Hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly), Derek Schooley (@derekschooley), and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) review the championship games of the weekend and look at the 2025 NCAA men's D-I hockey brackets.
Notable tournament outcomes include Maine's victory in Hockey East, Cornell's success in the ECAC, and Western Michigan's NCHC title. They discuss the implications of the bracket setup, team matchups, and potential underdog threats. The episode concludes with a preview of their upcoming in-depth analysis of the four regions and matchups in Monday's regularly-scheduled episode.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour
Notable tournament outcomes include Maine's victory in Hockey East, Cornell's success in the ECAC, and Western Michigan's NCHC title. They discuss the implications of the bracket setup, team matchups, and potential underdog threats. The episode concludes with a preview of their upcoming in-depth analysis of the four regions and matchups in Monday's regularly-scheduled episode.
This episode is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division I Frozen Four, April 10 and 12 in St. Louis. Get your tickets now at ncaa.com/frozenfour
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to a special edition of us CHO Weekend Review
for Sunday evening, March twenty third, twenty twenty five. I'm
ed Trefsker alongside Jim Connolly and Derek Schooley. This episode
is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one Frozen four
April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get your tickets
now at NCAA dot com slash Frozen four. We're recording
(00:40):
right after the selection show, and we're going to look
back at the six conference tournaments and give our first
impressions of the bracket Tomorrow Monday. On our regular episode,
we'll go into more depth about the four regions and
all the matchups in there. But let's start out look
at the tournaments and we'll start with Hockey East since
(01:02):
that got underway on Thursday, and Jim, you were up
close and personal for all of those. Yukon a resounding
five to win over BU on Thursday, and Northeastern gave
it all that they had but lost in double overtime
to Maine four to three, which brought up that Maine
and Yukon championship game. Maine five two winners in skating
(01:27):
away with their first Hockey East Tournament win in ages.
Just a loaded league of talent this year and a
terrific statement by Maine to come away with the cup.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It was and I thought the most impressive thing about
Maine was the fact that they had to go two
overtimes on Friday night against Northeastern. I'm sorry, on Thursday night,
I'm going to say Friday Saturday. For years about this tournament,
they had to go overtime in the late game despite
being the highest seed, ended up with the late game
go double overtime, and then they looked like the fresher
(02:03):
team in sat Friday's conference final against Connecticut. Though the
Hoskies credit them, they had a great battle both Hoskis
Northeastern to get Maine to double overtime on Thursday and
then Yukon. They were fantastic in the entire tournament. They
(02:24):
just ran out of gas against a good main team.
The one team that concerned me maybe for Hockey East
Boston University. They absolutely no showed Thursday's semifinal game. So
going into the NCAA tournament, we're going to talk about
their seating, but they concerned me right now.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
That if I had a chance, obviously to watch the games,
and Thursday, I thought you said it the first because
it was the early game, and you turn it on,
you think then you read the comments of j Bendalfim.
Those were not kind, Those were not kind of his
team whatsoever. In the media, no showing you used that word,
he used I think very similar, but I think had
(03:07):
harsher words. And then you saw a championship game that
was just an outstanding played hockey game, and I know
there are a lot of people throughout the nation holding
their breath.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I think they were.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
The term line mover was all over the place as
far as Northeastern goes. But credit to them because they
did have a fantastic run in the playoffs. But sometimes
when you talk about I remember our first championship that
we won, and I always hate to bring it back
to us, but sometimes the adrenaline of playing a late
game and the adrenaline of that just carries over and
(03:41):
you don't have that lull. And we ended our first
championship game after midnight, we had to go to overtime.
The first game went to a double overtime, And I
just think that it's one of those things that if
you're the higher rated team and you've got a little
bit of momentum and mojo, and I think just that
(04:01):
it carries over. I think that excitement carries over. And
you saw it with Maine on almost since Saturday. You
got me there to Jimmy, but you saw it on
Friday and big time crowd by Maine, too, big time
crowd showing up. And it almost felt like Alfonsalz.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Just to tack on about that crowd that was so impressive.
There were seventeen thousand, almost seventeen eight hundred at the
Garden on Saturday, and I would say fifteen thousands of
them felt like Maine fans. Talked to Mike Kavanar after
the game. He said, jim our crowd was great and
I didn't even know they were in the building.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
He said, they were so loud, that main crowd.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
It's not when you're when the visiting coach notices that
that's that's how strong that crowd was.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Let's take a look at the ECAC.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
They and the NCCHC also had semi final rounds on Friday.
It took Cornell overtime to down Quinnipiac.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
A tough time for the Bobcats.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
They once again win the Cleary Cup and miss out
on the White Law, which they haven't won since twenty sixteen,
three to two in overtime, Clarkson a good win four
to one over Dartmouth, which brought up the Cornell Clarkson
matchup on Saturday, and that was a three to one
win for Cornell. Mike Schaefer continues his coaching career for
(05:30):
at least one more game and a terrific win for
ECAC because it meant two teams in the tournament as
Quinnipiac got in as one of the at large teams.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
It just doesn't stop with Shape, does it. Next you
know he's gonna come back. Casey Jones is gonna be
head coaching waiting forever. But good to see them rally
because this is a team that was really decimated by injuries.
When we saw them at the tournament in January in Arizona.
All Shape to talk about is getting their players back.
(06:04):
He liked their team, he liked where they were going,
but they just couldn't get over the injury bug. And
Ian Shane was just okay throughout the year. But I
think he's taken a big step in this and obviously
they're planning for their coach.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
They don't want to screw it end.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Just like you saw Notre Dame went around, you saw
army go aways and Mike Shafer's going back to the term.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
I was so excited to see that.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Can you imagine all of the chances that Cornell's had
not to get to the Frozen four. I think since
Buffalo and now it could be this team and they
got a tough road. They have a very tough road
against Michigan State. But wow, this isn't This isn't the
this isn't just the run of the mill fifteen seed
(06:48):
right now.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
This is what a run this is for Cornell and
Mike Shafer go back to the set, I mean final
on Friday. Here it is again Cornipiac and Lake Placid
that I don't know that how many conferences are going
to keep with these neutral site tournaments. But brand Pecknol's
(07:13):
isn't sitting in every meeting this this April just pounding
the table saying we need to move to whole ice
for the top seed in the tournament.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
He's doing a disservice.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I mean, this is just becoming a nightmare City Lake
Plus it is for the Bobcats, and he had a
power play.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Oh, as you're talking about nightmares. I mean, I don't
mean to cut you off, but that's the nightmare. You
have a power play to end the game regulation. Yeah,
and you not even end the game going to four corners. Yeah,
going to but they didn't even have the chance. Cornell
just went down the ice and didn't win.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
The base off and corn for nine seconds later.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean, so, I know Bran Pecknall wasn't happy after
the game reference to officials in a passive aggressive way.
I don't know what that'll get him into with the league.
