Michigan and Michigan State's marches to the Frozen Four

Michigan and Michigan state have both been eliminated.

East Region Preview

by Paula C. Weston, Matt Mackinder, Brian Sullivan, Theresa Spisak and Scott Brown/Staff Writers

March 27 — Can Michigan be stopped?

The Wolverines come into the NCAA tournament on a mini-roll after having won their last four in a row, including a nailbiter last Saturday to claim the CCHA tournament title and the overall top seed in the NCAAs.

The unanimous No. 1 in the season’s final USCHO.com/CSTV poll is the undisputed favorite in the East Regional as well, but Michigan’s semifinal opponent, Niagara, will be playing within driving distance of its campus and is motivated to represent the CHA well as that league faces challenges for next season.

The other game at the Times Union Center Friday pits two teams not particularly happy with their recent performances in St. Cloud State and Clarkson.

Both should be well-rested, as the Huskies lost in the play-in game at the WCHA Final Five last Thursday while the Golden Knights got the weekend off after being upset in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals. Both are also battling history, with SCSU never having won an NCAA tournament game and Clarkson none since 1996.

The winners of Friday’s semifinals will meet Saturday to decide the first berth in the Frozen Four. Will it be Michigan? Or can one of the other contenders raise its play and stop the Wolverines’ momentum?

Michigan vs. Niagara
Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y.

Michigan Wolverines
Record: 31-5-4, 20-4-4 CCHA (first)
Seed: No. 1 overall, No. 1 East
How in: CCHA tournament champion
2007 NCAA tournament: Lost in regional semifinal

The Michigan Wolverines captured the CCHA’s automatic NCAA tournament bid with their eighth Mason Cup and their first since 2005, but they certainly didn’t need the hardware to secure an invitation. The only thing uncertain about last Saturday’s conference title game was who would emerge the No. 1 overall seed, Michigan or the Miami RedHawks.
Kevin Porter is a Hobey Baker finalist, but the biggest difference for this year's Wolverines might be an improved Billy Sauer (photo: Melissa Wade).
Kevin Porter is a Hobey Baker finalist, but the biggest difference for this year's Wolverines might be an improved Billy Sauer (photo: Melissa Wade).

“It was a good weekend for us,” said UM head coach Red Berenson. “It was good hockey for the league, too. We had a great crowd.”

That is the understated perspective of a man whose team is traveling to an NCAA-best 18th consecutive tournament, a man who for only the second time in his career became this year’s CCHA Coach of the Year.

But this year is perhaps a little sweeter for the Wolverines, who were picked fourth in both the CCHA coaches and media preseason polls, owing to the youth of their squad and the past inconsistencies of junior goaltender Billy Sauer.

And that may be the reason why Berenson himself jumped into the air behind the bench when the buzzer sounded on Michigan’s 2-1 win over Miami last Saturday, exhibiting a rare, ear-to-ear postgame grin — one that was, of course, gone by the time the press conference began. Berenson is, if anything, all business.

When asked what his team needs to improve upon going into this tournament, after winning both CCHA titles, losing fewer games than anyone in the country and amassing the nation’s best win percentage, Berenson said, “I can give you a laundry list.”

“We’re not as good in certain areas as we were a couple of months ago,” Berenson continued. “Let’s face it; Billy Sauer kept us in the game at the end on Friday. He didn’t have much work early in the game. Then against Miami, he was the difference again. We were being outplayed and outshot.”

Sauer, a weakness for the Wolverines a year ago, has emerged as the most improved player in the league. His 1.97 goals-against average is seventh-best in the nation, and his save percentage of .924 is 11th-best. Last year, Sauer’s 3.03 GAA was 52nd-best in the nation, his .896 save percentage 51st.

In Friday’s 6-4 CCHA semifinal win over Northern Michigan, Sauer was spectacular at the end of the third period, when the Wildcats — the underdog workhorses of the tournament — threw everything they had at him. In Saturday’s 2-1 win over Miami, Sauer kept Miami’s top offense off the board until the 19:21 mark in regulation.

“It’s good to know that he can be a difference-maker,” said Berenson. “At this time of year, goaltending is the difference.”

A year ago, it was a high-powered offense that kept the Wolverines competitive; this season, Michigan combines the nation’s second-best offense (3.98 goals per game) with the fifth-best defense (2.08 GPG), adds solid goaltending and sprinkles in something intangible — youthful enthusiasm. UM routinely dresses nine freshmen, two of whom — forward Matt Rust (11-10—21) and defensemen Scooter Vaughn (0-4—4) — played with broken bones last weekend.

Berenson said he won’t know until the tournament is over how his NCAA newcomers will respond, but he managed to sound both practical and optimistic when discussing the freshmen. “In every situation we’ve put them in, they’ve done well, whether it’s the GLI or the Ice Breaker. Then when we faced Minnesota and Wisconsin in the [College Hockey] Showcase, they played well. Then last weekend.

