The NCAA men's hockey regional tournaments are in the books, and three of the top four overall seeds — the No. 1 Gophers, No. 2 Quinnipiac and No. 3 Michigan, plus No. 5 Boston University — advanced to the men's Frozen Four on April 6 and 8 in Tampa, Fla. While the bracket ended up with a chalk-like quality of most of the favorites winning, how they got there was interesting. Here are some observations from the regionals:
1. The Big Ten flexes its muscles
It started Thursday when the Gophers shook of a sluggish start, trailing 2-1 to Canisius early in the second period, before rolling to a 9-2 win over the Golden Griffins. On Friday, Minnesota's Big Ten brethren joined the act, with Ohio State embarrassing No. 7 seed Harvard 8-1 in Bridgeport, Penn State drubbing Michigan Tech 8-0 in Allentown, and Michigan drilling Colgate 11-1, also in Allentown.
A combined 36-4 margin for the Big Ten against its first-round opponents showed the league isn't messing around when it comes to hockey. The margins came back to earth in the regional finals, with the Gophers grinding out a 4-1 win over St. Cloud State and Ohio State falling 4-1 to Quinnipiac. Not counting Michigan's 2-1 overtime win over Penn State in an intraconference matchup in the Allentown final, the Big Ten had a cumulative 41-9 scoring advantage.
2. St. Cloud State, Penn State impressive in defeat
Both the Gophers and Michigan had to put their work boots on to win regional titles. In Minnesota's case, a game effort from St. Cloud State put the Fargo Regional's champion in doubt until 8:16 remained, when Logan Cooley won a faceoff directly back to Jackson Lacombe, with the defenseman using Matthew Knies' screen to blast a shot past Huskies goalie Jaxon Castor for a 3-1 lead. "They were revving up and down the rink in the second period,'' Gophers coach Bob Motzko said of the Huskies. "… They were double-shifting their top two lines for a big part of the game. Finally, I said, 'All right, have at it. Let's go finish this thing off.' ''
Sunday in the Allentown final, Michigan trailed Penn State 1-0 after two periods before tying the score on Adam Fantilli's power-play goal at 12:08 of the third period. Both squads pushed the pace the rest of regulation before Mackie Samoskevich wired a snapshot past Nittany Lions goalie Liam Souliere 52 seconds into overtime. "I feel bad for the guys on our team that aren't gonna get this opportunity again, but I sure look forward to another time," Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky told reporters in Allentown. "It was an awesome experience, and I look forward to another time. I look forward to someday when it doesn't end like this."
3. Fargo did a fine job