We have 10 days to analyze the Frozen Four. A couple of things stand out:

in terms of pairwise rankings: Duluth #1, UMass #3, Denver #5, Providence #9
In terms of strength of schedule: Duluth #1, Denver #5, Providence #21, UMass #23
Duluth has been winning close games in the post season. Do they have a mental toughness having faced the hardest schedule this year?
(or do they just have a great defense and a weak offense?)

Looking at the schedules of UMass and Denver, I find 4 common opponents (Ohio State, Providence, Merrimack, AIC):
UMass went 7-4, Denver went 5-0-1. Does that mean something?
Last weekend, UMass scored 8 goals in 2 games, Denver scored 5. Does UMass have hotter sticks right now?

Comparing schedules of Providence & Duluth, I find 5 common opponents (MN State, Miami, Denver, Maine, ND).
Prov went 4-3-2, Duluth went 12-2.
Last weekend Prov scored 10 goals, Duluth scored 5. Could that mean Providence's offense is more in synch right now?

I'm sure smarter hockey people than I will analyze these match ups more closely in the next 10 days.
As we saw last weekend, anything can happen when really good teams meet on the ice.
Hockey East vs. NCHC. The 2 heavyweight hockey conferences going toe to toe for the hardware and bragging rights.

Nice post /|

(04-01-2019 12:42 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote:  We have 10 days to analyze the Frozen Four. A couple of things stand out:

in terms of pairwise rankings: Duluth #1, UMass #3, Denver #5, Providence #9
In terms of strength of schedule: Duluth #1, Denver #5, Providence #21, UMass #23
Duluth has been winning close games in the post season. Do they have a mental toughness having faced the hardest schedule this year?
(or do they just have a great defense and a weak offense?)

Looking at the schedules of UMass and Denver, I find 4 common opponents (Ohio State, Providence, Merrimack, AIC):
UMass went 7-4, Denver went 5-0-1. Does that mean something?
Last weekend, UMass scored 8 goals in 2 games, Denver scored 5. Does UMass have hotter sticks right now?

Comparing schedules of Providence & Duluth, I find 5 common opponents (MN State, Miami, Denver, Maine, ND).
Prov went 4-3-2, Duluth went 12-2.
Last weekend Prov scored 10 goals, Duluth scored 5. Could that mean Providence's offense is more in synch right now?

I'm sure smarter hockey people than I will analyze these match ups more closely in the next 10 days.
As we saw last weekend, anything can happen when really good teams meet on the ice.
Hockey East vs. NCHC. The 2 heavyweight hockey conferences going toe to toe for the hardware and bragging rights.

This is great. Also of note:

Neither Denver nor UMass has given up a single goal in the tournament so far. Something has got to give here.

Providence not only scored 10 goals, they're on a 10-0 run (went down 3-0, won 6-3, then won 4-0) right now. I'd say they might just have the hottest sticks out there right now.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1116553971449991168

As a Pioneers fan this loss hurts. That was a nice game winning goal. It will still be a good weekend to see Makar win the Hobey Baker, I'm also an Avalanche fan, and UMass beat Duluth.

Should be a good battle: offense (UMass) vs defense (Duluth).
Duluth's sticks warmed up in a 4-1 victory over Providence (2015 champs).
UMass drops Denver (2017 champs) in OT 4-3.
Saturday will be UMass' 1st ever championship game.
It will be the 4th championship matchup in 9 years for Duluth: champions in 2011, runner up in 2017, champions in 2018.

And of course, at the end of the season it's Hockey East vs. NCHC for the big trophy.

(04-12-2019 12:24 AM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote:  Should be a good battle: offense (UMass) vs defense (Duluth).
Duluth's sticks warmed up in a 4-1 victory over Providence (2015 champs).
UMass drops Denver (2017 champs) in OT 4-3.
Saturday will be UMass' 1st ever championship game.
It will be the 4th championship matchup in 9 years for Duluth: champions in 2011, runner up in 2017, champions in 2018.

And of course, at the end of the season it's Hockey East vs. NCHC for the big trophy.

Well I mean UMass is no scrub when it comes to defense either though. While Duluth came in at 4 in the nation on scoring defense, UMass came in at 6.