“I don’t think it’s going to faze them.”

Although the Wolverines are young, UM’s veterans have shown real leadership this season. Senior captain Kevin Porter (28-28—56), this year’s CCHA Player of the Year, is fourth nationally in points per game (1.40), seventh in goals per game (0.70) and third in power-play goals (14). He and classmate Chad Kolarik (28-20—48) have combined for 56 goals, more than any other duo in the country. All told, Michigan has seven players with 10 or more markers.

If the Wolverines have one weakness, it’s special teams. UM is 13th nationally on the power play (.204), 14th on the penalty kill (.862). Berenson said two more areas need improvement going into the regionals. “I think our D-zone coverage can be better, our forechecking can be better.”

As for the trip to Albany, said Berenson, “I think it’s a good draw. I don’t know that there’s a bad draw. If you’re going to play in the tournament, you have to prove it on the ice.”

Niagara Purple Eagles
Record: 22-10-4, 12-6-2 CHA (second)
Seed: No. 15 overall, No. 4 East
How in: CHA tournament champion
2007 NCAA tournament: none

Niagara is going into Friday’s night’s East Regional against top-ranked Michigan knowing that it’s the underdog, and is not expected to do much versus the Wolverines.

But the Purple Eagles still intend to show up in Albany, N.Y., about five hours east of the NU campus, and do what got them a College Hockey America title and an NCAA berth.

“We had a spirited week of practice and it’s nice to finally be here,” Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder said. “This is just another work week for us.”

Winning the CHA tournament and getting to the NCAA dance was extra-special for the Purple Eagles as it meant every senior class has won a championship. NU also made the NCAA tournament in 2000 and 2004. This year’s team is one Burkholder said can hold its own with any team in the country.

“We’ve had a terrific season,” said Burkholder. “We were 10-4-1 and nationally ranked at the Christmas break, but then came back and lost four of five, including two at Cornell. Aside from that little lull, we finished strong. Right now, we’re focused on working hard for Friday night.”

Juliano Pagliero will get the nod in net for Niagara, as he has for much of the season. CHA tournament MVP Ted Cook, with a goal in six straight games, is also ready for Michigan.

“‘Pags’ has been a pillar for us,” noted Burkholder. “We’ll need him to bring his ‘A’ game. Cook has been a different player in practice this week. He’s been scoring goals like crazy and finishing all the drills. He’s on a roll.”

Senior co-captain Matt Caruana has seen his share of ups and downs with Niagara, but doesn’t hesitate when asked to describe this year’s squad compared to other years.

“The guys are so close on and off the ice and this is by far the deepest team I’ve ever been on in my four years here,” Caruana said. “Maybe in other years we had two lines, but this year we roll four lines and lately, our third line has been our best line.

“We’re going into this game with Michigan with no intimidation, no pressure. The first 10 minutes will be important and if we can weather the storm for those first few minutes and keep them off the scoreboard, we should be all right.”

Burkholder also said that Caruana and fellow captain Vince Rocco put the pressure on themselves to get to regionals.

“Winning the [CHA] tournament at home, they both took it personally to lead this team there,” said Burkholder. “Now they’ve done that and the burden is off. They’ve prepared this team for the next step.”

“We’re treating this just like any other road game,” added Caruana. “The older guys are getting the younger guys ready to go. We’ve watched video of Michigan and we don’t want any five-on-fours against us. I think special teams will be big in this game.”

This will be just the fifth meeting between NU and Michigan over the years, and the Wolverines hold a 3-1-0 advantage over the Purple Eagles after their last win in Nov. 2003. Hobey Baker hopeful Kevin Porter captains Michigan and even though he went pointless last weekend during the CCHA championship, Niagara cannot afford to give him any room.

“I think containing Kevin Porter has been an issue for every team that’s played Michigan,” said Burkholder. “You can’t game plan for him. When we have the puck, we need to take care of it. Michigan was ranked No. 1 for more weeks than any other team, so that tells you something. They’re the fastest team in the nation in transition and have a lot of talent.

“We just need the Niagara team to show up [Friday] night.”

(for the preview of the rest of the region see the link)

West Region Preview

by Paula C. Weston, Dave Hendrickson, Theresa Spisak and Scott Brown/Staff Writers

March 27 — As it did last year, the West Regional looks to house the toughest quarter of the NCAA bracket. Two regular-season conference champions (one of them the host team), the defending NCAA titlists and a dangerous No. 4 seed make for what should be a highly-entertaining and potentially unpredictable weekend of hockey.

The nominal top seed is New Hampshire, but host Colorado College can reasonably be deemed the co-favorite — if not more — in this ultra-competitive regional.

