Notre Dame Defeats UNH, Hockey East Not Represented in Frozen Four For First Time In Six Years

Of the four teams in the Northeast Regional, Notre Dame traveled the farthest to get to Manchester, NH this weekend. Unlike the other three teams, they’re the only one that’ll be making another trip after this one.

After dispatching Merrimack in overtime on Saturday night, the Fighting Irish jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and held on, beating nearly-homestanding UNH 2-1 to secure a berth in the Frozen Four in two weeks in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“It’s more fun when there’s a great atmosphere - we’ve played well on the road all year, but we didn’t want to think too far ahead,” said sophomore goaltender Mike Johnson - who stopped 37 of 38 UNH attempts - “we just wanted to worry about the process and not worry about anything that we couldn’t control.”

After the Wildcats jumped on Notre Dame early, outshooting the visitors ten to two, Stephen Johns blasted a shot from the point, which made its way through a cluttered UNH defense that wound up screening UNH goaltender Matt Di Girolamo just 7:26 into the first period.

It looked like nobody would score again, but after a UNH chance by John Henrion was denied, Billy Maday got a pass on his backhand and beat Di Girolamo high on the blocker side from about five feet out with only five seconds remaining in the second period.

Di Girolamo, who was run over by Ben Ryan just seconds into the second frame, was very slow to get to his feet, but skated off the pain. The sophomore from Ambler, PA recovered to have one of his better games of the year, stopping 36 shots to keep UNH in it. Di Girolamo - who started every game of the season and postseason in net for the Wildcats, finished the season with the most saves in the nation.

“He’s proven all year from day one, people asked when we got to the tourney if he could handle the pressure in the playoffs, he was terrific again tonight.” said UNH coach Dick Umile.

Ryan was whistled for charging the goalie, but UNH’s power play wasn’t able to convert, going 0-for-3 on the night and finishing the season on an 0-for-19 slump.

The Wildcats started the third period sluggish, but finally generated some opportunities towards the middle of the period, and captain Mike Sislo finally found the back of the net at the 13:37 mark to give the UNH hope, but they weren’t able to convert when David Gerths went for hooking at 15:57 and a Mike Beck tripping penalty at 18:16 sealed their fate as they weren’t able to get the puck out of the zone to get a chance with the clock winding down.

Johnson - who controlled nearly every UNH shot he faced - credited the team in front of him for the backcheck, keeping the defense on the blue line and allowing him to see every puck. “They got sticks in passing lanes, deflected pucks and blocked them as well. All the credit goes to them; we couldn’t have won without them.”

Notre Dame will face the University of Minnesota-Duluth, which upset number-one seed Yale in the East regional to earn its berth in the Frozen Four. Michigan and North Dakota - teams which have gone a combined 24-1-1 in their last 26 games - make up the other national semifinal.

After winning the last three national championships, this will be the first year in which Hockey East isn’t represented in the Frozen Four since 2005, when Minnesota, North Dakota, Denver and Colorado College were the national semifinalists.

NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament 2011: Bracket Challenge

Haven't gotten enough bracketology yet? Has your March Madness basketball bracket crashed and burned? Here's another chance to score big!

This year, Something's Bruin is partnering up with our sister site, Sieves the Day, to bring you our first ever bracket challenge.

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Download yourself a copy of this bracket. Fill it out. Boom.
2. Make sure you're following both @something_bruin and @sievestheday on twitter.
3. Tweet your bracket at us, along with your pick for tournament MVP.
4. Profit!

POINTS SYSTEM:

You're awarded:
1 point for correctly selecting a winning team in the first round
2 points for second round teams
4 points for third round teams (Frozen 4 round)
8 points for correctly selecting the champion
+10 for a completely correct Frozen 4 selection
+10 for correct pick of the Tourney MVP
DOUBLE POINTS FOR UPSETS. For example, if you select Air Force and they beat Yale in the first round, since AF was a 16-seed and Yale was a 1, you get two points instead of one.

PRIZES:

First place wins a pair of tickets to the first home game of the 2011 season, college hockey team of their choice.
Second place wins a t-shirt, college hockey team of their choice.

