Penn State, Team USA standout Janecke goes 3rd in 2026 PWHL entry draft

Courtesy of Onward State

 The 2026 Entry Draft for the Professional Women's Hockey League was held in Detroit on Wednesday evening, with some local-ish talent drawing sufficient interest to be welcomed into the fold as the next generation of stars to populate the 12-team league.

An expansion franchise, the Las Vegas contingent used the 3rd-overall pick to select left-handed Penn State forward Tessa Janecke and the 13th overall selection (first pick of the 2nd round) to snag right-hand shooting Princeton forward Issy Wunder. 

Janecke, a native of northern Illinois, finished her senior campaign by compiling 26 goals and 22 assists over 31 games for the Frozen Four entrant Nits, while adding an Olympic gold medal with Team USA this past February in Milano/Cortina. Janecke was on the ice for both USA goals in its 2-1 victory over Team Canada in the tournament's terminal contest.

Over 4 seasons in State College, she recorded a program-best 201 points (89G, 112A) in 145 contests. 

"I'm super excited just to get into that fan base and that city, that community," Janecke said after greeting her GM, Dominique Didia, at the podium. "I'm really looking forward to (the next season) and I can't wait to get out to Sin City."

For those in her hometown of Orangeville, Illinois (population 800) who supported her, Janecke said, "Thank you for everything. The schools my parents work at, just so much support and love from this small town. I appreciate it."

Wunder, a 22-year-old native of the Toronto metro region, ended her senior season at Princeton by posting team highs of 27 goals and 43 points over 34 appearances. Since 2022, she compiled 146 points (70G, 76A) in 129 games.

The 3rd pick in the 3rd round (27th overall) was used by the Boston Fleet to select right-hand shooting defense Leah Stecker. A native of north Jersey, Stecker posted career bests in assists (17) and points (20) over 39 appearances for the Nittany Lions. Over 152 collegiate contests, Stecker recorded 57 points and accumulated a plus-75 overall rating.

With the 3rd pick in the 3rd round, departing senior forward Madelyn Christian was scooped up by the Minnesota Frost. The left-handed shooter led all D1 women in short-handed goals en route to 19 goals and 35 points over 39 outings at Penn State.

"I'm at a loss for words. It's just an honor to be drafted by your hometown team," said Christian, who was born and raised in the northern Minneapolis suburbs.

In the later rounds, goaltender Katie DeSa from the Nittany Lions was taken with the 37th overall pick (1st in the 4th round) by the Vancouver Goldeneyes. 

From PSU Collegian

The senior netminder finished second in the nation with a 1.36 goals-against average and led the country with 12 shutouts among her career-best 27 victories. In addition, her .936 save percentage ranked 9th in the country. DeSa finished her 4-year collegiate sojourn by compiling an 63-13-2 record, 1.43 GAA, .932 save pct and 25 clean sheets. 

New York utilized the 43rd overall pick to select PSU's Katelyn Roberts, who finished fifth on the club with 33 points (16G, 17A) during her senior campaign. The native of the Twin Cities spent all 4 years with the Nittany Lions, totaling 103 points across 153 contests.

With the very next slot, the Toronto Sceptres welcomed right-handed shooting winger Jane Kuehl out of Princeton University. Kuehl, also a Twin Cities native, notched career bests in goals (13) and points (27) during her senior season with the Orange and Black.

Pick No. 49 -- the opener of the fifth round -- was given to Vegas, who selected defender Kendall Butze from Penn State. Butze, a left-handed shooter born in Cleveland, completed her collegiate career as the highest-scoring backliner in PSU history, having recorded 94 points over 151 games during her 4-year tenure in Central PA. She served as an alternate captain in her senior campaign.

"I'm a play-making defenseman so I'm ready to set up some teammates. I'm just really excited to get to work," Butze said when asked what her new club should expect during her rookie campaign."

Emerson O'Leary, a 22-year-old forward and four-year starter at Princeton, went 56th overall to Toronto. 

Mya Vaslet, a five-year performer at Penn State who shoots left-handed as a forward, was chosen with the 66th pick by the expansion Hamilton franchise.

College Hockey Roundup: Martone, McLaughlin and Mounting Pressure

Courtesy of the Daily Free Press

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

With one semester down and another set to commence in January, here’s a recap of the Flyers top-level Division 1 college hockey hopefuls.

A 2026 first-rounder, Porter Martone turned in a solid, consistent first two months at Michigan State, posting team highs of 11 goals and 20 points across 16 games for the Spartans.

So far, he’s accounted for 7 multi-point efforts, and two multi-game goal-scoring streaks (5 games from Nov. 8-22; 3 games Oct. 18-25) as MSU, which ascended to the No. 1 spot in the rankings, ended the semester at No. 3 with a 13-4-0 record after a split with Michigan. Martone, of course, will play for Canada in the World Junior Championships set to commence the day after Christmas. But that was a foregone conclusion. More on a dark horse later in this column.

So what's Martone's ceiling if he keeps it up? Well, that's up in the air.

As it stands, Martone sits in a tie for 15th place nationally in overall scoring. As I did when Flyers fandom went gaga over then-Michigan forward Cooper Marody in the Before Times, I did some sleuthing on how many players who ended up in the top 5 points-wise in the NCAA fared in the NHL. Parameters were from 2017-18 to 2022-23, COVID years inclusive.

Out of 30 high-scoring individuals in that six-year span, only two could be reasonably termed “impact” players at the highest level at present: Cale Makar. Cole Caulfield.

Some notable names I found outside the creme de la creme: Cooper Marody. Troy Terry. Alex Newhook. Spoiler alert: that's not a lot. And the jury is still out on current Flyer Bobby Brink, who led the nation in points at Denver in 2022.

Remember Jack Eichel? Remember anything about his one-and-done career at Boston University except for that one clip of him going end-to-end to score on Maine? A refresher.

Eichel was the nation’s leading scorer in 2014-15, winning the Hobey Baker as the top collegiate player, the first freshman since Paul Kariya to pull it off. But he didn’t win the national championship, instead ready to take the money and jump ship to the Buffalo Sabres (who drafted him 2nd overall in 2015). 

The chronically downtrodden Swordsmen essentially let Eichel be little more than a ticket draw as he spent 2 ¾ NHL seasons before approximating anything close to an NHL player competent in three zones. He was often electric with the puck. But with the Sabres perpetually a league doormat, he was often without the puck. He was also invisible in the neutral or defensive areas. 

Same thing with Sharks dynamo Macklin Celebrini, who won the Hobey at BU during his *age 17 season* in 2023-24. That Terriers club lost in the Frozen Four semis to eventual champion Denver, but the youngster Steve Miller-ed his way to the NHL thanks to the Sharks selecting him first overall two months later. 

Again, the rebuilding Sharks were in a similar bind as the Sabres, so last season Celebrini was left to do what he does best to get the fans in the building and butts in the seats. Now in his second NHL campaign, San Jose has become collectively better defensively, so Celebrini’s learning curve will continue to sharpen night after night in The Show. 