You had the chance. I'm sorry referees didn't have a
power play late in regulation.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
This has just become a mental block.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
This team has won a national championship, might win another
national championship, but they cannot win a Lake Placid.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, but you talk about them like you You can't that.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
You can't blame on the officials.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
You do have a power play with a minute plus
left in the game and give up a shorthanded goal.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
You should have had five guys back.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
It should have been a two on five, not a
two on one, and I get it. It happens. You
see it all the time. Teams relax and when they
get the power play at the end. But you're right
that you're stealing somebody's comment on ran post when he
ranted on the officials. Somebody said to him at the
bottom and said, yeah, I should really complain about having
(08:51):
a power play to ice the game and give up
a shorty.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
I don't know, Let's go to the NC.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
They had semi finals on Friday, the last call for
the frozen face off in Saint Paul, and after Quinnipiac
loss that ousted Michigan. That meant that it was down
to North Dakota and Arizona State winning their semi finals
with to have a chance to make the tournament. And
(09:19):
that meant Penn State and Quinnipiac we're watching with great interest.
But Western Michigan a four too win Friday over North Dakota.
Denver four to two over Arizona State, so that meant
a showdown between Western Michigan and Denver, and boy, it
was not looking good for the Broncos.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
They went down three to nothing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It looked like it was going to be four nothing,
but video review said offside and the goal was taken away.
The Broncos came back to tie it in the third
and in double overtime, and not very far into that
second overtime, it was victory for the Broncos, their first
NCCHC title, and Derek, as a Western alumn you had
(10:03):
to be thrilled.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Yeah, it was. Actually, it was a weird scenario.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
I was down watching my son play in the North
American Hockey League and one of his teammates plays his
dad I play against in juniors and plays at Denver,
and we had it on and in between periods we.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Were talking to three nothing.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
He yep, looks like the Pioneers got another one, and
I said, yeah, this is They went the bigger one
at the end and then boom, and then it's in
overtime and then double and then what a the plays
to finish. I didn't really love the third goal that
Western scored. I thought that was as a coach and
(10:42):
as a goal you'd probably say you want to have
that one back, But who are you gonna this. The
kid's been mister playoff for the last two years, and
so it's happy. It's exciting for Western, it's exciting for
the school. It's exciting for the alumni. I'm on a
group text that had twenty different people on sun and
highlights out.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Everything to day.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
But I will tell you this, they've got to get
They've got to get to the Frozen four, something that
Western's never done. And don't comp this team out because
this is a team that has won both the regular
season and playoffs. Never did that before either. So there's
a lot role we're riding on this. But that's going
(11:23):
to be a tough bracket there too that we'll talk about.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, Friday night was certainly the All of the results
on Friday night helped people that were not in Twin
cities this weekend. So it was really all about clinching
things for Penn State and Quinnipiac with the results on Friday.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
But then that championship game. What a final that was.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I actually focus on the Big Ten game once it
got to three nothing and didn't even realize that Big
Ten Game ends. I turned on and overtime is about
to start. I had to rewind and say, how did
we get here? But credit to Western Michigan. This is
this is a great season for them, and it keeps
(12:05):
on Roland.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
There was one more final that was played on Friday
in that Saint Thomas at Minnesota State and it's the
Mavericks who are the CCHA champions of four to two
win over Saint Thomas, who wasn't going to be eligible
for the NCAA tournament anyway. Minnesota State already had its birth,
(12:28):
but a nice championship three out of the last four seasons.
If I'm not mistaken for Minnesota State.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
They're so dominant in the CCHA right now. Even when
you feel like they're a down year or something, they
still find a way to win. A Lukestrand congratulations to
him in another championship and that's a great crowd by
the way, in man Cato on Friday night.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yeah, I think it obviously anti climactic a little bit
as far as the tournament going one game they can go,
but you're right, every year they just seem to find
a way to win that championship, whether they got to
come back on the ice after a goal is disallowed
or whether it's a four to two game after they've
(13:11):
already clinched going to the tournament. So there's a there's
been some drama in that building in the CCHA playoffs
but I'll tell you this once again, another team Western
has them, and that's a team with Luke Strand in
their defense and Alex Tracy and net That's a tough
(13:32):
one there too. That's a tough once again, a not
a typical four seed. But who is in the tournament
this year? This could be the tightest field in the
history of NCAA hockey. I'm throwing that one out there
in this six team team tournament. I think you're right.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
In fact, Boston College is the number one seed gets
to take on the champion of Atlantic Hockey and that's Bentley.
And that was a Saturday final at holy Cross, and
it really gets me. The Heart Center rink has seating
on one side, some standing room. The listed capacity is
sixteen hundred for that arena. Reported attendance on the box
(14:12):
score two thousand and seven one hundred and seventeen, so
eleven more people than are allowed in there. I think
they probably blocked the fire marshal from coming in.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
But what a game that was.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Holy Cross went up to nothing after the first period,
Bentley came back three to two.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
After two.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Holy Cross got another goal to tie it up, but
it was a six to three win. For Bentley, which
outshot the Crusaders thirty to twenty and holy Cross's three
goals were on three power plays. But you really got
to hand it to Andy Jones and what he's done
in two seasons at Bentley. Brought in some real discipline
(14:53):
and structure, did a great job in the transfer portal,
and has head outstanding goaltending from Connor Hasley.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
This is a team that bounced back from a playoff
exit in the first round at home the year before,
and sometimes as a team like that, you just feel
like you need something to put you over the hump.
And Connor Hasley with all the shutouts this year, shut
out Air Force three times, shut out Robert Morris twice.
They've got an elite goalie and Thomas Gale is a
(15:23):
very good goalie. It was a battle of the goaltenders
and then a battle with some of the top players mclinskey,
Hoby Baker finalist. He had three points, but not enough
to overcome Ethan Leigh and some of the other guys
that just seem to be on a mission. Besides that,
they had to go on the road three straight games
they earned us They beat the number two team on
(15:45):
the road swept them, beat the number one team on
the road. This is a dangerous hockey team. Am I
saying they're going to go out and beat Boston College.
I wouldn't put it past them because they've got the
defense and the structure to do that, and they've only
given up eleven shutouts. They've got to keep this as
tight as possible.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Certainly, that's the key is the score is going to
have to stay low. I don't think that you're gonna
find Bentley winning six five game against the Boston College team.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
But still, all that said, their offense puts up goals.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Their defense is what they're known for, and obviously you
know what Hasley's done here, especially down the stretch and
the last two months of the season.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
The number of.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Shutouts is just off the charts. But yeah, I'm really
happy for Andy Jones. I've known him since his days
at your Mass Lowell and I lived just a mile
and a half from the campus of Bentley, and when
I moved to Waltham fourteen years ago, people didn't even
know that Bentley had a Division one program, And when
(16:48):
they built the arena here it still didn't resonate. But
the last few seasons and especially under Andy Jones here
what he's done in the last two years. It's a
pretty popular board here in Waltham, and I think that's
a credit to that program.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
So something that happened in the game, and if you
watched it, one of the linesman Joe Sherman, and he's
a constant NCAA tournament official linesman.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
He's done a Frozen four.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
He's probably him and Brendan Lewis are two of our
higher rated linesman in the league. He got sandwich between
two players right in front of the Holy Cross bench.
He hurt his ribs then passed as stout from the pain,
so they had to scramble to get an official Chris Levitt,
who's a referee, to line the end of the game.
(17:39):
Good news is Joe's no head injury. He's cleared to continue.
We're working in the NCAA tournament and so everything checked
out as far as that one. But that was a
big story. I was getting texts about it and when
I was out of town, and good to see Joe
Sherman's okay, because he is. You'll see him referee in
(18:02):
Aurligning this weekend in NCAY tournament.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well it's good news. One last thing about Bentley in
that matchup with BC. I've already seen people even on
this election show talking like, oh boy, this is going
to be the big time for Bentley taking on a BC.
