HOT TOPIC
Each of the teams in this regional has some exciting talent, but this time of year, it’s often experience that is the deciding factor, and in Bridgeport, there’s no one that can touch Michigan in that regard. That doesn’t make Michigan untouchable, however. No. 2 seed Yale is the host team in Bridgeport and its AD predicted sell-out crowds at the venue. They’ve been steady all year. Vermont is the only team in the nation to have two wins over Boston University this season, and Air Force started the year with 13 straight wins including a triumph over WCHA third-place finishers Colorado College. The Selection Sunday INCH Podcast debated whether a betting man would take Michigan or the field, and our field of experts was divided right down the middle.
BACK STORY
Michigan's Bryan Hogan, now the team's starting goalie, saw action in last year's Frozen Four.
There’ll be an interesting dichotomy in Bridgeport this weekend, as you have three of the four teams that have combined for seven previous NCAA tournament appearances and ten total tournament games. And then you’ve got the Michigan Wolverines, who have played in the tournament 31 times, skated in the national title game 11 times and won nine national championships. While Michigan has certainly been around for a long time and had success back in the day, the trend hasn’t changed recently, as the current senior class has seen four tournament berths and a Frozen Four while Air Force, Yale and Vermont have combined for just two appearances over that time span - resulting in two Air Force losses. The one interesting factor with respect to that experience: before last year’s Frozen Four run, Michigan’s current seniors’ two previous NCAA Tournament berths ended as soon as they started with first-round losses.
ON A ROLL
Yale has won all four of its postseason games and has outscored its opposition 15-5 in those games, including a 5-0 blanking of Cornell in the ECAC Hockey championship game. The Bulldogs turned their season around in late January with a road sweep of Cornell and Colgate that launched an eight-game winning streak, and Yale is 13-2-1 overall since then. They were regular season and playoff champions in their conference. A confident, hard-working group plays together and never changes its approach, even if they’re ahead or behind by three goals.
SOMETHING TO PROVE
Greg Flynn is a high-scoring defenseman for Air Force.
A 13-0-0 start to the season had some considering what once would have been unthinkable for the Air Force Falcons - a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament or even the chance of a perfect regular season. A 4-7-2 stretch followed, however, and it wasn’t just those lofty possibilities that disappeared. RIT carved into the Falcons’ Atlantic Hockey lead and it took an Air Force win on the last night of the regular season, in Rochester, to secure a tie for the conference regular-season crown. Since they tailed off from their early season run the Falcons enter the tournament as a curiosity moreso than a circus-style freak show. Frank Serratore’s team, led by uber-scorer Jacques Lamoureux, has a chance to show the nation that its early success wasn’t so far fetched.
ONES TO WATCH
Three Hobey Baker Award finalists are in action this weekend in Bridgeport. The first semifinal pits Michigan’s Louie Caporusso against Air Force’s Jacques Lamoureux. Both are sophomores, and both are among the nation’s leading goal scorers. Lamoureux has 32 goals and Caporusso has scored 24. The third Hobey finalist is Vermont’s Viktor Stalberg. More on him below …
MR CLUTCH
Vermont has needed a go-to scorer since losing Torrey Mitchell after the 2005-06 season, and it’s got a legitimate one in junior forward Viktor Stalberg right now. Stalberg has put up 23 goals and 43 points, the most by a Catamount since UVM joined Hockey East four seasons ago. He’s a dynamic player who can score the highlight-reel goal and also dig a puck out of the corners to set up a blue-collar goal. If Vermont has plans of advancing, Stalberg will be a key component for that to happen.
SUNDAY STORYLINE
Theoretically, Michigan should handle Air Force - just like top seeds Minnesota and Miami should’ve drubbed the fourth-seed Falcons in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Still, the Wolverines’ superior depth and size will ultimately doom Air Force. Vermont and Yale are tournament neophytes, but the Bulldogs, fresh off an ECAC Hockey playoff title, are playing with loads of confidence and a bit of a swagger. Look for them to jump early on a Catamount team playing for the first time in two weeks.
A potential meeting between the Harvard of the West and the Yale would appear to be a mismatch. There’s no question Michigan is more talented, more experienced, and deeper than the Elis, but Yale seems to have “it” this season, and a little “it” can go a long way - just ask any member of the 2004 Denver Pioneers. The finale in Bridgeport may shape up to be a battle between a team able to impose its will on opponents against one that has willed its way to win after win.
James V. Dowd, Mike Eidelbes, Nate Ewell, Joe Gladziszewski and Jeff Howe contributed to this preview.