There’s no doubt in my mind, had Eichel run it back in 2015 to win it all, or if Celebrini stayed at least another year in college, they’d have come out to the Sabres and Sharks, respectively, a better developed player. 

You’re never going to get anything other than a negative reaction from me if you parrot the following lines about any top-flight D1 prospect: 

“He’s surprisingly mature for his age.”

“He’s got nothing left to prove at this level.”

“His coach even says there’s nothing left to teach him.”

First of all no college coach or pundit is going to publicly malign – or even offer neutral comment – on a perceived blue chipper. It’s part of what I figure is a “social contract” at the NCAA level which goes back to when I attended BC in the late 90s because, at least in hockey, it’s not as laughable to call players “student-athletes” despite the fact that Martone is getting an estimated $500K in NIL money for showing up. 

And I guess I also have to warn you against all the ball-washing content submitted from blogs on up to the Inquirer, which isn't going to tell you anything other than:

A) what you want to hear and

B) the positive organizational spin

But money talks and status symbolizes, And when prospects are taken in the top five by desperate franchises, the juice that's made for public consumption is always worth the squeeze. Thing is, the Flyers are far from a bottom-feeding rebuilding club eager to retain a fan base and they aren't really hurting for ticket sales or attendance, relatively speaking.

Do I think the front office could pressure Martone to turn pro in March or April? Yes. There’s a history going back to JVR in 2009 which also includes its handling of then-goalie-prospect and current Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz a couple years later, where "sooner rather than later" is the response from the front office.

Do I think Martone would have already seriously considered being a one-and-done with a good shot at making the NHL out of camp next September? Yes, and it would be criminal if his management team didn’t prep him for the chance to take a leap in spring.

Here’s the real question that you should be asking -- one for which I don’t have an answer and if anyone else who covers the club says they do after an introductory semester, they’re either lying or have a vested interest in getting fans’ hopes as high as an elephant’s eye on the Fourth of July -- do I think the Flyers are going to turn Martone loose on the league, accepting him as is, without any further development? 

The closest I can come to an answer is, it wouldn’t be in their best interest to do so, no matter how many points Martone collects, or how many accolades he wins or how far Sparty goes in the national tournament. There's *always* something more to prove, especially if he's expected to challenge for an NHL roster spot in September.

There's also a lot riding on the Snowden era in Allentown. If the new Phantoms coaching regime has its *bleep* together getting Alex Bump, Denver Barkey and Oliver Bonk squared away, there might not be a lot of trepidation if Martone starts out in the AHL.

The second half of the national D1 schedule includes what former Clarkson, Bowling Green and BC head coach, the Hockey Hall of Famer Jerry York coined “trophy season.” Michigan State are the defending B1G champions and, if they get through that gauntlet, may be reasonably expected to not only advance past the first game (which Sparty failed to do last March, falling 4-3 to Cornell in its 2024 NCAA opener) but to contend for a title.

All of MSU's 16 second-half non-tournament games are conference clashes, including two on the road at Penn State at the end of January, where the eastern Pennsylvania hype machine will be turned up to 11 when Martone faces fellow freshman, Penn State's Gavin McKenna, on back-to-back nights Jan. 30-31.

For Montco native Owen McLaughlin as well as frosh draftees Jack Murtagh and Carter Amico at Boston University, trophy season includes the Hub ritual of midwinter, a tougher conference slate, then the conference and national postseason.

McLaughlin, in his fourth collegiate campaign, has remained near the top of the Terriers’ scoring list as the Scarlet and White have struggled to rise above in Hockey East after a roster turnover in the wake of a second-place finish last April. With one more contest remaining in the first half of the year, McLaughlin sat out a weekend split with Vermont that left him at 13 pts (4G, 9A) in 15 appearances.

Murtagh also hit a snag as the semester concluded, going pointless in 7 straight after a consistent start to his career. He’ll hit the break no worse than 3G & 3A over 17 games. Amico is a clear work-in-progress, no points across 17 games with a minus-9 rating.

All three players face stiffer tests ahead than the two-game set against MSU in October which quite a few pundits salivated over as solely being a function of the Flyers’ draft prowess. BU will play all three conference games vs. BC in the winter, with the potential for at least two more clashes (Beanpot, Hockey East playoffs) looming ahead. 

Eichel, for all his capability during his lone collegiate season, struggled against better competition, like bitter rivals BC and to a lesser extent tight-checking UMass-Lowell. He also wasn’t much of a presence in the national title-game loss to Providence. For anxious Flyers insiders and outsiders watching Martone et al., it's wise to never underestimate the impact of the pressure of facing traditional rivals in meaningful games on professional development.

Looking toward Michiana, Cole Knuble was having a sluggish start to his junior season at Notre Dame after striking for 39 points in 34 games as a wise fool. On Thanksgiving Eve afternoon at Merrimack, he shook off a hit to the head late in the second period, with his goal kicking off a rally from 3-1 down which saw the Irish bested the Warriors, 5-4. His four points (1G, 3A) were not only a season high, but were the most in any period or game of any Flyers prospect in the first semester, yes, even from the Mighty Martone.

Knuble’s been lost in the sauce after a solid sophomore campaign @NDHockey. Season high 4 points in 3rd period alone.
Overshadowed by Martone and the trio from BU.
Irish win 5-4 @Merrimack_MIH, face @BC_MHockey
at Conte on Friday #LetsGoFlyers https://t.co/J8ZswsAWno

— Bob Herpen (@pelle31lives) November 26, 2025

The younger Knuble and the rest of his fellow Irish skidded into the holidays with a 3-game losing streak during which they were outscored by a 21-9 against BC and Big 10 foe Wisconsin. Nonetheless, with a 4-game point streak his first-half splits are respectable: 3G & 10A in 16 games.

Want more evidence of the tightrope all potential high-scoring prospects walk? Check out Massimo Rizzo. 

Not a Flyers draftee (Carolina, 7th round, 2019) Rizzo was acquired in the aborted Tony DeAngelo deal in the summer of '23. The left-handed shooting center put up significant numbers for a legacy program at Denver, winning two national championships (2022, 2024) while totaling 39 goals and 126 points over 107 games. Rizzo’s bona fides include an NCHC All-Rookie Selection 2022, along with a conference first-team nod in 2023 and a second-team selection in his final collegiate campaign. However, after collecting just 18 points in 46 games with Lehigh Valley a season ago, Rizzo now is toiling for the club’s ECHL affiliate in Reading. 

The only shot Rizzo has to climb back up the greased ladder would be if the cascade of injuries and callups start to hit the Flyers first before trickling down to the Phantoms. Which is a tragedy, because the 24-year-old showed flashes at least equal to Zeev Buium at times skating for the Pioneers.

