DETROIT, Mich. - That Shawn Hunwick was the calm amidst the storm was a somewhat fitting sight as Michigan forward Louie Caporusso and blue line Steve Kampfer rushed amidst their teammates to celebrate an unlikely CCHA title with the goaltender and tournament MVP. As Caporusso, Kampfer and their teammates watched a faceoff at the far end of the ice with 3.5 seconds remaining and let loose at the final horn that ended a 2-1 victory over Northern Michigan, Hunwick was as calm as ever, soaking in the moment.

Michigan, the seventh seed in the CCHA tournament, beat Northern Michigan to win the Mason Cup

“I’ve never seen a goalie lean on the net with three seconds left,” Kampfer joked, “So lackadaisical.”

Caporusso took note too.

“I have to admit, he’s a calm goalie,” Caporusso added, laughing.

Since taking over Michigan’s starting goaltender spot after Bryan Hogan was injured during the final weekend of the regular season, Hunwick’s calm, collected manner helped to settle down a team that couldn’t find its way all season long. The junior’s focus helped his team to find the drive and will that was so evident over the past weekend, a will needed to win the conference tournament and secure the Wolverines’ 20th consecutive trip to the national tournament.

But even the even-keeled Hunwick admits that he did indeed feel the gravity of the moment.

“When I saw that faceoff down at the other end with two seconds left, I got pretty emotional,” Hunwick said. “I saw everyone’s legs hanging over the boards, and I was just trying to keep it together and have some fun with the boys.”

Hunwick made 17 saves in the victory after stopping 20 shots against Miami in the semifinal matchup, and has posted an incredible 6-0-0 record with a 1.50 goals against average a .929 save percentage - the type of numbers that made Miami’s Cody Reichard the CCHA player of the year.

While Hunwick has been lauded for making the most of his 5-foot-7, 163-pound frame by taking away the bottom of the net and not losing his patience, the junior gives credit for his tournament MVP award to the team in front of him for helping to take away opponents’ opportunities.

“It was obviously a nice feeling (to win the award), but I think it takes away from the team,” Hunwick said. “The guys played tremendous, I don’t even know if I deserve to be the MVP, I don’t even know if I deserve to be a star of the game. It’s nice to get a little recognition. Six weeks ago if you said I’d be sitting here, I would have said you were crazy.”

NORTHERN COMES UP JUST SHORT

After coming on strong over the past few weeks, Northern Michigan seemed to be at least at even-odds if not the favorite in the championship game, but Coach Walt Kyle, the master of second half surges, gave full marks to Michigan for picking up their game in the latter stages of the season and throughout the playoffs.

“I think that one of the things that we always talk about is that when you’re in playoff games, there are no excuses, the team that plays better always wins,” Kyle said. “In my opinion Michigan certainly played much better than us tonight. Their speed gave us problems; they got pucks in behind us and they forechecked and came at us with the attack. They had great back pressure and stole the puck from us coming up the ice.”

While Michigan did indeed control the flow of the play for most of the game, Northern Michigan’s explosiveness was certainly evident in a few close calls, including a memorable play when Mark Olver danced around an attempted check from Michigan defenseman Brandon Burlon and wrapped around the net only to be stopped by Hunwick.

Olver and Greger Hanson both had their moments, but it was gritty play in front of the net that finally got the Wildcats on the board and gave them a chance to come back. Forward Justin Florek, who played well all weekend long down low, particularly on the power play, powered through Michigan defenders and knocked the puck across the low slot to Andrew Cherniwchan, who knew exactly what to do once he got the puck.

“We knew we had to go upstairs on that goalie because he covers the bottom of the net well,” Cherniwchan said. “Once we got it I thought we had a good chance of coming back and I think we pushed them hard until the end.”

With Stewart out of the net in the final 1:18, the Wildcats threatened down low a few other times, but a final push by Michigan tied up the puck behind the net, resulting in a cross-checking penalty for Ray Kaunisto and a faceoff at the other end of the ice that clinched the victory.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE JOE

• Northern Michigan’s power play was amongst the nation’s best throughout this season, but the unit has fallen on hard times in recent weeks and struggled again against Michigan. After Wolverines’ forward Luke Glendening was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a hit from behind on Cherniwchan in the late stages of the first period, Northern Michigan not only didn’t score on the power play, but turned a five minute man advantage into a four-on-three Michigan power play with a pair of penalties.

In all, the Wildcats’ power play was 0-for-8 on the weekend, which might have been more frustrating for Kyle if he hadn’t come to terms with the unit’s struggles.

“It wasn’t as frustrating as you would think because our power play has been really inefficient,” Kyle said. “We were very good at the beginning of the year, but lately we’ve been very ‘oh-for, oh-for, oh-for’ for a while here. There were a couple of opportunities that we squandered away being impatient and we turned pucks over. That was a big turning point in the game, when we didn’t get that done. We had a couple of looks at it, but we have to find a better way to put pucks in.”

Should his team earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, one can bet re-finding the power play groove will be a priority for Kyle’s squad.

• Michigan’s first goal of the game came on an interesting play where forward Matt Rust broke his stick and went to the bench for a replacement, only to have Caporusso jump on the ice to replace him instead. Caporusso’s judgment - and Rust’s decision to let Caporusso go - paid off, as Caporusso sprinted into the zone and blasted a shot past Stewart for the game’s first goal.

“Everyone wants a lot of power play time,” Caporusso joked. “But at the same time, Matt realized that it would have been quicker for me to get out there than it would have been for him to grab a stick, and who knows if that stick is good for him or not. So I just jumped out there; I didn’t really give him a choice to be honest with you.”

• Michigan coach Red Berenson admitted that Hunwick’s recent success has helped him warm up to having a smaller goaltender manning his nets. In the past, Berenson has tended to favor bigger netminders who take up more of the goal, but the junior he described as a “Rudy”-like story to local media earlier this postseason has won him over.

“I don’t even like small goalies,” Berenson said with a smile. “I’ve always been a big goalie fan. But I’m a fan now of small goalies that battle hard. This kid is a warrior. He’s not too worried about it, he’s out there playing hard for his team, and his team is playing hard for him. You can call it any kind of story that you want, but it’s an opportunity and he’s taken advantage of it.”

• After beating Ferris State 2-1 in the third-place game, Miami coach Enrico Blasi is playing his cards close to his vest when it comes to naming his goaltender for the NCAA tournament. After Cody Reichard was shelled for five goals in the semifinal, Connor Knapp got the job done in the third-place game, stopping 12 of the 13 shots he faced after stopping the bleeding with 12:43 of shutout play in Friday night’s loss to Michigan. Blasi said Cody Reichard and Knapp will compete for the job throughout the week and it will be a game-day decision.

• If you’re wondering what goes through mind of the head coach of a bubble team, Ferris State coach Bob Daniels is pleased with his team’s season and puts their chances of making the NCAA tournament at “fifty-fifty.”

• It’s somewhat unusual to see a player from one of the competing teams hanging out in the media lounge, but Michigan’s Eric Elmblad, who was scratched from the lineup, was doing just that in between the third place and championship games. Like many members of the media, Elmblad was camped in front of a television watching basketball, but instead of the NCAA tournament, the St. Ignace, Mich., native had his eyes trained on the Class C Girls State Championship game, where his sister was competing for the state title with her St. Ignace high school squad. Nicole Elmblad, a former AAA women’s hockey player herself, notched an impressive 36 points and nine rebounds in a crushing 68-66, double overtime loss to Flint Hamady.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

It was a great atmosphere during the championship game. Although Michigan’s fans dominated in numbers, fans did travel in relative droves from Marquette, making for a spirited contingent that made itself heard throughout the game. The stated attendance for the championship game was 17,063.

Shawn Hunwick’s success has truly been one of college hockey’s inspiring stories over the past few weeks, and it was a great moment to hear the crowd’s chants of “Sha-wn Hun-wick” turn into “MVP, MVP” as they presented him with his All-Tournament Team and Most Valuable Player awards.

The third-place game, despite having potential NCAA Tournament consequences featured a lot of relatively uninspired play. Perhaps the teams were feeling the effects of disappointing results from Friday, but the game failed to show just how good both Ferris State and Miami can be at their best.

It was certainly unusual to see two of Michigan’s captains in street clothes when accepting the Mason Cup and Championship banner. Captain Chris Summers has been out with a leg injury since the first round of the playoffs and alternate captain Luke Glendening was given a game misconduct for a hit from behind in the first period of the championship game.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Connor Knapp, Miami - Knapp wasn’t overly busy in the RedHawks’ third-place game victory, making just 12 saves, but he provided the stability Miami needed to bounce back from Friday’s disappointment, and perhaps entered the conversation for starting goaltender in the NCAA Tournament.

2. Louie Caporusso, Michigan - Caporusso was at the top of his game, bouncing back from a point-less Friday night with a two-goal game that might have made him tournament MVP if it wasn’t for Hunwick’s steadying influence in net.