Bentley has beaten BC at Boston College and at Bentley
in recent years. They're not going to be intimidated by
(18:26):
that at all.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I totally agree with that. I don't think that they
will find any intimidation. If anything, I think they'll rally
against the fact of their biggest underdog in this tournament.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
One other tournament was decided Saturday night, and that was
the Big ten tournament that also a double overtime game,
Michigan State over Ohio State four to three. I kept
watching in those overtimes, wondering if maybe they'd find some
room for Gunner Wolf Fonteyn, But there was just no
room for any until later on in the second overtime
(19:03):
and it was a Michigan State and who else but
Isaac Coward who was the hero.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
With the game winning goal in double overtime.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I'm wondering if Isaac Coward really just helped his Hobie campaign.
A lot of people are just saying Ryan Leonard, Bryan
Leonard for good reason. But guess who didn't play this weekend,
Ryan Leonard, and who did Isaac Coward, and who played
really well Isaac Coward. So that kind of stands out.
But Michigan State, they found a way to get it done.
(19:32):
I thought that Ohio State had really good pushback that
third period down a couple of goals, and hey, gunner
will Fontaine, he did it once ed he did get that.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
He did get that time goal late in regulation.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
To tie the game.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I thought the game would be over and he had
that one where he found room where there wasn't. But
Isaac Coward really two of the best offensive players into
Big Ten this year on a big stage showing their best.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
You know, goal scorers just find a way to score goals,
because it was the guy comes around the net and
funnels it to the middle and he just kind of
whacks at it. He's got to find the space and
have an idea. But sometimes you get guys with wide
open nuts and they can't put in the ocean. And
then you've got the goal scorers that just find a
way to bounce it off the goalie's back, bounce it
(20:22):
off of somebody off the side, or shoot through the
screen and that was a goal scorers goal because he
didn't get it and he didn't corral it, he didn't
try to do it.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
He just whacked at it. They knew where it was.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Going and obviously put it to a place where the
goaltender couldn't stop it.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
And they said that was a goal scorers goal.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Like you talk about guys that just know how to score,
he just knows how to score and he will be
a final three in the.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Hobie Baker Patrick, I guarantee it.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Steve Rolick did a terrific job this season behind the
bench for Ohio State. They were picked to be in
last place by the coaches if I'm not mistake. And
grad transfers. You know he got in Fontaine, he got
in Eden, Hansome Bukata who got into the mid twenties
and assists, and I think three goals for them is
a first defensive pair. And remembering Bentley, Andy Jones did
(21:16):
a terrific job with transfers too. You mentioned Ethan lay
Aj Hodges, another guy that has done well for Bentley
in the transfer portal. Both of those coaches not only
what they accomplished on the ice, but how they put
together teams was really impressive.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
And I've got to say I know Andy Jones, so
I know his personality.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
I don't know Steve Rollock. Well we've had him on
our podcast beforehead but.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Just watching him on the bench, he's just such a
man that acts with class and that was a difficult ending.
But they're called type of game to lose last night.
Just a pure class act Steve Rollick. But that team,
credit them and they're not done. They will be a
dangerous team. I think of all three of their rounds
(22:04):
at this tournament, they were down and had to find ways,
and they almost did it for one more time in
that championship game.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well with that, we'll take a break and when we
come back, we'll look at the brackets that came out
earlier today.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Not any big surprise.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Earlier in the week, we thought it might be a
real struggle and it just all fell together in the
last couple of days. This episode is sponsored by the
NCAA Men's D one Frozen four April tenth and twelfth
in Saint Louis.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
The NCAA Men's Frozen four, the pinnacle of men's collegiate
ice Hawk any.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Question, Professor, NCAA Men's Hockey is back.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Are we ready be prepared.
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To hype your squad for all three periods? Bring glory
home to your kid? Oh, you're ready.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
It's Frozen four.
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twenty twenty five and Saint Louis buy your seat today
at NCAAA dot com.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
So that's Frozen Pool.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
We're back with USCCHO Weekend Review, the special Sunday Night edition.
On Selection Sunday, the brackets came out and Jim there
were no real surprises at all in it. Earlier in
the week when it looked like we might get five
teams in from the Big Ten and Minnesota as a
number one seed and also coupling that with six from
(23:40):
Hockey East, it looked like it was going to be
a bracket nightmare. But with Michigan being ousted with the
loss of Quinnipiac on Friday, and then also with Western
Michigan being the fourth number one seed, things fell together
pretty easily, and so we saw the brackets announced today.
Let's each of the brackets in order by the number
(24:02):
one seed and talk about those in Manchester on Friday,
it's going to be number one overall seed Boston College
facing Bentley, and then Providence against Denver. Interestingly enough, that
could lead to a rematch of last year's National championship
game between BC and Denver. BC has pretty much been
(24:23):
in position to be the number one seed for a
couple of months. This looks like this should be a
fun bracket. We talked about Bentley. Teams from Atlantic have
upset the number one seed. If there was a team
put together to be able to do that against Boston College,
it might be Bentley, and then you get Providence in
Denver as the other half.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
The PC Denver game, and really we're going to say
this a lot. The two three matchups in all four
regions are unbelievable games. But the PC Denver that's too
similar style teams that will play can play tight games.
I think that Denver has the ability to turn on
(25:08):
the jets for Bentley. It's going to come down to
just slowing down BC. But I love the matchup, and
this one is pure one sixteen eighty nine. That is
exactly according to the integrity of the bracket. That is
exactly how that region should have played out.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You know what we talked about the two three, and yeah,
we talked about Bentley and how they're builted for it.
Every one of these games is intriguing because I wouldn't
say that there's an over overwhelming favorite niche one. We
talked about Michigan State and Cornell of this this four
to one matchups in all of them, the number one
(25:45):
Seeds better buckle up because I think they're in for
a hard, hard flought one. But this is the this
would be the upset special obviously and obviously having Denver
chance of a rematch of a national championship. I like
the fact that some of these teams, right because the
other ones are going to have to shake off their
rust really quickly. Like Providence, They're gonna have to shake
(26:07):
off their rust really quickly.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Denver's going to have a chance in this game to try.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
To depend their national championship, but also to try to
come back from a disappointing loss this weekend. So I
think that's going to be something to see if these
teams could shake off rust really fast.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You know, we're going to talk about odds on games
in our us echure.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
That's your guyses deal I lose my job if we
start talking about odds.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
So we're not going to talk a lot about odds here,
hardly at all. But they do have ods out on
the games, and the one with the widest margin is
Bentley and Boston College BC is minus nine to twenty
and Bentley is plus five point fifty, so that definitely
is the widest, but most of them are pretty close,
(26:53):
which speaks to what we were talking about about really
a tight bracket this year. Let's go to the next one,
which is in Toledo and number two Michigan State takes
on Cornell, while in the other half of the bracket
it's be you and Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Again, this one really follows the way these teams were
supposed to fall in the brackets. The ECAC champion was
going to once we knew Corta Piac was out, it
was going to be sitting in this fifteen spot taking
on the number two overall seed. So you have two
tournament champions facing one another, and then you have two
(27:32):
teams that were eliminated, one Ohio State in a championship
game at BU They want to put forward a better
effort than they did, but this one, again just like
Manchester seated straight to bracket integrity, no need to switch anything.