Also infinite bragging rights! So get picking!

2011 Hockey East Playoffs: Merrimack Edges UNH To Advance To First-Ever Conference Title Game

BOSTON, MA - Merrimack College joined Hockey East in 1990. 21 years later, they’re finally going to their first conference championship.

An early error by Joe Cannata was overturned, and Elliott Sheen scored twice for the Warriors, who knocked off two-seed UNH with a 4-1 win Friday night.

A dump by Blake Kessel hit a Merrimack defenseman’s stick and hopped over Cannata’s glove and into the Merrimack net only 24 seconds in, but the Wildcats were ruled offsides on the play and the goal was overturned.

“Good thing I’m not a shortstop,” Cannata deadpanned after the game, acknowledging that he started a little slow, but that the goal being disallowed didn’t do much to help.

Some seven minutes later, Stevie Moses scored the only goal his team would tally, getting the puck in the slot and blasting it over Cannata’s shoulder.

Three minutes later, a listless attack by UNH’s Mike Sislo was thwarted by Merrimack’s Ryan Flanigan, who picked off the puck and started a two-man shorthanded break with Stephane Da Costa. After Da Costa drew two UNH defenders, he fired the puck over to Flanigan who beat Matt Di Girolamo with a snipe over his glove.

Sheen scored what would turn out to be the game-winner on a deflection of Brendan Ellis’ shot from the point at 16:15 of the first period. Ellis would assist on Mike Collins’ goal 14 minutes into the third, and Sheen capped off the scoring by potting an empty-net short-handed goal with only seven seconds remaining.

Of Merrimack’s first trip to the conference championship game, Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy said that his players and administration deserve all the praise.

“When I first got here, I was worried that my assistant coaches’ names weren’t going to be announced correctly pre-game,” said Dennehy, who’s turned the program around from a perennial bottom-dweller to sudden national title contender in a matter of six years.

Merrimack will face top seed Boston College, which defeated Northeastern, 5-4, earlier Friday night.

Hockey East Playoffs: BC Puts Northeastern On Ice, Advances To 6th Final In 7 Years

Northeastern vs. Boston College
BOSTON, MA - Boston College overcame an early deficit, shaky goaltending, some questionable calls and a late charge by Northeastern to advance to their 15th Hockey East championship and their sixth in seventh years.

Senior captain Tyler McNeely opened the scoring for Northeastern at 13:48 of the first period when he knocked a puck into BC’s Joe Whitney and into the Boston College net. The Huskies had numerous chances when John Muse wasn’t able to control rebounds early on, but weren’t able to extend their lead.

Boston College senior Brian Gibbons responded with a goal of his own at 16:05 of the first, and after one the two teams were tied, despite Northeastern having controlled play in the BC end for much of the period.

They weren’t able to sustain the energy in the second, however, as a series of bad penalties led to BC power play goals by Kevin Hayes and Tommy Cross, and a third goal by Steven Whitney, which the sophomore from Reading, MA scored on the backhand, reaching across his body while being taken to the ice by Northeastern’s Jamie Oleksiak. The shot crossed up Huskies netminder Chris Rawlings, who watched the puck soar above his left shoulder.

Rawlings was pulled in favor of Clay Witt after the second period, and Northeastern responded how they’ve always responded in front of the freshman goalie all season long: with vigor and energy. Despite allowing another goal to Pat Mullane, the Huskies drew three Eagles penalties in 3:16. Garrett Vermeersch scored on a 6-on-3 advantage after Greg Cronin pulled Witt for the extra attacker and Wade MacLeod scored his second goal of the game with just 1:03 to play to make it a one-goal game.

BC’s power play finished 3-for-6 on the night, while Northeastern went 2-for-9.

The Huskies weren’t able to get the equalizer, however, and Muse - who stopped 33 shots on the night - earned his school-best 16th postseason win.