1. Shawn Hunwick, Michigan - Hunwick got the job done all weekend long and was no different when his team needed him most in a one-goal game. The junior effectively optimized his game to overcome any size disadvantage and his will to win was contagious for his teammates.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
G - Shawn Hunwick, Michigan
D - Steve Kampfer, Michigan
D - Erik Gustafsson, Northern Michigan
F - Ray Kaunisto, Northern Michigan
F - Louie Caporusso, Michigan
F - Carl Hagelin, Michigan

WHAT’S NEXT

Sunday will be a big day for all four teams that made it to The Joe. Miami has likely locked up the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and will prepare to make another run to the Frozen Four, almost certainly through the Midwest Regional in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Michigan can breathe a sigh of relief as its two-decade-long streak of NCAA Tournament appearances remains in tact, and the Wolverines might be a national contender if they continue to play as well as they have over the last two weekends.

Northern Michigan will likely make the tournament and will be looking to find some more consistency on offense and on the power play to enhance a dangerous offense that can strike at any time.

Ferris State might be the odd team out of the national tournament, but should the Bulldogs make it in, they’ll look to continue their gritty game down low in the offensive zone. Regardless, they can use this season as a building block for future success.

BOSTON - Matt Lombardi was steamrolled along the TD Garden boards by his Boston College teammates after the puck trickled through Dave Wilson’s legs and into the Maine net, signifying the Eagles’ wild 7-6 overtime victory in Saturday’s Hockey East championship.

The BC senior just knocked the puck toward the crease, hoping it might find a crack. At that point in the game, everything Lombardi did bred golden results. It was the oddest of nights for the checking forward.

“He grabbed me in the celebration at the end,” BC senior captain Matt Price said, “and he was screaming my name, ‘Matty, Matty.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ He’s like, ‘This has never happened to me before.’ I said, ‘Well, geez, it’s not a bad time.’ It was kind of funny.”

Boston College forward Matt Lombardi gets the puck past Maine goalie Dave Wilson to give the Eagles a 7-6 win over Maine in the Hockey East playoff championship game.

Lombardi had three goals and one assist. It wasn’t just his first career hat trick — it was also his first-ever multi-goal game. Prior to Saturday night, Lombardi had seven goals in 140 career games. That’s one goal for every 20 games he plays, and three goals for every 60 contests. He increased his career point total to 32, meaning he accounted for 12.5 percent of his career’s point production in just three hours.

“It’s an incredible story that we can retell,” said BC coach Jerry York, who couldn’t remember a more surprising hat trick in his coaching career. “He’s a walk-on kid that comes in and perseveres and hangs in there and hangs in there, becomes a penalty killer then gets into the championship game and scores three goals. It’s a remarkable story. It came out of nowhere.”

York said he’s got to close the weight room just to get Lombardi out of there on a nightly basis. The right wing is fanatical about staying in pristine shape, and he’s one of those team-first guys who truly doesn’t seem to care if he scores as long as the team wins.

“That’s not my area of the game to focus on,” Lombardi said. “It’s always nice [to score]. It’s a timely game to have a hat trick in.”

Lombardi’s first goal gave BC a 2-1 lead in the first period. His shot got caught up in Maine defenseman Mark Nemec, who dove toward the net to break up the play and ended up carrying the puck across the goal line. In the second period, Lombardi took advantage of a fortuitous bounce and fired a shot from the left circle that punctured an open net. Then 5:35 into overtime, he took the puck along the goal line and just pushed it toward the crease, and it somehow found a path through Wilson’s legs.

“This is going to be one of those moments that define him,” said Price, who is Lombardi’s roommate. “When people remember Matt Lombardi, it’s a big stage and people are definitely going to think about this.”

Lombardi, who had BC season tickets when he was younger, said his last hat trick came during his senior year at Governor’s Academy in Milton, Mass., but it lacked the dramatics of an overtime winner in a championship game. Even crazier, he didn’t even score a game-winner in his collegiate career until last weekend’s 5-2 victory in Game 2 against UMass. And thus, Lombardi said the only people who might have been more surprised than him Saturday night would be his parents and sister, who were all in attendance.

Even Lombardi was too soft spoken and attention-wary to relish in the spotlight. Everyone else did the talking for him, and they were extremely glad to do the honors.

“The hero jumps out of obscurity to become the MVP and real difference maker,” said York, who improved to 7-2 in Hockey East championship games. “I’m excited because Matt has worked extremely hard for four years, and to get rewarded like that, it’s pretty special.”

BOX SCORE

MAINE COULDN’T CLAW ANY FARTHER

This was one comeback the Black Bears just couldn’t complete. They scored two goals in the final 5:01 of regulation to tie it at 6-6, but there was no overtime winner in the cards — not on this night.

“We always found a way to come back and win games,” said Joey Diamond, whose wrister from the slot tied the score with 27 seconds to play in the third period. “We’ve done that many times, so we never got out of control really. We just kept our cool.”

Maine erased a one-goal deficit in Game 3 against UMass Lowell last weekend before Tanner House’s game-winner in overtime, and the Black Bears were resilient in keeping a tight lead against Boston University in the semifinals.

“I think it’s just no quit. We found ways to win. We battled back from a lot of deficits,” House said. “[Saturday] I think goes to show the way we battle through adversity and just kept coming back. The guys just battled so hard for each other and wouldn’t quit.”

The Black Bears tied the game at 1-1, 2-2 and 6-6 on Saturday, and they were constantly knocking on the door after facing three separate two-goal deficits.

“As a coaching staff, we were really impressed with how determined they were not to let things go,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead, who noted the game was like a microcosm of the season. “We just kept coming back and coming back. It was a really enjoyable season to coach.”

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE TD GARDEN

• The Hockey East All-Tournament team:

G - John Muse, Boston College
D - Will O’Neill, Maine
D - Carl Sneep, Boston College
F - Joey Diamond, Maine
F - Matt Lombardi, Boston College (MVP)
F - Gustav Nyquist, Maine

• Props to the Maine band for playing songs by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, while the BC band overlooks bands from their own backyard and opts to play crappy hip-hops songs.

• Matt Price alluded to some of Matt Lombardi’s “funny rituals.” When Lombardi was later asked to clarify what those pregame rituals might be, he chose to plead the fifth, but did offer one nugget. “I’ll throw John Muse under the bus,” Lombardi said, “and say he’s definitely the weirdest on the team.”

• Tim Whitehead said, “The culture of the team is back where we want it.”

Like Lowell last year, Maine was playing its best hockey in the final stretch, but it won’t get a chance to play in the national tournament. “The tough part,” Whitehead said, “is we really felt if we were able to get by BC, we thought we had as good a shot as anybody to win the national tournament, so that’s a frustrating situation for us now. But not everyone can advance, and that was a great team we played.”

• Tanner House reflected on Dave Wilson’s career in Orono. Wilson made 27 saves against Boston College and was thrust into the starting role after the team suspended Scott Darling. “He’s had an up-and-down career here,” House said. “He’s really battled hard, backing up [Ben] Bishop at first and then Scotty coming in as a freshman. He took that really well. At practice and stuff, he was always working hard. We were confident in him coming into the playoffs. He stepped up huge for us. We were really proud of him, but we had no doubt in our mind he’d be able to do that.”

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

The Maine crowd really traveled well for the weekend’s games and definitely outnumbered the BC fans. “It really gave our team a lift,” Tim Whitehead said. “It really felt like a home game sometimes. We were really inspired by the turnout from our Maine fans. It really gave us a lift, and [it's] a big reason why we were able to come back on several occasions tonight. The inspiration from our fans really meant a lot to us.”

The Boston College crowd, which must have hit traffic or just couldn’t get past that sinkhole on the Green Line.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Tanner House, Maine - He was all over the rink and really seemed to be the catalyst of the offense. He had a goal and two assists, and he won the faceoff that led to the game-tying goal.

2. Joey Diamond, Maine - The relatively unknown freshman created some serious momentum for next season, closing out the season with two goals and one assist, and he tied the game with 27 seconds remaining in regulation.

1. Matt Lombardi, Boston College - Maybe they’ll name a trophy after him.

WHAT’S NEXT

Boston College won its league-leading ninth Hockey East championship and has probably locked up the top seed in the Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass.

“This really propels us into the national tournament,” Jerry York said.

Maine’s season appears to be over. Vermont, which lost to BC on Friday, looks to have snuck into the NCAA Tournament, and regular-season champion New Hampshire appears to be in as well.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Start slow, finish strong. Where have we seen that plan before?

On Saturday, North Dakota did in 60 minutes what usually takes a whole season, rallying after trailing 2-0 in the WCHA Final Five title game’s opening minute to win the crown.

It was hard to decide what was the most impressive part of the 5-3 victory over St. Cloud State, sealed with Matt Frattin’s final-minute empty net goal. It could’ve been the North Dakota power play, which scored three times as the Sioux turned that two-goal hole into a 4-2 lead in the second period. It could have been their physical play, which - after a bad first 55 seconds - punished the Husky forwards nearly every time they had the audacity to make a rush over the blue line. It could’ve been the simple will to get up off the canvas after everything that could’ve gone wrong did go wrong on the game’s first two shifts.

“We just wanted to start playing our game,” said North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol. “We got caught on our heels two shifts in a row. They made a couple of good plays, and it was 2-0. But you look up at the clock and the majority of the game remains.”

Goalie Brad Eidsness reflexively looked to his teammates as the Huskies celebrated their second goal of the opening minute. Instead of the coach waving him over for a goalie change, he noticed something completely different.