That's actually UMass's lowest ranked team stat:

#3 Scoring Offense
#2 Power Play
#4 Penalty Kill


I'm looking forward to a good game though. There were definite instances last night where Denver's experience in the playoffs showed, and I expect more of the same from Duluth. Really hoping we can get our first national championship in hockey though!

To wrap up Denver's season: I came across an interesting quote at USCHO.com that I wasn't aware of-
"Denver finished the season with 24 wins and was only one of three teams in NCAA history to reach 20 wins for 18 consecutive seasons."

Denver had a young team this season (heck, a young coach as well- 29 years old in his 1st season as a HC).
They should be a beast next year.

(04-12-2019 12:00 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote:  To wrap up Denver's season: I came across an interesting quote at USCHO.com that I wasn't aware of-
"Denver finished the season with 24 wins and was only one of three teams in NCAA history to reach 20 wins for 18 consecutive seasons."

Denver had a young team this season (heck, a young coach as well- 29 years old in his 1st season as a HC).
They should be a beast next year.

No doubt. They're a hockey juggernaut for sure. If they had a better power play this year (I think they ranked like 48th or something) I think it would have been no contest for them to be a 1 seed and in the championship game Special teams is what did them in against UMass...but I'm certain that's a lesson their coach is going to take to heart for next year.

UMass is also a young team, and there's potential that the only non-senior we lose is Makar. Granted he's Makar and that's a tough person to replace, but I'm hoping this is the start of a new perennial playoff team here (we need one of those at UMass...).

This gave me a chuckle. I was reading the Boston Globe report of the UMass-Denver game. In the comment section I read:

"There still seems to be that age old western bias against the eastern teams in the NCAA hockey world even though the finals are in Buffalo.
Did the officials do everything they could to get Denver back in the game in that period or what?"
(BTW- Denver fans are saying the refs missed a shot to the head that would have given Denver a power play late in the 3rd.)

People in the West says college hockey favors the East (primarily because of media attention).
Apparently people in the East say it favors the West.
I guess everything is relative.

I heard an Air Force guy tell a joke that the Navy gets everything they want from the Pentagon while the Air Force scrapes by.
And then a couple of years later I heard a Navy guy tell the same joke...but in the other direction.
I guess everything is relative.

PS. another commentator said the referees were from the Atlantic Hockey Conference.

Denver is an athletic powerhouse. It's unfortunate basketball is not their thing because they excel at the "major" non-revenue sports like hockey, soccer, and lacrosse.

(04-12-2019 12:54 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote:  This gave me a chuckle. I was reading the Boston Globe report of the UMass-Denver game. In the comment section I read:

"There still seems to be that age old western bias against the eastern teams in the NCAA hockey world even though the finals are in Buffalo.
Did the officials do everything they could to get Denver back in the game in that period or what?"
(BTW- Denver fans are saying the refs missed a shot to the head that would have given Denver a power play late in the 3rd.)

People in the West says college hockey favors the East (primarily because of media attention).
Apparently people in the East say it favors the West.
I guess everything is relative.

I heard an Air Force guy tell a joke that the Navy gets everything they want from the Pentagon while the Air Force scrapes by.
And then a couple of years later I heard a Navy guy tell the same joke...but in the other direction.
I guess everything is relative.

PS. another commentator said the referees were from the Atlantic Hockey Conference.

The officiating was all over the place during the game. But I think that game had WCHA refs and the earlier game had Atlantic Hockey refs.

That was a missed call on Trivingo (who is suspended for the national championship game because of it). It was a really strange game, with 3 earlier ejections for shots to the head. That one and the one on the Denver player were both clear as day, the two on the UMass players who were ejected we less so (lots of body contact at the same time, though one of them looked really bad because the Denver player was spun around and also hit his head on the ice after), but at least they had been consistent until then.

(04-12-2019 12:58 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Denver is an athletic powerhouse. It's unfortunate basketball is not their thing because they excel at the "major" non-revenue sports like hockey, soccer, and lacrosse.

Who says hockey is non revenue, we had three sellouts of over 8.3k each and ranked in the top 5 in attendance.

