DU to begin Frozen Four quest in Wisconsin

By Pat Rooney, Special to the Rocky

Published March 23, 2008 at 4:51 p.m.

Text size

Poll

Which Front Range team(s) will make the Frozen Four?

More College Hockey

More stories »

The good news for local college hockey fans is, all three Front Range teams, who will appear together in the NCAA tournament for the first time, will have opportunities to reach the Frozen Four at the Pepsi Center without crossing paths before any potential reunions in Denver.

The bad news for fans of the University of Denver is, the Pioneers were handed what seemingly is the shortest stick of the tournament draw and must start their national championship drive against a lower-seeded team on its home ice.

The 16-team NCAA tournament field was finalized Sunday, and the Pioneers learned they will be forced to survive what essentially is an alternate version of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association tournament, which DU won Saturday in St. Paul, Minn., in order to return to the Frozen Four.

DU earned the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional but will start Saturday against third-seeded Wisconsin on the Badgers' home ice at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

It is a painfully familiar scenario for DU, which was the top seed in the 2002 West Regional but lost to Michigan on the Wolverines' home ice.

Colorado College endured a similar fate against Michigan in 2003.

CC, which slipped to a No. 2 seed after its two losses in the WCHA Final Five, is the host of the West Regional at World Arena and will play defending national champion Michigan State at 8 p.m. Friday.

Air Force, which qualified for the tournament with its second consecutive Atlantic Hockey Association playoff championship, will travel to the Northeast Regional in Worcester, Mass., as the fourth seed and play Miami (Ohio), the No. 2 overall seed, on Saturday.

Top-seeded New Hampshire and Notre Dame will battle in the West Regional opener at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

"It's great that all three teams are in different regions and will have a chance to advance," DU coach George Gwozdecky said. "You look at our bracket, and it's very tough. You look at Colorado College's bracket, and it might be the toughest bracket in the tournament.

"You can examine pairings and brackets all you want, but the bottom line is, when you get to the final 16 teams, all of them are going to be good."

The Pioneers and Badgers will be joined in the Midwest Regional by fourth-seeded Princeton and WCHA rival North Dakota, which leapt over CC to take the final No. 1 seed.

The WCHA sent an NCAA- record six teams into the tournament - Minnesota and St. Cloud State also are in the field - but the Midwest is the only one that includes more than one WCHA team.

Despite the tough draw, the Pioneers have enjoyed success recently at the Kohl Center, winning their past five games there.

"I think within our league, we all realized it would be difficult to avoid a first-round matchup just because we have so many teams in," Gwozdecky said. "We didn't play there this year, so our freshmen don't really have a clue about it. But we're familiar with the opponent, we're familiar with the building and we won two close games there (last year)."

West Regional

NO. 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE

* Nickname: Wildcats.

* Coach: Dick Umile.

* Record: 25-9-3.

* NCAA tournament record: 12-20. Seven Frozen Four appearances, no championships.

* Best regular-season wins: Swept Colorado College on Oct. 26-27.

* Key players: G Kevin Regan, F Matt Fornataro, F Mike Radja.

* Did you know? This is the Wildcats' seventh appearance in a row in the tournament.

* Outlook: Won regular-season title in Hockey East but must shake off a triple-overtime loss to Boston College in league tournament.

NO. 2 COLORADO COLLEGE

* Nickname: Tigers.

* Coach: Scott Owens.

* Record: 28-11-1.

* NCAA tournament record: 17-18. Ten Frozen Four appearances, two championships (1950, 1957).

* Best regular-season wins: Went 3-1 against the University of Denver.

* Key players: G Richard Bachman, F Chad Rau, D Jack Hillen.

* Did you know? Colorado College went 18-2 at home this season.

* Outlook: The Tigers rolled through much of the regular season and dominated the Western Collegiate Hockey Association postseason awards but suffered two losses in the WCHA Final Five.

NO. 3 MICHIGAN STATE

* Nickname: Spartans.

* Coach: Rick Comley.

* Record: 24-11-5.

* NCAA tournament record: 28-28-1. Eleven Frozen Four appearances, three championships (1966, 1986, 2007).

* Best regular-season wins: Beat Michigan, the overall top seed in the tournament, Jan. 25 and Feb. 22.

* Key players: G Jeff Lerg, F Tim Kennedy, F Justin Abdelkader.

* Did you know? The Spartans are 1-1 against Colorado College in the NCAA tournament.

* Outlook: The Spartans were upset in the first round of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament but won the national title last year as a No. 3 seed.

NO. 4. NOTRE DAME

* Nickname: Fighting Irish.

* Coach: Jeff Jackson.

* Record: 24-15-4.

* NCAA tournament record: 1-2. No Frozen Four appearances.

* Best regular-season wins: Recorded a sweep at Princeton and had wins at Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 9 and at home against Denver on Oct. 18.

* Key players: F Ryan Thang, F Mark Van Guilder, D Kyle Lawson.

* Did you know? The Irish were beaten by Michigan State in the Midwest Regional final last year.

* Outlook: Notre Dame went 4-6-3 in its final 13 games and lost leading scorer Erik Condra for the rest of the season because of a knee injury.

DETAILS

* Friday: No. 1 New Hampshire vs. No. 4 Notre Dame, 4:30 p.m.; No. 2 Colorado College vs. No. 3 Michigan State, 8 p.m. Saturday: Friday's winners, 8 p.m.

* Tickets: As of Sunday afternoon, fewer than 600 remained. Available at the World Arena box office, at CCTigers.com or at 719-576-2626.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News