“I kind of took a look around and looked at our bench and I saw kind of a steely calm,” said Eidsness, who finished with 29 saves. “We knew we didn’t come out very well, but it’s been the story of our year that we’ve been able to battle through adversity. We were able to settle ourselves down.”

Two-thirds of the game later, it was dramatically different, as the Sioux had built a 4-3 lead, and were starting to wear down, as the effects of playing three games in three nights - and six in eight nights - started to show. With the Huskies starting to pepper the Sioux net, Eidsness could feel that the game, and the title, were at stake.

“I looked up at the clock at the eight- or nine-minute mark and I took a look at our bench and I had a feeling that I probably shouldn’t let in another goal,” said Eidsness, to a chorus of laughter in the media room. “The boys probably would be too happy for me.”

It was all about capitalizing on opportunities for the Sioux, especially after the power play scored three goals on five man-advantage situations. St. Cloud State was without leading scorer (and penalty killer) Garrett Roe, and it showed.

“They showed great heart and great character and they’ve done that all year,” said Huskies coach Bob Motzko. “We ended up one shot short from making that a more fun ending.”

Roe, who hurt his neck while sliding headfirst into the boards on Friday, will be back for the NCAA Tournament, but was not ready Saturday.

“Garret Roe is one of our top penalty killers and you lose that the night before, so you don’t have that,” Motzko said. “It’s not an excuse. We had to battle through and that was one of the elements.”

For the Sioux, the battle came late, when their energy started to wane, and Eidsness made the difference. Another Dave Hakstol-coached team started slow, then finished strong. And they’ve got another trophy to prove it.

NEW-LOOK BADGER LINEUP CLICKS

After Wisconsin was shut out in the tournament’s semifinals, and after the trouble compounded with the one-game suspension for defenseman Cody Goloubef, it seemed like the perfect time for a change. So it’s not entirely surprising that the Badger line chart from Saturday looked very little like Friday’s version.

When the game was over, there was no similarity between the two results either.

“I think we got stale,” Mike Eaves said. “We had been discussing changing things up.”

And in his experience, Saturday was the perfect time to do it.

“Coaching for the length of time I have, to change lines when you’re winning seems to backfire,” he said. “You need to make changes when you have a game where you’re stale and flat.”

So Eaves juggled the lines, got Poge Turnbull onto the fourth line for his eighth game of the year, and added Craig Johnson to the blue line crew. It was just the third game Johnson played in this season, but the results were to the liking of everyone in red.

“Anytime you switch all that up, it creates energy for you and it gets you into the game when you’re talking to new linemates,” said Ben Street after his team’s 6-3 win. “Overall, we were ready to go, and knew we needed more production than the game before.”

Production was not a problem, as the Badgers led 3-0 in the first and 5-1 in the second before Denver made the score more respectable.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE X

• In-arena interviewer Rusty Kath (whose wit is one of the real fun elements of this weekend) was chatting on the big screen with a young hockey player prior to the third-place game. The kids revealed that he wanted to play for the Gophers someday, prompting a rain of boos from many of the Wisconsin fans in attendance. That’s when Kath reminded folks that they were booing a 13-year-old. Stay classy, Badger Nation!

• Saturday marked Wisconsin’s fourth victory in the third-place game of the last five years. The Badgers beat Minnesota 4-0 in 2006, beat St. Cloud State 4-3 in overtime in 2007 and beat North Dakota 4-1 last season.

• There was a flare-up of “Dean Blais to Minnesota” talk again Saturday, which was tamped down somewhat by Nebraska-Omaha athletic director Trev Alberts, who said that he has not been contacted by anyone regarding Blais. Speaking with members of the media, Alberts said generally, other schools being interested in your coaches is a good thing. “If no other schools are interested in your coaches, you might need to get new coaches,” he quipped.

North Dakota became the first team to hoist the new-look Broadmoor Trophy

• WCHA officials also unveiled a new Broadmoor Trophy on Saturday, to replace the old model that was often compared to an oversized bowling award. The new model sits on a smart-looking hardwood base and has a pewter model of the Broadmoor Hotel on it. You’ll recall the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs was the site of the first dozen or so NCAA Frozen Fours and is one of the true birthplaces of college hockey in America. At first glance, the new hardware reminded us of the NHL’s Conn Smythe Trophy, with its model of Maple Leaf Gardens.

• Don’t bother asking Mike Eaves to speculate on where his team will be seeded and where it will play next weekend. “I don’t think we’re going to lose a lot of sleep,” he said. “We’re going to control the things we can and find out Sunday morning. I quit trying to figure all that out a long time ago. That’s one of the lessons of college hockey - the more you try to figure out, the less you find out that you know.”

• Thoughts and prayers go out to Dana Eades, the wife of North Dakota assistant coach Cary Eades, who has begun treatment for breast cancer recently. Knowing her husband’s grit and determination on the ice and behind the bench, we like Dana’s chances in this fight.

• By our count, Denver’s top line of Rhett Rakhshani, Tyler Ruegsegger and Joe Colborne saw the ice for two shifts in the third period on Saturday. When asked about that trio’s light workload, their coach claimed there was a new kind of bug going around. “They got sick,” George Gwozdecky said. “It was the Badger flu.”

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

We like the new format for the WCHA Final Five starting next year. Six teams, five games, two games (on one ticket) Thursday, two semifinals Friday (top two teams get a bye) and the championship on Saturday night. Here’s the best part: No more unnecessary third place game. In its place, the Minnesota Wild are petitioning the NHL to play an afternoon game that Saturday, making for a great pro/college doubleheader.

Herb Brooks pushed for a Division I hockey program at St. Cloud State back in the mid-1980s in hopes of growing American hockey by giving more kids an opportunity to play at the highest college level. We’re saddened that Herbie didn’t live to see this day, when a kid from Lake Forest, California, became the Huskies all-time leading scorer at the D-I level. Well-earned congrats to Ryan Lasch for his four-year body of work - 180 points and counting.

Touching moment after the title game, when the Fighting Sioux captains in uniform wouldn’t go forward to take the Broadmoor Trophy from commissioner Bruce McLeod, instead nudging injured captain Chay Genoway forward to accept the honor.

As much as we love the green Fighting Sioux sweaters, the “alternate” ones they wore on Saturday have got to go. Just a reminder that black, with a touch of green, is the color of mold.

Apparently the Curse of the MacNaughton Cup extends to the WCHA Final Five, as Denver became the third consecutive regular season champ to go 0-2 in St. Paul. The no-show had George Gwozdecky fondly recalling 2004, when the Pioneers were upset in the first round, missed the Final Five, but won the NCAA title. “We took this weekend off again, so maybe that’s a good thing,” joked the coach.

Jeff Saterdalen, who until Saturday was the all-time leading scorer in St. Cloud State history, stopped by ice level of the arena after the game Saturday to congratulate Lasch on breaking his record, but was detained by arena security. School officials later got Saterdalen in for a nice moment with the man who eclipsed his record.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin - The first-ever Hobey finalist from Tennessee had two more goals on Saturday, blasting the first one past another Hobey finalist (Marc Cheverie). This is one WCHA senior we really hate to see go.

2. Garrett Raboin, St. Cloud State - The special education major was indeed special for the Huskies all weekend, scoring a goal, controlling the play from the blue line and playing shut down defense throughout.

1. Ben Blood, North Dakota - When he’s bearing down on an opponent, in either the offensive or defensive zone, his game is as scary as his name. Blood plays a game of impact. If you want to know what that means, ask Ryan Lasch, Dan Dunn, Alex Kangas…

All-Tournament Team

G - Brad Eidsness, North Dakota
D - Garrett Raboin, St. Cloud State*
D - Ben Blood, North Dakota
F - Tony Mosey, St. Cloud State
F - Chris VandeVelde, North Dakota
F - Blake Geoffrion, Wisconsin
MVP - Evan Trupp, North Dakota

* — The arena announcer mis-heard the list of names, and announced on-ice that North Dakota’s Derrick LaPoint, not Raboin, had been named to the all-tourney team. The error was corrected later.

WHAT’S NEXT

Denver and Wisconsin are in as probable No. 1 seeds. North Dakota has made a strong case for a No. 1 also. St. Cloud State is in, and hoping to finally play close to home after never playing a NCAA tournament game in the Central Time Zone. Minnesota Duluth is out (those two losses to Michigan Tech were killers).

As for who will be in this building next week, expect to see one or two of these teams again. The conventional thinking was that Denver would prefer going east rather than returning to be the “road team” with a large contingent of fans from St. Cloud State or North Dakota at the X. But the egg the Pioneers laid this weekend changed the opinion of at least one.

“I don’t care where we go,” Marc Cheverie said first, then reconsidered. “I guess I’d like to come back here and show the people of St. Paul what we can do.”

“RIT has a great hockey tradition and tonight was another step in that tradition,” said Tiger head coach Wayne Wilson, referring to the school’s NCAA Division II national championship in 1983 and Division III title in 1985.

RIT's Sean Murphy scored two goals in the Tigers' 6-1 win over Sacred Heart in the Atlantic Hockey tournament title game Saturday in Rochester, N.Y.