I found this interesting. This year is only the 4th winning season UMass has had in 25 seasons since the team was restarted as a D1 program.
Their last winning season was 2007 with 22 wins, the highest ever until this season's 31 (...so far). That was the only other season they made the NCAA tourney where they went 1 and 1. UMass' overall record is 322-514-79. Their conference record is 189-371–59.

This just deepens my respect at what Coach Carvel has done in his 3 seasons as HC at UMass.
He went from 5 wins, to 17 wins, to 31 wins (...so far).

It's tonight! Championship: Minnesota Duluth vs. UMass, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN

Also: Cale Makar of UMass is named 2019 winner of Hobey Baker Award which is given to the top NCAA player (hockey's "Heisman")
Makar, a sophomore defenseman is tied for third in the nation in scoring, marking 16 goals and 32 assists for 48 points in 39 games. He is the first defensemen in 20 years to lead Hockey East in scoring. Makar is third in the nation in assists and his plus-minus of +32 ranks second in the country. He was drafted in the first round, fourth overall, by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2017 NHL entry draft.

Of the 39 Hobey Baker winners, only 8 have been defensemen, 2 have been goalies, the rest have been forwards (29).
While this is UMass' 1st Hobey Baker, Duluth leads ALL schools with 5 (I wouldn't have guessed that).

All-Americans were announced today:
UMass has 2 1st-teamers: Makar (d) Chaffee (f)
Duluth has a 1st and a 2nd teamer: Shepard (g) Perunovich (d)
Hockey East and NCHC lead all other conferences with 6 selections each (12 out of 25 total).

Duluth is back to back national champions! A dominating 3-0 victory with a suffocating defense.
AIC's coach Eric Lang was live tweeting on College Hockey Inc. He wrote: "That was an absolute clinic on defending, details, habits and concepts."
"UMD inside out (angles) on all Umass possessions. NHL like habits." "UMD owning the middle of the ice. Hard to penetrate when you only have redirect chip ins outside the dots."

Article from College Hockey says, "The Bulldogs 1-4 setup in the neutral zone suffocated UMass' attempts to enter the offensive zone cleanly and forced the Minutemen to the walls instead of the middle of the ice."
In another article: "UMass relies upon its rush, and the ability to keep the puck in the zone with a relentless forecheck. Those things were impossible Saturday. UMD cut off the neutral zone, and didn't allow the forecheck to get set up whatsoever, except for small blips here and there, times that proved ultimately harmless."

Shots on goal: Duluth 31, UMass 18
Power Plays: Duluth 1/4, UMass 0/4
Face offs: Duluth 31, UMass 20
Duluth only gave up a total of 3 goals during 4 games in the tournament.
5 of the 6 "All Tournament Team" for the FF are Duluth Bulldogs.

On KDAL radio (Duluth), the announcers are sheepishly asking, "Can we be called a dynasty now?" (Mostly they were almost speechless.)
3 straight championship games. 2 straight championships. 3rd natty in 9 years. 9 tourneys in past 16 years.
In the 6 years since the NCHC was formed, "The National" has sent 10 teams to the Frozen Four and won that last 4 nattys.

Let's take a live look at downtown Duluth:

Good game, wish UMass had won. At least the Avs now have the newest Hobey Baker winner (currently watching Avs-Flames game 2).

Exciting announcement by Barry Melrose. Illinois to become the 61st NCAA D1 men's hockey team.

Review this heavily edited long post from late April 2017:

(04-28-2017 07:28 PM) Wrote:  Schools west of the Mississippi that have men's club hockey that could go varsity are?
...

Minnesota State-Mankato
...

Minnesota-Duluth
...

I guess that Duluth "club team that went varsity" has done pretty good. They lost the championship game 3 weeks prior to that post and now have won 2 championships since.

(04-13-2019 09:41 PM)MidWestMidMajor Wrote:  On KDAL radio (Duluth), the announcers are sheepishly asking, "Can we be called a dynasty now?" 3 straight championship games. 2 straight championships. 3rd natty in 9 years. 9 tourneys in past 16 years.

College Hockey News answers the question in bold letters on their front page: "UMDynasty"

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/