By Tim Robertson
March keeps getting better with each passing week. It started with basketball’s conference championship week, then the first round of the big dance, followed by the first day of spring. With spring training mixed in and spring break beginning next Friday, how can March surpass itself in greatness?
With the sweet sixteen, of course. No, not the one featuring teams like Ohio State and the Hoyas, but the tournament featuring Boston University and the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota. It’s a tournament where a one-seed actually can lose in the first round. That’s right, the “March to the Arch” begins Friday for the 16 best teams in college hockey.
Beginning Friday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU and last three glorious weeks – victors from this weekend receive a weekend off – and ending Saturday, April 8, on ESPN, this year’s NCAA is more wide open than in recent memory.
The 2006 national champion – Wisconsin – joins its men’s basketball team on the couch after failing to win a majority of its games. Last year the Badgers narrowly escaped Milwaukee with a 2-1 victory after a literally last second Boston College backhand shot rang off the post.
Unlike their 2006 finals opponent, the Eagles won’t sit next to their men’s basketball team on the sofa. Instead, the Hockey East conference champion travels to Manchester, N.H., to do battle with Miami – of Ohio – with the potential of facing conference rival New Hampshire in the regional finals.
The other two teams from the 2006 Frozen Four return in an attempt to reach St. Louis. North Dakota, who lost an overtime heartbreaker in the WCHA (Western College Hockey Association) final, squares off against mighty Michigan. The Wolverines make their 17th straight NCAA appearance – twice coming home with shiny hardware. Maine, who lost to Wisconsin in the semifinals, stumbles into Rochester, N.Y., after losing six of their last eight games. (Disclaimer: I am undoubtedly the biggest Maine hockey fan on campus.)
Oh yeah, then there is Minnesota and Notre Dame, who have dominated the number one spot in the nation for the past four months. The Golden Gophers didn’t suffer their second defeat until after the New Year and the Fighting Irish have lost just one game in two months.
No NCAA tournament would be complete without Cinderella on skates. The Air Force Falcons, winners of a season high six straight, won the Atlantic Hockey Association championship – yeah, so what if Air Force is in Colorado, college hockey doesn’t discriminate. The Falcons finished fifth in their sub-par conference, and now find themselves lining up against the goliath-sized Golden Gophers. No need to fear, Holy Cross of the AHA as a four-seed upset the one-seeded Gophers a year ago. Anything can happen.
So, as a Hofstra student slash staff slash administrator – who knows who reads the Chronicle – why should you actually watch a college hockey game, or at least flip to it when CBS goes to commercial? It’s for the same reason college basketball and football reign supreme, the passion, the classic games and the high-quality action.
Watching “Sid the Kid” or, my NHL favorite and Maine alum, Paul Kariya is highly entertaining. The passing and stick handling is incredible, but it the game has little passion. The NHL lacks the constant hard hits against the boards that the college game brings to the table.
Gary Bettman believed hockey fans wanted more scoring, so he made the offensive zone and nets larger. Want to see real high scoring without manipulation? Watch any WCHA team play. In three games at the WCHA conference tournament, the six teams combined for 28 goals.
Sick of watching the NCAA basketball tournament where Tennessee blows a team out by 40 or Southern Illinois wrecking Virginia Tech by 25? Tune into the Frozen Four. A single goal has decided five of the last eight national championships – Maine appeared in three of the five, winning… just one.
A new champion, close games, high scoring, hits, hits and more hits and with 10 of the 16 teams with a legitimate shot at winning it all, the “March to the Arch” should provide many Sportscenter highlights and a few games for ESPN Classic.
St. Louis will play host to college hockey’s version of “March Madness.”