This is just showing how easy a job this was
for the committee.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
I talked a little bit about how this is going
to every game's tight. The bu Ohio State game is
going to be a really interesting one because one, you
got the team that nobody expected to be there. Outs
off Ohio State for the job they did. But you
have a team and you talked about it early. That's
concerning in Boston University. This shouldn't have been should be
(28:11):
you have not have been at the beginning of the
year a number one seed predicted and even even for
maybe the first fifty percent of the year number one seed.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Once they got their goaltending straightened out, you thought that
they would they would make their run. They just once
goaltending was straightened out, that was an issue for them.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah, so this isn't intriguing.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
This is the things that wanted the tougher brackets, other
than obviously every one of them is going to be tough,
but this is a tough one here. You know, Michigan State,
you think that they got a cakewalk, They really didn't.
But be Ohio State very intriguing. In the state of
Ohio too.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And the good thing about both of these brackets, in
fact all four of them, is attendance is not going
to be a worry at any of them. When you
have Michigan State, it's not that far from Lansing to Toledo,
and Ohio State, Columbus to Toledo's not too far, and
even Cornell not a bad trip.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
And so some good attendance there already sold out at
is it that's been better? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:17):
I think that that was announceder of the week, but
I think they did put some on. I did get
an email today asking me to buy tickets, but I
had heard it earlier in the week that it was
sold out at least for the first day.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
The next one is Allentown, Pennsylvania. Penn State is the
host team, so they were going to be placed there
no matter what, and as a fourth seed in that region,
they'll take on number three overall seed Maine and the
other one of those, it'll be a rematch of the
semi finals in this year's Connecticut Ice Tournament, Yukon taking
(29:50):
on Quinnipiac. And this another great bracket, another great regional.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Another Grade two three that's a fantastic bracket. But here
you have this was where we had to see some
changes made by the committees. You had this was supposed
to be Yukon against you Mass can't have that. So
instead of Minnesota playing Cornipiac that would be the next
region we're going to talk about. Yeah, and just switching
(30:19):
Cornepiac with U Mass And then because of the need
to put Penn State in Allentown, you switch them with
Minnesota State. It's only one seeding off the fourteen and
thirteen swapped and Minnesota State now I gets to plant
Bargo puts them so.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
Much closer to home.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
When I really look at this and say this was
an easy bracket to figure out, it really was.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Congratulations Mane, you just won the hardest league in college
hockey this year. You get unstated in their building.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Basically we'll talk about that tomorrow, but congratulations, good job.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
I'm sure Steve loves that right now.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
But I like that these are all and I said it,
this is the tightest NCAA field, But look at the
what's Bentley twenty two in the.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
Pairwise, that's tight, and that's tight.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
For two almost three lits three line movers in Minnesota
State Cornell and Bentley.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah, and once again no problem with attendance. Penn State,
of course is going to draw and it's not that
far from Connecticut for Yukon and Quinnipiac spands to travel,
so that should dispel any issues with attendants in Allentown.
And seems like that attendance issue is fading into the
background after really being a big topic a few years ago.
(31:42):
The fourth overall seed by virtue of winning the NCC
is Western Michigan. They'll take on Minnesota State, and then
Minnesota has UMass in the other half of that bracket
in Fargo.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
I love this bracket.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
This is four teams that are all in really different
places right now.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
U Mass.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
In Minnesota they didn't get they didn't even reach their
conference semifinals. And then you have Western Michigan in Minnesota State,
two teams that just won their conference championships.
Speaker 6 (32:13):
So you're two.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Teams that are trying to find themselves maybe a little
though U Mass I think I think they have some
confidence going on Minnesota. It's going to be a long
layoff nineteen days I think between games for them and
then Western Minnesota State both coming off championships.
Speaker 6 (32:30):
Is a great region as well.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Yeah, you said that Western and Minnesota both both won
their region. But the one thing I brought up, shake
off the rust. When you have a buye, you're usually
playing somebody that, especially in the Big Ten, that played
last week because they have an odd number of teams.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Here, you've got a team.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
That hasn't played for a while against a team that
hasn't played for a while, So you're gonna see a
lot of rust right off the bat in that game.
And that's probably the best thing for Minnesota because you've
got a team that hasn't played for a while.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
So you've got two I.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Don't mind Minnesota's draw here in this and they're gonna
have the crowds in Fargo. They're gonna they're gonna have
people travel Minnesota State's gonna have traveling fans, So you're
gonna Minnesota is gonna be the home team in that
one obviously location, and they're both gonna be a low rusty.
So that's why you don't mind this draw. But this
(33:28):
is our region as well, or five seed. We just
switched in the Western winning right if in the year,
the pairwise guru, if Denver wins, Minnesota is a four seed.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, there was a lot three things swapped with that
Denver game last night. I was watching that and as
the game went from three to nothing to four nothing
before the goal was called off, I said, we're done.
Now we know exactly what's going to happen because the
Big ten final at that point didn't matter, and then
to come back by Western changed the law.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Before we wrap up, Jim, you had a chance earlier
this afternoon to talk to the chairman of the NCAA
Division One Men's ice Hockey Committee. That's Harvard senior Associate
athletic director Tim Trovill.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
I had just asked him. I said, there wasn't much
that you could change. I said, was any thought really
given to putting Maine closer Maine? As you said, Derek,
they probably had about fourteen thousand fans down in Boston
on Saturday and if or Friday, I guess it was.
If you could do that in Manchester, you'd sell out
the building.
Speaker 8 (34:37):
We considered everything, and we considered everything, and some things
more briefly than others. But yeah, we thought of everything,
and to us, it felt like happening Maine and all
Allentown was the best solution. For us in Boston College
and Manchester, so yes both. I mean, we considered everything,
(34:57):
and they just wanted to try to do a great
service for our membership by really considering the bracket before
we issued it. So there were a couple things like
that that did come up.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
And I think that Manchester is a building you always
worry about the attendants because it is the biggest building
they have the regionals in this season. I was thinking,
was that something that was considered. They do travel main
fans better than Boston College rans significantly, so was it considered?
He said, We talked about it, but he really couldn't.
It would have meant giving BC the number one overall
(35:32):
seed Penn State at home. That wouldn't have been very
fair and Maine would have gotten Bentley. But it was
something that it was the only thing when I was
looking at the bracket last night, they could see the
committee could do to really improve attendance, and in the
end it really just wasn't feasible.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
Like I said, congratulations, Maine, you get Penn State.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
A Penn State team that is one of the four
or five hottest teams in the second half of the year.
That should be interesting to watch and they came very
close to being in the championship game in the Big Ten.