Given the tricky crossroads of a player’s actual skill set weighed against the organizations’ game plan for that particular player, and the pressure of having to conform to that standard, prospects like BU’s McLaughlin may never aspire to be anything higher but a seat filler in the minors. Remember Tanner Laczynski -- the Ohio State product was once a top-5 NCAA point-getter, but once it was time to turn pro, he disappeared like a hot dog wrapper in a hurricane.

It's getting late kinda early for Shane Vansaghi, Martone’s teammate at MSU, an example of a guy on the bubble but who may be in danger of slipping totally off the radar. 

A second-round choice in June, the sophomore has been largely invisible over the first portion of the season for the defending B1G champs, save for that heroic sequence in mid-October at BU which ended up saving a game for the visitors. He’s posted 1-5-6 in 16 games after going for 6-10-16 in 37 appearances as a frosh. 

For the morning crew, unreal sequence for #LetsGoFlyers prospect Shane Vansaghi to end @MSU_Hockey’s 4-3 OT win at @TerrierHockey. Sparty blew a 3-1 lead & came within an inch of losing this one. https://t.co/Xf2SqXK7ZW

— Bob Herpen (@pelle31lives) October 19, 2025

At a listed 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, the 19-year-old, like Martone, has an NHL-ready build but needs to put more into whatever is expected of him on a game-to-game basis. If you’re going to be noticed by the parent club, half of your season’s output can’t come against non-conference cakewalks like Colgate.

A fourth-round pick in 2024 out of Finland who spent last year in Dubuque of the USHL, freshman forward Heikki Ruohonen is having a typical season as a youngster new to the D1 game. As of a semester-ending 7-3 Crimson dispatch of Brown on Dec. 6, the 19-year-old, who bucked the trend of generations of his countrymen and chose against the SM-Liiga, posted 1 goal and 4 assists in 10 appearances. 

Ruohonen might be behind the 8-ball because of Harvard’s truncated Ivy League schedule and might fly under the radar as the Crimson haven’t had a national profile in years. That said, I’m not really sure, if he develops on a sharp curve over the next two years, that he’s so academically inclined it would influence his decision to reject an overture from the Flyers.

You might recall goaltender prospect Merrick Madsen was called upon to leave Harvard after a stellar junior season in 2017 as goaltending slots became available in the minor leagues. When he declined the offer, choosing instead to finish his senior season and earn his degree although the Flyers might have lost his rights without him putting pen to paper, the penalty for such insolence was a trade to the Coyotes. 

Nonetheless, Ruohonen heard the call of his native Finland, which selected him for its World Junior roster on Dec. 13.

And bringing up the rear, UNH winger Ryan MacPherson, a sophomore and sixth round choice in 2023. With only a single goal and a pair of helpers in 31 games over his year-and-a-half in college, it’s safe to say the organ-eye-zation might make him a seat filler in the ECHL at best.

That doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of Mike Souza’s Wildcats, who took two at bitter rival Maine this past weekend, upping their road mark to 7-3-0 (including a win at Hockey East leading UConn).

Games to Watch

Jan. 15 - Michigan State at Wisconsin

Jan. 16 - Wisconsin at Michigan State; Denver at North Dakota

Jan. 17 - Denver at North Dakota

Jan. 31 - Michigan State vs. Penn State at Beaver Stadium

Feb. 2 - Boston University vs. Northeastern (Beanpot semifinal)

Boston College vs. Harvard (Beanpot semifinal)

Feb. 6 - Michigan State at Michigan

Feb. 7 - Michigan at Michigan State

Feb. 9 - Beanpot Final

Feb, 13 & 14 - Penn State at Michigan

Feb. 27 - BC at BU

Feb. 28 - BU at BC

March 5 & 6 - Wisconsin at Penn State

College Hockey returns to Philadelphia in January

Photo courtesy of the Collegian

For the fourth time in the last two calendar years, and for the third season in a row, Division I men's college hockey will find a home at Wells Fargo Center.

On Saturday, January 31, the third annual Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff pits the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten against Hockey East's Vermont Catamounts.

That's according to the Nits' 2014-15 schedule, released in full last week. 

In 2013, on the same day the NHL returned with a Penguins-Flyers tilt, PSU claimed a 4-2 victory over their northern foes. Last season, in a late October matchup, Vermont got even by emerging with a 5-2 decision.

The event will be the first for the NCAA here since the semifinals and final of the Frozen Four were contested in the building on April 10-12, with Union College taking out Minnesota by a 7-4 count for its first-ever D-I championship in any sport.

Despite high hopes, the inaugural national hockey tourney held in Philadelphia was not a sellout, drawing just 18,742 for the title game and 36,503 for three games combined over two days of competition.

The first two meetings between relatively local programs drew roughly half a house.

Penn State completed its inaugural season in the Big Ten with an 8-26-2 record overall, finishing last in the conference. However, the Nittany Lions knocked off Michigan in a one-game playoff to end the Wolverines' hopes at gaining a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Vermont ended up 20-15-3 overall, but tied for seventh with Notre Dame in Hockey East. The Catamounts beat UMass in a one-game playoff before falling to eventual conference champion UMass-Lowell in a three-game quarterfinal.

Penn State hockey announces 2014-15 Big Ten schedule

The Penn State Nittany Lions will open up their 2014-15 Big Ten conference schedule with two games at Yost Ice Arena against the Michigan Wolverines on November 21-22.

After two more road games, December 5-6, at Wisconsin, Guy Gadowsky's Nits will open up their Pegula Ice Arena conference slate with back-to-back contests on January 9-10 against rival Ohio State.

Check out the remainder of PSU's conference sked here, and see the full Big Ten schedule here.

Penn State finished sixth out of six teams in the inaugural Big Ten hockey season, going 3-16-1.

Gostisbehere leaves Union, signs entry-level deal with Flyers

You could suppose it was inevitable, that once Shayne Gostisbehere achieved the goal of winning the national championship, there was nothing left for him to accomplish on ice at Union College.

And you'd be wrong. So was I.

"People would think I'm leaving because there's nothing left to prove, but it's not that at all. I sat down with my family after, and it came down to where my development would be to get better and go to the next level and now seemed like the right time," Gostisbehere said at his on-campus press conference.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers announced the signing of the dynamic 20-year-old blueliner to an entry-level contract. He is expected to join the Adirondack Phantoms for the final weekend of the regular season on an ATO.

"It's definitely a dream come true. I always thought I had a chance, and it's definitely an honor, and I'd like to thank my parents and the entire coaching staff for where my game is today," Gostisbehere offered. "(I did it) just to keep my focus with my team and my teammates for my sake and mine. I knew there was going to be a lot of attention there, because the Frozen Four was in Philly, but my main focus was what I could do for Union College Hockey and I think we did a great job with that."

Understatement of the year, right there.  

Gostisbehere capped a memorable junior campaign with a goal, two assists and plus-7 rating as the No. 1 Dutchmen took down #2 Minnesota by a 7-4 count in Saturday's title game in Philadelphia. That effort solidified his selection as tourney MVP.