The 3,298 fans at Blue Cross Arena had barely settled into their seats when the Tigers got a chance at an extended power play after the Pioneers’ David Berube was assessed with a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct 1:48 into the first period. RIT’s Cameron Burt scored the game’s first goal less than 30 seconds later — the first of his five points on the night — to give the Tigers a 1-0 advantage. RIT took a 2-0 lead late in the first period with another special-teams goal, this one a shorthanded effort by Mark Cornacchia 19 seconds prior to intermission.

The Tigers exploded for three goals in the second period. Sean Murphy converted a feed from Burt 68 seconds into the period to make the score 3-0, and Jeff Smith scored 11 minutes later to give RIT a four-goal cushion. Then, with Sacred Heart’s Matt Gingera in the penalty box for high sticking, RIT’s Tyler Brenner scored a power-play goal with 56 seconds left in the period to advance his team’s edge to 5-0.

Sacred Heart finally got on the board 3:48 into the third period when Eric Delong scored his 15th goals of the season. RIT’s Murphy provided the final margin of victory with his second goal of the game with 2:04 left in regulation.

RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel stopped all but one of the 33 shots he faced, while Sacred Heart netminder Steven Legatto made 33 saves.

ATLANTIC HOCKEY ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
G - Jared DeMichiel, RIT
D - Dan Ringwald, RIT
D - Chris Tanev, RIT
F - Tyler Brenner, RIT
F - Cameron Burt, RIT (MVP)
F - Patrick Knowlton, Sacred Heart

BOX SCORE

BIG RED DOES IT WITH DEFENSE

ALBANY, N.Y. - One of Cornell’s strategies in its ECAC Hockey championship game was easily identified early in the first period. On each of the first three shifts for Union’s top forward group of Jason Walters, Adam Presizniuk and Mario Valery-Trabucco looked across the ice and saw Cornell counterparts Sean Collins, Joe Scali and either Dan Nicholls or John Esposito.

The line, centered by Collins, was sent over the boards during stoppages or changes on the fly and the Big Red wanted that matchup. They’ve been checking the opponent’s top line since the middle of the season and did a great job on Union’s top group, which entered the game with 120 points on the year, but had none in this game.

The Big Red scored two power-play goals, added an empty-netter and won 3-0. It was Cornell’s third straight shutout, and the seventh of the year for goalie Ben Scrivens. He is now the all-time leader in shutouts in Cornell history - ahead of the likes of David LeNeveu, Dave McKee, Ken Dryden and Brian Elliott.

As has been the case all season for the Big Red, and is emphasized by the coaching staff, the best defense that Cornell can play is to possess the puck in the other team’s end of the rink. They did that right from the start and didn’t let Union establish any momentum.

“Their best defense was working us down low. We were spending amounts of time in our zone with them wearing us down,” Union coach Nate Leaman said.

Dominating possession starts with dominating faceoffs, and Cornell won 39 draws to Union’s 23. Collins, the checking-line center, won nine and lost just three on the night.

“Faceoffs are always a key,” Collins said. “When you can have puck possession, especially against their top line, obviously it minimizes their opportunities.”

Cornell also did a great job of backchecking, lifting sticks and deflecting passes. Turnovers at both blue lines were extremely rare for the Big Red and things went their way.

“It starts with keeping it simple, especially against a top line. We have to stay above them and make smart plays and smart decisions in the neutral zone, and not turn the puck over to give them chances,” said Scali, a senior.

Cornell turned in the kind of effort that wins games in the postseason. The team’s shutout streak is now three games, and stretches over 11 and a half periods overall. Ben Scrivens gets the headlines and credit, but the tactical approach and on-ice execution by the likes of Collins, Scali and Nicholls makes it all possible.

BOX SCORE

SENIOR MOMENTS

To say that third-place or consolation games are meaningless is inconsiderate toward the players for which they carry great meaning. Brown’s senior class has been through some difficult times, injuries, a head-coaching change and four-straight losing seasons.

They played hard, they played for each other and they came together one last time to get a win over St. Lawrence. They did so in front of senior goalie Dan Rosen, a starter through most of his first two seasons before injuries and the emergence of Mike Clemente relegated Rosen to back-up duty over the last two years.

Rosen backstopped a 21-save shutout, the second of his career, and was emotional about how his team played.

“It just meant a lot,” Rosen said. “We were all just hugging and crying in the locker room, especially me because this team just gave it all out for me today and it really meant a lot after all of the injuries, particularly our class here, to have everybody kind of come together and get a win in our last game was really special.”

On the Saints’ side, there was an opportunity for one last game on the ice for walk-on defenseman Pat Kelliher, who played the second game of his entire career and right wing Drew Weaver, who played in one game in his first three years and in 13 games as a senior prior to Saturday’s tilt. Those players are contributors, even though they might not show up in the box scores following Friday and Saturday night games.

“Both of them kind of came to grips with it in their junior years and we encouraged them to stick around,” St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. “They’re good guys and they add a lot to the team. They weren’t just cheerleaders, they were practicing hard every day. You have to rebuild your team, you can’t just reload it, and I think those kids are pretty important. There’s a lot of walk-on kids that we’ve had that have been pretty good players.

“They sort of set a certain tone and the other guys notice that. They’re around and they appreciate the effort that they put in and they know that their job is tough because they don’t get as much ice time and the opportunity to play in games. Yet they carry on the fight pretty well and I think the guys respect them for it.”

SEEN AND HEARD AT TIMES UNION CENTER

• There’s not much room behind the net at the downtown rink in Albany which means wide shots and caroms can get to dangerous parts of the ice in a hurry. The Big Red made quick plays around the net on both of their power-play goals. On the first, Tyler Roeszler skated in quickly to grab the puck behind the net after Mike Devin’s point shot missed the net. Roeszler’s quick pass to the front of the net was finished by Joe Devin. In the second period, a point shot by Brendon Nash was stopped in front, Riley Nash joined the loose puck scrum and poked it free to Sean Whitney, who used his long reach to swing in the second Big Red goal.

• There was some symmetry between this, the last final in the downtown Albany rink, and the 2002 league championship game, the last in Lake Placid. Championship-game coaches Nate Leaman of Union and Mike Schafer of Cornell were also behind the benches in Lake Placid. Leaman was an assistant on Harvard’s bench as the Crimson went on to defeat Cornell, coached by Schafer, 4-3 in overtime.

• Cornell radio play-by-play man Jason Weinstein was carrying two game-ready sticks in the media work area Saturday evening. I asked if he was playing defense for the Big Red and he said, “We’ve already got seven defensemen dressed, don’t think we need eight.”

• Twice in the second period defensemen cleared pucks over the glass from their defensive zone. The first was by St. Lawrence’s Derek Keller while short-handed 1:59 into the period. A little more than two minutes later Brown’s Scott Van Der Linden did the same on a backhand attempt. Those would be penalties in the pro game, and my guess is that they will be next year in college hockey after the rules committee meets this summer.

• Cornell’s seniors made their third straight appearance in Albany, and won their first title of their careers. This tournament wasn’t about NCAA Tournament qualification or seeding to them. It was about winning this title and this trophy.

• Brown senior Aaron Volpatti played his last collegiate game and left a mark on the team’s record book. He entered the contest with 103 penalty minutes, and needed a handful more Saturday to break the team’s single-season record of 108. Aware of this fact, Volpatti chatted with referee Chip McDonald during pre-game warm-up and encouraged McDonald to throw on an extra 10-minute misconduct if he gets the chance. Volpatti was called for a slashing minor and 10-minute misconduct with 3:33 remaining in the third period.

• Union may not have experience playing in this particular game, but there are a lot of hockey miles on this roster. Union has 18 players on its roster older than Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (born, 4/29/88), who played college hockey at North Dakota three years ago. Ten of those 18 are eligible to play in future seasons, and that doesn’t include freshmen Jeremy Welsh (4/30/88) and J-S Bergeron (5/1/88) - born one and two days after Toews.

• The two-day attendance was 12,208 - the third-highest total in the eight years the tournament has been held in Albany.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Assistant referees Brett Reed and Dave Brown did a nice job stepping between Cornell’s players following their first goal and ushered the celebrations away from the crease of Keith Kinkaid and also away from Union’s bench. Nice job managing that.

A number of youth hockey teams are in town for a tournament and were in attendance, wearing their team jerseys and sitting together in rows in the lower bowl. Two different adult men asked members of one team to move out of the assigned seats that the men purchased. These kids were about 10 years old, and they moved them away from their friends. Plenty of seats in adjacent rows and sections were available.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Dan Rosen, Brown - Hard to tell that Rosen had not started in a game since Jan. 22 and had appeared in just two others since then. He was sharp throughout and tracked the puck well in earning his second career shutout, first since his sophomore year.

2. Joe Scali and Sean Collins, Cornell - These checking-line players were matched up head-to-head against Union’s impressive top line and limited the chances against.

1. Riley Nash, Cornell - The junior center seemed to have the puck on his stick for every shift. He dictated possession in the Union zone, the overwhelming theme in Cornell’s championship victory.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
G - Ben Scrivens, Cornell
D - Mike Schreiber, Union
D - Justin Krueger, Cornell
F - Colin Greening, Cornell
F - Adam Presizniuk, Union
F - Riley Nash, Cornell

Most Outstanding Player: Ben Scrivens, Cornell

WHAT’S NEXT

Cornell will wait to see where it will play next weekend in the NCAA Tournament and will likely be joined in the national tourney by league foe Yale. Union’s growth as a program continues, and while they didn’t earn either league championship, it will be remembered as the best program so far in Union’s Division I history.