It was an overtime loss at the hands of Ohio
State that put them out one preview and this is
(36:14):
going to be a surprise to you guys too. I
think tomorrow I'm going to have I'm going to reserve
for myself about sixty seconds to go on a little
bit of a rant. And I won't name names tomorrow,
but there are journalists and broadcasters out there who've been
slamming the Hobie Baker ten decision and blaming it on
(36:36):
a committee which hasn't had a chance to vote yet,
and calling it criminal and terrible and all that kind
of stuff. I'm going to go on a rant about
ignorance and lack of doing your homework. Yeah, I'll probably
get on my soapbox or my pretend soapbox. We'll do
that on Monday's regular edition of Weekend Review. This episode
(36:58):
is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division. One Frozen four
April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get your tickets
now at NCAA dot com. Slash Frozen four for Jim Connolly,
for Derek Scooley I'm ed trepsker and this has been
a special edition of usc cho Weekend Review
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to a special edition of us CHO Weekend Review
for Sunday evening, March twenty third, twenty twenty five. I'm
ed Trefsker alongside Jim Connolly and Derek Schooley. This episode
is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division one Frozen four
April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get your tickets
now at NCAA dot com slash Frozen four. We're recording
(00:40):
right after the selection show, and we're going to look
back at the six conference tournaments and give our first
impressions of the bracket Tomorrow Monday. On our regular episode,
we'll go into more depth about the four regions and
all the matchups in there. But let's start out look
at the tournaments and we'll start with Hockey East since
(01:02):
that got underway on Thursday, and Jim, you were up
close and personal for all of those. Yukon a resounding
five to win over BU on Thursday, and Northeastern gave
it all that they had but lost in double overtime
to Maine four to three, which brought up that Maine
and Yukon championship game. Maine five two winners in skating
(01:27):
away with their first Hockey East Tournament win in ages.
Just a loaded league of talent this year and a
terrific statement by Maine to come away with the cup.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
It was and I thought the most impressive thing about
Maine was the fact that they had to go two
overtimes on Friday night against Northeastern. I'm sorry, on Thursday night,
I'm going to say Friday Saturday. For years about this tournament,
they had to go overtime in the late game despite
being the highest seed, ended up with the late game
go double overtime, and then they looked like the fresher
(02:03):
team in sat Friday's conference final against Connecticut. Though the
Hoskies credit them, they had a great battle both Hoskis
Northeastern to get Maine to double overtime on Thursday and
then Yukon. They were fantastic in the entire tournament. They
(02:24):
just ran out of gas against a good main team.
The one team that concerned me maybe for Hockey East
Boston University. They absolutely no showed Thursday's semifinal game. So
going into the NCAA tournament, we're going to talk about
their seating, but they concerned me right now.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
That if I had a chance, obviously to watch the games,
and Thursday, I thought you said it the first because
it was the early game, and you turn it on,
you think then you read the comments of j Bendalfim.
Those were not kind, Those were not kind of his
team whatsoever. In the media, no showing you used that word,
he used I think very similar, but I think had
(03:07):
harsher words. And then you saw a championship game that
was just an outstanding played hockey game, and I know
there are a lot of people throughout the nation holding
their breath.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
I think they were.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
The term line mover was all over the place as
far as Northeastern goes. But credit to them because they
did have a fantastic run in the playoffs. But sometimes
when you talk about I remember our first championship that
we won, and I always hate to bring it back
to us, but sometimes the adrenaline of playing a late
game and the adrenaline of that just carries over and
(03:41):
you don't have that lull. And we ended our first
championship game after midnight, we had to go to overtime.
The first game went to a double overtime, And I
just think that it's one of those things that if
you're the higher rated team and you've got a little
bit of momentum and mojo, and I think just that
(04:01):
it carries over. I think that excitement carries over. And
you saw it with Maine on almost since Saturday. You
got me there to Jimmy, but you saw it on
Friday and big time crowd by Maine, too, big time
crowd showing up. And it almost felt like Alfonsalz.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Just to tack on about that crowd that was so impressive.
There were seventeen thousand, almost seventeen eight hundred at the
Garden on Saturday, and I would say fifteen thousands of
them felt like Maine fans. Talked to Mike Kavanar after
the game. He said, jim our crowd was great and
I didn't even know they were in the building.
Speaker 6 (04:39):
He said, they were so loud, that main crowd.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
It's not when you're when the visiting coach notices that
that's that's how strong that crowd was.
Speaker 5 (04:52):
Let's take a look at the ECAC.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
They and the NCCHC also had semi final rounds on Friday.
It took Cornell overtime to down Quinnipiac.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
A tough time for the Bobcats.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
They once again win the Cleary Cup and miss out
on the White Law, which they haven't won since twenty sixteen,
three to two in overtime, Clarkson a good win four
to one over Dartmouth, which brought up the Cornell Clarkson
matchup on Saturday, and that was a three to one
win for Cornell. Mike Schaefer continues his coaching career for
(05:30):
at least one more game and a terrific win for
ECAC because it meant two teams in the tournament as
Quinnipiac got in as one of the at large teams.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
It just doesn't stop with Shape, does it. Next you
know he's gonna come back. Casey Jones is gonna be
head coaching waiting forever. But good to see them rally
because this is a team that was really decimated by injuries.
When we saw them at the tournament in January in Arizona.
All Shape to talk about is getting their players back.
(06:04):
He liked their team, he liked where they were going,
but they just couldn't get over the injury bug. And
Ian Shane was just okay throughout the year. But I
think he's taken a big step in this and obviously
they're planning for their coach.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
They don't want to screw it end.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Just like you saw Notre Dame went around, you saw
army go aways and Mike Shafer's going back to the term.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
I was so excited to see that.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Can you imagine all of the chances that Cornell's had
not to get to the Frozen four. I think since
Buffalo and now it could be this team and they
got a tough road. They have a very tough road
against Michigan State. But wow, this isn't This isn't the
this isn't just the run of the mill fifteen seed
(06:48):
right now.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
This is what a run this is for Cornell and
Mike Shafer go back to the set, I mean final
on Friday. Here it is again Cornipiac and Lake Placid
that I don't know that how many conferences are going
to keep with these neutral site tournaments. But brand Pecknol's
(07:13):
isn't sitting in every meeting this this April just pounding
the table saying we need to move to whole ice
for the top seed in the tournament.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
He's doing a disservice.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I mean, this is just becoming a nightmare City Lake
Plus it is for the Bobcats, and he had a
power play.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Oh, as you're talking about nightmares. I mean, I don't
mean to cut you off, but that's the nightmare. You
have a power play to end the game regulation. Yeah,
and you not even end the game going to four corners. Yeah,
going to but they didn't even have the chance. Cornell
just went down the ice and didn't win.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
The base off and corn for nine seconds later.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I mean, so, I know Bran Pecknall wasn't happy after
the game reference to officials in a passive aggressive way.
I don't know what that'll get him into with the league.
You had the chance. I'm sorry referees didn't have a
power play late in regulation.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
This has just become a mental block.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
This team has won a national championship, might win another
national championship, but they cannot win a Lake Placid.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, but you talk about them like you You can't that.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
You can't blame on the officials.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
You do have a power play with a minute plus
left in the game and give up a shorthanded goal.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
You should have had five guys back.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
It should have been a two on five, not a
two on one, and I get it. It happens. You
see it all the time. Teams relax and when they
get the power play at the end. But you're right
that you're stealing somebody's comment on ran post when he
ranted on the officials. Somebody said to him at the
bottom and said, yeah, I should really complain about having
(08:51):
a power play to ice the game and give up
a shorty.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
I don't know, Let's go to the NC.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
They had semi finals on Friday, the last call for
the frozen face off in Saint Paul, and after Quinnipiac
loss that ousted Michigan. That meant that it was down
to North Dakota and Arizona State winning their semi finals
with to have a chance to make the tournament. And
(09:19):
that meant Penn State and Quinnipiac we're watching with great interest.
But Western Michigan a four too win Friday over North Dakota.
