ALBANY, NY. – The NCAA Frozen Four East Regional brings Denver, Cornell, New Hampshire, and RIT into town Friday night with Denver and Cornell as the favorites to comt out of the regional. All four teams are from different conferences: The WCHA (Denver), ECAC (Cornell), Hockey East (UNH), and Atlantic Hockey (RIT). The early game Friday will pit Denver vs RIT and the later game that night will pit Cornell against New Hampshire. All games will be played at the Times Union Center, home of the AHL’s Albany River Rats. University of Denver
Record: 29-7-4 (19-5-4 WCHA, 1st place)
NCAA tournament appearances: 20 (25-15, 7 national championships)
Players to watch: F Rhett Rakhshani (21-29—50 in 40 GP), D Patrick Wiercioch (6-20—26 in 38 GP), G Marc Cheverie (24-5-3, 2.08, .932).
The Pioneers finished the season as the NCAA’s third ranked team. They were third in their conference in goals for (132) and second in goals against. Rakhshani finished tied for sixth in the nation in scoring. They will need more contributions from outside sources since only one other player was ranked in the top 50 in scoring. Cheverie was ranked seventh in goals against and will be counted on big time if they want to get out of the regional. Despite being so highly ranked the Pioneers can’t overlook RIT. If they do its one and done for them. Defense will have to win games for them and a strong showing against the Tigers will go a long way for them to get back to the final four in Detroit. RIT
Record: 26-11-1 (22-5-1 Atlantic Hockey, 1st place)
NCAA tournament appearances: 1
Players to watch: F Cameron Burt (15-30—45 in 37 GP), D Dan Ringwald (11-23—34 in 38 GP), G Jared DeMichiel (25-9-1, 2.00, .922). The Tigers have a tough road ahead of them. Just getting past the Pioneers will be tough enough but the Tigers can play defense too ranking first in goals scored and against. They were clearly the best team in their conference and deserved to be here. Neither team is entirely without offense but both teams will rely on defense to win the game. Burt and Ringwald will have to be the team’s best players if they are to get past Denver. Prediction: Despite this only being the Tigers second trip to the F4 tournament, they will not be intimidated by the Pioneers and their reputation. Denver is the favorite in the game but you get an odd feeling the Tigers will pull off the upset. I’m calling for and upset special and claim RIT will win 3-2 in overtime. Cornell
Record: 21-8-4 (14-5-3 ECAC Hockey, 2nd place) Ranked sixth.
NCAA tournament appearances: 18 (17-18, 2 national championships)
Players to watch: G Ben Scrivens (21-8-4, 1.78, .937), F Blake Gallagher (18-19—37 in 33 GP), F Colin Greening (15-20—35 in 33 GP) Scrivens is on a roll coming into the game with three straight shutouts. Cornell led the nation in goals against with 61, but only scored 105. Still, this isn’t a team afraid to play to win 1-0. 2-1 games. New Hampshire
Record: 17-13-7 (15-6-6 Hockey East, 1st place)
NCAA tournament appearances: 20 (14-23)
Players to watch: F Bobby Butler (27-23—50 in 37 GP, Hockey East Player of the Year), D Blake Kessel (9-26—35 in 36 GP, First Team All-Hockey East), G Brian Foster (16-13-7, 2.95, .910, First Team All-Hockey East).
UNH will score goals but they also allowed almost as many as they scored. If Cornell gets off to an early lead it could be a long night for the Huskies. Prediction: Cornell’s defense should keep UNH at bay long enough to score just enough goals. Look for Cornell to face RIT in the regional finals on Saturday. The author can be reached at brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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