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    Shane Frederick

March 28, 2011

Frederick: Frozen Four shaping up to be a good one

By Shane Frederick The Free Press

MANKATO — The Frozen Four field was set over the weekend, as North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, Michigan and Notre Dame all punched their tickets to St. Paul.

The last time the Xcel Energy Center hosted college hockey’s main event — 2002 — Minnesota was in it and won the national title in front of a raucous home crowd.

The Gophers didn’t even make the Final Five, let alone the national tournament, this year, but it still should be a pretty good final foursome, with two Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams, another national power and a school with a strong national following all playing.

As they showed during the WCHA Final Five a little more than a week ago, North Dakota’s fans are more than willing to fill up the X. They will be out in droves, hoping to see their favorite team win an eighth and, possibly final championship as the Sioux — before the plug is pulled on the university’s Fighting Sioux nickname for good.

Duluth, which is seeking its first national championship, should also be a fan favorite. The Bulldogs and many of their fans have the shortest drive to St. Paul and have the best chance of winning over the nonpartisan folks in the stands.

Michigan will come to Minnesota seeking an unprecedented 10th national title. This year, the Wolverines will also be carrying the banner for Big Ten hockey, as the conference announced a week ago that it will be adding the sport in 2013.

Michigan was the only one of the five Big Ten schools to get in this year’s national tournament.

Notre Dame, a Central Collegiate Hockey Association partner of Michigan’s, is also seeking its first national title in hockey. The Irish might be the biggest surprise in the bunch, but they did reach the title game in 2008.

(By the way, Minnesota State played three of the four final teams this past season, going 2-3-0. The Mavericks were swept in a close series against North Dakota in December, defeated Notre Dame and then won the Irish’s own tournament in January and split a series against Duluth in February, with the win over the Bulldogs being MSU’s last victory of the season.)

Now, the four remaining teams will have to wait more than a week to play for the national championship, as the NCAA puts hockey on hold for a week in order to let basketball have its shining moment.

It was a smart move to give the two sports their own weekends, especially when you consider that the national hockey tournament has become a big money maker for the NCAA, as well. But it’s silly to give hockey more than 10 days out of the spotlight. Too much momentum is lost, especially in a sport that’s trying to grow its fan base both in and out of the regions where it’s popular.

It seems like it would be better to have the off-week after the conference tournaments and then play the hockey regionals on Thursday, Friday and Sunday of the Final Four weekend.

College hockey fans will wait patiently, of course, and then they’ll trek to St. Paul in hopes of seeing something special, not unlike what happened at the X nine years ago when Minnesota defeated Maine in overtime.

With this field, chances seem good for that.



Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his blog at mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com.

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