Denver four to two over Arizona State, so that meant
a showdown between Western Michigan and Denver, and boy, it
was not looking good for the Broncos.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
They went down three to nothing.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It looked like it was going to be four nothing,
but video review said offside and the goal was taken away.
The Broncos came back to tie it in the third
and in double overtime, and not very far into that
second overtime, it was victory for the Broncos, their first
NCCHC title, and Derek, as a Western alumn you had
(10:03):
to be thrilled.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
Yeah, it was. Actually, it was a weird scenario.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
I was down watching my son play in the North
American Hockey League and one of his teammates plays his
dad I play against in juniors and plays at Denver,
and we had it on and in between periods we.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
Were talking to three nothing.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
He yep, looks like the Pioneers got another one, and
I said, yeah, this is They went the bigger one
at the end and then boom, and then it's in
overtime and then double and then what a the plays
to finish. I didn't really love the third goal that
Western scored. I thought that was as a coach and
(10:42):
as a goal you'd probably say you want to have
that one back, But who are you gonna this. The
kid's been mister playoff for the last two years, and
so it's happy. It's exciting for Western, it's exciting for
the school. It's exciting for the alumni. I'm on a
group text that had twenty different people on sun and
highlights out.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Everything to day.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
But I will tell you this, they've got to get
They've got to get to the Frozen four, something that
Western's never done. And don't comp this team out because
this is a team that has won both the regular
season and playoffs. Never did that before either. So there's
a lot role we're riding on this. But that's going
(11:23):
to be a tough bracket there too that we'll talk about.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Yeah, Friday night was certainly the All of the results
on Friday night helped people that were not in Twin
cities this weekend. So it was really all about clinching
things for Penn State and Quinnipiac with the results on Friday.
Speaker 6 (11:41):
But then that championship game. What a final that was.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I actually focus on the Big Ten game once it
got to three nothing and didn't even realize that Big
Ten Game ends. I turned on and overtime is about
to start. I had to rewind and say, how did
we get here? But credit to Western Michigan. This is
this is a great season for them, and it keeps
(12:05):
on Roland.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
There was one more final that was played on Friday
in that Saint Thomas at Minnesota State and it's the
Mavericks who are the CCHA champions of four to two
win over Saint Thomas, who wasn't going to be eligible
for the NCAA tournament anyway. Minnesota State already had its birth,
(12:28):
but a nice championship three out of the last four seasons.
If I'm not mistaken for Minnesota State.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
They're so dominant in the CCHA right now. Even when
you feel like they're a down year or something, they
still find a way to win. A Lukestrand congratulations to
him in another championship and that's a great crowd by
the way, in man Cato on Friday night.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Yeah, I think it obviously anti climactic a little bit
as far as the tournament going one game they can go,
but you're right, every year they just seem to find
a way to win that championship, whether they got to
come back on the ice after a goal is disallowed
or whether it's a four to two game after they've
(13:11):
already clinched going to the tournament. So there's a there's
been some drama in that building in the CCHA playoffs
but I'll tell you this once again, another team Western
has them, and that's a team with Luke Strand in
their defense and Alex Tracy and net That's a tough
(13:32):
one there too. That's a tough once again, a not
a typical four seed. But who is in the tournament
this year? This could be the tightest field in the
history of NCAA hockey. I'm throwing that one out there
in this six team team tournament. I think you're right.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
In fact, Boston College is the number one seed gets
to take on the champion of Atlantic Hockey and that's Bentley.
And that was a Saturday final at holy Cross, and
it really gets me. The Heart Center rink has seating
on one side, some standing room. The listed capacity is
sixteen hundred for that arena. Reported attendance on the box
(14:12):
score two thousand and seven one hundred and seventeen, so
eleven more people than are allowed in there. I think
they probably blocked the fire marshal from coming in.
Speaker 5 (14:23):
But what a game that was.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Holy Cross went up to nothing after the first period,
Bentley came back three to two.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
After two.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Holy Cross got another goal to tie it up, but
it was a six to three win. For Bentley, which
outshot the Crusaders thirty to twenty and holy Cross's three
goals were on three power plays. But you really got
to hand it to Andy Jones and what he's done
in two seasons at Bentley. Brought in some real discipline
(14:53):
and structure, did a great job in the transfer portal,
and has head outstanding goaltending from Connor Hasley.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
This is a team that bounced back from a playoff
exit in the first round at home the year before,
and sometimes as a team like that, you just feel
like you need something to put you over the hump.
And Connor Hasley with all the shutouts this year, shut
out Air Force three times, shut out Robert Morris twice.
They've got an elite goalie and Thomas Gale is a
(15:23):
very good goalie. It was a battle of the goaltenders
and then a battle with some of the top players mclinskey,
Hoby Baker finalist. He had three points, but not enough
to overcome Ethan Leigh and some of the other guys
that just seem to be on a mission. Besides that,
they had to go on the road three straight games
they earned us They beat the number two team on
(15:45):
the road swept them, beat the number one team on
the road. This is a dangerous hockey team. Am I
saying they're going to go out and beat Boston College.
I wouldn't put it past them because they've got the
defense and the structure to do that, and they've only
given up eleven shutouts. They've got to keep this as
tight as possible.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Certainly, that's the key is the score is going to
have to stay low. I don't think that you're gonna
find Bentley winning six five game against the Boston College team.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
But still, all that said, their offense puts up goals.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Their defense is what they're known for, and obviously you
know what Hasley's done here, especially down the stretch and
the last two months of the season.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
The number of.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Shutouts is just off the charts. But yeah, I'm really
happy for Andy Jones. I've known him since his days
at your Mass Lowell and I lived just a mile
and a half from the campus of Bentley, and when
I moved to Waltham fourteen years ago, people didn't even
know that Bentley had a Division one program, And when
(16:48):
they built the arena here it still didn't resonate. But
the last few seasons and especially under Andy Jones here
what he's done in the last two years. It's a
pretty popular board here in Waltham, and I think that's
a credit to that program.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
So something that happened in the game, and if you
watched it, one of the linesman Joe Sherman, and he's
a constant NCAA tournament official linesman.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
He's done a Frozen four.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
He's probably him and Brendan Lewis are two of our
higher rated linesman in the league. He got sandwich between
two players right in front of the Holy Cross bench.
He hurt his ribs then passed as stout from the pain,
so they had to scramble to get an official Chris Levitt,
who's a referee, to line the end of the game.
(17:39):
Good news is Joe's no head injury. He's cleared to continue.
We're working in the NCAA tournament and so everything checked
out as far as that one. But that was a
big story. I was getting texts about it and when
I was out of town, and good to see Joe
Sherman's okay, because he is. You'll see him referee in
(18:02):
Aurligning this weekend in NCAY tournament.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well it's good news. One last thing about Bentley in
that matchup with BC. I've already seen people even on
this election show talking like, oh boy, this is going
to be the big time for Bentley taking on a BC.
Bentley has beaten BC at Boston College and at Bentley
in recent years. They're not going to be intimidated by
(18:26):
that at all.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I totally agree with that. I don't think that they
will find any intimidation. If anything, I think they'll rally
against the fact of their biggest underdog in this tournament.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
One other tournament was decided Saturday night, and that was
the Big ten tournament that also a double overtime game,
Michigan State over Ohio State four to three. I kept
watching in those overtimes, wondering if maybe they'd find some
room for Gunner Wolf Fonteyn, But there was just no
room for any until later on in the second overtime
(19:03):
and it was a Michigan State and who else but
Isaac Coward who was the hero.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
With the game winning goal in double overtime.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I'm wondering if Isaac Coward really just helped his Hobie campaign.
