NCAA Hockey: Reactions

I don't get too wrapped up into the first day of the tournament. That's why I didn't write yesterday, and why I waited until everything had sorted out today.

My first reaction was to the way that Michigan Tech played St. Cloud State. I thought it reflected poorly on the conference, and I wasn't too thrilled to see what RIT would bring to Minnesota State. After today, I feel pretty confident in saying the WCHA was all bark and no bite. It's a step up from the Big 10 which was no bark, and no bite.
St. Cloud should have been easy work for the Michigan Tech. But the Huskies of Northern Michigan let off the gas peddle and the Huskies from Central Minnesota saw it as an opportunity to move in the kill. Teams in the WCHA can take the peddle off the gas in conference play. That's because the only teams remaining in that conference were the bottom feeders of the old WCHA and CCHA respectively. Somebody had to rise up. So it's really of no surprise to me that two WCHA teams went down on day 1, even with that being the number one overall seed.

I can't quite wrap my head around RIT this year. Atlantic Hockey almost never puts a good fight into anything. They have the poorest teams which shows every year. They are the last team to get an automatic bid, and as a result get the last seed. They didn't quit though. They gave Omaha a very good run for their money in a game that was really decided by one mis-read by RIT's goalie. That one mistake cost them, but this was really a battle between two goaltenders. I hope RIT's goalie doesn't walk away thinking he did a bad job. His performance today would have been accepted by any other team in the tournament not named North Dakota.

For that matter, I wanted to move to Hockey East. I have been told multiple times throughout the year that BU would be a lock for the Frozen Four. Yet the only thing I hear about BU is "Jack Eichel". How does a one man show make it that far? Well when you don't see BU play much, you would not know that there are more players to this game. BU doesn't have the size of UND, but they have speed and strength.

Providence is another team that I don't understand. They played an average season and then decided to make a go of things in the playoffs. Almost like they were sandbagging. They were not busy playing BU all season, so I really don't know where this team came from. They played a Duluth team which was ranked #3 in the nation before being swept by Denver during conference playoffs.

Then they played Denver which is a very undersized and fast team. The Pioneers don't have one explosive player like Jack Eichel, nor do they have a line that matches pound for pound with skill and size like Providence's entire team. Denver got beat because they were just too small. Normally being small is a good thing, but when everyone is above 6'0" on the other side, it makes getting shots to the 6'5" goalie even harder. One shouldn't forget that when Gillies sets himself up to play a shot his shoulders are still above the cross bar. He's absolutely huge, so I still don't understand how Providence didn't take Hockey East.

Then there is North Dakota. I figured after the double loss in the NCHC games that they would be done. Somehow they found their stride and beat the very team that sent them to the consolation bracket in St. Cloud State. They look like a monster team. The problem for both Providence and North Dakota is they played in regional's where they were either the host or had the game in their back yard. North Dakota had both, Providence the latter. Neither will get that opportunity as Boston will unlikely be swarming with red and white jerseys chanting Boston University.
Unlike Quinnipiac and St. Cloud State, Boston University has 4 good lines that can play. North Dakota does too, but they surely won't be penciled in for this win. It's going to be a shitty fight for both teams.

On the other side Providence and Omaha meet in a goaltenders match up. Massa looked strong against RIT as he did in his first game. However, I have watched Providence dispatch two teams which were supposed to be much better than the fryars. Both cases were due to the absolute size of Providence, and I don't expect Omaha to fare much better than DU or Miami. Let's not forget, Miami was a good team before losing Coleman and Czarnik. I still think they were pretty good without both, but definitely not so bad they would allow 6 goals.

I think Providence will advance over Omaha, and I have no idea who will advance on the other side. Though the loss of Mark MacMillian might finally rear it's ugly head and we might see Boston University finally take advantage of an injured UND team.

We will see.