Showing posts with label college hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college hockey. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2016
Salute to NCAA College Sports (3 of 3)
Salute to NCAA college sports (2 of 3)....
Salute to NCAA College Sports (1 of 3)
Monday, March 26, 2012
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.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
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.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sweet Sixteen by the Numbers- It's Really Been a Long Time for Badgers Fans
We found out some interesting things while researching this piece: It has been a very, very long time since the Wisconsin Badgers won a NCAA title in men's basketball and Kenny Belton, a senior for the Ohio Bobcats, a team that will face the UNC Tarheels in the Sweet 16, graduated from Dudley High School in Greensboro, NC, so perhaps he even rooted for the 'Heels growing up!
And, yes, we realize that Ramsey, the UNC Tarheels' mascot doesn't really go with our entry title, but we are not exactly "The New York Times" here!
Here we go:
71: Years since Wisconsin won NCAA title; the Badgers took it all in 1941.
52: Years since Ohio State won NCAA men's basketball title
50: Years since the Cincinnati Bearcats won title, they won back-to-back titles (1961 and 1962) with Oscar Robinson.
34: Number of points that Florida beat Norfolk State by in the round of 32.
32: Number of miles between Chapel Hill and downtown Raleigh
31: Number of games won by the UNC Tarheels
29: Number of games won by Ohio University; years since North Carolina State last won NCAA tournament.
21: Number of points scored by junior Walter Offutt in the Ohio Bobcats' upset over South Florida in the round of 32.
14: Numbers of points that UNC beat Creighton by in the round of 32; years since Kentucky last won NCAA tournament; number of schools from major conferences in Sweet 16.
13- Number of teams in Sweet 16 that have won NCAA titles in men's basketball before
8- Number of players from North Carolina on UNC's roster
7- Number of Sweet 16 teams from my brackets which actually made it to the Sweet 16!; number of titles won by Kentucky.
6- Number of Ohio Bobcats players from Ohio; number of NC St. players from North Carolina (including star player sophomore C.J. Leslie from Holly Springs, NC); number of points that Ohio beat South Florida by; number of coaches in Sweet 16 who've won the NCAA title; number of schools in Sweet 16 with women's gymnastics programs.
5- Number of titles won by UNC.
4- Number of teams from Ohio in Sweet 16; number of teams from the Big 10; number of teams from the Big East
3_ Number of UNC players from the Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC area; number of international players for NC St. (Australia, Belgium and Canada); number of teams with feline nicknames; number of teams with bird-related nicknames.
2_ Number of school from old Metro Conference in Sweet 16 (Louisville and Cincinnati); number of ACC schools in Sweet 16; number of SEC schools; number of Big 12 schools; number of schools that are not from super conferences.
1_ Number of schools with dog-related nicknames (NC St. Wolfpack); number of schools that also made the Sweet 16 in NCAA men's hockey (Michigan State Spartans).
Monday, February 13, 2012
Sports Desk: Princeton Beats Harvard 70-62
It is a very rare occasion when an Ivy League men's basketball is nationally televised, but since then 21st ranked Harvard University had won nine basketball games in a row, it's road game with Princeton on Saturday night set up a pivotal match-up.
And, the underdog Princeton Tigers (13-10, 4-3 in Ivy League play) prevailed with a 70-62 win thanks in large part to Ian Hummer's (pictured) 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Other players for the Tigers who scored in double figures were T.J. Bray (12), Brendan Connolly (11), Denton Koon (10) and Mark Darrow (10).
In defeat for the Crimson, Keith Wright scored 16 points and Brandyn Curry, of Huntersville, NC, scored 15 points.
Harvard did prevail in the team's road game against Pennsylvania by a 56-50 score on Friday night with 17 points from freshman Corbin Miller.
On Friday night, Princeton won its home game over struggling Dartmouth, a team with a 4-20 record, by a 59-47 margin.
Like Princeton, Cornell also had a triumphant homestand over the weekend in the Ivy League. The Big Red (10-12, 5-3) went on a 15-1 run in the second half to defeat Brown 72-63 on Saturday night. The night before, the team won an overtime thriller over Yale 85-84 in overtime.
For the Big Red, Chris Wroblewski, a senior from Highland Park, Ill., was named Ivy League Men's Basketball Palyer of the Week.
In other Ivy League sports, Harvard's women's hockey player Jillian Dempsey was named the school's athelete of the week as she scored five goals, one short of an NCAA record, in the team's 10-1 victory over Princeton.
And, in women's gymnastics, Cornell, one of four Ivy League schools with women's gymnastics teams (Yale, Brown and Penn are the others) came in second at the team's Big Red Invitanial.
The school in Ithaca, New York, came in second behind Southern Connecticut in the four-team meet. Lexi Schupp of Cornell won bars and her teammate Maelanie Stanrdige won beam.
The final score of the meet was: Southern Connecticut 190.05, Cornell 189.55, Ithaca College 187.250 and West Chester 185. 750.
Here is the full scoreboard in men's basketball for the Ivy League, which traditionally plays its games on Friday and Saturday nights.
Friday:
Cornell 85 Yale 84, OT
Harvard 56 Penn 50
Princeton 59 Dartmouth 47
Columbia 86 Brown 60
Saturday:
Cornell 72 Brown 63
Princeton 70 Harvard 62
Penn 58 Dartmouth 55
Yale 59 Columbia 58
Monday, January 30, 2012
Silly Photo to Fill Space- Handsome Dan
Greetings to everyone in Moscow, Russia, where we are seemingly and surprisingly popular!
Today, we feature the Yale Bulldogs mascot Handsome Dan in our semi-weekly "Silly Photo to Fill Space" series. Yale University was the first university to have a mascot in the 1890s, and the current Handsome Dan, born in 2007 in Johnson City, Tenn.- of all places, is the 17th in the line.
On our sister blog, we dedicated an entry to John Harvard, who is the mascot for the Crimson.
Alas, this was not a very good weekend for Bulldogs fans as the school saw athletic losses in several sports. We mentioned the losses to rival Harvard (65-35), men's hockey (4-3) and women's hockey (8-0) on our sister blog.
But, the men's hockey team won a home game against Dartmouth 5-4 on a goal from Kenny Agostino, a junior from Flanders, NJ, that was scored with 38 seconds on the clock. We imagine the Big Green was not pleased to get on the bus back to New Hampshire afterwards.
Yale's women's hockey team had a particular rough weekend on the ice, but goalie Genny Lodgies, a junior from Canada, had 46 saves against Dartmouth's women's hockey team. The Big Green won that game over the Bulldogs by a 6-0 score.
Like the men's hockey team, Yale's men's basketball team got a victory by also beating Dartmouth by a 62-52 in a game that was played on Yale's home court in new Haven, Conn. Reggie Willhite scored 16 points for the Bulldogs in the win.
Unlike Harvard, Yale has a women's gymnastics team and they went to Philadelphia to face Penn-U over the weekend. The Bulldogs' gym team fell short as the Quakers won the meet 191.225-188.35 margin.
But, junior Tara Feld from Buffalo Grove, Ill., had strong vault and floor scores (both were 9.75) as well as a stellar score on beam (9.275).
Yale's gym team also has two sophomore sisters from Singapore in Nicole and Tabitha Tay. We think they might be twins, but we could not confirm that.
Monday, April 11, 2011
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!
Friday, April 8, 2011
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.
Monday, March 28, 2011
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."
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