BURNING QUESTIONS

North Dakota: As the stage gets bigger and the scrutiny and pressure intensify, how will goaltender Aaron Dell respond?

Denver: Can the Pioneers win an NCAA Tournament game, something they haven’t done since beating North Dakota in the 2005 championship match in Columbus?

Western Michigan: Much has come quickly to the Broncos in their first year under Jeff Blashill, but is just being in the tournament field satisfaction for this team?

Rensselaer: How will the Engineers play after a long layoff, and how long will it take for them to get into the flow against top-ranked North Dakota?

BACK STORY

It's been six years since Denver has won an NCAA Tournament game, but Drew Shore and Co. hope to end that drought this weekend.

The Ferris State teams of the mid-1990s didn’t win any championships, but two members of the Bulldogs of that era are chasing a national championship starting this weekend in Green Bay. Rensselaer coach Seth Appert and Western Michigan coach Jeff Blashill were Ferris State teammates from 1994-96–both goaltenders to boot. Of course, there’s a chance that the two close friends could meet Sunday for the right to advance to the Frozen Four. Then again, there’s also the possibility the Engineers could face Denver in the regional final, which would pit Appert against his former boss, George Gwozdecky.

ON A ROLL

Pretty simple here–no team in the country is hotter than North Dakota. The Fighting Sioux have won nine straight and are 12-0-1 in their last 13 games. What’s more, the Sioux have scored three or more goals in each game during their current unbeaten streak and they’ve allowed two or fewer goals in 11 of those 13 matches. Is North Dakota unbeatable? Of course not, but it’s going to take a near-flawless effort on both ends of the ice.

SOMETHING TO PROVE

Western Michgan’s climb from CCHA cellar dweller last season to league playoff runner-up in 2010-11 was impressive, but it hasn’t quieted all the skeptics. People who’ve followed the Broncos’ ascent know this team is for real, but a solid NCAA Tournament showing–even in a first-round loss to Denver–would serve notice to the naysayers. Keep an eye on WMU freshmen Chase Balisy, a forward, and Dan DeKeyser, a defenseman, two big reasons the future is bright in Kalamazoo.

ONE TO WATCH

In general, college hockey fans from the western reaches of the country tend to look down their noses at players from ECAC Hockey, but Rensselaer senior forward Chase Polacek, a Hobey Baker Award finalist for the second straight year, is the real deal. The 5-foot-8, 190-pound centerman enters the weekend with 21 goals, 27 assists, 48 points, 11 power-play goals, two shorthanded goals, and nine game-winning goals–all team highs. Polacek and similarly sized classmate Tyler Helfrich (38 points) are a formidable one-two punch.

MR. CLUTCH

As if he needed more to boost his Hobey Baker Award candidacy, North Dakota senior forward Matt Frattin proved his worth last weekend at the WCHA Final Five, scoring the game-winning goal with five minutes remaining in regulation in the Fighting Sioux’s 4-3 semifinal win against Colorado College and following that effort with a goal five minutes into the second overtime of Saturday’s league playoff championship against Denver. Frattin has collected 27 points during his current 13-game scoring streak and has at least one goal in 11 of those contests.

MONDAY’S PROJECTED HEADLINE

Can’t Touch This: Fighting Sioux Advance to Frozen Four