He accrued career-bests of nine goals, 25 assists and 34 points over 42 games for the small program from Schenectady, NY which stormed through the ECAC regular-season and playoff championships, then beat Providence, Boston College and the Golden Gophers. The native of Florida leaves the Capital District with 22 goals and 82 points over 119 collegiate appearances.

The signing comes less than a day since teammate and outgoing senior team captain Mat Bodie inked an ELC with the rival New York Rangers.

"It was tough; definitely some tears involved," was all Gostisbehere would say when pressed as to how tough the decision to leave had been.

Despite the hype from certain quarters, Gostisbehere, at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, needs time in the American Hockey League -- and one weekend just won't cut it.

The young man needs to work on his footing and his lower-body strength, and that's only going to come by going up against competition one level up from D-I. It should be expected that Gostisbehere begins next season in Lehigh Valley but should not be promoted, even through injury problems, until at least the start of the 2015-16 campaign.

Philadelphia went through this with James van Riemsdyk, pulling him into the NHL after a seven-game stint with the Phantoms once he left New Hampshire -- but the stakes were a bit higher then as JVR was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft, while Gostisbehere was a third-round choice in 2012.

My suspicions from earlier in the season that a selling point with Gostisbehere to move on so quickly was that Glens Falls is only 45 miles from his campus proved to be correct. It was pretty much a fait accompli that the organization would use that as an enticement no matter how far Union advanced in the NCAA tournament.

On Friday night, when the Phantoms welcome the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to the Glens Falls Civic Center, it will bring the curtain down on the club's tenure in the city and raise the curtain on Gostisbehere's professional career.

"It's really cool. All the guys are coming up. It's definitely cool that it's close to home. It's good to get my foot in the door there, meet some people, and have fun."

Check out the full presser below:

Union reigns supreme, and no one player did it alone

It's a no brainer.

The little program that could, then did, Union College, finished atop the final poll for the 2013-14 Division I college hockey season after winning the first national championship in program history on Saturday night.

Having finished the season with a school-record 12 consecutive victories which fueled a 17-game unbeaten string (16-0-1) to end the year, the Dutchmen justified the faith of their supporters, the rhetoric of its writers and those who eventually jumped on the bandwagon to praise, and opened thousands of eyes across the country.

They also backed up the faith that USCHO placed in them, as voters pushed the Schenectady, NY-based school to the top of the rankings after sweeping through the ECAC playoffs and gaining the third-overall #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. There's also no question that Union deserved to be the only school which garnered any first-place votes, considering the scorching it left on their competition down the stretch.

First among equals due to the Frozen Four's location in Philadelphia, Flyers prospect and rising senior Shayne Gostisbehere ended his junior campaign and stoked the fires of those who wish to see him jump to the pros with a one-goal, two-assist, plus-7 tour de force in Saturday's 7-4 triumph over #2 Minnesota -- the program which Union chased for much of the season as the Gophers spent the most time of all the top teams in the #1 spot. Sure, at times the 20-year-old native of Florida seemed a bit too juiced up while dictating play on the ice, but it was a performance that came at the right time, for the right reasons, and in front of the right people.

And so we brace ourselves for the inevitable crush and panic after the young man hinted that he might not be just ready yet to leave the confines of Messa Rink.

Check out highlights and breakdown at the place which brought you the exciting conclusion to the season.

At least in the Delaware Valley, it's almost impossible to relate that "Ghost" was not the prime mover in the Dutchmen's memorable season and playoff course. In the title game alone, seven different players scored and goaltender Colin Stevens, who once threatened to post back-to-back-to-back shutouts towards the end of the regular season, allowed four goals but in channeling Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr, made the saves when his team needed it the most.

Though it was played off as a duel between Gostisbehere and future Hobey Baker winner Johnny Gaudreau, Daniel Ciampini was the star of Thursday's early semifinal, as his first career hat trick proved just enough to deny BC in a 5-4 triumph. He added another marker during the Garnet Menace's late-first-period burst which turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead at intermission.

How about some words for head coach Rick Bennett? There was a stormy period at mid-season when the 46-year-old Providence College product came under fire for some unprofessional words and actions as Union and RPI engaged in a bench-clearing brawl on January 25 at the end of the annual Mayor's Cup contest. Bennett, who was shown on video pushing Engineers' counterpart Seth Appert, was hit with a two-game suspension by the school itself, and then given an additional two-game ban from the ECAC.

Since returning to the bench on February 14 against Ithaca, Union did not lose a game, finishing 13-0-1. That's real vindication.

He fashioned a team which finished second in the country in scoring (3.73 GPG entering Saturday's title contest) and fourth in defense (2.10 GAG until the same), while operating on a budget significantly less -- hundreds of thousands per year as opposed to million -- than either Boston College, Minnesota or North Dakota.

Union put up the most goals in one national final since Lake Superior State tacked on a nine-spot in a rout of Boston University in 1994, in a terminal contest which saw the most goals combined since Northern Michigan's 8-7 triple-OT triumph against BU three years earlier. The Dutchmen also bedeviled Adam Wilcox with 49 shots on goal and tied a season-high for goals in any game.

Outgoing senior captain Mat Bodie, also suspended for his role in inciting the fracas, put together the smoothest minus-3 performance many had seen, until his presence on the ice for the final two goals of the game made his supplemental stat line look a little better. He drove home the point of this year's team being the product of, and honoring those which came before:

"It's unbelievable the growth this program has taken over the past probably eight years," Bodie said. "I've only been here for four of them, but those championships for anyone that's ever had a hand in Union hockey because we wouldn't be here without all those players before us. We learned a lot from them, and they broke us into college hockey, and we're forever grateful for that."

Senior forward and leading scorer Daniel Carr notched at least one point in the final 11 games and 15 of the last 16. And then there's freshman defenseman Jeff Taylor, a player nobody talked about for any reason, coming up with an assist and ended up second to Gostisbehere with a plus-4.

The ECAC, left in the dust for most of the last 15 years by the ascension of Hockey East and the steady maginificence of the WCHA, can now claim back-to-back winners for the first time since Boston University did so in 1971-72. With five seniors and the expected departure of Gostisbehere no certainty, it appears Union will avoid to steep drop-off suffered by last year's finalists Yale and Quinnipiac.

I said it in our first online conversations, I relayed it to the man himself in person, but now it's time to say it publicly: Union beating BC was no upset. After two wins in consecutive Frozen Fours, the Dutchmen are in the Eagles' heads and it may be quite some time before that changes.

The dirty lowdown on the Frozen Four

You can call the 2014 Frozen Four in Philadelphia a qualified success. Fans from the Upper Midwest and Northeast flooded the stadium complex for most of the three days surrounding the end of the tournament, and Saturday's final drew 18,472 to the arena placed on the former site of JFK Stadium.

Attendance for all three contests clocked in at 36,503. That's not a promising number for a sport which is now, for better or worse, being wedged into major venues in large NHL markets.  That two-day total marks the lowest combined total paying customers since the 2000 Frozen Four was contested in the much-smaller and pre-extensively renovated Providence Civic Center (34,452).

