Now that I've been able to watch at least half of every conference
championship game (after a 3 AM taping of the WCHA final from the MSG network),
and I have had a chance to read the comments of others regarding the upcoming
tournament, I'd like to contribute my own thoughts (for what they're worth).
     First of all, is there anyone out there (aside from Clarkson fans) who
thinks that the Golden Knights can beat the Golden Gophers?  Since these are
just about the two hottest teams in the country and each has just won its
conference tournament in impressive style I would expect some kind of a split
in the prognostications.  So far, I've seen only Minnesota victories
predicted.  Watching the hockey-L polls throughout the season, I have noted
what I think is a low regard for eastern teams (except Maine and sometimes BU)
among western voters.  While Clarkson was engineering its second half run,
they were steadily rising among eastern voters in the poll, while western
votes didn't move them up significantly until they won the ECAC tourney.
I don't want to belabor this, but it is a preface to what I think will happen
in the tournament based on the conference championship games I watched.  I
admit that this is necessarily based only on the games I saw and the stats
I've read; it could be totally wrong.  If folks disagree with me, as I'm
sure they will, I just hope they say so constructively.
     I think two eastern teams will be in the final, probably Maine and BU.
Watching the CCHA final I was not terribly impressed with either team.  Lake
Superior plays a dump and chase/forecheck style almost exclusively, with an
occasional single-handed rush attempt.  I saw very few organized breakouts or
break-ins on which either team passed the puck effectively, relative to
eastern teams I've seen such as Maine, BU and Clarkson.  If the teams could
get possession in the opponent's end and set up their "cycle" they were
dangerous, but this seemed to be the extent of their strategy.  Lake Superior
bordered on being slow, and I don't think they could skate with Maine, BU,
or even Clarkson (there seemed to be only about 40 total shots in the
LSSU/Miami game).  They do play good defense, but I don't know if it would
be enough.  Come to think of it, didn't Miami lose to BU, Michigan lose to
Maine, and Lake Superior lose to Brown this season?  I'm certainly no
expert on the western teams, but in spite of what I've just said about
the CCHA teams I'm guessing that Michigan and Lake Superior will make the
final four based on their draws.  When I saw a little bit of Michigan
early in the year they looked very strong, fast, and deep.  I wish I had
seen their loss to LSSU so that I could understand how it could happen.
     Minnesota, on the other hand, seemed quite impressive and I think
it's a virtual tossup between them and Clarkson.  Richards, Johnson, and
Dziedzic (I apologize if I misspelled this) were among the players who looked
really good.  Their goaltender was good, but in the closing minutes when NMU
had some flurries he was great; it was as though he had decided that no
matter what happened he wasn't going to let them tie it up.  Both teams had
good skaters, though NMU seemed to me to rely much more on hitting hard.  This
brings up a related note.  There seemed to be some vicious hits, particularly
in the first period, that I would expect to have resulted in penalties from
ECAC refs.  Has anyone else whose seen games in different leagues noticed any
differences in referreeing?  How do they choose who refs the NC$$ games?  If
there are differences from league to league it could be important in the
NC$$s.
     Maine and BU are both excellent teams but Maine scares the heck out of
me.  In the HEA championship BU was in the game right into the third period,
and I thought they were outplaying Maine early in the third and would tie it.
Look what happened, though!  I understand the praise for Snow; he was
brilliant.  The Black Bears turned it on when they had to and the final
score made it look like the game wasn't that close.  Kariya was closely
watched but still showed great talent.  Montgomery REALLY impressed me; on
one play he split the defense and let go of his stick with one hand long
enough to fend off some slashes, then he managed to put the puck past Cashman.
It's hard to imagine Maine losing.  I think BU is probably the next best team
in the nation, but they are pretty close to the rest of the pack.
     Anyhow, these are my predictions based upon dribs and drabs of evidence.
The only sure bet seems to be that there will be some great hockey in the
next couple of weeks.  Best of luck to all the teams and their fans!!
 
-Glenn