The Frozen Four is Set- Everyone is Pretty Far From Tampa

We just quoted filmmaker and hockey fan Kevin Smith on our other blog "The Daily Vampire," since he is getting ready to 'retire' from film directing at the ripe old age of 41, perhaps he will have time to fly down to Tampa and take in the Frozen Four.

As one might expect this is the first time the Frozen Four will take place in Florida, and there is not one single university in Florida that has an official college hockey team, though perhaps some offer the sport at the club level as Virginia Tech does.

The team which appears most likely to win the Frozen Four is top seed Boston College. The Eagles' goal tender Parker Milner had a pair of shutouts at regionals in Worchester, Mass. Milner made 20 saves in Boston College's 2-0 win over Air Force. He then turned around and made 33 saves to help the Eagles defeat the defending NCAA championships Minn-Duluth 4-0.

The Eagles will now face the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, a team that will be going to its first Frozen Four since 2005. The Gophers had impressive wins over both Boston University (by a score of 7-3) and North Dakota (by a score of 5-2) at regionals in St. Paul, Minn.

Two schools that most people have perhaps never heard of, except college hockey followers, complete the Frozen Four. Union (NY) beat Mass-Lowell 4-2. The Dutchmen are the rare successful athletic team which offer no scholarships. Sophomore goal tender Troy Grosenick helped guide the team to victory.

The Dutchmen will face the Ferris State Bulldogs (Grand Rapids, Mich.; pictured above) which got goals from Garrett Thompson and Andy Huff to defeat Cornell 2-1. The Big Red had upset Michigan 2-1 (OT) to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Other Sweet 16- the NCAA Hockey Tournament

The NCAA hockey tournament gets underway on Friday as Minn-Duluth will look to defend its NCAA against Maine in the Worcester, Mass.-regional.

If every team I'm picking wins, then that region will go to top-seed Boston College which open up NCAA against Air Force. My other three teams (keep in mind, I am a novice with college hockey) in the Frozen Four are Minnesota, Miami (Ohio) and Denver University. I am also going to project that the Boston College Eagles will win it all in Tampa, Fla. (yes, that is where the Frozen Four is taking place, starting on April 5th).

But, the first round game I am most anxious to watch is in the Green Bay, Wisc.-region where Michigan, the top seed in the region, will face Cornell (pictured).

The Big Red have shocked the Wolverines before as they won the first of a three game series against the 'Big Blue' in Ann Arbor 5-4 during the NCAA tournament in 1991. But, the format is now single-game elimination, thus at the time, the Wolverines were able to rebound and advance two games to one.

Whoever wins the game between Michigan and Cornell, which will be broadcast on Friday night on ESPN-U, will then face the winner of the Ferris State (Grand Rapids, Mich.)-Denver game.

Michigan has won nine titles, followed by Denver and North Dakota, teams that have won seven titles each. Boston College has won four titles.

In the Bridgeport, Conn.-region, top-seed Union (NY) plays Michigan State, the only school that also made the Sweet 16 in men's basketball. The other game in the region pits Maimi (Ohio) against Mass-Lowell.

The Wolverines will be coming off a loss in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) conference tournament, which won by Western Michigan, a team that plays North Dakota in the St. Paul region (for the other two regions, check out our sister blog "The Daily Vampire"). Ferris State, Miami (Ohio) and Michigan State are the other three teams from that conference in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan has many outstanding players, including freshman Alex Guptill from Canada, senior Luke Glendenning from Grand Rapids, Mich., and senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick from Sterling Heights, Mich.

Cornell, a team that plays in the Ivy League in other sports, won the ECAC tournament over Colgate 3-0 in Atlantic City, NJ, with goals from senior Sean Collins from Canada, sophomore Dustin Mowrey from Canada and freshman John McCarron from Macomb, Mich.