It's also two consecutive years that the championship was not sold out, though it was close. Kudos to the Gophers and Fighting Sioux fans who streamed into Thursday's late semifinal and gave the Wells Fargo Center seats the look of a December Flyers-Rangers contest, because the Union-BC semi looked like an early-season Flyers-Hurricanes tilt.

Though it's an easy swipe to target a game beginning at the thick of rush hour in a major Northeastern U.S. city as being a hindrance to the situation, there's just not enough combined interest from the two smaller schools plus other unaffiliated college hockey fans both locally and from other parts of the country to push attendance to respectable levels.

It's also important to note that Philadelphia does not have much of a past history with Division I hockey and the nearest program in-state (Penn State) is 3 1/2 hours away, while the closest one geographically sits in South Central New Jersey (Princeton). Philly is also not a warm-weather destination city this time of year.

Would it make sense for the Frozen Four to return here? Sure, but maybe not for another 10-12 years, until PSU gains a larger foothold in the Big Ten and if, somehow, a willing benefactor or prescient administration steps up and turns one of the city's six major universities onto the idea of sporting (or in the case of Penn, resurrecting) a D-I team.

Personal Reflections

Though it required more bulldogging than anything I've had to do in my professional career in quite some time, it was a true pleasure to return to Frozen Four coverage.

A gap of 14 years is way too long, and if it was going to happen again, it would be here in my hometown. I'd like to thank Mark Bedics, NCAA media relations liaison, for seeing the intent in my demeanor and seriousness in my eyes when I tracked him down Thursday afternoon and insisted I snag a credential even after the process had been curtailed. It wasn't just a line, but a mantra: I'm not here to cause trouble, I'm here to cover college hockey.

Nothing was going to deter me from sharing in the coverage and celebration of a sport where I probably should be making my bones, and even taking up as little space as possible along one wall of what is usually the press commissary for Flyers games was damn good enough. With apologies to all the first-timers and my young writers, I'm well aware of what the ice looks like from the upper press level. No Instagram needed, thank you.

Back in 2000, it was a perfect opening to what I hoped would be a long career covering the game of hockey, when I was able to leverage my standing as a senior at Boston College into a prominent role on its student-led radio station and then a slot as alternating play-by-play and color man for the Eagles' semifinal win over St. Lawrence and finals loss to North Dakota. The sting of seeing a dream dashed back then was replaced in the present with a sense of calmness and belonging.

The pain of seeing former classmates and soon-to-be-professionals fall just short of their goal was supplanted by the mild disappointment that my alma mater couldn't at least do me the honor of making it past the semifinals. But that's OK, because in 2014, I'm still living off the four NCAA titles that occurred in the interim. And, to my chagrin, BC alums and fans can't escape that maxim of not being able to have it all: either Johnny Gaudreau was going to win the Hobey Baker or BC was going to win it all. We'd take the second one in a heartbeat.

It is difficult to envision a career path that doesn't progress on some kind of ladder. You start small and build up, and eventually the NHL is the goal for the lucky few who stick with the vagaries of the business.

That's not how my career has gone, and in the college hockey world, the ladder either doesn't exist or covering things like the Frozen Four is the last stop and the ultimate recognition that you're worthy. If I had taken things on a literal path, college hockey is a step down after being credentialed in the NHL for the last nine years. But when adjusted to encompass the entirely of the game of hockey in all of its environs, I've been pretty lucky to keep my eyes open and the fires stoked.

If not for the protracted lockout last season, I never would have been able to attend four different levels of the sport: D-I college, ECHL, AHL and NHL, within a few months. This year, as I step away from supplemental game coverage as a way to get my name out there, bracketing my career with a second stop at the Frozen Four is better than I could have hoped for.

Next year and in the ones that follow, I look forward to relaxing, to talking up each of the seven conferences and the players featured within, forsaking the pressure of having to prove anything in the realm of social media when it's been apparent for a decade and a half in the real world.

Unless someone decides to pay me a dump-truck full of money to relocate and continue writing for a living. Then, it's on like Donkey Kong. 

Holl of a finish: Buzzer-beater sends Minnesota to national title game against Union

Courtesy of Paige Ozaroski

Philadelphia, PA -- Justin Holl scored his first goal of the season on Thursday night, and it was one Hell of a time to do it.

On the penalty kill and facing an overtime to decide who would face Union in Saturday's national championship game, Holl beat Zane Gothberg with six-tenths of a second remaining in regulation, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers claimed a 2-1 victory over the North Dakota Fighting Sioux in Thursday's late semifinal. 

Sam Warning opened the scoring with 9:09 left in the contest, but Conor Gaarder squared things only 32 seconds later.

A hooking call to the Gophers' Connor Reilly with 1:39 on the clock had Minnesota on the defensive, but the former No. 1 team in the country ended up advancing on Holl's first goal since March 8, 2013 against Bemidji State.


“There’s no better time for Justin to score his first than tonight,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “But that’s our team. We haven’t relied on any one guy. A new guy has to step forward every night.”

It came thanks to a screen from Seth Ambroz, who backed in UND forward Stephane Pattyn and captain Dillon Simpson enough to let a low shot go that ticked off the right post and in to send the Big Ten regular-season winners to their first NCAA final since 2003.  Kyle Rau began the rush from a faceoff win in his own end, with Holl kicking the puck out of his skates just prior to the winning strike.

“I think momentum was kind of, I guess you could say, in our hands,” Pattyn mused. “A couple of close calls, a couple of good saves by their goalie, and the puck going the other way, just hit a couple of skates, hit a couple of sticks, and it was in the back of our net. There’s not much more I could say.”

Minnesota (28-6-6) faces off against Union, a 5-4 winner over Boston College, in Saturday's finale for the college hockey season. North Dakota (25-14-3) came up short in its first Frozen Four bid since 2008.

Gothberg stopped 26 shots in the painful defeat, but drew praise from his boss.

"I think Zane was very good for our hockey team. Along the way, you need a goaltender to win the game. I think if you look back 10 days, I thought against Ferris State in the third period, he was a difference maker for us. He did his job, got us to overtime," said UND head coach Dave Hakstol, who completed his 10th season. I have a lot of confidence in Zane, and it doesn't just come from performance. Guys watch him prepare and that's good leadership on his part."

If not for the final marker, it would have been the second straight season a team advanced to the championship with an OT strike. Yale's Andrew Miller lit the lamp at 6:59 of the extra session to beat UMass-Lowell last year in Pittsburgh, and the Bulldogs eventually beat Quinnipiac.

The stakes between these Upper Midwest neighbors haven't been higher since Herb Brooks' Minnesota club won the last of its three titles in the 70s, taking out Gino Gasparini's North Dakota by a 4-3 count in 1979 at the Olympia in Detroit.

It showed in the play over the first two scoreless periods, defined by fits of close checking and bursts of brilliant offense and goaltending.

