opening game Saturday. The Bobcats’ Travis St. Denis scored a power play goal late in the opening period to put Quinnipiac up 1-0. Quinnipiac expanded that lead 2-0 on an early third period goal by Scott Davidson. Soren Jonzzon scored two third period goals to give the Bobcats a 4-0 win. Michael Garteig got the shutout. Quinnipac’s starting line centered by Tim Clifton with Scott Davidson and Soren Jonzzon at wings figured in three of the four Bobcat goals. Starting defenseman, Devon Toews, got three assists. Junior Apple Valley’s Derek Smith played defense for Quinnipiac in the game.
Massachusetts-Lowell beat Yale in the second game at the Times Union Center 3-2 in overtime. Lowell’s Michael Fallon scored in the first five minutes of the opening period to put the River Hawks up 1-0. Yale’s Frankie Dichiara tied the game 1-1 late in the first period. The Bulldogs Ryan Hitchcock scored early in the second period. Yale held the 2-1 lead until Lowell’s Joe Cambardella scored to tie the game 2-2 with six minutes gone in the third period. Richfield and Holy Angel’s C. J. Smith got the assist on the tying goal. Cambardella scored the winning goal two minutes into the overtime.
Picture: Ferris State's mascot relaxes at the Xcel. Sean O'Rourke is one of six players on the Ferris State roster that played in the North American Hockey League prior to joining the Bulldogs. A senior, O'Rourke was the leading defensive scorer for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in the NAHL in 2011-2012. Edina's Braemar Arena will host the NAHL's Robertson Cup Championship this year May 12-15. The Robertson Cup goes to the top Junior A Tier II team in the country and was won last year by the Minnesota Wilderness.
Saturday Games: Midwest Regional Finals
North Dakota simply outlasted Michigan’s scoring duo of JT Compher and Tyler Motte. The two combined to score two goals in the first two plus periods with Compher getting the scores and Motte the assists. The two Michigan goals combined with a great goaltending from the Wolverine’s Steve Racine (24 shots in the first period) kept the game close until the NDers broke the game open with three third period goals. North Dakota’s Drake Caggiula scored with just over a minute left in the first period. It was the 24th shot of the period by North Dakota. Compher scored five minutes into the second period to tie the game 1-1. Luke Johnson scored in the final minute of the second period to put North Dakota up 2-1 going into the third period. The first eight minutes of the final period was scoreless. The Compher’s second goal tied the game2-2 and started a string of three straight goals over three minutes, the last two by North Dakota. Rhett Gardner got the winning goal a minute after Compher’s second goal; Coltyn Sanderson got the insurance goal a minute later putting the NDers up 4-2. Compher, Motte, and company had no response. North Dakota’s Paul LaDue added a late goal as the game was ending for the 5-2 win.
Saturday Games: Northeast Regional Finals
Boston College has strong skaters with bulk. UMD looked out of it, the game looked over for the Bulldogs when the Eagles’ Ryan Fitzgerald scored seven minutes into the third period to put BC up 3-0. The Eagles had been pounding the Duluth net before BC’s leading scorer got the game winner. Boston College had built the 3-0 lead behind senior Teddy Doherty’s (Shattock/St. Mary’s) two goals scored in the first two periods. A BC penalty with eight minutes left in the game led to an Austin Farley power play goal with Hasting’s Willie Raskob getting an assist. Three minutes later, Esko/Cloquet’s Karson Kuhlman scored with Wayzata’s Tony Cameranesi getting the assist to cut the BC lead to 3-2. A late penalty on BC resulted in a final rush on the Eagle’s net, but the Bulldogs could not score. Boston College makes the trip to Tampa FL.
Sunday games: West and East Regional Finals
West Regional Final
Denver followed North Dakota’s approach to winning by battling Ferris State to a draw until late in the third period and then striking twice to score the game winner and insurance goals to take a 5-3 lead with four minutes left to play. The Pioneers then added a a final power play goal to win 6-3 and take the West Regional Championship. Denver’s top line centered by Dylan Gambrell with wingers Danton Heinen and Trevor Moore figured in the first four goals scored and carried the scoring load through the first two plus periods of play. Hillman got the game winner with four minutes left on the clock, putting Denver up 4-3. The Pioneers’ second line centered by Quentin Shore with wingers Troy Terry and Evan Janssen cleaned up scoring and setting up the last two Pioneer goals. The Bulldogs’ Gerald Mayhew figured in all three Ferris State scores (one goal/two assists). Kyle Schempp and Corey Mackin each scored and had an assist. Blake Hillman is a freshman from Elk River playing in his first season for the Pioneers. Hillman skated for two years in the USHL with the Dubuque. The Pioneers’ junior defenseman Matt VanVoorhis skate at Edina before joining the USA NTDP program for two years and skating two seasons at Sioux Falls in the USHL.
East Regional Final
Quinnipiac beat Massachusetts-Lowell 4-1 in the East Regional Finals. Lowell took a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game on a goal by Dylan Zink. Halfway through the second period, the Bobcats exploded for three goals in a six minute span to put the game away. Landon Smith, Sam Anas, and Scott Davidson all scored. Quinnipiac dominated play in the last half of the game outshooting the River Hawks 25-9 in the last two periods. Travis St. Denis got the fourth goal late in the third period to end the scoring 4-1. Quinnipiac, seeded #1 overall in the tourney, won the East Regional Championship and the ticket to Tampa.