SACRED HEART 2, AIR FORCE 1

Friday was a big day for the Knowltons of Colorado Springs. Chris Knowlton, a freshman at the University of Denver, scored a shorthanded goal in the Pioneers’ 4-3 loss to North Dakota in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Five.

Patrick Knowlton, a junior at Sacred Heart University, scored a goal with 42 second left in regulation to propel college hockey’s other Pioneers to a 2-1 Atlantic Hockey tournament semifinal win over three-time league playoff champion Air Force in Rochester, N.Y.

Knowlton’s goal, his 13th of the season, came just 47 seconds after the Falcons’ Jacques Lamoureux scored with goaltender Andrew Volkening pulled in favor of an extra attacker to tie the game at 1-1. Sacred Heart took a 1-0 lead on David Jarman’s goal midway through the second period.

Both goaltenders were outstanding — Volkening and Sacred Heart’s Steven Legatto each stopped 32 shots.

BOX SCORE

RIT 4, CANISIUS 0

RIT, the top seed in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs, moved one step closer to the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth with a 4-0 win against Cansius Friday in Rochester, N.Y.

The Tigers have won nine in a row and 16 of their last 19. During the nine-game winning streak, RIT has outscored its opponents by a 39-12 margin.

“It was complete team effort for all 60 minutes,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “This was the first time in three seasons I thought we completely ready for this game. We were very focused.”

Tyler Brenner and Mike Janda scored less than a minute apart late in the first period to give RIT a 2-0 edge after 20 minutes of play. Andrew Favot extended that lead to 3-0 a little more than eight minutes into the second period with a goal during an RIT two-man advantage. Al Mazur provided the final margin of victory with a power-play goal with six minutes left in regulation.

RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel stopped all 20 shots he faced en route ot his sixth shutout of the season. Canisius goalie Dan Morrison made 26 saves. 

BOX SCORE

BC TOO GOOD TO LOSE

BOSTON - Boston College is good. So good, at this point, that Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon knew his team needed to be perfect in the first game of Friday night’s Hockey East semifinals.

The Catamounts weren’t perfect - although goalie Rob Madore was pretty darn close - and the Eagles skated away with a 3-0 victory to set up Saturday’s championship tilt with Maine. It looked easy at times, too, with BC controlling the play through so much of the game that its two-goal lead through two periods might as well have been a 10-0 advantage.

Ben Smith scored a goal and was part of BC's best line in its semifinal win

“They played their hearts out,” Sneddon said of his players. “Unfortunately, we needed to be perfect tonight to beat that team. We probably would have had to play our best game of the year.”

The Eagles have been so dominant of late that Sneddon isn’t really alone with those thoughts, and Boston College steps onto the ice with such a powerful reputation that its opposition has to be at a moral disadvantage.

“I don’t know if we were in awe of their team speed or how much they were pressuring us, but we stood around and watched,” Sneddon said. “Thankfully, Rob kept us in the game. It could have been over in the first period.”

Madore made 30 saves, including 29 in the first two periods. He made 12 stops - very few that were easy - in the opening 15 minutes before Chris Kreider’s wrister finally pounded the back of the net.

The line of Kreider (one goal, one assist), Ben Smith (one goal) and Jimmy Hayes (one goal, two assists) combined for six points and was “dominant” in coach Jerry York’s eyes. The emergence of that line throughout the second half of the season has given the Eagles two of the best lines in Hockey East.

“It’s been huge for our team getting contributions from guys other than Cam Atkinson, Joe Whitney and Brian Gibbons,” Smith said in reference to BC’s top line.

The Eagles have won four in a row and are unbeaten in their last eight games (7-0-1). They’re 12-2-1 in their last 15 games, and they’re averaging 4.2 goals per clip in that stretch. They’ve scored at least five goals seven times in that span, and they’ve put up a seven-spot on three occasions.

“With our depth, I think it’s difficult for some teams to keep up with our pace, and that’s just who we have on our team,” Smith said. “We have guys who can skate from top to bottom.”

A high-octane Boston College team is certainly nothing new, but the difference this year is the group had to find new ways to score early in the season. It’s an extremely young team by BC standards, and the majority of its players had to find an identity in the first half. They cycled more and worked harder in the corners to generate offense in different ways, as it wasn’t just breakouts and stretch passes this year.

Now that they’ve come into their own, their creativity is showing with those skilled plays and odd-man rushes. But they still muck it up, and Kreider said their objective each night is to wear out their opponents by sustaining longer possessions and winning those battles low in the zone. As games move along, the Eagles’ depth takes over while their opponents are gasping for air.

“We know going in that we can hopefully post numbers,” Kreider said. “We can roll four lines. Every line has jump. Every line has goal-scoring talent. We all kind of bring it every night. We’re garnering a lot of confidence from that kind of depth.”

BIRTHDAY BOY SUITS MAINE JUST FINE

Senior goalie Dave Wilson has won less than one-third of his career starts, but he’s been brilliant three times in the last seven days and has led the Black Bears to the Hockey East title game. Wilson stopped 22 shots in Maine’s 5-2 victory against Boston University, and he had 10 saves in the third period. He dramatically robbed Ross Gaudet’s breakaway bid with less than three minutes remaining to keep the score 3-2.

Dave Wilson has become the focal point for Maine's postseason success

“I feel pretty comfortable out there,” said Wilson, who was wearing a white suit over a shiny blue shirt during Maine’s postgame news conference. “I’m just trying to have fun, really, and as long as I have fun and relax, I can make those saves.”

Wilson took over in net during last weekend’s quarterfinal series against UMass Lowell. Starter Scott Darling has been indefinitely suspended for violating a team rule, and rumors have surfaced that he’s played his last game for the Black Bears.

This isn’t the first time Wilson has been thrust into emergency duty, either. Ben Bishop suffered an injury late in the 2006-07 season, and Wilson temporarily took over - although he wasn’t overly successful during that stint. In his last three starts, however, Wilson has turned aside 71 of the 75 shots (.947 save percentage) he’s faced, and Gustav Nyquist credited Wilson’s Game 2 shutout against Lowell as the team’s signature moment of Maine’s recent resurrection.

“It’s a very pleasant surprise,” Maine coach Tim Whitehead said of Wilson’s run. “The one thing about David, he really persevered. I’m so proud of his ability to focus when we need him the most. He’s a great guy, and I’m so happy to see how he’s risen up in a very tough situation. Every game is an elimination game, and David showed so much poise and composure. You never know when someone is going to elevate. I’ve been doing this long enough to realize that sometimes guys just rise up in unexpected moments.”

PARKER HAS A FULL DOGHOUSE

Boston University coach Jack Parker was fuming after the game, referring to the 5-2 loss as “that mess we made tonight.” While wearing his championship ring at the postgame podium, Parker chewed out his team for the most recent in a string of inconsistent performances.

“Unless we had a miracle finish, we already had a perspective of what the season was about,” Parker said. “The season was about we just weren’t ready to play. We weren’t hungry enough. We were easily satisfied. What we did last weekend [against Merrimack] was up, down. We played pretty well in the first game against Merrimack, and then we did tonight what we did against Merrimack in the second night - absolutely stood around and watched them. We stood around and watched Maine tonight. We had a good game against Merrimack to get back up again.

“I think my guys are either easily satisfied or easily fooled. ‘We’re all set now. It will come to us.’ Before the game started, I said to Buddy Powers, my assistant coach, ‘It’s awful casual in here. They don’t look like they’re ready to play.’ Ordinarily, I would say I’d be flabbergasted if a BU hockey team wasn’t ready to play one game to get to the finals to get to the national tournament. I’d be flabbergasted at that. But not this team. I’m not surprised at it. This has been a long season of that type of stuff - almost good enough, ‘OK, we’re all set now. We’re back on our game.’

“This team underachieved all year long, and that falls on my hand more than anybody else. This team should have had a better record than they had. This team, we should have gotten more out of a lot of players. We had maybe three players who played up to or better than their capabilities this year. And that’s not even close. That’s the opposite of what we had last year.

“I remember I was talking to Jerry York in this building last year at the Beanpot. They had just finished the consolation game, and we were going out to play the championship game. They won, and we were talking for a minute. He said, ‘This is the worst year. It’s a real tough year for us. We’re having a hard time. It’s been awful for the coaching staff and the players. We just have not been able to get over the fact that we won the nationals last year. We really are full of ourselves,’ and he kept going on for awhile. I said, ‘Jerry, are you listening to yourself? Let me tell you something. I’d have a year like that if you give me the national championship. Give me the national championship, and I’ll take a year like that.’ Well, if I made that pact with the devil, I’ve been trying to get out of that contract all year this year. I could not get out of it.

“As exhilarating as last year was, this was like pulling teeth this year. Jerry called the same thing last year. This team was satisfied that they won the national championship. They couldn’t duplicate.”

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE TD GARDEN

• A lot of yellow. Attendance was poor.

• Maine senior goalie Dave Wilson celebrated his 25th birthday Friday. Next year, he’ll be a freshman quarterback at Boston College.

• Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon’s biggest complaint was his team’s lack of physicality. “I thought we played pond hockey in the [first] period,” he said. “We didn’t make them pay for ice at all.”