Adam Wilcox, who stopped 36 shots and put himself light years above the competition for the Mike Richter Award as the nation's top goalie, made a career-defining save on Colten St. Clair late in the first period, channeling Dominik Hasek to do a forward snow angels and grab his shot in close with the splits. 

Both he and Gothberg held the fort in the second frame, and it looked like the first-ever scoreless deadlock to head to overtime in semifinals history was on tap until both clubs awoke from their slumber in the space of one shift.

Warning was behind a goalmouth scramble and managed to take a Rau pass and lift a shot past Gothberg and inside the left post. Rau, the club's leading scorer, ended up with two assists on the evening.

On the ensuing shift, Wilcox failed to cover enough of the left post as Gaarder squeezed off a weak shot, and then made a successful sweep of the rebound with 8:37 remaining. For the native of the Twin Cities, it showed fortitude he first displayed when poking home the double-overtime winner against Ferris State to take the Midwest Regional.

"They put a lot of pressure on us and it was really tough at times. It seemed like every time they had a shot blocked, they'd get it back and throw a couple more towards the net," Wilcox noted. "But our defense did a great job blocking shots, boxing out, one guy took a shot in the ear. We really sold out, cut off angles, tying guys up at the point. We did a great job of weathering the storm at times tonight."

Notes: Minnesota has won its last two NCAA playoff appearances against North Dakota, including a 5-2 decision in the West Regional final two years ago after losing the two previous matchups in the 2005 and 2007 West Regionals ... Though there are no official records kept, it is believed that Holl's goal is the latest game-winner in Frozen Four history ... Minnesota and Union have played only three times previously, and all during the in-season Mariucci Classic, with the Dutchmen taking a 3-2 OT decision on Dec. 31, 2010.

No. 1 stunner: Union advances to national final by taking out Boston College

Philadelphia, PA -- Shayne Gostisbehere gave legions of expectant Flyers fans what they've been told they wanted for the last two seasons.

Hyped as an answer to what ails the Philly blueline, Gostisbehere assisted twice, including the primary helper on the eventual game-winning goal from Daniel Ciampini as the Union Dutchmen continued their sweet ride into the NCAA championship with a 5-4 victory over the Boston College Eagles in the Thursday's early semifinal.

"It means a lot to do it here, but my focus is on my team right now," Gostisbehere, a senior not expected to spend his senior year in Schenectady, teased. "I was just happy I could contribute tonight and it shows just how our team works hard.

Ciampini added a late empty-net goal to complete his first career hat trick, Mat Bodie and Mike Vecchione also tallied and Colin Stevens stopped 34 shots including a last-ditch effort by Johnny Gaudreau.

"You had to respect the line (of Gaudreau, Hayes and Arnold). But at the same time, we had to push the pace. That's one thing we kept talking about, we had to keep going especially in the third period," Ciampini said of his top line's ability to control play in the later stages. 

The champions of the ECAC, Union (31-6-4) improved to 15-0-1 in the last 16 and will take on Minnesota, which topped North Dakota with less than a second remaining, in Saturday's final. It was a stunning turnaround from two years ago, when jitters late cost them a shot against eventual runner-up Ferris State.

"The biggest thing is the mindset. When I came here for my freshman year, there were goals set, but was thinking about a national championship. That bothered some guys," said Dutchmen captain Bodie.We took one step (two years ago). But we've won the ECAC the last couple years. It's just been growing each year.And here we are."

Gaudreau ended a stellar junior campaign with a goal and two assists, having scored at least one point in 34 of his last 35 games. Steve Santini, Ryan Fitzgerald and Patrick Brown also lit the lamp, but BC was eliminated from the tournament for the second consecutive season by the plucky program from upstate New York.

Thatcher Demko allowed four goals on 36 shots in defeat as Boston College finished the year with a 28-8-4 record. 

"I love how our team competed, how they battled, right down to the end in the final seconds of the hockey game. This particular senior class did a tremendous job for us, but my hat's off to Union," said BC head coach Jerry York, who will have to wait another year for a crack at a sixth national title. "They made some plays tonight. We had a chance to get things back going our way with the five-minute power play but didn't."

Union once again moved up by a goal, this time on the advantage, as a rocket shot from the right point by Gostisbehere was tipped in front by Ciampini just after the 6 1/2 minute mark of the third period.

Minutes later, Union's Matt Hatch was given a major and game misconduct for hitting Eagles forward Michael Sit from behind with 13:11 left in regulation, but the Dutchmen confounded a skitterish Eagles power play and successfully killed off the five-minute man disadvantage.

"When that happened, we were all talking on the bench about having to bear down. It was unfortunate. We didn't want him (Hatch) to go out that way," Bodie admitted. "We really didn't give them much, and we kept on working."

That work ethic threw the top-rated offense in the land into a tizzy, where it seemed they couldn't complete a pass or get shots through from distance.

"We knew what we had to do on the power play, but we still weren't able to get any shots through. We were out of sync there, everybody trying to do too much. I was at net-front and I couldn't tell where the puck was they had so many guys blocking the way," Arnold admitted.

It was all but over with 8:06 left in the contest. Kevin Sullivan stripped Santini in the BC zone and rolled in alone, and though Demko came up with the initial save on a backhander, Vecchione was the trailer and slammed the rebound into an open case for a 4-2 score.

Demko was called to the bench for an extra skater with 2:32 showing, and Fitzgerald managed to slip a shot home from the right post with 1:45 to go. Union then managed to negate an icing call when Ciampini was the lone player chasing the puck down the ice. He completed the trifecta on a shot into the empty net with 1:09 showing, and a brief review confirmed that the puck was not played with a high stick and that icing was not warranted. 

Brown surprised many by beating Stevens to the right pipe on a long wrister inside of five seconds to play, but it wasn't enough for the Hockey East regular-season champs to keep going.

"It's a memory I'll have forever..." said South Jersey native Gaudreau, trailing off and still visibly shaken, to have the dreams of a second national title dashed with two days to go. A potential Hobey Baker Award selection on Friday might quell his sorrow a bit.

BC made its presence known only 2:08 in, as its top line shredded the Union defense. Kevin Hayes appeared to be hemmed in near the blue line along the right-wing boards, but chipped ahead to Bill Arnold, who was 2-on-1 with Gaudreau. The initial shot was stopped, but Gaudreau followed up with his 36th goal of the season.


The Eagles also hit a crossbar and a post, but maintained that one-goal edge to intermission along with the better of the play despite an 11-9 shot deficit.

"I told them if they kept playing like that, they'd be walking home," quipped Union head coach Rick Bennett.

Bodie evened the game with 2:39 gone in the second period, and the Dutchmen endured several shifts of attacking pressure from BC, including a pair of failed odd-man breaks involving Gaudreau, before taking the lead.

From a right-circle faceoff win, Gostisbehere lofted a high wrister from the point which Demko mysteriously decided to try and snag out of mid-air. The puck instead laid flat at the left side of the crease for Ciampini, who made no mistake at 10:45.