Hockey East All-Rookie Team Announced

Hockey East has announced its All-Rookie team, and BU and Northeastern are the big winners. Each school had two student-athletes make the list, while Maine, UMass, BC and Merrimack each had one. Below is the list:


G: Dan Sullivan, Maine (York, Pa.)
D: Anthony Bitetto, Northeastern (Island Park, N.Y.)
D: Adam Clendening, Boston University (Wheatfield, N.Y.)
F: Bill Arnold, Boston College (Needham, Mass.)
F: Charlie Coyle, Boston University (East Weymouth, Mass.)
F: Mike Collins, Merrimack (Boston, Mass.)
F: Michael Pereira, Massachusetts (West Haven, Conn.)
F: Brodie Reid, Northeastern (Delta, B.C.)

Both Pereira and Coyle were unanimous selections.

Hockey East Playoffs: March Sweeps - BC, UNH, Merrimack Advance In Two Games

at Boston College 4, UMass 2 - Boston College wins series, 2 games to zero

CHESTNUT HILL, MA - Thanks to Jimmy Hayes, Boston College has some accessories to add to their 2011 hardware.

Hayes registered a hat trick, scoring first for the Eagles, potting the game-winner and registering an empty-net goal with 23 seconds to go as regular-season champion Boston College swept UMass out of the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs.

Joe Whitney had the other goal for BC, which advances to the conference semifinals for the seventh straight season. Chase Langeraap opened the scoring for the Minutemen only 21 seconds in, giving UMass hope with its second strong start in as many nights, but it wasn’t to be for Toot Cahoon’s squad.

John Muse made 18 saves to preserve the win for the Eagles, who went 1-for-5 on the man advantage, while UMass wasn’t able to convert on their five man-advantage chances.

at New Hampshire 4, Vermont 3 - UNH wins series, 2 games to zero

DUHRAM, NH - It had been a long two seasons for Dick Umile, whose UNH teams hadn’t advanced past the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East playoffs since 2008. A year after winning the opening game of a series with Vermont before falling 1-0 in the next two, they left nothing to chance.

After UVM’s Ben Albertson opened the scoring at 3:49 of the second period, the Wildcats answered with three straight goals. Austin Block scored on a partially screened breakaway at 17:14, and Stevie Moses tipped Brett Kostolansky’s blast from the right point 42 seconds later to give second-seeded UNH a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Paul Thompson extended the lead to 3-1 on a wicked wrister  at 9:06 of the third, but Vermont came back to tie it at three with less than four minutes to go. UNH captain Mike Sislo responded, scoring his 13th goal with exactly three minutes remaining.

Despite going 0-for-8 on the power play, UNH outshot Vermont 39 to 28. The Catamounts were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

Matt Di Girolamo stopped 25 shots for the win.

at Merrimack 6, Maine 2 - Merrimack wins series, 2 games to zero

ANDOVER, MA - Mark Dennehy’s squad celebrated its second home playoff series the right way this time, skating Maine out of the building as the Warriors advanced to Boston for just the second time in team history.

Carter Madsen recorded a hat trick for Merrimack, which also got goals from Mike Collins, Ryan Flanigan and Jeff Velleca. Flanigan added three assists for his first career four-point night.

Jeff Dimmen and Brian Flynn scored for Maine, which struggled to find an answer for Merrimack’s aggressive forecheck. After not allowing five goals once all season, Dan Sullivan let five pucks past him for the second straight night, before giving way to Shawn Sirman in the third period.

Despite the teams being whistled for a combined 66 penalty minutes, Merrimack had only three power play chances. They converted on one of them, while Maine’s vaunted power play attack was held quiet on their four opportunities.

Joe Cannata made 29 saves to earn the win for Merrimack, which hasn’t played in the Hockey East quarterfinals since 1998.

Home Cooking: All Higher Seeds Win On First Full Night Of Hockey East Playoffs

at Boston College 4, UMass 1

CHESTNUT HILL, MA - Jimmy Hayes showed up at just the right time. After the Minutemen outshot the Hockey East regular season champs 6-1 through the first ten minutes of the game, Hayes beat UMass goaltender Paul Dainton to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.

They wouldn’t look back.