A lot of people are just saying Ryan Leonard, Bryan
Leonard for good reason. But guess who didn't play this weekend,
Ryan Leonard, and who did Isaac Coward, and who played
really well Isaac Coward. So that kind of stands out.
But Michigan State, they found a way to get it done.
(19:32):
I thought that Ohio State had really good pushback that
third period down a couple of goals, and hey, gunner
will Fontaine, he did it once ed he did get that.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
He did get that time goal late in regulation.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
To tie the game.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
I thought the game would be over and he had
that one where he found room where there wasn't. But
Isaac Coward really two of the best offensive players into
Big Ten this year on a big stage showing their best.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
You know, goal scorers just find a way to score goals,
because it was the guy comes around the net and
funnels it to the middle and he just kind of
whacks at it. He's got to find the space and
have an idea. But sometimes you get guys with wide
open nuts and they can't put in the ocean. And
then you've got the goal scorers that just find a
way to bounce it off the goalie's back, bounce it
(20:22):
off of somebody off the side, or shoot through the
screen and that was a goal scorers goal because he
didn't get it and he didn't corral it, he didn't
try to do it.
Speaker 5 (20:31):
He just whacked at it. They knew where it was.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Going and obviously put it to a place where the
goaltender couldn't stop it.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
And they said that was a goal scorers goal.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Like you talk about guys that just know how to score,
he just knows how to score and he will be
a final three in the.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Hobie Baker Patrick, I guarantee it.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Steve Rolick did a terrific job this season behind the
bench for Ohio State. They were picked to be in
last place by the coaches if I'm not mistake. And
grad transfers. You know he got in Fontaine, he got
in Eden, Hansome Bukata who got into the mid twenties
and assists, and I think three goals for them is
a first defensive pair. And remembering Bentley, Andy Jones did
(21:16):
a terrific job with transfers too. You mentioned Ethan lay
Aj Hodges, another guy that has done well for Bentley
in the transfer portal. Both of those coaches not only
what they accomplished on the ice, but how they put
together teams was really impressive.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
I'll tell you.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
And I've got to say I know Andy Jones, so
I know his personality.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
I don't know Steve Rollock. Well we've had him on
our podcast beforehead but.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Just watching him on the bench, he's just such a
man that acts with class and that was a difficult ending.
But they're called type of game to lose last night.
Just a pure class act Steve Rollick. But that team,
credit them and they're not done. They will be a
dangerous team. I think of all three of their rounds
(22:04):
at this tournament, they were down and had to find ways,
and they almost did it for one more time in
that championship game.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Well with that, we'll take a break and when we
come back, we'll look at the brackets that came out
earlier today.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
Not any big surprise.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Earlier in the week, we thought it might be a
real struggle and it just all fell together in the
last couple of days. This episode is sponsored by the
NCAA Men's D one Frozen four April tenth and twelfth
in Saint Louis.
Speaker 7 (22:44):
The NCAA Men's Frozen four, the pinnacle of men's collegiate
ice Hawk any.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Question, Professor, NCAA Men's Hockey is back.
Speaker 5 (22:54):
Are we ready be prepared.
Speaker 7 (22:55):
To hype your squad for all three periods? Bring glory
home to your kid? Oh, you're ready.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
It's Frozen four.
Speaker 7 (23:04):
Top the NCAA Men's Frozen Pool April tenth and twelfth,
twenty twenty five and Saint Louis buy your seat today
at NCAAA dot com.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
So that's Frozen Pool.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
We're back with USCCHO Weekend Review, the special Sunday Night edition.
On Selection Sunday, the brackets came out and Jim there
were no real surprises at all in it. Earlier in
the week when it looked like we might get five
teams in from the Big Ten and Minnesota as a
number one seed and also coupling that with six from
(23:40):
Hockey East, it looked like it was going to be
a bracket nightmare. But with Michigan being ousted with the
loss of Quinnipiac on Friday, and then also with Western
Michigan being the fourth number one seed, things fell together
pretty easily, and so we saw the brackets announced today.
Let's each of the brackets in order by the number
(24:02):
one seed and talk about those in Manchester on Friday,
it's going to be number one overall seed Boston College
facing Bentley, and then Providence against Denver. Interestingly enough, that
could lead to a rematch of last year's National championship
game between BC and Denver. BC has pretty much been
(24:23):
in position to be the number one seed for a
couple of months. This looks like this should be a
fun bracket. We talked about Bentley. Teams from Atlantic have
upset the number one seed. If there was a team
put together to be able to do that against Boston College,
it might be Bentley, and then you get Providence in
Denver as the other half.
Speaker 5 (24:45):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
The PC Denver game, and really we're going to say
this a lot. The two three matchups in all four
regions are unbelievable games. But the PC Denver that's too
similar style teams that will play can play tight games.
I think that Denver has the ability to turn on
(25:08):
the jets for Bentley. It's going to come down to
just slowing down BC. But I love the matchup, and
this one is pure one sixteen eighty nine. That is
exactly according to the integrity of the bracket. That is
exactly how that region should have played out.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
You know what we talked about the two three, and yeah,
we talked about Bentley and how they're builted for it.
Every one of these games is intriguing because I wouldn't
say that there's an over overwhelming favorite niche one. We
talked about Michigan State and Cornell of this this four
to one matchups in all of them, the number one
(25:45):
Seeds better buckle up because I think they're in for
a hard, hard flought one. But this is the this
would be the upset special obviously and obviously having Denver
chance of a rematch of a national championship. I like
the fact that some of these teams, right because the
other ones are going to have to shake off their
rust really quickly. Like Providence, They're gonna have to shake
(26:07):
off their rust really quickly.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
Denver's going to have a chance in this game to try.
Speaker 4 (26:11):
To depend their national championship, but also to try to
come back from a disappointing loss this weekend. So I
think that's going to be something to see if these
teams could shake off rust really fast.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
You know, we're going to talk about odds on games
in our us echure.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
That's your guyses deal I lose my job if we
start talking about odds.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
So we're not going to talk a lot about odds here,
hardly at all. But they do have ods out on
the games, and the one with the widest margin is
Bentley and Boston College BC is minus nine to twenty
and Bentley is plus five point fifty, so that definitely
is the widest, but most of them are pretty close,
(26:53):
which speaks to what we were talking about about really
a tight bracket this year. Let's go to the next one,
which is in Toledo and number two Michigan State takes
on Cornell, while in the other half of the bracket
it's be you and Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Again, this one really follows the way these teams were
supposed to fall in the brackets. The ECAC champion was
going to once we knew Corta Piac was out, it
was going to be sitting in this fifteen spot taking
on the number two overall seed. So you have two
tournament champions facing one another, and then you have two
(27:32):
teams that were eliminated, one Ohio State in a championship
game at BU They want to put forward a better
effort than they did, but this one, again just like
Manchester seated straight to bracket integrity, no need to switch anything.
This is just showing how easy a job this was
for the committee.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:51):
I talked a little bit about how this is going
to every game's tight. The bu Ohio State game is
going to be a really interesting one because one, you
got the team that nobody expected to be there. Outs
off Ohio State for the job they did. But you
have a team and you talked about it early. That's
concerning in Boston University. This shouldn't have been should be
(28:11):
you have not have been at the beginning of the
year a number one seed predicted and even even for
maybe the first fifty percent of the year number one seed.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Once they got their goaltending straightened out, you thought that
they would they would make their run. They just once
goaltending was straightened out, that was an issue for them.
