NCAA and Frozen Four thoughts

At the beginning of the season I had every expectation that St. Cloud State would make it to the NCAA's and I had a good feeling that this "could be the year" that the Huskies made their Frozen Four debut. However, we all know that this season did not turn out as planned. Despite the unceremonious conclusion to the Huskies hockey season, there is still a reason to finish off watching the rest of the NCAA tournament and the Frozen Four. Our WCHA conference once again displayed its dominance over collegiate hockey by sending UMD, CC, UNO, DU, and UND to the NCAA tournament. This becomes even more significant considering all of the noise being made about UofM and UW leaving for the the Big 10 Conference. Based on this year (which has been arguably a little fluky...look at the under-performance of SCSU and the over-performance of UAA) one may come to the conclusion that the WCHA does not need the UofM or UW to remain as the top conference in collegiate hockey. Programs like UMD, CC, UNO, DU, UND, SCSU, and even BSU, MSU, and UAA still make for a heck of a competitive conference (sorry MTU...maybe next year you will be considered as "competitive"). All this aside, I want to say congratulations to the WCHA conference teams that went to the NCAA tournament. 

Of the 5 WCHA teams that made it to the NCAA tournament 2 have made it to the Frozen Four. UND made their way into the Frozen Four with dominating victories over RPI and Denver. I got to watch part of the UND vs. DU game and thought that the Fighting Sioux looked near unstoppable. UMD made their way into the Frozen Four with victories over Union and Yale. Congratulations UND and UMD! The other two teams joining UND and UMD in this years Frozen Four is Notre Dame and Michigan. Even though UMD knocked out the Huskies in the WCHA 1st round playoffs and UND is a major Husky hockey rival (and I would never cheer for either of these two teams during the regular season) I encourage all Husky fans to support the WCHA and its remaining members in the Frozen Four. Though you may not like it, these teams are still our colleagues and we should support any WCHA teams winning the national championship. Be sure to be following bloggers Goon's World and Running with the Dogs for the latest news and updates about our WCHA teams in the Frozen Four.

University of North Dakota and University of Minnesota-Duluth I wish you the best of luck at the Frozen Four!

*Just a little video reminder about the hope and dream that was the 2010-2011 hockey season: