NCAA Hockey - Friday, 3/23 - E & MW first rounds

Happy birthday to me... and Judy.

Now lets get ready to rumble...

East (Rochester);
UMass 1 @ Clarkson 0 (F-OT)
Maine 4 @ SCSU 1 (F)

Midwest (Grand Rapids):
UAH 2 @ Notre Dame 3 (F-2OT)
Mich St 5 @ BU 1 (F)

Links to TV schedules:
[www.ncaasports.com]
[uschtv.com]

(UAH / Notre Dame not on live on a regional/national channel)

UMass is really buzzing early on. Leggio keeping it scoreless.

Pretty nice pk there by the golden showers.

No score after 1 for Clarkson in Rochester. 1 PP each way. Not uptempo yet, but a few chances and good saves either way.

2nd period underway.
Let's Go Tech.

Clarkson gets an odd-man rush and a couple of whacks at a mostly-open net, but can't do it - and now is going on the PK.

wow... Leggio with a CRAZY save... totally robbed UMass.

still 0-0 at the end of 2.

Jacob '06
still 0-0 at the end of 2.

Clarkson really carried the play that period.

After two periods the story of this game has got to be the goaltenders. Neither team has impressed me that much so far, although the pace and intensity seems to be picking up. Should be a great third period, but I wouldn't be surprised if Clarkson gets on the board quickly and puts this game away. In my eyes they seem to be the better team so far.

Interesting PK by Clarkson, very, very aggressive forecheck (5 on 5 too for that matter). Seems to really be causing UMass problems, especially some of their slower defensemen. Although if Maine gets through St. Cloud and Clarkson does end up winning this game, I think they will have a tough time neutralizing Maine as their PP is very deliberate and skilled as we know first hand, not a good matchup for Clarkson. I believe they are scoring at something like 25% a clip? They were tops in the NCAA for a good part of the year.

Clarkson with the better play in general this period, but UMass with the short-handed chances and steals in the offensive zone. The 'tenders have been great.

So Brown and Union were so bad that ESPNU didn't bother to make a graphic showing them in the final ECAC standings, instead opting for a "top 10." Burn!

Clarkson-UMass going into OT tied at 0-0

Does anyone know if gametracker works on a cell phone?

Early goal for Notre Dame, they're up 1-0.

Now 2-0 ND. UAH making an early goalie switch.

UMass beats Clarkson 1-0 in the first OT

Shame - I thought Clarkson really controlled overtime, and would've loved to see them get to the Frozen Four. Great goal, though, very heads-up rebound.

Clarkson choking in the NCAAs? That's unpossible!

Woo! Bonus coverage of UAH-Notre Dame on ESPNU

Wow. Not as big of a surprise as last years 4 over 1 upset, but I don't think anyone would have expected this. Embarassing for Clarkson and ECAC. Not to take anything away from UMass but they really had no business winning this game. That being said Clarkson did not play well and Leggio was the only thing that kept them in the game, especially during the first period.

Fun game to watch, although the analogy to the Cornell-Wisconsin triple OT game of last year was definitly out of place as neither of these teams played well today.

I would have really liked to see an ECAC team get to the frozen four but to be honest I don't give SLU a chance in hell.

UMass has a young team that has been really playing well as of late. Clarkson wasn't going to get a win with their talent alone, they were going to have to work hard against a scrappy team. Clarkson allowed UMass to be in the game at the end. It looked like they were starting to wear UMass down too, but we know all too well that's not always enough.

And Bob Norton redeemed himself by saying Cornell was a bounce away from the Frozen Four last year and Wisconsin didn't have an easy road to the championship at all.

FSN NY seems to be airing both 30 min. shows that were scheduled to be on between the semis (and in reverse order), notwithstanding the first semi went 30 min. long. I assume they'll join the Maine/SCSU game in progress at 6:30, but that's really stupid - a taped interview over a live hockey game? Especially when you're airing the interview an hour later than it was supposed to be on in the first place?!

redice
UMass beats Clarkson 1-0 in the first OT

Sons of bitches. What a waste of a season. No matter how you slice it, this is embarrassing to the ECAC. With the exception of the loss in the semis to UNH, I can't remember a time in the Schafer era that Cornell didn't play at least to its seed in the NCAAs - and I can't remember a time that another team (who wasn't a dog) did.

Yup, they ran a blurb at the bottom of the screen that the game'll air at 6:30 - but they didn't say whether they'd join it in progress or tape delay it. Guess we'll find out. I'll wait until then to visit eLF again; not interested in spoilers. Go St. Cloud!

Okay, I'm an idiot... the game probably won't start until 6:30 because the first one went to overtime.

Wheeee!

Dammit, Clarkson! Between them and Harvard, is there any ECAC team (besides Cornell) that can win NCAA games anymore? Let's go Slu(t)!

Doug '08
I would have really liked to see an ECAC team get to the frozen four but to be honest I don't give SLU a chance in hell.