The Big Red also got 25 saves from goaltender Andy Iles who is coincidentally from Itahca, NY, where Cornell is located. And, if Cornell should become one of the rare four seeds that advances to the Final Four, they will have a player from the Sunshine State on the roster as freshman Brain Ferlin is from Jacksonville, Fla.

Perhaps, It's a Good Thing I'm Not a Sportscaster

When it comes to predicting the outcomes of collegiate sports, my forecasting would assuredly have me fired from ESPN. Not only, did I miss every single game of the men's Final Four in basketball, I did the same for the women's Final Four in basketball and the Frozen Four in men's hockey over the weekend.

I had also only picked two games right in the men's and women's college basketball quaterfinals respectively as I missed all four games in the men's final eight!

As for the Frozen Four, which took place in St. Paul, Minn., from Thursday to Saturday, local favorite, the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, won the team's first NCAA title in the sport.

Kyle Schmidt, a senior left winger, scored with 3:22 left in overtime to score the game-winning goal over the University of Michigan Wolverines. Max Tardy, a freshman who is actually from Duluth, Minn., and Travis Oleksuk, a junior from Canada, also scored for the 'dogs in their victory.

In the first two games of the Frozen Four, the Bulldogs beat Notre Dame 4-3 and Michigan stunned North Dakota, the favorite to win the championship, by shutting down the Fighting Sioux 2-0.

My predictions in women's college gymnastics, my favorite sport, has been equally futile as I projected the Stanford Cardinal to win their first NCAA title in that sport this year.

But, the Cardinal came in fourth place at regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich., as the host Michigan Wolverines qualifed for the finals this weekend in Cleveland along with second place Kent State.

Nevertheless, both Ashley Morgan, daughter of baseball great Joe Morgan, Shelley Alexander and Danielle Ikoma, the team captain, had outstanding years for the Cardinal. Ikoma was also cited by Pac-10 for her outstanding academic accomplishments along with five other Stanford gymnasts.

So, if I take a resume up to Bristol, Conn., where ESPN's main offices are, I have a feeling the elevator person won't let me past the second floor.

NOTE: The image above is from the original 1977 version of the film "The Bad News Bears" about a losing baseball team that eventually somehow gets its act together.

PS_ We forgot to mention that the University of Connecticut beat out Butler for the men's basketball title. Ironically, it was the school's women's team that was favored. But, the Lady Huskies fell to Notre Dame in the Final Four. Then, the Lady Figthing Irish met with Texas A & M since the Aggies had upset Stanford. The Aggies then pulled another upset as they beat the Fighting Irish to capture the women's basketball title. Of course, I saw none of this happening!

To Be or Not To Be.....Ask the Republicans

The great comic/author Sarah Vowell said: "No one goes to the Ford's Theatre to see the play." The joke is that many are curious to be watching a theatrical performance in a place where the assasination of President Abraham Lincoln took place. But, as great as that quip is, the reality is that the Ford's Theatre is apparently a great place to see a play.

But, right now, there is uncertainty if 'the show will go' or not, due to the looming possibility of a federal government shutdown, which earlier today seemed to have reached a miracolous conclusion, but now we aren't so certain.

The Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, is not actually performing "Hamlet," but rather a musical/comedy romp called "Liberty Smith," which "The Washington Post" described as an '18th centry Zelig.'

The fictional character Liberty Smith was, according to the theatre's web site, a childhood pal of George Washington, an aide to Benjamin Franklin and he was linked to Paul Revere's historic ride.

The we site for the theatre has a warning about the possibility of a shutdown, which would also affect national parks from The Everglades in Florida to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. For further info about Ford's Theatre, one can call 202-347-4833.

We would recommend going to the Berlin Zoo in Berlin, Germany, as an alternative (yes, that would have been a joke) but sadly both Knut the polar bear, who died at age four, and Shaina Pali the elephant from India, who died at age six, have passed away very recently. They were major attractions at the zoo, and Knut made global headlines as he was the first polar bear born in captivity.

