Thursday, March 22, 2012

One Dozen Big NCAA Storyline

Key things to watch as the race for the Frozen Four and NCAA championship get underway Friday.

One Dozen Big NCAA Storyline
Jack Connolly is chasing his second NCAA title and a third for his family.

First-person view – Four coaches in the tournament – one-quarter of the field – are in their first seasons with their teams. Three of those – Rick Bennett (Union), Norm Bazin (UMass Lowell) and Tom Anastos (Michigan State) – ended up in the East Regional. Western Michigan head coach Andy Murray is the fourth first-year coach in the tournament. Anastos’s Spartan team will face off a year to the date – and almost to the minute – from when he was introduced as head coach.

Welcome back – UMass Lowell returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996, the longest drought among the tournament teams. Head coach Norm Bazin led the River Hawks to the most dramatic turnaround (in terms of wins) of any first-year coach in NCAA history.

Powers reloaded – Perennial powers Maine, Michigan State and Minnesota have no players on any of their rosters who have participated in an NCAA Tournament game. Those signal lengthy droughts for teams that have combined for 79 tourney appearances and 10 titles between them. They return to the game’s biggest stage this weekend.

View the future – Every team in the NHL has at least one draft pick in the tournament, with a total of 105 drafted players on the 16 rosters. The West Regional leads the way with 45 selections playing at the Xcel Energy Center, representing 24 NHL teams. Florida (10), Chicago (8), Columbus (8) and Montreal (7) have the most prospects participating among NHL teams. While most players are drafted prior to arriving at college, some – like Michigan’s Phil Di Guiseppe – are eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and many others will be signed as undrafted free agents.

Starts with one – Last season Minnesota Duluth became the first first-time NCAA champion since Maine in 1993. Six candidates are looking to duplicate the feat: Air Force, Ferris State, UMass Lowell, Miami, Union and Western Michigan are seeking their first titles. Among those teams, only Miami has made a Frozen Four appearance.

Family bond – The Connolly family of Duluth, Minn., has claimed two of the last three national championships, with Chris (Boston University) winning in 2009 and brother Jack (Minnesota Duluth) winning in 2011. Now they are both captains of their teams and playing in the other’s state, against the other’s rival, in the first round. The Connollys have combined for 98 points entering the tournament. While the Connollys are on different teams, four pairs of brothers will be working together to try to win a title: Drew and Nick Shore (Denver), Kyle and Mat Bodie (Union), Dean and Jake Chelios (Michigan State) and Aaron and Justin Crandall (Minnesota Duluth).

Destination: Tampa Bay – The Frozen Four travels to its southern-most destination April 5-7 in Tampa, Fla. The last venture to a non-traditional college hockey area, Washington, D.C., in 2009, was a resounding success – seeing sellout crowds, an electric atmosphere and one of the best championship games in memory. The event has sold out every NHL arena it has visited since 1999 (the only year that wasn’t a sellout was 2010 in Detroit’s Ford Field).

Senior citizens – Despite the rise in early departures for the NHL in recent years, college hockey remains a game that rewards experienced teams. The tournament field is a case in point, led by the top scorers: seniors Spencer Abbott (Maine) and Jack Connolly (Minnesota Duluth), who will face off in the first round. Defensemen Tim Kirby (Air Force), Tommy Cross (Boston College) and Chris Wideman (Miami) are other senior leaders on their teams, as are goaltenders Kieran Millan (Boston University), Shawn Hunwick (Michigan) and Kent Patterson (Minnesota).

Like father – Eighteen sons of NHLers are in the NCAA Tournament field, led by Dean and Jake Chelios of Michigan State and Jake Suter of UMass Lowell. Their fathers, Chris Chelios and Gary Suter, were both former Wisconsin Badgers who were inducted to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame this past fall. The elder Chelios won a title with Wisconsin in 1983 prior to his lengthy NHL career. In all, three-quarters of the teams in the tournament have at least one player whose father was in the NHL. Others, including Boston University (Kevin Gilroy), Cornell (Sean Whitney), Miami (Reilly Smith), Michigan (Shawn Hunwick) and Union (Kelly Zajac), have players whose brothers are currently in the NHL.

Who will surprise? – Two of the last three Frozen Fours have featured some of the longest of long shots – 16th-seeded Bemidji State in 2009 and 15th-seeded RIT in 2010. The equivalent this season would likely be Air Force, the 16th seed, which enters the tournament with plenty of experience. The Falcons are appearing in their fifth tournament in six years, regular stints that have included upsets (of Michigan in 2009) and close calls (including an overtime game against No. 1 seed Yale last year). Hobey Baker finalist Tim Kirby and defense partner Scott Mathis, both seniors, lead Air Force.

Hobey watch – NCAA regional weekend is the final opportunity for Hobey Baker Award candidates to make an impression on the 23-member selection committee prior to voting. The award will be announced April 6, the day before the championship game. Eight candidates are in the field, with the East Regional boasting four of them and the Northeast Regional three.

Familiar surroundings – Union, in Bridgeport, and Denver, in Green Bay, both returned to the regional sites they visited a year ago. Both are hoping for better results. Boston College, meanwhile, hopes its Worcester site continues to provide good fortune: the Eagles’ last three national championships began with regionals in Worcester.