Both UNH and CC will be looking for redemption after losing in last weekend’s conference tournaments after coming in as top seeds, but the experience was worse for CC, which lost twice at the WCHA Final Five, including Saturday to North Dakota in a game which settled the race for the final No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney.

The underdog role suits Notre Dame, which plays New Hampshire in the semifinals Friday, just fine. The Fighting Irish reached the NCAA tournament by the narrowest of margins after a two-loss weekend in Detroit, but are in the nationals for the second straight year nonetheless.

And then there’s third-seeded Michigan State, which finds itself in a situation similar to last year: not even favored in its first game of the tournament, especially with a true road game this time around.

We all remember how 2006-07 ended, of course.

Colorado College vs. Michigan State
Friday, 8 p.m. MT, World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Colorado College Tigers
Record: 28-11-1, 21-6-1 WCHA (first)
Seed: No. 5 overall, No. 2 West
How in: At-large
2007 NCAA tournament: none

In a season when the WCHA was hard to predict, when teams went on hot and cold streaks, there were still a few constants and one was the Colorado College Tigers — they would win, especially at home.

The Tigers went 18-2 at home, including winning 14 straight at the World Arena before falling to St. Cloud State in early February. They were also consistent, getting a point every weekend save one — an early nonconference tilt at New Hampshire — a consistency that helped them earn the MacNaughton Cup as the league’s regular-season champions.

However, the Tigers have started to catch the inconsistency bug of late, struggling in their sweep of Alaska Anchorage to make the Final Five. Then, once in St. Paul, CC lost twice, failing once again to capture a Broadmoor Trophy and seeing their No. 1 seed for the NCAAs — once seemingly a lock — slip away.

“Our play has been a little inconsistent since we won up in Denver,” admitted head coach Scott Owens. “We won, we beat Denver 3-1, we swept Alaska Anchorage, but there were little pieces of inconsistency in those games. When we played North Dakota [and] Minnesota, the inconsistencies really came out.

“I think our guys are dialed in and ready to go. I think everybody knows what’s at stake and it’s a situation that hopefully we will be more consistent, that we’ll be prepared and ready to go.”

When consistent, the Tigers can be deadly. In early February, Owens put junior Chad Rau (28-14—42) on a line with sophomores Bill Sweatt (10-17—27) and Mike Testwuide (11-10—21) with great dividends. Rau has been the biggest beneficiary of the move, continuing to quietly make his mark as one of the great players in the WCHA.

“I think in some ways [Rau] gets overlooked a little bit. He’s our catalyst offensively and special teams and scoring,” said Owens, before backtracking a tad. “I don’t mean overlook — he was a first-team all-WCHA player, but people forget about what a fantastic year he’s had.”

Second to Rau on the score sheet and possibly one of the best defensemen in the country is Jack Hillen with 37 points (6g, 31a). However, if a team can get past Hillen, it then has to contend with the WCHA Rookie and Player of the Year in Richard Bachman (1.82 GAA, .933 sv%), who won the starting job from junior Drew O’Connell early in the season.

“The minutes he’s played and the results he’s had; he’s one of the youngest guys on our team but I don’t really consider him a freshman at this point,” said Owens. “I think he plays like an upperclassman anyway, but in particular the second half of the year.”

Now that Bachman’s been on the big stage — and performed admirably in his team’s losses — he his teammates now get to shine back at home, where Owens hopes his team will find its footing once again.

“It’s good to get back in our familiar surroundings, get back at the World Arena, the size sheet that we’ve had some success at,” said Owens. “We hadn’t been to St. Paul in a few years and I think it was a great learning experience even though we could not have success, but I think it’s good now to be back home and get ready for the regionals.”

The Tigers come back to the Springs riding a two-game losing streak, their second-longest of the season, but aren’t worried about the lack of momentum — even if Michigan State is also riding in on a similar skid.

“We’d had a pretty good run here, up until this weekend in St. Paul,” said Owens. “I don’t think it really hurts us, our confidence; I think it’ll get everybody’s attention and it may not be a bad thing.”

If it does grab the Tigers’ collective attention, they may get the chance to play near home once again up I-25 in Denver.

Michigan State Spartans
Record: 24-11-5, 19-6-3 CCHA (third)
Seed: No. 9 overall, No. 3 West
How in: At-large
2007 NCAA tournament: National champions

Last year, Michigan State finished fourth in the CCHA but first in the nation. This year, the Spartans were third in conference play, but sat out the league’s championship tournament in Detroit for the first time in 17 years, having lost a best-of-3 quarterfinal series to Northern Michigan on their own turf after securing a bye week for the first round of the playoffs.

“It was really hard, especially since we knew we were in the [NCAA] tournament,” said head coach Rick Comley, who watched last week’s tournament from the seats in Joe Louis Arena. “That was our second weekend in three off.”