Santini evened the score with 4:17 remaining in the second. A turnover inside the neutral zone by Sam Coatta wound up on the stick of Chris Calnan, who found the Devils' second-round pick for a laser-like wrister.

"The mindset we have is coming at it one shift at a time. They scored first, but that's hockey. We've done a great job of coming back and scoring once our team gives up a goal. We felt that if we got one, then we could get a few more," Ciampini said.

Notes: Ciampini's hat trick was the first in the Frozen Four semifinals since Nathan Gerbe of Boston College tallied three times in a 6-1 victory over North Dakota on April 10, 2008 ... Bodie finished a game-high plus-3, but Gostisbehere clocked in at minus-2 ... Stevens who allowed four goals in one game for the first time since February 15 at Colgate and for just the fourth time all season, was locked out of the five finalists for the inaugural Mike Richter Award, to be presented Friday to the nation's top goaltender ... Union's victory ensures that the ECAC can come away with back-to-back national crowns since Boston University did so in 1971 and '72 ... Gaudreau ended up with four goals and eight assists in three NCAA playoff tilts, while his 80 points were the most for a BC junior since David Emma had a school-record 81 in 1990-91. 

Marked for greatness, Folin just needs to be given a fair chance

For some, UMass-Lowell River Hawks defenseman Christian Folin has become The Swedish Solution for what ails an NHL club's blueline.

He's 23 years old, about two birthdays past what a typical North American college sophomore would be, and stands 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds.

On the surface, there are not many Division I players who wouldn't be NHL ready at this point. In fact, at least one league scout told a prominent blog's Flyers beat writer that Folin is the cream of the current college free agent crop.

Chris Peters even went as far as this in a piece from March 25: "Any team not already at the 50-contract limit this season will be able to sign the defenseman as an unrestricted free agent and the stakes for acquiring the gifted blueliner couldn't be higher for some teams."

Aside from St. Lawrence's Greg Carey -- the third-leading scorer in the country who was signed by Phoenix before gaining mention as a Hobey Baker finalist for his senior season -- he is at the top. That doesn't say much for the crop, though.

But Folin is a little bit different.

He's not a Mark Howe prototype, grown from the womb to have an immediate, lasting and positive impact on the game once released into the pros. He's more a Scott Niedermayer type, constant, steady, there to make an impressive play when needed and built for the long haul.

"I just try to keep it simple," said Folin after contributing a goal and assist in UMass-Lowell's 4-0 victory over Providence which clinched the Hockey East playoff championship on March 22. "It's playoff hockey; you just have to keep it simple and move the puck."

Doesn't sound like much of a hero and game changer, does it?

There's a tendency on social media for fans, desirous of a hotshot, quick fix to their favorite team's scattershot back line and fueled by a few promoted actions which piques interest, to become stricken like a five-year-old with ADD let loose at Kay Bee Toys, screaming "want that!" at something shiny in each and every aisle.

Regarding Folin, all it took was the tale of his cannon shot which could not be contained by simple cross-hatched netting against Vermont in the Hockey East quarterfinals. There's also this fawning praise piece by his local newspaper from this time last year, which tries to fashion the young man into a folk hero.

The reality is, Folin was signed by the Minnesota Wild on Monday night and joined the club Wednesday, one day before a matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks in which he did not dress.

Norm Bazin has molded UMass-Lowell into a juggernaut in both in conference and on the national scene thanks to a tight defensive system which, by and large, attempts to nullify the middle of the ice.

Keeping shot totals down is not one of the main goals, but keeping the shots to areas on the rink defined by distance and angle is, in the same way the Florida Panthers played a passive trap against the Philadelphia Flyers for most of their 1996 playoff series. Sophomore starter Connor Hellebuyck played to a 1.73 goals-against average prior to the start of the NCAA tournament after facing an average of 30.3 shots per contest, but he's not asked to stand up to many dead-on, quality chances. Senior backup Doug Carr has a 1.80 GAA and sees 28.6 shots per appearance.

The RiverHawks have allowed as many as five goals only once this season, and that's thanks to the entire defensive corps: Folin, but also seniors Joe Houk and Dan Furlong, juniors Jake Suter and Zack Kamrass, freshmen Michael Kapla, Dylan Zink and sophomore Greg Amlong.

"Christian is certainly a very important part in our D-corps," said Bazin, acknowledging the role of the entire defense in his team's success. "For us, he gives us some size, he gives us some transition, and he usually gets the puck through."

In UML's Northeast Region games against Minnesota State-Mankato and Boston College, you heard Kamrass' name at least twice as much as Folin's. That's because Kamrass is a smaller, but more dynamic presence who possesses the puck more and is able to move it in all three zones, in contrast to Folin's role as the defenseman who stands up to onrushing attackers, the one expected to use his size for cutting off skating lanes and for clearing space in the crease. 

(Ed note: the rest of the piece was written prior to Monday's news but still pertinent)

Given his experience and role, Folin will be best served on clubs which stick to a rigid system that need an extra big body to complement a d-man of slight build or one with a greater skill set. Minnesota, St. Louis, and wherever John Tortorella winds up if he's given another shot to coach in the NHL next year will be a good fit. Tampa Bay might also benefit from his services, as a more intelligent, skilled version of Radko Gudas.

Where might Folin not do well, given his circumstances and a team's need? Philadelphia.

"He's a good looking player. He's big. He moves good, moves the puck, good defender. Could he jump right in? Probably on the right team he could, yeah," said Flyers GM Paul Holmgren last week, hedging on whether or not the organization had any interest.

Owing to the pressing need to upgrade its plodding defensive corps in the wake of a battle for playoff positioning in the Metropolitan Division, it would be an epic mistake to throw the kid into the mix, expecting him to make a difference from day one. That doesn't even take into account the club's contract situation, which may not allow anything but an ATO for the remainder of the year if an entry-level deal can't be worked out. 

Should UML not reach the Frozen Four, and if the Flyers take the leap, the best scenario would be to give him whatever remaining time the Phantoms have in Glens Falls, bring him to training camp in September, and then let the chips fall where they may. If Folin impresses, send him to Allentown until there's no reason to keep him in the AHL. Folin, though, would be no replacement for Kimmo Timonen nor upgrade from Nicklas Grossmann. He would be the perfect complement for Timonen in a second pairing if the Finnish veteran decides to give us one more season. He could end up as a puck-sure alternative to the departed Matt Carle.

Jim Matheson said last week that the Oilers are strongly considering Folin's services. Edmonton lacks a deep defense, but its recent desire to stock the club with young talent at both ends of the ice with little implications in their playoff hopes may not serve him well. Craig MacTavish will have to find a veteran blueliner to ease Folin's transition, Dallas Eakins' defensive plan notwithstanding.