• Sneddon said the toughest part about losing was the uncertainty of whether or not he’d be addressing his team for the final time. They’re in NCAA limbo, and asked if he could rate UVM’s tourney chances, Sneddon laughed and replied, “Not a chance.”

• Maine sophomore Tanner House took a slap shot in the first period that was so hard the deflected puck flew high over the protective net and into the restaurant at the top of the first level of the concourse. Don’t blame the chef for that bland burger. In this case, it really was a puck.

• UVM senior Colin Vock on his breakaway with one minute remaining in the second period: “I probably should have shot it, but I tried pulling it to my backhand across … and [BC goalie John] Muse stood up pretty well.”

• The crowd for the late game had a lot more jump, but it still wasn’t much to write home about.

• Fans were ready to riot while the officials reviewed Vinny Saponari’s disputable goal with 3:47 remaining in the third period of the late game. The game was delayed for 10 minutes because the replay official was having a difficult time receiving the correct camera angles from the truck, according to Hockey East. After that, they needed to review whether or not the whistle blew prior to the goal and then if the puck crossed the line.

• The Maine fans sang “Happy Birthday” to Dave Wilson during a different review with 27 seconds remaining in the third period.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Gustav Nyquist’s no-goal in the second period confused just about everyone in the building. It was waved off due to a high stick, but it still went to review. The PA announcer’s eventual explanation caused Maine fans to cheer and the scoreboard operator to mark an extra tally for the Black Bears. Then, during the same PA explanation, it became clear there was no goal. Shortly after, the press level announcer called out Nyquist’s goal and Ryan Hegarty’s assist before pausing for a few seconds and asking for a mea culpa.

That gaffe was definitely too much for the press level announcer to overcome. After the second period of the late game, he announced Saturday night would mark the sixth time Boston College and Maine will play for the Hockey East championship. Maybe just working off an assumption? Not so much. Next, the man behind the mike announced this was the third shutout of Dave Wilson’s career.

He then poked fun at himself a few minutes later, saying, “Shot totals after the SECOND period…”

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Joey Diamond, Maine - He’s got the name of a recording artist, and he’s from Long Beach, N.Y., to boot. More importantly, Diamond scored a beautiful goal to give Maine a 1-0 lead, deking BU goalie Kieran Millan, reaching back toward the front of the net and sliding the puck home with the backhand.

2. Dave Wilson, Maine - He was rock solid, and stopping Ross Gaudet’s breakaway chance with a 3-2 lead sealed the deal. But Wilson is going to need an epic performance to keep the Eagles at bay Saturday.

1. Chris Kreider, Boston College - His first-period wrister finally cracked a sturdy Rob Madore, and Kreider’s no-look, behind-the-back pass set up Jimmy Hayes’ put-away goal in the third. That line was unstoppable against Vermont.

WHAT’S NEXT

Boston College is 8-5 in Hockey East title games and last won in 2008, while Maine is 5-7 and took its last crown in 2004. BC is 3-2 all-time against Maine in the Hockey East championship, and Maine claimed the last meeting with a 2-1 victory in 2000. The Eagles were 2-0-1 against Maine this season.

Vermont has a very slim chance to squeak into the NCAA Tournament, but BU’s season is over.

TRIUMPH AND TERROR FOR ST. CLOUD

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Perhaps one of the things that makes hockey so special is when moments of pure triumph and moments of pure terror are separated by so little.

The St. Cloud State Huskies got a taste of both in the third period of their 2-0 win over Wisconsin on Friday, having to sit through the terror of forward Garrett Roe’s head-first slide into the boards that left their leading scorer immobile. The arena, with better than 13,000 on hand, went from raucous to eerily silent in an instant following the play in which Roe dove for a loose puck and just kept sliding until his helmet impacted the boards.

Unbe-Lee-vable: St. Cloud State goalie Michael Lee stopped all 37 shots he faced in the Huskies' 2-0 win against Wisconsin Friday.

Although he was moving all of his limbs freely and insisted he didn’t need it, Roe was taken from the ice on a backboard and thoroughly examined at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Teammates admitted that there were anxious moments in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

“I saw him go down head first, which was kind of a scare to all of us,” said Roe’s linemate Tony Mosey. “But he was moving and the trainer said it was nothing too serious.”

Huskies coach Bob Motzko moved fourth-line center Nick Oslund up to the second-line spot between Mosey and David Eddy, and within seconds, trepidation turned to inspiration for St. Cloud State.

“We knew as a team with (Roe) out we had to come closer and play harder,” said Mosey, who assisted on both Husky goals. “Everyone had to step up for him, not just one or two guys.”

Motzko was initially afraid the injury would rattle his team, but quickly found himself telling players to sit down on the bench, as they were overly eager to get into the play.

“Sometimes when a player goes down, your team gets quiet. That didn’t happen with us,” the coach said. “There was a charge.”

It was also about that time that Motzko said the ice tilted in Wisconsin’s favor, as the formerly high-scoring Badgers peppered Mike Lee with 20 shots in the final 20 minutes. The rookie goalie was equal to the task.

“The type of game we played was sound and it was a hard-fought playoff game,” said Lee. “They got their chances tonight, as did we, and the other goalie was on his game, too. It’s playoff hockey.”

And, at a time of year when it’s all about survival and advancing, the Huskies did both.

BOX SCORE

EVAN ALMIGHTY

In the 20 games leading up to the Final Five, North Dakota forward Evan Trupp may have forgotten how it felt to score a goal. He had exactly zero in that span. But on the WCHA’s biggest stage, that changed in a hurry.

In Friday’s second semifinal, a 4-3 NoDak win over league champ Denver, Trupp got his second and third goals of the weekend, as the Fighting Sioux advanced to the title game. On the podium afterward, Trupp said it was a change in the calendar, not any kind of change in diet or pregame routine, fueling the outburst.

“It’s playoff time,” said Trupp, a junior left wing from Anchorage. “I’m starting to bear down on my chances, and I got a lot of help from my teammates tonight. The goals I got were really tic-tac-toe plays.”

Trupp and linemate Brad Malone were the key tandem for the Sioux, with each one setting up the other for a goal.

“We’ve seen him do this before,” said Sioux coach Dave Hakstol. “His play all the way through the 60 minutes was tremendous tonight. He was our best player.”

BOX SCORE

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE X

• With a statue of a triumphant Herb Brooks just outside the arena, it would make sense there were Miracle on Ice connections to be had during Friday’s first game. The leading scorer from 1980, Badger women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson, was on hand watching his son Patrick skate for the Badgers. On the other bench was Huskies forward Jordy Christian, whose uncle Dave was also on the Lake Placid gold medalists.

• The Huskies were clinging to a 1-0 lead with 2:07 to play on Friday when two consecutive icing calls prevented Motzko from changing personnel. To give his kids a break, the coach used a timeout, which turned out to be the right move. “There’s no strategy on the St. Cloud State bench right now,” said Jim Rich, calling the game over the Internet on WCHA.com. “Just breathing.”

• Of the three big trophies available to WCHA teams (MacNaughton Cup, Broadmoor Trophy and NCAA title), Badgers coach Mike Eaves remains stuck with just the third (and arguably most important) of them to his credit. The Badgers, who will play for third on Saturday, most recently won the Final Five in 1998, last played in the title game in 2000, and are now 10-12 all-time in Final Five games.

• Denver left wing Anthony Maiani left Friday’s game early and will be out on Saturday as well after blocking a shot and taking a puck to the hand. After the mess of injuries the Pioneers dealt with in their brief NCAA tournament appearance a year ago, here’s hoping the junior for suburban Detroit gets well soon.

• The last three MacNaughton Cup champs are now a combined 0-5 in the Final Five, after ‘08 champs Colorado College and ‘09 champs North Dakota lost twice, and Denver lost on Friday.

• A reporter commented on the Sioux and their overall balance on Friday, noting how they’ve learned to thrive “without a real superstar” which was a nod to the November loss of star defenseman Chay Genoway. “I’d rather have the superstar,” was North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol’s reply.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Always a treat to have former Colorado College, Denver and Colorado Avalanche broadcaster Norm Jones on hand for some great stories about the earlier days of the WCHA. Originally from Colorado Springs, Jones started calling Tigers games in 1969 and was in a hockey broadcast booth nearly non-stop until retiring two years ago. He was even the voice of the NHL’s Colorado Rockies for the six years they spent in Denver after they were the Kansas City Scouts and before they were the New Jersey Devils.

We’ve noted it before, but it bears repeating: North Dakota’s green road sweaters are the sweetest-looking in the WCHA, and possibly all of college hockey. And if that logo on the front is forced to go away someday, it will be a shame.

Mike Lee repeatedly lost his stick during Friday’s game, prompting a nice quip from the rookie goalie when asked how to combat that problem. “I think we’re going to tape it to my blocker and hopefully I won’t lose it again,” he said.

At a time when the debate about what constitutes a major penalty rages, the last thing WCHA officials needed was Wisconsin’s Cody Goloubef’s hit on SCSU’s Nick Oslund, which drew a five-minute major for contact to the head.

Hello, offense? Where are you? We appreciate good goaltending as much as anyone, but were hoping for more than four goals in the first six periods of the tournament. Nice test of those red goal lights on Friday night. They still work.