Cam Atkinson scored his league-leading 28th goal of the year just 14 seconds into the second period, and by the time UMass’ Daniel Hobbs scored a power play goal at 11:52 of the middle frame, the Minutemen were already down 3-0 and BC cruised to a 4-1 victory at Conte Forum. John Muse stopped 26 shots to preserve the win for Boston College, which moved a win away from its seventh straight appearance in the Hockey East semifinals.

Dainton stopped 31 shots for UMass, but it wasn’t enough as Toot Cahoon’s squad couldn’t find the depth to skate with BC or the offense to make up for it.

UMass had eight opportunities with the man advantage, but was only able to convert once. BC went 1-for-6 on the power play.

The Minutemen and Eagles face off at 7 PM Saturday night at Conte Forum with UMass’ season on the line.

at New Hampshire 3, Vermont 1

DURHAM, NH - Stevie Moses nearly registered more shots himself than his entire team did a week earlier, recording 10 attempts on net, and closing the scoring off a beautiful feed from Mike Borisenok early in the third period to cap a 3-1 Wildcats win.

Despite being outshot 14-4 in the first period, UNH took an early lead on Paul Thompson’s 27th goal of the season at 4:23. It seemed as though that might be the game-winner for a long time, as Matt Di Girolamo was superb against a solid Catamounts attack.

The lone Vermont goal came when Sebastian Stalberg - who had a great chance in the first on a wrap-around that Di Girolamo sprawled backwards with his arm over his head to glove away - was able to pry lose a rebound and put the puck between the UNH goaltender’s legs.

UNH was successful on its only power play chance when Phil DeSimone scored the game’s second goal with four seconds remaining in a Dan Lawson tripping penalty. Vermont went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

Di Girolamo stopped 32 Vermont shots to earn the win in his first career Hockey East playoff game.

UNH and Vermont go at it again Saturday night as the Wildcats look to avenge last season’s early playoff exit when they beat the Cats 7-4 on Friday night but lost successive 1-0 decisions on Saturday and Sunday and were unable to advance in the Hockey East tournament.

at Boston University 5, Northeastern 2

BOSTON, MA - BU spotted Northeastern an early lead when Brodie Reid scored his ninth goal of the year at 3:25 of the first period, but pushed back to even the series and extend their season for at least one more game, winning a 5-2 decision at Agganis Arena.

Joe Pereira tallied twice for the Terriers, including an empty-net goal with just 35 seconds remaining, and Matt Nieto, Kevin Gilroy and Ryan Ruikka added markers for BU, which struggled to find any offense in a 4-2 loss to Northeastern on Thursday night.

Jamie Oleksiak also scored for Northeastern, making it a 3-2 game after two periods, but BU was too much for the Huskies in the third. Clay Witt, who has faced BU in three of the five games that he’s played this season, made 29 saves in relief of Chris Rawlings, who allowed three of the six shots he saw to go by him.

Kieran Millan made 30 saves to earn the win for BU, which needs to at least advance to the Hockey East semifinals to have a chance at playing in the NCAA tournament.

Despite drawing ten Northeastern penalties, BU was only able to convert on one power play. Northeastern went 1-for-7 with the extra man.

The series will pause briefly as Agganis Arena hosts the America East Men’s Basketball Championship on Saturday before resuming Sunday night at 7 PM with both team’s seasons on the line.

at Merrimack 5, Maine 4

ANDOVER, MA - The Black Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead nearly halfway through the action, and it looked like the Warriors were going to suffer a similar fate to the one they experienced two weeks ago in Orono.

Three unanswered goals later, Merrimack was in charge and held off multiple attempts at a comeback to take a 1-0 series advantage.

Gustav Nyquist scored his 50th career goal for Maine to open the scoring, and added two assists later to finish with three points. Robby Dee scored twice for the Black Bears and added an assist as well.

While Maine held Joe Cucci and Mike Collins pointless on the night, Merrimack found its scoring from lower down the lineup chart. Elliott Sheen scored twice and Ryan Flanigan added a goal and an assist, as the Warriors’ third line contributed three goals and two assists on the night.

