BURNING QUESTIONS
Miami: Will Miami’s momentum carry the RedHawks back to a third-straight Frozen Four?
Merrimack: Can the Warriors write another chapter and extend a storybook season another two weeks?
Notre Dame: In a season of close-to-the-top finishes, is this the weekend that the Irish put it all together and wins the NCAA Regional?
New Hampshire: Can the Granite State hosts come through in Manchester?
BACK STORY
This Manchester regional has the appearance of a CCHA/Hockey East Showcase and has several intriguing elements to it. Miami is the highest seed and won the CCHA playoff title last weekend. The RedHawks will vie to extend their Frozen Four streak to three by winning twice in Manchester. The toss-up game of the tournament pits Merrimack and Notre Dame in an anything-can-happen affair. New Hampshire is the host school at this regional and rolled through Hockey East before finishing second to Boston College on the last weekend of the regular season and dropping a semifinal game to Merrimack at the league tournament.
ON A ROLL
Miami's Carter Camper
Miami enters the NCAA Tournament on a seven-game winning streak and a 13-game unbeaten streak, having rolled through the CCHA playoffs with a sweep of Alaska, a decisive victory over Notre Dame in the semifinals and a third-period surge to stop a Western Michigan rally. The unbeaten streak began Jan. 22, a night after the RedHawks were beaten 7-4 by Michigan State, prompting coach Enrico Blasi to bench four regulars – Will Weber, Alden Hirschfeld, Cameron Schilling and Curtis McKenzie – for the next night’s game. The message got through loud and clear, as the RedHawks beat the Spartans 4-0 that night, and rode the momentum all the way to the program’s first-ever Mason Cup.
SOMETHING TO PROVE
Some critics of the NCAA Tournament system could point (and have pointed) at the apparent benefit that host New Hampshire is awarded as a host school playing near its campus, despite being the lowest-seeded team in this particular regional. For UNH, it’s more than that. This is a team with a Hobey Baker finalist in Paul Thompson and some talented top-end players that held the lead in Hockey East until the final weekend of the season. With a pedestrian 2-3-2 record in regular-season non-conference games, this is an opportunity for the Wildcats to prove that there’s some substance to this team … and potentially extend a streak of
ONES TO WATCH
After a forgettable 2009-10 season, Notre Dame was in need of some breakout performances offensively to help spur a return to the top tier of the CCHA, and it got what it wished for with the emergence of freshman forwards T.J. Tynan and Anders Lee as premier scoring threats. The two rookies have scored 22 goals each, including a combined 11 goals on the power play, eight game winners and three short-handed markers. Tynan has also notched 30 assists on the year, to lead all freshman nationally with 52 totals points.
MR. CLUTCH
Statistics measuring game-winning anything—goals, runs batted in, stuff like that—should be taken with a grain of salt. Then there’s Merrimack forward Jesse Todd, who leads the Warriors with six game-winning goals, five of which have come in one-goal victories. One of them occurred in a 2-1 overtime win at Army Dec. 30; another took place in a 4-3 win at UMass Lowell on Nov. 19 when the Calgary native scored twice in the last 2:20 of regulation. If time’s winding down and the game is tied, keep an eye on the guy clad in blue and gold wearing No. 16.
MONDAY’S PROJECTED HEADLINE
Three-In-A-Row: Miami Returns To Frozen Four