Earlier in the year, Paul the Octopus, died at age two. He garnered world fame by accurately predicting World Cup games. But, the aquarium that housed him in the German city of Oberhausen has erected a six-foot memorial of him with the octopus hovering over a soccer ball with the flags of all 32 countries that competed at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Lastly, we should mention that we are dedicating to our friends in South Bend, Indiana, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, who will soon be having their lunch hours.

Alas, both Notre Dame and the University of North Dakota (well, I was personally rooting for Michigan, one of my late father's alma maters) lost in the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn., yesterday.

Notre Dame lost by a 4-3 score to Minn-Duluth, and the Fighting Sioux fell to the Wolverines by a 2-0 margin. It was only the third time all year that North Dakota had been shut out.

Weekend Road Trip- North Dakota to Notre Dame (5 of 20)

Today, in St.Paul, Minn., a city we've never been to that is perhaps best known as being the place where most "Prarie Home Companion" broadcasts originate on NPR, is hosting the Frozen Four. Though they will not play each other unless both teams win, we thought we'd make South Bend, Ind., and Grand Forks, ND, where both Notre Dame and the University of North Dakota are respectively located the subject of our distance quiz today.

For the Fighting Irish, Calle Ridderwall, a senior from Sweden, has been among the team's top players. On the other side of the ice, the Fighting Sioux have been lead by the likes of Canadian Matt Fratin and Brett Hextall, who is the son of former Philadelphia Flyers' goalie Ron Hextall. The younger Hextall is the first player from California ever to play for North Dakota.

Notre Dame plays Minn-Duluth in about five minutes at 5:00 p.m., New York time, while the other UND plays Michigan, ironically Notre Dame's main rival in football, at 7:30 p.m.

For this crazy series, we looked at the exact distance between the Trio's Restaurant and Jazz Club in South Bend, where the Tony Mhoon Jazz Quartet performs on Friday night, and Sanders 1907, a fine dinning establishment in Grand Forks.

And, concluded that the places are this far apart:

A) 12 hours, 10 minutes

B) 12 hours 40 minutes

C) 13 hours, 20 minutes

D) 14 hours, 30 minutes

Either way, it is a longer time spent on the road than the amount of time Calle Ridderwall will spend in the air as he flies Scandanavian Airlines (or whicherver airline he chooses) to go back home to Stockholm!

The answer to last week's question was A) as Athens, Georgia, and Morgantown, West Virginia, are nine hours apart when driving.

Kudos to Michigan Hockey

We want to take a moment to congratulate the University of Michigan which reached the Frozen Four, to be held in St. Paul, Minn., from April 7-9, by defeating Colorado College 2-1 in St. Louis over the weekend.

The Wolverines join Notre Dame, the University of North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth in the semi-finals. UND is perhaps most known for having the most politically incorrect nickname in college sports as they are the Fighting Sioux. Minn-Duluth is simply one of many schools, including the University of Georgia (which to our knowledge does not have an official hockey team) with the Bulldogs nickname.

For Michigan, one of my late father's alma maters, the goals came from Scooter Vaughan and Lee Moffie while goalie Shawn Hunwick made 21 saves.

This will mark the 24th Frozen Four for the Wolverines.

Notre Dame, Michigan's traditional football rival (the two will not play each other in first round of the Frozen Four), also won by a 2-1 score as they defeated the University of New Hampshire on the Wilcats' home ice.

The goals for the Fighting Irish who will next face the Bulldogs came from Stephen Johns and Bill Maday. Notre Dame's goalie Mike Johnson made a very impressive 37 saves.

North Dakota beat Denver 6-1 in Green Bay, Wisc.

Minnesota-Duluth won its game over Yale (another team with the Bulldogs nickname) by a 5-3 score in front of many supportive fans for the other team in Bridgeport, Conn.

Jack Connolly, the center for Minn-Duluth, has a blog in which he made the following statement:

"Well Bulldog fans, we went to Bridgeport and accomplished our goal."

We wish he would have added: "No pun intended."