Dan Sullivan - who’d been strong in net recently for Maine - gave up five goals on 24 shots. It was the first time Sullivan had given up five goals all season, though he was pulled twice in games in which he gave up three goals in a period.

The Black Bears lost despite going 3-for-5 on the power play and holding Merrimack to only three man-advantage chances, which they converted one of. 

Joe Cannata stopped 20 Maine shots to earn the win.

The series continues Saturday night, presumably with Maine’s season on the line. Saturday’s game will be televised on NESN and starts at 7:30 PM.

Blaise MacDonald Fired as Coach of Lowell

According to a post from College Hockey News, UMass Lowell Men’s Hockey Coach Blaise MacDonald is soon to be fired.

MacDonald, who led a very young RiverHawks team to a 4-21-2 record in Hockey East play, struggled with the reins of a team which lost 15 members of its 2009-10 squad. He came to Lowell from Niagara after turning that program around and replaced current Maine coach Tim Whitehead following the 2001 season.

He was 150-178-42 at Lowell, and didn’t lead the team to any NCAA tournament berths in his ten years there.

CHN also tweeted that Providence Head Coach Tim Army is likely to be relieved of his duties as well.

Hockey East Power Rankings

Standings:

Boston College (20-6-1) 41 points

UNH (17-6-4) 38 points

BU (15-6-6) 36 points

Merrimack (16-8-3) 35 points

Maine (14-8-5) 33 points

Northeastern (10-10-7) 27 points

Vermont (6-14-7) 19 points

UMass (5-16-6) 16 points

Providence (4-16-7) 15 points

Lowell (4-21-2) 10 points

1. Boston College - It doesn’t matter how they do it or who they do it with, Jerry York’s squad just wins. That usually bodes well in March.
2. Boston University - Until losing to Northeastern on Saturday night at Agganis Arena, the Terriers hadn’t lost a Hockey East game since January 21st, a span of ten games. Jack Parker’s teams usually step up in March, but they’re going to need to do some more stepping to have a chance to play for the NCAA Championship.
3. UNH - Another weekend in March, another series that UNH came out on the wrong end of. The guys say they’re hungry and they want it; history says it doesn’t matter. Could this be the year that UNH kicks the trend and starts writing a new chapter?
4. Maine - Nobody in a Black Bears sweater should feel comfortable about facing Merrimack at Lawler Arena for the right to advance to Boston. But if Dan Sullivan can continue his strong play, the offense will take care of the rest and Maine could be a very dangerous team in a few weeks.
5. Merrimack - Though they don’t like letting opponents see them, there are chinks in the armor of Mark Dennehy’s squad, and heading into the playoffs losing three of four doesn’t bode well for a team lacking serious post-season experience.
6. Northeastern - Just when you thought he might have hit a well, Sebastien Leplante proved work isn’t yet done, coaching the Huskies to a 4-3 win over BU at Agganis Arena. If Northeastern taught us anything these past three weeks, it’s that they’re not a team to be taken lightly.
7. Vermont - The Cats will return to a murder scene on Friday when they re-visit the Whit on Friday night. The memories of last year’s UVM dismantling of UNH are no doubt still strong in the minds of everyone who was there, but whether or not this Vermont squad can find what it takes to keep up with the Wildcats is very much up in the air.
8.  UMass - The Minutemen could have given up when they went down 3-0 to Maine on senior night at the Mullins Center. They could have thrown in the towel and hoped Merrimack would beat Providence so their backslide into the playoffs continued. But instead, they went out and got it, proving that there may still be some fight in Toot Cahoon’s troops. Enough to knock off BC? Probably not. But hey, at least they made it there.
9. Lowell - They’re not good. They’re very unpolished. But the RiverHawks showed some promise at the end of the season, taking points in three of their last four games. They’ll be a year wiser and a year more experienced next year, which puts them in a better spot than the only team below them.
10. Providence - Tim Army’s tenure as coach of the Friars is likely over after six years which concluded with the Friars missing the playoffs for the third straight season. They’ll also lose their three top scorers (and five of their top seven) and will likely look in a new direction to get things turned around - though that goal is a long ways off.