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah, so this isn't intriguing.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
This is the things that wanted the tougher brackets, other
than obviously every one of them is going to be tough,
but this is a tough one here. You know, Michigan State,
you think that they got a cakewalk, They really didn't.
But be Ohio State very intriguing. In the state of
Ohio too.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And the good thing about both of these brackets, in
fact all four of them, is attendance is not going
to be a worry at any of them. When you
have Michigan State, it's not that far from Lansing to Toledo,
and Ohio State, Columbus to Toledo's not too far, and
even Cornell not a bad trip.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
And so some good attendance there already sold out at
is it that's been better? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (29:17):
I think that that was announceder of the week, but
I think they did put some on. I did get
an email today asking me to buy tickets, but I
had heard it earlier in the week that it was
sold out at least for the first day.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
The next one is Allentown, Pennsylvania. Penn State is the
host team, so they were going to be placed there
no matter what, and as a fourth seed in that region,
they'll take on number three overall seed Maine and the
other one of those, it'll be a rematch of the
semi finals in this year's Connecticut Ice Tournament, Yukon taking
(29:50):
on Quinnipiac. And this another great bracket, another great regional.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Another Grade two three that's a fantastic bracket. But here
you have this was where we had to see some
changes made by the committees. You had this was supposed
to be Yukon against you Mass can't have that. So
instead of Minnesota playing Cornipiac that would be the next
region we're going to talk about. Yeah, and just switching
(30:19):
Cornepiac with U Mass And then because of the need
to put Penn State in Allentown, you switch them with
Minnesota State. It's only one seeding off the fourteen and
thirteen swapped and Minnesota State now I gets to plant
Bargo puts them so.
Speaker 6 (30:35):
Much closer to home.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
When I really look at this and say this was
an easy bracket to figure out, it really was.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Congratulations Mane, you just won the hardest league in college
hockey this year. You get unstated in their building.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
Basically we'll talk about that tomorrow, but congratulations, good job.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
I'm sure Steve loves that right now.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
But I like that these are all and I said it,
this is the tightest NCAA field, But look at the
what's Bentley twenty two in the.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
Pairwise, that's tight, and that's tight.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
For two almost three lits three line movers in Minnesota
State Cornell and Bentley.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Yeah, and once again no problem with attendance. Penn State,
of course is going to draw and it's not that
far from Connecticut for Yukon and Quinnipiac spands to travel,
so that should dispel any issues with attendants in Allentown.
And seems like that attendance issue is fading into the
background after really being a big topic a few years ago.
(31:42):
The fourth overall seed by virtue of winning the NCC
is Western Michigan. They'll take on Minnesota State, and then
Minnesota has UMass in the other half of that bracket
in Fargo.
Speaker 6 (31:54):
I love this bracket.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
This is four teams that are all in really different
places right now.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
U Mass.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
In Minnesota they didn't get they didn't even reach their
conference semifinals. And then you have Western Michigan in Minnesota State,
two teams that just won their conference championships.
Speaker 6 (32:13):
So you're two.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Teams that are trying to find themselves maybe a little
though U Mass I think I think they have some
confidence going on Minnesota. It's going to be a long
layoff nineteen days I think between games for them and
then Western Minnesota State both coming off championships.
Speaker 6 (32:30):
Is a great region as well.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
Yeah, you said that Western and Minnesota both both won
their region. But the one thing I brought up, shake
off the rust. When you have a buye, you're usually
playing somebody that, especially in the Big Ten, that played
last week because they have an odd number of teams.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
Here, you've got a team.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
That hasn't played for a while against a team that
hasn't played for a while, So you're gonna see a
lot of rust right off the bat in that game.
And that's probably the best thing for Minnesota because you've
got a team that hasn't played for a while.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
So you've got two I.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
Don't mind Minnesota's draw here in this and they're gonna
have the crowds in Fargo. They're gonna they're gonna have
people travel Minnesota State's gonna have traveling fans, So you're
gonna Minnesota is gonna be the home team in that
one obviously location, and they're both gonna be a low rusty.
So that's why you don't mind this draw. But this
(33:28):
is our region as well, or five seed. We just
switched in the Western winning right if in the year,
the pairwise guru, if Denver wins, Minnesota is a four seed.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, there was a lot three things swapped with that
Denver game last night. I was watching that and as
the game went from three to nothing to four nothing
before the goal was called off, I said, we're done.
Now we know exactly what's going to happen because the
Big ten final at that point didn't matter, and then
to come back by Western changed the law.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Before we wrap up, Jim, you had a chance earlier
this afternoon to talk to the chairman of the NCAA
Division One Men's ice Hockey Committee. That's Harvard senior Associate
athletic director Tim Trovill.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
I had just asked him. I said, there wasn't much
that you could change. I said, was any thought really
given to putting Maine closer Maine? As you said, Derek,
they probably had about fourteen thousand fans down in Boston
on Saturday and if or Friday, I guess it was.
If you could do that in Manchester, you'd sell out
the building.
Speaker 8 (34:37):
We considered everything, and we considered everything, and some things
more briefly than others. But yeah, we thought of everything,
and to us, it felt like happening Maine and all
Allentown was the best solution. For us in Boston College
and Manchester, so yes both. I mean, we considered everything,
(34:57):
and they just wanted to try to do a great
service for our membership by really considering the bracket before
we issued it. So there were a couple things like
that that did come up.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
And I think that Manchester is a building you always
worry about the attendants because it is the biggest building
they have the regionals in this season. I was thinking,
was that something that was considered. They do travel main
fans better than Boston College rans significantly, so was it considered?
He said, We talked about it, but he really couldn't.
It would have meant giving BC the number one overall
(35:32):
seed Penn State at home. That wouldn't have been very
fair and Maine would have gotten Bentley. But it was
something that it was the only thing when I was
looking at the bracket last night, they could see the
committee could do to really improve attendance, and in the
end it really just wasn't feasible.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
Like I said, congratulations, Maine, you get Penn State.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
A Penn State team that is one of the four
or five hottest teams in the second half of the year.
That should be interesting to watch and they came very
close to being in the championship game in the Big Ten.
It was an overtime loss at the hands of Ohio
State that put them out one preview and this is
(36:14):
going to be a surprise to you guys too. I
think tomorrow I'm going to have I'm going to reserve
for myself about sixty seconds to go on a little
bit of a rant. And I won't name names tomorrow,
but there are journalists and broadcasters out there who've been
slamming the Hobie Baker ten decision and blaming it on
(36:36):
a committee which hasn't had a chance to vote yet,
and calling it criminal and terrible and all that kind
of stuff. I'm going to go on a rant about
ignorance and lack of doing your homework. Yeah, I'll probably
get on my soapbox or my pretend soapbox. We'll do
that on Monday's regular edition of Weekend Review. This episode
(36:58):
is sponsored by the NCAA Men's Division. One Frozen four
April tenth and twelfth in Saint Louis. Get your tickets
now at NCAA dot com. Slash Frozen four for Jim Connolly,
for Derek Scooley I'm ed trepsker and this has been
a special edition of usc cho Weekend Review
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