The Pinnacle: FROZEN FOUR

This year, the frozen four has everything except North Dakota. People may read that, and be like who cares? Well, UND can fill and entire bowl by itself in the United Center. DU, Harvard, Duluth, nor Notre Dame can claim that. If this frozen four isn't full, I wouldn't be surprised.

Here are my thoughts:

First, I'm a DU fan. So if I show any bias, you know why.

Going into the regional final, I was worried about Penn State. DU has a lot of fire power from front to back that I clearly didn't see. I think Union was far over rated, which is why Penn State put 10 on them. To see DU keep up their 4 goals per game was great. But now we are onto a different kind of beast.

DU vs Notre Dame: I loved Notre Dame during the playoffs. I was so excited to see Minnesota knocked out, and very surprised to see Lowell knocked out. This is a big concern to me. Last year, DU and ND faced off in Denver where DU swept the series. This year, Notre Dame has been a ground and pound team. They have stayed consistent and never compromised. It helped them through the playoffs.

Denver on the other hand, has been the EXACT SAME. Never really biting into a problem, but constantly moving the puck. The move the puck from the D to the forwards. They do it well. This has proved to be a problem for the best offensive teams. Controlling the puck has always favored DU, and I don't think that is about to change at the Frozen Four. I wish that I wasn't reviewing DU so that this match up could be more even keeled, but ND lacks the back end where Denver thrives. They exploited St. Cloud with a similar match up. The Irish won't be lucky enough to win this. DU 4-2.

Harvard vs Duluth. The ECAC has proven to be a fraud this year. Every team this year has been beat, and been beat badly. The lone exception has been Harvard. This entire season, Harvard has relied on a 2-2-1 system. They have excellent forwards, a decent D, and good goaltending. The problem is, they have not faced a team like Duluth. UMD will force Harvard out of their comfort zone and push them. UMD plays the game wide. They put their wings at the boards and make their center go up the middle. This will leave Harvard on a constant 2 on 1 that won't do well. After a quick adjustment, Harvard's D will find itself quickly outnumbered and unable to play against a physical team. Harvard will likely try multiple times to go back to the 2-2-1 system, but will be beat multiple times. I don't have a score in mind, but UMD is going to send Harvard back to the books.

UMD vs DU. It's the matchup everyone not named Harvard or Notre Dame wants. It's the juggernauts. DU is far too skilled. UMD is far too methodical. The goaltending in this will make the difference. Jailett is not the best back in the net, but he has a far superior D corps than UMD has. This will be a barn burner that will end with DU strolling down University Avenue with their 8th title.