PAPILLION, NE – No conference entered the Frozen Four Tournament with the clout of the CCHA. Taking four schools into the tournament would all but guarantee the powerful conference in the Great Lakes reaches of the Upper Midwest a good chance of landing at least one and maybe even two schools into the Frozen Four when the puck drops in Washington, D.C. Yet, after the first weekend of play, an intricate series of games involving three first round upsets of number one seeds, all of which would have everything to do with the CCHA. The weekend started off simple enough. The top seeded University of Michigan Wolverines would open with a simple match-up against considerably lower fourth seeded Air Force. The Falcons have never been a factor in the NCAA Tournament, while Michigan holds the gold standard of National Championships with nine. When all was said and done, Michigan would pound the Air Force Academy for 43 shots on goal in comparison to Air Force’s thirteen. Yet, where the game matters the most, was all thanks to the Falcons goalie Andrew Volkening managed to let the Wolverines go hungry and gave Air Force a huge 2-0 shut out win, eliminating the top-seeded Wolverines. In the second CCHA game of the tournament, Miami ( Ohio) would open up the Minneapolis bracket as the number four seed against the powerful number one seeded University of Denver. The Pioneers played exceptional offense but were only able to muster two power play goals as Miami struck four times to drop Denver 4-2. While Miami gave Denver multiple opportunities on the power play to end the game, the RedHawks were able to kill of those penalties and move on to the second round against Minnesota-Duluth. On Saturday, Notre Dame opened the tournament against Bemidji State (CHA). The fourth ranked Beavers were certainly going to be overmatched by the top ranked Irish since Notre Dame looked almost unbeatable throughout the season. Unfortunately for the Irish, no one told Bemidji State that they were the sacrificial lambs as the Beavers placed three of their first seven shots into the back of the net beating Notre Dame’s stellar netminder Jordan Pearce for three quick goals. While the Irish would eventually settle down, they never seemed to pick up their play looking flat through most of the game. Notre Dame’s wonderful season came to a screeching halt when the Beavers scored just their second goal of the evening. That would be all that Bemidji would need to beat the top ranked Irish, giving the tournament its third defeat of a number one seed. When the Ohio State Buckeyes stepped onto the ice against Boston University on Saturday, it looked to be a great match up of two quality institutions, but Saturday was not going to be a good day for the CCHA or the fourth seeded Ohio St. Buckeyes as they were sent down rather quietly by the Terriers. At the end of the first period, Boston University carried a 3-0 lead, and by the end of the second period the score was 6-2. The gamed ended with the final score of 8-3 and the CCHA was looking at its third defeat of the first round and only the first by a number one seed. The lone bright point for the CCHA this year turned out to be the RedHawks of Miami. After a strong regular season, the RedHawks were seeded fourth against recent two-time National Champions (2004 and 2005), the University of Denver. Making short work of the Pioneers opened the door for Miami to be in the second round against former CCHA member Minnesota-Duluth. In what may have been the most competitive game of the tournament, Miami managed to take a commanding two goal lead in the second period scoring a pair of goals and closed the door in the third period on the UMD Bulldogs for a 2-1 win to put the RedHawks in the Frozen Four. On Thursday April 9th at 5:00 pm est, Miami will begin the Frozen Four against Bemidji St. Miami can play for the National Championship on Saturday night at 7:00 pm est against the winner of the Vermont/Boston University game. While none of the remaining teams are regular opponents of Miami, the RedHawks did play a two game set at Vermont in October. Vermont took both games, the second ending in overtime. Vermont won the first game 4-3, and the second 3-3 with the shootout victory going to the Catamounts. You may email the author at: john.strathman@prohockeynews.com
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