SCS scores late to send their game against FSU into overtime.
Frozen Four
Thursday April 7 (ESPN2)
4:00 PM CDT #1 Quinnipiac versus Boston College
7:30 PM CDT #3 North Dakota versus Denver (all NCHC semifinal game)
Saturday April 9 (ESPN)
7:00 PM CDT Championship game
St. Cloud State senior gets checked and is about to collide with FSU goalie Darren Smith.
Oliver “Butch” Mousseau
Lest we forget: Friday, March 18, in the WCHA Final Five, Referee Oliver “Butch” Mousseau fell skating on the ice in a warm-up before the Ferris State/Western Michigan game. He hit his head on the ice, left the ice, left the arena, and died never fully recovering. In his memory, a momentum of quiet silence and prayer went out to Butch and his family with his image held on the monitors high over the crowd at the Xcel. All were quiet in that Saturday minute before the game before Easter. As the games were played, Butch had the best and highest seat at the Xcel.
Notes
1. NCHC Attendance: Surprisingly, since the old WCHA split at the start of the 2013-2014 season with the two Big Ten teams (Wisconsin and Minnesota) leaving, most NCHC have increased or kept their attendance. North Dakota has been #1 in that stat the past two seasons principally because the Badger’s (down 20%) and the Gopher’s (down 15%) attendance has fallen. Perhaps the attendance for Minnesota and Wisconsin will change when Notre Dame (currently #16 in attendance averaging 4,700 fans a game) joins the Big Ten at the start of the 2017-2018 season. Notre Dame trailed NCHC teams Colorado College(#6), Omaha (#4), UMD (#5), and Denver (#11) in attendance this season.
2. A Hidden Stat: Perhaps overlooked in Friday’s game were UMD’s 54 shots on the Friars’ net. The Bulldogs top two lines got 30 of those shots on goal outshooting the Eagles game total against Harvard 30-29. Unfortunately for the ‘Dogs, the “Sherman Tank-like” Eagle defenders held the UMD’s top two lines to 17 shots in BC's 3-2 win in the Northeast Regional finals.
3. A Tale of Two Players: Boston College junior Ian McCoshen/Hudson WI played for the Wisconsin Fire 2007-2008 peewee team in the 39th Edina Invitational tourney played at Braemar Ice Arena in December 2007. They beat UMD’s Kyle Osterberg Lakeville South peewee A team 5-2 in pool play. McCoshen jumped from Shattuck’s 2009-2010 Bantam A team to the USHL’s 2010-2011 Waterloo Black Hawk team and played 42 games (scoring 6 points) that season. He skated two more seasons for the Black Hawks scoring 64 points/19 goals before joining Boston College in the fall of 2013. Kyle Osterberg skated one season with the Lakeville South varsity (57 points/18 goals in 25 games). In 2010-2011, Osterberg joined USA’s National Team Development Program skating two years on the USA U17 and U18 teams posting 47 points/13 goals in 113 games. Osterberg joined the Omaha Lancers in the USHL for one season before joining the Bulldogs in the fall of 2013.
4. NAHL Robertson Cup: Edina’s Braemar Arena will host this year’s Robertson Cup championship series May 12-15. The Minnesota Wilderness (playing out of Cloquet’s Northwoods Arena) is the defending champs and will be in the playoffs. Two other Minnesota based NAHL franchises, the Austin Bruins and the Minnesota Magicians (playing out of Richfield’s Ice Arena) are fighting for a spot in the playoffs. Last season, in a four overtime game played at Austin’s Riverside Arena, the Wilderness beat Austin and went on to win the Robertson Cup.
5. Will Alex Tuch join the Wild? Tuch was the Minnesota Wild’s #1 pick in the 2014 NHL entry draft (#18 overall). He is finishing his sophomore year at Boston College. Most drafted hockey players make the jump to the NHL at the end of their sophomore year. For Tuch to make the move, he will need to get at least six games in at the pro level (Iowa Wild or other) to be eligible to return to the Xcel next fall.
6. HPHL-NTDP-Michigan: Top Michigan scorers JT Compher, Tyler Motte, Zach Werenski, and Anders Bjork all played for teams in the HPHL (Chicago Mission, Belle Tire, etc) and the moved on to play in the USA’s NTDP program for two years before playing for Michigan. They did not skate high school hockey or USHL hockey. Michigan’s leading scorer, freshman Kyle Connor followed a different path. He moved from the Belle Tire team to the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, spending three seasons before joining the Wolverines this season.
7. Harvard’s Jake Horton: Finishing his sophomore season at Harvard, Horton skated for Tartan High School (MN) as a freshman in 2009-2010 and was the #2 scorer for the Titans that year. Horton moved to the NAHL’s Janesville team the following season and spent the next four seasons playing at Janesville and at the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks before joining Harvard in the fall of 2014.
8. Hats off to the WCHA: Don't overlook the role of Bemidji State and Minnesota State hockey teams play in this state. Both have some top talent coming into their programs next season, players YHH has followed for years and both lost close games to Ferris State this year. Ferris State's win showed that the WCHA can't be ignored when it comes to NCAA picks for future NCAA Division I tourneys.