With the road winding towards Washington D.C. and the NCAA Frozen Four ahead of them, 16 teams now know their fate – for one weekend at least.
The official bracket has been set for the tournament’s four regional play-ins and a number of BCHL graduates are in the mix for a deep tournament run.
In the West, top-seeded Denver will see meet fourth-ranked Miami in Minnesota, while Princeton takes on Minnesota-Duluth. However far Denver goes, BCHL grads Patrick Wiercioch and Kyle Ostrow, both top five scorers for the Pioneers this season, will be along for the ride and they'll be joined by starting goaltender Marc Cheverie.
In the Midwest, number one ranked Notre Dame will be taking on Bemidji State, while Northeastern goes head-to-head with Cornell in a match-up featuring over a dozen ex-BCHLers.
Northeastern will rely on a couple former BCHL stars come Saturday night in Michigan. Regular season leading scorer and ex-Merritt Centennial Wade MacLeod is one of those players. MacLeod paced Northeastern this season with 14 goals and 21 assists in 40 games.
Another key player for Northeastern’s line-up comes from the Prince George Spruce Kings. Junior goaltender Brad Thiessen caused a ton of commotion this season as he led all NCAA Division I netminders in minutes played and saves. The Hockey East Player of the Year was also one of the nation’s leaders in save percentage (.932) and goals-against average (2.09).
But while Thiessen and MacLeod are trying to shut down Cornell, the Big Red and their 12 BCHL grads will be ready to answer back. Leading the pack for Cornell are SilverBacks grad Riley Nash and former Clipper Colin Greening, who scored 34 and 29 points respectively entering tournament play. Following closely behind is Evan Barlow, another Salmon Arm alum, who tallied 26 points in 33 games on the season.
The East bracket will see the Michigan Wolverines paired with the Air Force Falcons and Vermont up against Yale in Connecticut on Friday. Yale’s roster boasts five BCHL graduates while Vermont’s Dean Strong, who was previously a Vernon Viper, is the guy to watch in this bout. Strong’s season included 5 goals and 19 assists in 36 games.
Finally, Boston University will meet Ohio State while North Dakota battles New Hampshire to move on to round two of the Northeast regionals this Saturday in New Hampshire.
North Dakota has eight skaters on their roster that boast BCHL backgrounds. SilverBacks grad Ryan Duncan has taken over the scoring reins this season, putting up 38 points in 42 games played. Duncan will be playing another SilverBack grad come Saturday night in New Hampshire freshman defenceman Damon Kipp.
All 16 teams are vying for one of four spots at the NCAA Frozen Four, which kicks off on Thursday, April 9th with a pair of semi-finals games at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The 2009 NCAA Championship game will take place two days later.