There’s always been a kind of morbid curiosity about what the crowds at this tournament would be like without Golden Gophers in the mix. Now we know, and we don’t like it. Decent audiences for both games on Friday to be sure, but not the near-sellouts we’ve come to expect in St. Paul in March. In fact, Friday night’s crowd of just over 14,000 was the smallest semifinal audience since the move to the Xcel Energy Center in 2001.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Mike Lee, St. Cloud State - The rookie goalie had 37 saves — 20 of them in the third period — for his second career shutout. On Saturday he’ll try for a second championship at the Xcel Energy Center, having won a Minnesota high school title there in 2007.

2. Chris VandeVelde, North Dakota - Through 84 minutes of play in this tournament, the Sioux had recorded three goals. The North Dakota senior assisted on the first two, and scored the third one himself.

1. Evan Trupp, North Dakota - Two games, three goals, and a chance to bring a trophy home to Grand Forks. This is what is meant by getting hot at the right time.

WHAT’S NEXT

Saturday evening’s title game appearance will be the fourth all time for St. Cloud State, and the second under Bob Motzko. The Huskies won their only Broadmoor Trophy in 2001, beating North Dakota in overtime.

North Dakota’s quest to do the formerly impossible continues, as they will need to win their third game in three nights to claim the trophy. “We did it last weekend, with three games in three days,” said Trupp. “We’re a team that thrives on that.”

Wisconsin and Denver will face off in the afternoon in what is expected to be the final third-place game in tournament history. The league will soon announce a new format for the tournament (to accommodate the expanded 12-team league next year) that will have only one game on Saturday. For the Pioneers, NCAA tournament seeds are definitely not the primary focus.

MICHIGAN COULD DO NO WRONG

DETROIT, Mich. - In a game between a talented team playing for its NCAA tournament life and the No. 2 squad in the country there isn’t a lot of room for error. Lucky for Michigan, two of the few errors it committed in a surprising 5-2 blowout of Miami in Friday’s CCHA semifinal resulted in goals for the Wolverines.

Tristan Llewellyn started the scoring for Michigan

Wolverines’ forward Carl Hagelin notched two of his three assists on passes that were intended for teammate Matt Rust but ended up on the stick of Kevin Lynch, who put both pucks past Miami netminder and CCHA RBC Player of the Year Cody Reichard to help put the game out of reach for the RedHawks.

“Well the first time, when I went around the net, I knew they only had one (defenseman) in front of the net so I was trying to get it to either Rust or Lynch - they were both doing a good job crashing the net,” Hagelin said. “Same thing on the other play, I was for sure trying to find Rust in front of the net and he kind of missed the puck and Lynch is doing a good job getting to the net.”

While the Wolverines’ offensive outburst was certainly surprising against an exceptionally stingy Miami defense, perhaps the most notable part of Michigan’s success was its defensive play. Goaltender Shaun Hunwick continued his streak of excellent play since coming into the lineup for an injured Bryan Hogan during the final weekend of the regular season. He was aided greatly by teammates who blocked 14 shots and broke up countless passes with outstanding stick work.

Throughout the year, too many chances seemed to sneak through to Hogan due to deficiencies in clearing Michigan’s own zone, but Friday the Wolverines took their defensive will to win to a new level and it paid dividends.

“Coach talked a lot about refocusing on everything in the defensive zone, not just getting the stick in the puck lanes and things like that,” Hagelin said. “It’s more the will to block shots and win battles against the other team. We’re doing a good job right now, everyone’s coming back and our (defensemen) are playing terrific and so is our goaltender.”

Michigan coach Red Berenson also noted his team’s renewed focus on defense, and is happy that his team is doing all it can to solidify its legacy during the most important stretch of the season.

“There’s will, we know it’s just a game, but we know it’s a big game,” Berenson said. “These are our keynote games in the whole season, no matter what we did before, all that matters is what we do right now. There’s some urgency, but I don’t think there’s a lot of desperation, but they’re playing hard, they’re playing really hard.”

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THE ‘WILDCAT’ ON ICE

The power of the Wildcat offense has been well-documented in the NFL, but the term has an entirely different yet equally intimidating connotation in the CCHA.

Northern Michigan’s offense yet again brought the Wildcats back from mid-season irrelevancy, and showcased just how potent it can be in overcoming a resilient Ferris State team that fought through two separate two-goal deficits. NMU won 5-4 in an overtime thriller to advance to the CCHA championship game for the first time since 1999.

With this year’s upperclassmen making their third consecutive trip to Joe Louis Arena, the Wildcats were determined to overcome their championship game drought. They made good on it with two markers from senior Ray Kaunisto, one each from sophomores Andrew Cherniwchan and Tyler Gron before junior Greger Hanson clinched Northern Michigan’s spot with a memorable overtime winner.

“This is my third year down here and (in the past) we’ve come down here and have been really excited to get here,” Kaunisto, who added an assist on Gron’s goal for a three-point night. “This year, we wanted to focus on getting to the championship game and trying to win it.”

Hanson made that dream a reality, dancing through the neutral zone and slotting the puck past Ferris State goaltender Pat Nagle at the 1:07 mark of the first overtime period. After picking the puck up from teammate Erik Gustafsson, Hanson saw the Bulldogs’ defenders fall back and his killer instincts took over.

“I think I caught them a little flat-footed,” Hanson said. “They didn’t really expect me to go into the middle, they thought I was going wide. I just tried to shoot it blocker-side and it went in.”

The overtime winner gave Northern Michigan five goals for the second consecutive game, meaning the Wildcats are averaging 4.67 goals per game in three playoff appearances, numbers that should match them up well against Michigan in the title bout - and, if fate’s on their side, any opponent in the NCAA tournament.

With the offense scoring at such a prolific clip, perhaps the one worry for the Wildcats might have been the play of netminder Brian Stewart - he’s allowing just under three goals per game in the playoffs - who is usually more apt to pick up his offense in a subpar performance rather than vice versa. But when asked about Stewart’s four-goals-against night, coach Walt Kyle was quick to compliment his netminder.

Stewart made a save in the final minute of regulation that prevented a Ferris State victory, and was victim of some own-zone turnovers and knuckling shots that make any goaltender’s job difficult.

After talking about Stewart’s play for the evening, Kyle summed it up simply, perhaps alleviating any fears that Wildcats fans might have.

“He’s a champion,” Kyle said of Stewart. “That kid’s a champion.”

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SEEN AND HEARD AT THE JOE

• After Northern Michigan’s second consecutive appearance in the third-place game last year, Kyle, in his sixth third-place game appearance in seven years, joked that they should name the third-place game after him. Having reached the title tilt for the first time, Kyle laughed when asked if he’s relieved his name was no longer at risk of living in infamy, saying he wouldn’t mind the game being named after him, he’d just prefer to never play in it again.

• It would have been understandable if Michigan netminder Shaun Hunwick was feeling the pressure early in the second period, especially when up by just single goal in the opening minutes and again when Tommy Wingels brought the RedHawks within one later in the frame. But Hunwick stood strong in the net, and described the hectic period as his most comfortable since jumping into the lineup three weeks ago.

“Actually early in the second period and throughout the second period was probably the smoothest and the most confident in the net since I’ve been in,” Hunwick said. “I wasn’t really thinking; I was just reacting.”

• Miami’s Cody Reichard has certainly had to deal with some tough losses in his career, and will be forced to try and bounce back once again after giving up five goals and being pulled for the first time this season with 12:43 remaining in the game. Blasi knew that Reichard, even though he may not have been able to stop several of the goals, would take his performance hard.

“The way I know Cody, I’m sure he’s very upset with the way he played and the fact that we lost the game,” Blasi said. “We had to get him out of there, he’s too good of a person, we wanted to get him out of there.”

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

The hard-fought first game was aired on Fox Sports Detroit, hopefully giving some fans who couldn’t make it down to Joe Louis Arena a look at just how exciting two teams they wouldn’t give a second thought to based on name-recognition can be.

All four pep bands showed up, and it added a lot to the atmosphere.

The sparse crowd during Northern Michigan’s victory could be due to beautiful weather, an early start or small fan bases, but definitely not enough people were on hand for a great college hockey game.

It seems a little unfair that top-seeded Miami ended up playing what was essentially a Michigan home game.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Shaun Hunwick, G, Michigan - Hunwick made just 20 saves in the victory, but he made key stops when he needed to and avoided a letdown after Wingels beat him with a spectacular goal in the second period.

2. Ray Kaunisto, F, Northern Michigan - While it was Hanson’s magic that ultimately clinched the victory, Kaunisto was the catalyst who helped the Wildcats seize control of the game with a goal and an assist in that three-goal stretch and then re-extend their lead with Northern Michigan’s fourth goal.

1. Kevin Lynch, F, Michigan - Whether he was the intended target of Hagelin’s passes or not, Lynch finished the chances he got, and notched an additional point with an assist on Brian Lebler’s third period tally.

WHAT’S NEXT

Michigan and Northern Michigan will duke it out tomorrow, with only the winner assuring their spot in the NCAA Tournament. It should be an interesting game with both offenses clicking on all cylinders in their respective semifinals, perhaps with the play of Hunwick and Stewart being the difference.

