I'm not going to quote what Neal wrote, but he criticized ESPN for treating
Michigan as the favorite.  Others have done so as well, so this message
should be treated in general not an attack on Neal personally, or his message.
 
I'm sorry but I must respectfully disagree with the outrage that Michigan
was considered the favorite even though they were not the #1 seed.
 
Keep in mind that I had no allegiance going into this game, no team I liked
more than the other, no conference or even region allegiance.  Had I
professionally been asked to give a prediction, I'm sorry but Michigan would
have been my choice and I am sure I am far from alone in saying that.
 
It's not that Colorado College was a bad team, or even that they were not
respected.  I was very impressed with Don Lucia's guys, and being the
underdog to Michigan shouldn't be considered to be that horrible.
 
It is important to note that Colorado College hadn't been to the Final Four
since 1957, and the last few years have had a poor post-season record.
While Michigan has not "won the big one" in several years, they had been to
the Final Four 4 of the last 5 years.  Certainly Michigan was the more
"experienced" team of the two.  No, that isn't enough for them to be the
favorite, but it's not the only factor.
 
When the seedings come out, they are based on the overall year, but clearly
Michigan was the hotter of the two teams.  Colorado College lost in the
semifinal of the WCHA Tournament, to a non-NCAA Tournament team.  While
Michigan went through the CCHA Tournament defeating two NCAA tournament
teams in Michigan State and Lake Superior State.  This doesn't make Colorado
College a "push-over" but it does give great credibility to the argument
that Michigan was playing better hockey coming into this game.
 
Using the argument of seeds, Colorado College took two overtimes to defeat a
#2 seed in Vermont, Michigan embarrassed the defending national champion,
and #1 seed Boston University Terriers 4-0.  As an eastern hockey fan I
don't remember off the top of my head the last time BU was shutout.  To
shutout BU is no small task.
 
That win alone might have been enough to consider Michigan the favorite, but
take that into consideration with everything else and it is not unheard of
for someone to say that Michigan is the favorite to win.  I agree that
ESPN's coverage was lacking, but to criticize them for choosing Michigan as
the favorite is not being fair or accurate IMHO.
 
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Deron Treadwell                                 [log in to unmask]
Orono, Maine                                    GO BRUINS!  GO DUCKS!!
>>>>>>> UMaine Hockey: http://www.eklektia.com/~treads/mehockey/ <<<<<<<
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