HOT TOPIC
Boston University has been one of the best teams all season, and despite winning five titles already this season – the Hockey East regular season and playoff titles, the Beanpot, Denver Cup and Icebreaker – but in order for this season to truly be considered a success they’ll have to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Boston University’s last trip to the Frozen Four was in 1997. This team has been a buzzsaw all year long and anything less than a trip to DC will be a huge disappointment. They last won the national championship in 1995, which was the third year in a string of five straight Frozen Four appearances. The pressure is on for BU. They’ve met every challenge in their path so far this season. Will they this weekend as the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and in the Northeast Regional.
Hobey Baker Award finalist Colin Wilson hopes to lead Boston University to its first Frozen Four in more than a decade.
BACK STORY
Someone’s streak is going to come to an end. We just discussed BU’s Frozen Four drought. If that absence comes to an end, it’ll mark an end to the most impressive current NCAA Tournament streak. That belongs to North Dakota, a program that’s been to the Frozen Four for the last four years in a row.
Looking to reach their fifth consecutive Frozen Four, the Fighting Sioux and their fans know that getting there is usually much more than half the fun, and being there is rarely any fun. North Dakota’s previous three seasons ended at the hands of Boston College, which scored 18 goals in those three Frozen Four semifinals. With the Eagles out of the tournament this year, there’s an open door, but having to travel across the country to Manchester to face New Hampshire (which will be playing less than an hour’s drive from its campus) could mean that door slamming in the NoDak faces. Still, every non-freshman on the Sioux roster simply knows no other place to end a season than at the Frozen Four.
ON A ROLL
Boston University has won five championships this season and is the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. The Terriers are 23-2-4 since Nov. 25, and 17-1-3 in their last 21 games. They’re stacked with six defensemen who could all wind up playing in the NHL at some point, and they’ve got two scoring lines who could make the same claim. Plus, freshman goalie Kieran Millan has shown the utmost composure during the pressure of the postseason, and he’s got his one wakeup moment – allowing six goals to Maine in a Game 2 loss in the Hockey East quarterfinals – that has allowed him to grow perhaps more than any other time this season.
SOMETHING TO PROVE
New Hampshire is 1-6 in the NCAA tournament dating back to the 2003 national championship, and the Wildcats are currently riding a four-game losing streak national tourney. They’re also 0-2 in NCAA tournament games played in Manchester during that stretch, and they don’t generally have the success in that building. While UNH deserves its credit for qualifying for eight consecutive NCAA tournaments, it’s got to start proving it can do a little more damage once it gets there.
Forward Zac Dalpe is one of 22 freshmen and sophomores on the Ohio State roster.
ONES TO WATCH
While the young Ohio State Buckeyes snuck in the back door of the NCAA Tournament, don’t be fooled – this squad has some serious talent. Freshman forward Zac Dalpe, selected by Carolina in the second round of last summer’s NHL Draft, and his defensive classmate Matt Bartkowski – a seventh round selection of the Florida Panthers were two of the more exciting players in the CCHA this season. Dalpe is a hard-working forward who found the back of the net 13 times this season, while Bartkowski isn’t afraid to jump into the offensive rush, contributing 4 goals and 15 assists on the year without compromising his defensive responsibilities, maintaining a plus-16 rating on the year.
MR. CLUTCH
While Brett Hextall has had little trouble adjusting to the speed and the skill of college hockey, learning the ropes of winter life in the Red River Valley has been a bit of a different story. His father, former NHL All-Star and Stanley Cup Finals MVP Ron, says that in December, the Hextall home in Southern California got a call from Brett who had a simple question about his new home on the prairie: “Why does it have to be so cold?” Chilly times on the ice have rarely been a problem for Hextall, who has posted a dozen goals (fourth on the team) and three game-winners (tied for second on the team) in his first season as a Fighting Sioux.
SUNDAY STORYLINE
The majority of folks haven’t penciled in a Boston University-North Dakota regional final; they’ve tattooed it on a bicep. It’s not that neither Ohio State nor New Hampshire have a chance to win in the first round. The Buckeyes, assuming they keep all of their young talent around for a while, are on the verge of something big, but they’re not quite ready. The Wildcats, meanwhile, get our vote as the tournament’s least inspiring team.
Which brings us to the probable matchup pitting the Team that Should against the Team that Always Does – or, if you prefer, a team that’s greater than the sum of its parts and a team that has some great parts. Sure, North Dakota lost both of its games in last weekend’s WCHA Final Five, but the Sioux have shown they can bounce back from sub-par outings. And though BU won the Hockey East title, the Terriers’ propensity for self-inflicted wounds is a concern. Mental preparation and the poise of two freshman goalies could be the deciding factors here.
James V. Dowd, Mike Eidelbes, Joe Gladziszewski, Jeff Howe and Jess Myers contributed to this preview.