Well, SLU did win the RS title, and they handled Cornell with ease in both games. Petizian has the ability to stone a good team. If all the stars aligned, I could see the Saints get, fittingly, to St. Louis.

ebilmes
Dammit, Clarkson! Between them and Harvard, is there any ECAC team (besides Cornell) that can win NCAA games anymore? Let's go Slu(t)!

I have a feeling that had Quinnipiac held on in the closing minutes, they would have given somebody intense heartache in the NCAAs.

First, this wasn't that big of an upset by KRACH standards, since it believes that Clarkson was distinctly overseeded. In fact, KRACH says that UMass had a 41.28% chance to win this game. An upset? Yes. Major? No. In 10 games, UMass would probably win 4 (P.S. KRACH thinks UMass was overrated too, putting them at 16).


Second, I agree neither team played particular well. There was no solid offense on either end. All the chances were bouncing pucks or rebounds or that kinda stuff - there was no offensive chances that the offense really *created* with nice passing or cycling or anything.

When those bounces did happen to a man open in front, or an open net, or a guy free in the slot, the goalies made a lot of good saves, although there were a few flat out misses or shot with very little on them too.

Both goalies also gave us a fair number of rebounds. And that is ultimately how Clarkson lost, on a rebound that finally got pushed under hit arm and top shelf.

And in all a fairly disappointing game to start the tourney, and no less disappointing of a results.


P.S. UAH gets one back, 2-1 mid 2nd

Trotsky

ebilmes
Dammit, Clarkson! Between them and Harvard, is there any ECAC team (besides Cornell) that can win NCAA games anymore? Let's go Slu(t)!

I have a feeling that had Quinnipiac held on in the closing minutes, they would have given somebody intense heartache in the NCAAs.

Absolutely. Amen.

Don't go anywhere, UAH ties it at 2. This one ain't over.

Trotsky
Well, SLU did win the RS title, and they handled Cornell with ease in both games. Petizian has the ability to stone a good team. If all the stars aligned, I could see the Saints get, fittingly, to St. Louis.

Heh...I hadn't thought of that. You'd probably get a lot of the locals really interested in (and behind) the Saints by having that jersey show up in St. Louis.

Anyway...sigh. ECAC down to one team before any tournament seats even get warm. I think Clarkson played a gritty game, but so did UMass. With a #1 seed, you've gotta hope for more than grit. Leggio played very, very well.

2-1 maine halfway through the first. SCSU went up 1-0 but Maine just scored 2 quick goals.

3-1 Maine at the end of 1

UAH-ND in overtime.

Jacob '06
UAH-ND in overtime.

Now that would be an upset.

Maine up 4-1 late in the 2nd. The JBSU tradition continues!

ESPNU has now switched to the UAH-ND game in overtime. 12:43 left in their first overtime. The Maine game is still being shown on FSNY and a couple other fox sports networks.

UAH with a PP

killed - very good kill early, but UAH had several opportunities towards the end - pretty even game overall

ND PP coming up now with 5:47 left in the 2nd OT - both teams clearly sluggish

Second OT UAH-ND, ND PP 5:00 to go.

PPG, 3-2 ND... UAH has nothing to be ashamed of... amazing performance

DeltaOne81
PPG, 3-2 ND... UAH has nothing to be ashamed of... amazing performance

Jim Hyla
Second OT UAH-ND, ND PP 5:00 to go.

That's a lot of consecutive acronyms.

Well, it was embarrassing enough to get them calling for our heads...check out this USCHO post--"Only One ECACHL Team From Now On, Please..."

BigRedChsHd
Well, it was embarrassing enough to get them calling for our heads...check out this USCHO post--"Only One ECACHL Team From Now On, Please..."

The guy couldn't even properly insult our conference. "EC-Easy"? It's "EZAC", moron. (Or possibly "EZACH" now.)

No worries. Nobody takes him seriously.

MSU comes out flying in the third, 4-1 after 2

Make that 5-1 MSU. Sheesh.

5-1 final.

Hopefully BU will continue to suck come November.

BU dominated the first period, and only a flukey MSU goal left it tied at 1-1 after the first. But MSU took over in the 2nd and 3rd, and BU looked lost.

I was surprised to learn that BU hasn't been to the Frozen Four since 1997.

scoop85
I was surprised to learn that BU hasn't been to the Frozen Four since 1997.

Really? I don't find that at all surprising, since they haven't had any real offensive talent on their team since about the same time.

I was at a conference all weekend and had to record the games to watch this week. I was a bit surprised to see that Cap Raeder was the color commentator for the East Regional. In addition to occasional commentator, he is currently a San Jose scout.

My first hockey jersey was a #35 Cap Raeder green New England Whaler's one. Santa left it under the tree the Christmas right before my 8th birthday.

I'm only 2 periods through the 36+ that I recorded and Leggio has played really well.