The Frozen Four: An Appetizer for the NHL Playoffs

Yesterday's Division-1 college hockey national championship game between Miami and Boston U was one for the ages. BU, down 3-1 with 3+ minutes left, pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker. You'd think Miami would find a way to score an empty-netter in three minutes to ice the game. It looked like the Redhawks would get their first national championship...in any sport (in their bicentennial, nonetheless).

It never happened. BU found a way to keep the puck out of the net for 2 minutes, and then made it 3-2 with 59 seconds left. With 17 seconds left, a fantastic passing play tied the score at 3. Overtime would be needed to decide the national champion.

And what an overtime it was. Boston had all the momentum in the world, but Miami held them off. The Redhawks even had some great scoring chances themselves. A deflected slapshot by Colby Cohen of BU gave BU their 5th national championship and completed the comeback. You can't help but feel bad for Miami, who battled all tournament long only to see their lead evaporate in less than a minute. Their national championship was taken right from their hands. The winning goal itself was actually deflected by Redhawks' defenseman Kevin Roeder, who was sliding to block it - a great defensive play. The highlights are below.



The game was far superior to that of the basketball national championship, which was over after about 10 minutes of play. One of the things that makes playoff/tournament hockey great is the fact that teams never quit and blowouts rarely happen. Teams live off of raw emotion and toughness, and an underdog like Miami always has a chance if they fight until the end. Each goal scored is treated like a game winner, and the actual game-winners are pure euphoria. There is nothing in sports like a sudden-death overtime goal. Absolutely nothing like it.

And the best part is that the insanity that is playoff hockey is not far away - the NHL playoffs begin on Wednesday. They are the best playoffs in sports, for a multitude of reasons. The playoff beards, the game sevens, the triple overtimes, the mobbing of teammates after goals, the pure noise that is an NHL arena, everything about it is amazing. The Caps have been in cruise control for about a month and the team and the fans are ready for round one. I can't wait, and watching an epic Miami-BU national championship game did not help.

Bring on the fight for Lord Stanley's Cup.

Frozen Four

This weekend, the men's division-one college hockey tournament started, and it started with a bang. On Friday, Air Force and Miami (OH) upset Michigan and Denver, who were the fourth and third overall seeds, respectively. University of Minnesota-Deluth scored two goals in the final 39 seconds - the last being with 0.8 seconds remaining - against Princeton and ended up winning in overtime. Minnesota-Deluth will face the Redhawks of Miami tonight at 9pm on ESPNU.

Today, New Hampshire came back from a third period 5-3 deficit and one-upped Minnesota-Deluth by tying the game with .3 seconds left. After the intermission at the end of regulation, UNH scored 45 seconds in to advance to play the winner of #1 overall seed Boston University and Ohio State (currently 3-0 BU in the first period as I type this) on Sunday.

The men's basketball tournament may have the national attention (and deservedly so), but this tournament is just as good, if not better. Sure, only sixteen teams get in (and the 16 are decided by a computer), and there really isn't the prospect of a "Cinderella" team, but the emotion and excitement are, in my opinion, only matched by the NHL playoffs. Many of the games go down to the wire and the games get more physical as the tournament goes on. Playoff/tournament hockey overtimes are unmatched in sports because the game could be decided at any point and when the winning goal is scored, the relief and pure joy is amazing to watch.

Oh, and the Frozen Four (the final four teams) is taking place in Washington, D.C. this year. Tickets are at a premium (sold out at this point), but that doesn't mean you won't be able to watch. Games are on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com. If you have nothing else to watch tomorrow evening (there isn't much on), check out the 2nd round of the tournament. The games should be great - every team has a chance in every game and the games usually go down to the wire.