March Madness gets all of the media attention for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, but next week the Men’s Ice Hockey Frozen Four championships will be taking place, and I promise you this year will be one you won’t want to miss.
Minnesota vs. Boston University
One of the more historic rivalries in the history of NCAA hockey, the University of Minnesota and Boston University played in the Frozen Four in 1974 and 1976, and the movie “Miracle” made the line from Jack O’Callahan after Jimmy Craig said, “It looks like a bunch of guys from Minnesota and Boston.
Where O’Callahan’s reply was, “Yeah… That’s going to work.” Long story short, the two teams are known for their hockey and will be looking to make sure that their team is better when next Thursday comes.
With the chance to play for a National Title on the line, tensions should be high, and if you’re a BU fan hopefully, will result in a lower scoring game. If you are a Gopher fan, you hope it leads to a faster paced game where their NHL talent can blow the game open.
My Prediction: Minnesota 4-2, with an empty net goal late. I think the University of Minnesota is a much better team, however, games like these always seem to be closer than you think. Minnesota will play in the Frozen Four championship.
Michigan vs. Quinnipiac
The University of Michigan is a hockey blue blood in the sport and will be looking to add to their record nine national titles. However, they have not won a title since 1998, losing in overtime of the national title game to University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2011, and last year to Denver in overtime in the semi-finals.
Quinnipiac on the other hand is a new recent power. They finished second in 2013 to Yale, and second to North Dakota in 2016. They are looking for the first title in school history and have as good of a chance as they have ever had coming into this game with a 32-4-3 record.
Michigan has one of the highest scoring offenses in the country and is led by future NHL players Luke Hughes, and Adam Fantili. While Quinnipiac may have some guys make NHL rosters, they are led by one of the nations best defenses and goaltending.
It will be the classic matchup of an unstoppable force, meeting an immovable object and it should be a classic. My prediction is that Quinnipiac will surprise people by scoring first and locking down defensively, before Michigan answers back.
I then believe both teams will add one goal each in the third to force overtime. Overtime hockey is a funny thing, and the dirty goals are usually the ones that win it, and I believe that Quinnipiac has the toughness, and style of play to score that goal and win this one 3-2 in overtime.