Comley said that the Spartans knew why they were watching from East Lansing instead of dressing in Detroit. “Northern played great. We didn’t sit out with a bad taste in our mouth.”

But they did sit out, and that, said Comley, could be a problem. “It hurts. We tried all week to get it back. It was a struggle after the one week off. We never quite got it back. This week it’s been a struggle again. There’s a game sharpness that comes with playing. That’s why we play all season long, for that game sharpness and to prepare for the [NCAA] tournament.”

The defending national champs began the season on a low note, with a 6-0 loss to North Dakota in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game, but followed that with a decisive eight-game win streak … before running into four games against three ranked teams — Miami, Minnesota, Wisconsin — a stretch through which they went 0-2-2.

That beginning was perhaps indicative of how this MSU team would fare for the rest of the season. Entering this weekend’s regional, the Spartans are 3-4-4 against participants in this 16-team field, with a 0-1-2 record against WCHA teams in the tourney. And in the CCHA playoffs, the Spartans faced a Northern Michigan team that had swept them on the road just weeks before and which finished up its season with two fewer CCHA wins than had MSU in the second half.

In the West regional, the Spartans “have a tough draw,” said Comley. “We play a very, very good team, on its home ice, on an Olympic sheet. We’re all thrilled to go [but] certainly there would be better places for us.”

The Spartans are 10th-best nationally in three categories coning into the tournament, offense (3.27 goals per game), power play (20.8 percent) and penalty kill (86.7 percent), and are 12th-best defensively (2.35 goals per game).

“I think this team’s had to deal all year with expectations this season,” said Comley. “The bottom line is that our team has not been as good as last year. We still won 24 games. It just never came together in the ways that I hoped it would.”

MSU is backstopped by a Hobey Baker finalist, junior Jeff Lerg (2.23 GAA, .925 SV%), who has proved himself a playoff goaltender with a 1.50 goals-against average and .950 save percentage in six NCAA tournament games in the past two years.

Even with Lerg in net, it’s defense that could be MSU’s downfall, said Comley. The Spartans do have six players with goal totals in the double digits, and are led offensively by junior Tim Kennedy (19-21—40), senior Bryan Lerg (20-18—38) and junior Justin Abdelkader (18-19—37), one of the best agitators in the game.

No one expected MSU to emerge from its regional last year, said Comley, so the Spartans are in familiar territory heading to Colorado.

“Last year’s last year,” said Comley. “This year’s this year. Both are great stories.”

(for the preview of the rest of the region see the link)

#1 overall seed Michigan is currently tied 0-0 with 3 minutes to go in the first round against Niagra. The game is on ESPNU for those that get it.

Michigan State will play Colorado College later tonight on ESPNU.

Go Blue!

Go State!

Michigan takes a 1-0 lead

Notre Dame destroys New Hampshire 7-3. That's an upset!

wins!

wins!

College Hockey Rules!


They still have tie games!

NHL SHOULD STILL BE THE SAME!


STUPID SHOOTOUTS!

No ties in the tourney though

College hockey is awesome. I get ESPNU now so I get to watch.

I decided to upgrade my cable so I could get versus and they told me that they'd been overcharging me

I'd been paying $114.95/mo for 80 channels and the internet and I tried to add a $5 package that includes versus, ESPNU, and Turner Classic Movies. My payment is now $100.95.

Are they going to refund me the difference (almost 2 years overpaying by $14 a month?).....nope!

At least they have them in the regular season!


Minor League Hockey doesn't, NHL don't!


The Olympics had them in the first round in 2006 but I think they are going to all shootouts in 2010

Michigan wins! They're through to the Frozen Four

Michigan State has lost. Their season is over.

Go Blue!

Michigan plays Notre Dame later. The winner will almost certainly get Boston College who is absolutely destroying (favorite) North Dakota 4-0 after 1.

Michigan is down 3-0

EDIT: Make it 3-2

3-3!!!!

GO

The game is on ESPN2 if you didn't already know that...

4-3 Notre Dame. Fuck!

tie game!!!

OVERTIME!

Next goal puts you in the national championship.

Go Blue!!

14:41 in OT #1. Michigan looks awful in it so far.

FUCK! Notre Dame wins

They're a fucking 4 seed

FUCK!

I called that though - see my last post about 1 minute ago.

Fuck Notre Dame!

did it help?

Michigan can't win nothing anymore!


Same goes for State

not till next fall

Actually I meant the big games!


Michigan can't beat OSU in football: Michigan State falls short in the NCAA basketball tournament[ the last several years] and Michigan lost in the Frozen Four.

Lets win some titles and

won the Frozen Four last year. hasn't won it in forever and they're the Yankees of college hockey.

I can remember when I was in college that Michigan was so good, it was all teams could do to keep their losses to a minimum...they would go in knowing they would lose!