NCAA Hockey Tournament

For many people that live in the Midwest or New England area NCAA Hockey is a big time thing. It's too bad the other 35 or so states can't enjoy NCAA Hockey as much as we do. The pairings were announced and five Hockey East Conference teams made it to the tournament, FIVE. Now I don't exactly understand it because the Hockey East is not the superior conference in NCAA Hockey, it's the WCHA, which has courted the past 5 National Champions in the past 5 years: Minnesota (2), Denver (2), and last year Wisconsin. Now, I respect the Hockey East, they play that low-scoring, grind em out type of hockey, packed in with great goaltending. However, the WCHA is the power in NCAA Hockey. The fast action, and high-scoring is enjoyable, as well as the stellar goaltending. If NCAA Hockey was to ever get big, it would turn to what the WCHA is right now, exciting.

Friday marks the beginning of the NCAA Hockey Tournament. The West Region is stacked, with the Gophers as the #1 seed (Who was arguably the best team in the Nation) pairing up against #4 seed Air Force. Then, you have another WCHA powerhouse North Dakota who is the 2 seed squaring off against the CCHA's Michigan Wolverines. One question to me is, why is the West Region so stacked when the Gophers are supposedly labeled as the #1 team in the Tournament?

In the Northeast region it's #1 seed from the Hockey East New Hampshire against #4 seed Miami, Ohio from the CCHA. #2 seed Boston College also from the Hockey East takes on #3 seed St.Lawrence from the ECAC.

On the other end, in the East region, St.Cloud State from the WCHA has a so-called easy road, but I disagree, how come they have to play out East? Why isn't there an Hockey East team in the Gophers bracket or at least the Midwest Bracket? Preferrably Maine...who St.Cloud State coincidentally has to take on in the 1st round. St.Cloud State has never won an NCAA Tournament game, and I don't see it happening this year, either. Anyway the #1 seed of the bracket is Clarkson as they battle #4 seed from the ECAC Massachussetts.

In the Midwest Bracket Notre Dame was honored after an outstanding CCHA Tournament, winning it for the first time take on #4 seed Chargers from Alabama-Huntsville. Most see this game as a possible Minnesota-Holy Cross replay. The 1st round game of the Tournament is honored to these two #2 Boston University from the Hockey East against #3 seed Michigan State from the CCHA.

My predictions go as followed:

Minnesota manhandles Air Force 7-1 as they don't have a hangover from last year's letdown against #4 seed Holy Cross.
North Dakota holds off Michigan 4-2
In the West Region Final Minnesota has to take care of I believe is the 2nd best team in the nation North Dakota 5-4 in OT. I still don't understand this bracket and the Eastern bias saga continues. Anyway, Minnesota advances to the Frozen Four once again.

In the Northeast
New Hampshire rolls over Miami, Ohio 5-2
Boston College staggers to beat St.Lawrence 2-1 in Overtime
In the Northeast Region Final two Hockey East powers battle each other, Boston College defeats New Hampshire in what will be a nitty-gritty kind of game. BC wins 1-0.

In the East
Massachussetts "shocks" Clarkson 3-2, it'll be a yawn-fest either way and I wouldn't even consider this being an upset. Clarkson? A #1? What?! St.Lawrence finished better than them in the regular season. Nice non-conference schedule too, way to get swept by the 3rd best team in the WCHA.East bias conspiracy continues.
Anyway Maine beats St.Cloud State 4-3 in overtime. Please prove me wrong SCSU for if they win they'll walk into the Frozen Four.
In the East Region Final Maine defeats UMass 3-1 to head off to the Frozen Four

In the Midwest
Notre Dame narrowly defeats Alabama-Huntsville 6-5 in a wild one.
Boston University skate past Michigan 4-1
In the Midwest Region Final Boston University graciously knocks off Notre Dame 3-1 to advance to the Frozen Four

Frozen Four at the Saavis Center in St.Louis, MO
Minnesota sleepwalks through New Hampshire 5-2 in a rematch of the 2002-2003 NCAA Title Game
Boston University defeats Maine 3-2

National Championship
Minnesota, for all the punishment they took from Boston U. in the 90's they gain revenge on the Boston Terriers as Kellen Briggs is solid in net and posts a shutout, Minnesota wins 5-0.

Texas is not Syracuse of 03'

Well the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament is now complete. My bracket is in the waste basket. The first two rounds there weren't any real upsets. Winthrop over Notre Dame is not something I would call an upset. Winthrop played great basketball all year challenging teams like North Carolina on their home floor and Texas A&M. Those two teams right now could potentially be in the Final Four. Today Winthrop was throttled by a very athletic Oregon Ducks team. Oregon I think has the tools to win a National Championship. They have a senior point guard Aaron Brooks who's probably one of the most underrated guards in the nation. Then you have the young diaper dandy Tayjuan Porter, at 5 foot 6 he's tough to guard and a pest on defense. My favorite player on that team however is Maarty Leunen, a 6 foot 8 forward. He has great post moves and can rebound like the best of them. Also, the Ducks have another tremendous guard in Bryce Taylor. He was absolutely lights out in the Pac-10 Title Game against UCLA and he hasn't stopped tearing the ball through the nets since. It should be interesting on how they do against Lon Kruger's UNLV Runnin' Rebels. They are a team that squeaked out a win against Georgia Tech but defeated one of the best teams in the Nation Wisconsin Badgers. However, I thought Wisconsin was extremely overrated. They relied too much on Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor, Wisconsin was very vulnerable coming into this tournament and it showed. Not having Forward Brian Butch in the lineup didn't help either.

Now lets go back to my topic. The Texas Longhorns. They had such a wild and exciting regular season that I didn't see them letting down in the NCAA Tournament. They had the best freshman in the nation Kevin Durant. The kid does it all, scores, rebounds, runs the floor, and is a leader. They had freshman DJ Augustin, who is regarded as one of the best point guards in the nation as well. They were also followed with Damion James who is a grinder and also provides scoring help. The dark horse on that squad was AJ Abrams, although small he could penetrate and shoot the three ball. However something seemed to be missing today in the game against the University of Southern California. Texas met their match today and never got in a rhythm at all. The difference between Texas and 03' Syracuse is simple. Jim Boeheim is one of the best coaches in the nation, they had Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara but Syracuse also had a senior leader in Kueth Duany. Duany was a fan-favorite for the Orange and provided an inspirational boost for them. They also had a big man freshman in Craig Forth. Forth provided an inside presence, something Texas lacked. Conor Atchley is a solid center for the Longhorns but his body isn't as physical as what Forth's was. The Orange also had freshman Hakim Warrick, a lanky 6 foot 10 forward that could block shots and score. I thought Texas had the tools, but the more I think about the 2003 Syracuse squad...I was wrong.