Miami is forced to try and bounce back from a disappointing performance, and a victory against Ferris State would help put them on the right track for a well-deserved long run in the NCAA Tournament.

UNION WINS IMPORTANT AREAS

You’ll never be cheated by effort whenever Union or St. Lawrence takes the ice. That knowledge inspired the expectation that Friday’s late semifinal would be a game of battles in the important parts of the ice. Expectations were met, and Union went on to a 3-1 win over St. Lawrence in the second semifinal of the ECAC Hockey Championship at Times Union Center in downtown Albany.

Fittingly, the Dutchmen scored their first two goals on plays in which they won the puck in the corner or on the half boards and made centering passes to the front of the St. Lawrence net. The game was won, however, in the 20-foot area in front of Union’s net, where the Dutchmen defense did a great job of tying up sticks of St. Lawrence forwards and blocking shots in front of freshman goalie Keith Kinkaid.

Keith Kinkaid was back in net for Union and made 29 saves in Friday's win.

According to the shot charts that were kept by the official scorers at the tournament, the Saints attempted 24 shots in the game from the points or outside the tops of the circles. In almost every instance, at least one Saint forward was stationed in front of Kinkaid. Union was credited with 12 blocked shots over the three periods.

“In practice we always work on blocking shots. We’re a great blocking-shot team and the guys form a pocket around the net to help me and we just battled all night long,” Kinkaid said.

Senior defenseman Mike Schreiber was a first-team All-ECAC Hockey selection and a finalist for the league’s best defensive defenseman award. Even though St. Lawrence outshot Union 30-19 in the game, Schreiber was happy that the shots they allowed didn’t come from dangerous areas.

“They outshot us tonight, there’s no secret there, but we really pride ourselves on really boxing out around the net. If they have perimeter shots, that’s OK,” Schreiber said. “Keith, he’s a good enough goalie that he’s going to control that rebound, he’s going to secure it. If we can just box out as well as we can, and have sticks and they can’t get a whack at the rebound then we’ve done our job.”

At the offensive end for Union, Stephane Boileau set up the game’s opening goal midway through the first when he won the puck in the left wing corner and spun a centering pass to a streaking Luke Cain in the slot, who scored from close range.

The go-ahead goal in the third had some similarities. Boileau was in on the boards after a faceoff in the St. Lawrence zone. He got the puck and laid it off for Jason Walters on the half-wall. Walters sent a shot to the front that was deflected in by Adam Presizniuk.

Two goals for, none against, in the area right in front of the net. Union’s success came as expected.

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THE CHANT IS CHANGING

The raucous Lynah Faithful have regularly saluted their senior goalie with chants of “SCRI-VENS, SCRI-VENS” throughout the latter part of the season. The chant was a little different Friday afternoon in Albany. After one of his 23 saves in a shutout performance, the Faithful chanted “HO-BEY BA-KER”.

While Locke Jillson, John Esposito and Riley Nash scored for Cornell the goaltender was once again the team’s best player in a 3-0 win over Brown in the opening semifinal of the ECAC Hockey Championship at Times Union Center in downtown Albany.

Ben Scrivens ranks first or second nationally in goals-against average and save percentage.

Scrivens was named as one of 10 finalists for college hockey’s most prestigious individual honor Thursday night and is playing the best hockey of his career for the Big Red. His second-straight shutout was his sixth of the season and he is now tied for first in Cornell history with 18 career zeroes.

He was at his best in the third period. Cornell held a 1-0 lead when he made a good save early in the third on a shot from the slot by Brown’s Chris Zaires. After the Big Red went up 2-0, Scrivens stopped a short-handed breakaway by Bobby Farnham, and then made another save later in the period on a close-in chance by Jack Maclellan, who tried a deke.

It’s not just the job that Cornell’s goalie is doing, but how he’s doing it. Senior defenseman Brendon Nash has played in front of Scrivens in more than 100 games during their careers. He hesitated in saying that Scrivens is at his best right now, because of how consistent he’s always been.

“He always plays like this. He comes out ready to play in every game and he stops a lot of the shots he faces. He was really on his game tonight,” Nash said, and added that Scrivens is a reliable co-worker in the defensive zone.

“It’s really good. He loves to communicate out there, he loves talking to us, letting us know what’s going on out there. We always know that he’s going to make the save and where the rebound is usually going to go. He’s pretty good at controlling those. It’s pretty simple and it makes it easy on us when we know what he wants to do and he knows what we want to do.”

Freshman defenseman Braden Birch has just one year of experience playing with Scrivens, but knows that there’s a tremendous asset backstopping the Big Red.

“As a defenseman I love playing with Ben back there, and having full trust in your goaltender knowing that he’s going to keep you in the game and win you some games,” Birch said. “You feel a lot more comfortable and he’s a great goalie, one of the best I’ve ever played with. He’s a pretty special goalie and I’m happy to have him on our team.”

Scrivens has a 1.83 goals-against average (second nationally) and a .935 save percentage (tied for first nationally). Even if he continues to play this way, the Hobey Baker trophy might not end up in his hands. However, other more significant team-related trophies could, beginning with Saturday’s league championship game.

BOX SCORE

SEEN AND HEARD AT TIMES UNION CENTER

• Several in-arena advertisements were read promoting the 2011 ECAC Hockey Championship at the Boardwalk Convention Center in Atlantic City, and each time it was read, the announcement was booed by those in attendance in downtown Albany.

• St. Lawrence had its best chance to take the lead in the third period when defenseman Pete Child put a shot through traffic that hit the right post and was cleared to safety by Union. The Dutchmen went ahead about 30 seconds later on Adam Presizniuk’s goal.

• Two of Cornell’s three goals on Brown sophomore goalie Mike Clemente were roofed wristers under the crossbar. Locke Jillson’s opener with 4:25 left in the second period from the left wing circle went in and out so fast that they took another look on video review. The water bottle flipped, so it was definitely a good one, even though the goal judge never turned the light on. Riley Nash’s third-period goal from the high slot got through a Brown defenseman and beat Clemente over the blocker.

• Brown senior Aaron Volpatti was one of the team’s leaders and the Bears took great strides this season. “Obviously it’s a huge step for the program,” Volpatti said. “Did we achieve (all of) our goals this season? Absolutely not. But one of our goals as a senior class was we wanted this to be one of the years that we changed the culture of Brown hockey, and we did that.”

• It is the second consecutive season that a team will play for its first ECAC Hockey Championship. Union’s maiden voyage is Saturday night and they can hope it goes as well as Yale’s initial championship game appearance went last year - a 5-0 win against Cornell.

• St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh was joined in the postgame press conference by senior forward Travis Vermeulen, who was named as the league’s best defensive forward earlier in the week and was saluted as INCH’s Unsung Player in our season-ending notebook. Marsh said that Vermeulen would be a member of his all-time St. Lawrence team if he were naming one (and he’s been the coach of that program for 25 years) based on Vermeulen’s incredible work ethic. “He’s never taken a day off in four years, and that’s not just Friday and Saturday nights, that’s every day,” Marsh said.

• Brown got off to a strong start in the game and had its best sustained pressure in the first 12 minutes. The Bears forechecked Cornell’s defensemen hard and generated chances. Brown outshot the Big Red 11-6 in the first period.

• Notable alumni sighting: Former St. Lawrence defenseman Shawn Fensel was in attendance for the Saints’ semifinal game.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Attendance was announced at 5,703 for the semifinal games. It may not have been one of the highest-attended ECAC Hockey events in downtown Albany, but all of the fans brought great energy. It felt full and there’s little doubt that tomorrow’s championship between Cornell and Union will draw their large and boisterous support groups and make for a great hockey event.

Best pep band song of the night, Cornell’s take on “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” from the South Park Movie. Of course, close friends of INCH may recall and substitute the alternate lyrics to “What Would Brian Gionta Do?”

Players commented that the arena conditions were difficult because of warm temperatures. Dressing rooms, benches, and the playing surface were all significantly warmer than teams are used to in their home rinks. I’ll bet fans didn’t mind one bit. The temperature in downtown Albany was right around 70 degrees when the first game started. I’m sure tailgate parties took full advantage of the sun.

INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Derek Keller, St. Lawrence - The Saints’ minute-eating defenseman played almost half of the game and stood out on the blue line for St. Lawrence. He also scored a heck of a goal to knot the score 1-1 late in the second period. Keller dragged the puck inside of a sliding forward and roofed a wrister under the crossbar.

2. Ben Scrivens, Cornell - He’s making all of the saves, and he’s making them look somewhat easy. Scrivens is in control of his positioning, tracking the puck well and is very settled on rush chances as well as net-mouth scrambles.

1. Stephanie Boileau, Union - Boileau brought energy early and got in deep on the forecheck. He won two puck battles on the wall and earned assists on Union’s first two goals of the game.

WHAT’S NEXT

Cornell and Union meet for the third time this season and the Big Red have a win and a tie in the season series, but Union outshot Cornell in both games. Riley Nash has four points on Cornell’s six goals in the season series. Mario Valery-Trabucco has two of Union’s three goals in the season series.

St. Lawrence and Brown meet in the consolation game. Unlike past seasons in ECAC Hockey, there are virtually no national tournament implications in this game but it will be a much-deserved and well-earned final game for two groups of seniors that have left a positive mark on the direction of each program.