(Ed. note: returning to the present) 

Ultimately, Folin's fate rests in Minnesota's plan and his own adaptability to the expectations and pace of the professional ranks. The Wild are in the midst of their own playoff chase, secure in the West's first wild-card spot and therefore don't need to waste one half of his current entry-level deal on some misguided belief he can inject some new blood into the blueline.

I'm hoping Des Moines is the next stop, as the Iowa Wild are dead last in the AHL's Western Conference with eight games remaining and so the organization can take a relaxed look at how Folin can fit into their future plans.

Around the Rink: NCAA Playoffs Edition

The Frozen Four field is set, with Minnesota, Boston College, Union and North Dakota to grace us with their presences in less than two weeks on the Flyers' home rink.

It's no coincidence that the top three programs all year in the national rankings comprise the majority of the last four schools competing for the NCAA championship.

The following are my impressions of the action from the first 12 games, broken down by geography.

West Regional

It was repeated every stoppage of play on the broadcast in the third period and beyond on Saturday night, but the Fighting Sioux earned their 20th trip to the final weekend of the college hockey season -- and first since 2011 -- by taking down former rivals Wisconsin and then Ferris State in double overtime.


The Bulldogs, a surprise entrant to the Frozen Four two years go and surprising fodder for the smallish BC Eagles in the title game, decided to play a significantly less dynamic game in their two cracks at the national playoffs. FSU beat Colgate 1-0 in regulation, then needed almost five periods to lose a 2-1 decision to UND on Saturday night.

It was a stirring reminder that, in some ways, the college game can mirror certain team systems in the pros, and watching Ferris State's conservative take over the weekend mirrored my own frustration in witnessing Maine's neutral zone trap in the late 90s and early 2000s as a reflection of the Devils and the Dead Puck Era in the NHL at that same period. Ultimately, a North Dakota team that showed more offensive punch and the right amount of patience saw those qualities rewarded.

Meanwhile, the Sioux were paced by Rocco Grimaldi's hat trick, the first of the tournament, along with a goal and assist from Flyers prospect Michael Parks in a 5-2 thrashing of Big Ten champion Wisconsin. All credit due to Conor Gaarder, who scored the game winner from in close, the only kind of goal Ferris State was likely to surrender, as the stakes got higher.

East Regional

Perhaps the region which featured the weakest pairings of the eight first-round matchups, the Union Dutchmen, #1 in the rankings and holding the third overall seed heading into the tournament, emerged victorious and reached its second Frozen Four in the last three seasons after easy wins against consecutive Hockey East foes in Vermont and Providence.


For the upstart ECAC program, it was a case of several overlooked players who had led the team's resurgence all along, outshining the one who received the most hype and coverage. Max Novak, Mat Bodie, Daniel Carr, Daniel Ciampini, Matt Hatch and goaltender Colin Stevens came through with the valuable commodities: goals, assists and saves. Novak led the way with three goals and one assist, Hatch added three scores, Stevens stopped 60 shots, while Flyers defensive prospect Shayne Gostisbehere took a back seat with a plus-3 and no points.

The Friars, featuring USA WJC goaltender Jon Gillies, blanked an otherwise indifferent Quinnipiac team on Friday, which seemed to take more than the usual solace in knocking last year's NCAA champs and conference rivals Yale out of the ECAC playoffs. Providence didn't seem to have that same jump when Union played a more up-tempo style on Saturday.

One facet of play for all four teams which couldn't escape notice, and isn't exactly a boon for the future in hooking casual fans, was that the defensive play in each offensive zone was cluttered and resembled rec-league hockey rather than the usual speed and grace, even in physical contact, found at the D-I level. There was a lot of play around each net and not a lot of space to move the puck inside the attacking zone either east-west or north-south.

Midwest Regional

Overall play was typically open, as it has been for decades beyond the Ohio-PA border. The old CCHA and WCHA featured players with the typical height and weight of NHL skaters, and they were allowed to roam wild and free, hitting everything in sight and scoring a ton of goals.

Top overall seed and national No. 2 Minnesota awoke from its slumber from an early exit in the Big Ten tourney, turning on the jets and whipping AHA champ and tourney first-timer Robert Morris before taking down St. Cloud State by a combined 11-3 score. Don Lucia's squad earned its 21st trip to college hockey's final weekend ad have gone 8-2-1 since Valetine's Day.

Gophers backstop Adam Wilcox joined Gillies and CJ Motte (Ferris State) as the only goaltenders in the regionals to blank an opponent on Sunday evening, taking down a tired Huskies club which needed OT to overcome Notre Dame. He staked his claim to be one of the three Hobey Baker finalists with steady play the entire weekend.

Northeast Regional

Norm Bazin did his best to turn UMass-Lowell from second-division school in a major power conference to a national force, and he did it as the other of two coaches following Walsh footsteps from the late 90s. Last season, UML's trip to the Frozen Four was a direct result of playing a familiar system to stymie unfamiliar opponents. This year, while Minnesota State-Mankato couldn't deal and only broke a shutout in the final seconds, BC presented a team which had seen it all before and exploited that fact.

Jerry York's Eagles reached their 24th Frozen Four -- tied with Michigan for the most all time -- and ninth since 2000 by pasting a passive Denver squad, 6-2, on Saturday, then answered everything the RiverHawks threw at them on Sunday. BC's top line, which accounted for 13 points and were a plus-15 against the Pioneers, rested on Sunday. Badly-needed balanced scoring came at the right time from freshmen Ryan Fitzgerald and Ian McCoshen in the third period of a 4-3 victory.

A study in contrasts, the play between BC and UML was a lot more fluid and physical than their respective philosophies suggest. Unlike Ferris State, Lowell is a dynamic defensively-oriented team, and it had to be to limit Johnny Gaudreau to two assists. The nation's leading scorer by a wide margin, Hobey favorite Gaudreau came away with MVP honors after totaling three goals and five assists. He's recorded a point in 33 of the last 34 games.

Some Frozen Facts

This year's field marks the first time since 2010 that three #1 seeds reached the Frozen Four. In Detroit, Boston College (Northeast), Wisconsin (West) and Miami-Ohio (Midwest) made it along with RIT. BC eventually topped Wisconsin for their fourth national title.

Since the expansion of the tournament in 2003, that's only happened two other times: 2005 (Minnesota, Colorado College, Denver) and 2003 (Cornell, New Hampshire, Minnesota).

Boston College and Union have the early semifinal, with puck-drop shortly after 5 p.m, with the Gophers and North Dakota following at 8:30 p.m. or roughly a half hour after the Eagles/Dutchmen game has concluded.

It's a perfect storm for all four programs. BC is looking to avenge last year's first-round, first-game loss to Union, while Minnesota and North Dakota can't stay separated for too long, despite this season being the first in decades both schools didn't compete in the same conference. It was the first time since 1946-47 these neighbors in the Upper Midwest didn't meet in the regular season. The Dutchmen enter play on a scorching 14-0-1 clip, while the Eagles kept alive their streak of making the FF in every even year since 2004.