The Frozen Four in college hockey:

University of Notre Dame

University of North Dakota

University of Michigan

University of Minnesota at Duluth.


ND made it to the Frozen Four with a very young team (13 freshmen) and a very good hockey coach in Jeff Jackson.

Michigan and North Dakota are the big powers in college hockey. ND and Minnesota-Duluth (who play each other) are the upstarts.

The games were on ESPNU over the weekend. Next week's games are on ESPN2.

Congratulations - win it for the BE.

What league are they in. BE doesn't sponsor Hockey???????
:drinky2: :drunk2: :band:

College hockey is truly the sport where if you make the NCAA tournament you have a realistic shot at the Frozen Four. With only a 16 team field and single elimination, the tournament is always full of upsets.

FWIW, not sure I would call Minnesota Duluth a hockey upstart. They have been playing college hockey at the highest level since 1930 in the WCHA (arguably the top conference in college hockey) since 1965. Not sure I would call Notre Dame a upstart either.

When I think upstarts I see programs like RIT who made the Frozen Four last year.

Love the Frozen Four one of my favorite sporting events of the year. Doesn't get the same hype and attention the Men's BB Final Four or the BCS do, but its right there with them as high quality sporting events. Congrats! No repeat for BC this year.

Congrats Terry, but no need for the "way OT". ND is kinda-sorta a BE school, even if there is no BE hockey.

Terry,
Congrats on the great wins this weekend, especially in a home game for New Hampshire, and good luck next weekend. I agree that the NCAA's in hockey are completely underrated- - the intensity is incredible, and the college game is much more wide open and higher scoring than the NHL currently is.

Was wondering your take on the Big Ten hockey conference announcement (and was hoping Frank the Tank would weigh in), where they'll start play in 2013-2014. Would love to hear your opinion on this.

It seems to leave the Irish in a weird position.
Their leftover CCHA would have the remaining midwestern schools- - NDame, Miami, Western Michigan, Ferris State, Northern Michigan, Alaska, Lake Superior State and Bowling Green. Would the Big Ten try to lure you in to go beyond 6 teams? Would ND consider joining Hockey East? Would UConn be ready to maybe jump in with you, to make a 12-team Hockey East?

For those who don't follow the conferences - - Hockey East (is/was considered hockey's "Big East", as the original members included BC and PC)(where PC is currently near the bottom) is the eastern power (all members are in New England), and has won the last three nat'l titles (BC 2 and BU 1), but all three tourney teams this year were beaten over the weekend, with the Irish knocking two out (New Hampshire and Merrimack both basically had home games vs ND).

UConn is in the weaker Atlantic Hockey with smaller NE-NY schools, plus Air Force.

Other schools from NE-NY are in the old ECAC (considered a notch below Hockey East), which has the 6 Ivy hockey schools, plus great-tradition schools like RPI, Clarkson, St Lawrence, etc... actually, the ECAC had the tourney's overall #1 seed in Yale this year.

My opinion is that the Big 10 won't take associate members for hockey, thus ND will be looking at staying in the CCHA or moving to Hockey East. CCHA really takes a tradition blow with Michigan (most national titles of any hockey program), Michigan State (3 time national champion, most recently 07) leaving.

Ohio State is not a great hockey program, but definitely a loss for the CCHA as they were one of the bigger budget schools in the conference.

If I were ND, and if Hockey East were interested then I would make that move.

My guess is that ND will stay in the scaled down CCHA or hope that the WCHA expands.

That said, what I don't know about hockey conference expansion is...everything.

(03-28-2011 07:11 AM)brista21 Wrote:  No repeat for BC this year.

Thank god.

(03-28-2011 02:31 PM)JHG722 Wrote:  

(03-28-2011 07:11 AM)brista21 Wrote:  No repeat for BC this year.

Thank god.

I'll second this. Was kinda hoping Yale would take one home this year...

(03-28-2011 06:43 AM)TerryD Wrote:  ND made it to the Frozen Four with a very young team (13 freshmen)

What is your recruiting area for ND hockey?

(03-28-2011 10:20 PM)CardHouse Wrote:  

(03-28-2011 06:43 AM)TerryD Wrote:  ND made it to the Frozen Four with a very young team (13 freshmen)

What is your recruiting area for ND hockey?

ND recruits mostly USHL and US National Under 18 team. Geographically, they're from pretty much everywhere. Surprisingly, very few from Culver have gone to ND.

http://www.und.com/sports/m-hockey/mtt/n...y-mtt.html



My quick count shows players from eleven U.S. states, one from Sweden and three from Canada.

(03-28-2011 02:18 PM)TerryD Wrote:  My guess is that ND will stay in the scaled down CCHA or hope that the WCHA expands.

That said, what I don't know about hockey conference expansion is...everything.

In the scaled down CCHA, does ND have any rivals and will there be enough power left in the conference?

Miami U. is the other top quality program left in the CCHA. They were a #1 seed this year and have a great facility. After them and ND there's a big drop-off. Western Michigan arguably comes next. They just had their best season in long time, but don't have a great facility. Alaska made the tournament last year, but they're in Alaska. The rest have 1 playoff appearance combined in about 15+ years, and not much else going for them.

(03-30-2011 11:20 PM)LastMinuteman Wrote:  Miami U. is the other top quality program left in the CCHA. They were a #1 seed this year and have a great facility. After them and ND there's a big drop-off. Western Michigan arguably comes next. They just had their best season in long time, but don't have a great facility. Alaska made the tournament last year, but they're in Alaska. The rest have 1 playoff appearance combined in about 15+ years, and not much else going for them.

Lake State has 3 NCs.

As a UMass fan, I'm happy to go along with the idea that accomplishments in the early/mid 90s still count for something, but I'm not sure others would agree. We're a year or 2 away from incoming freshmen not having been born yet the last time LSSU made any noise in the tournament.