Michigan hockey gets its Frozen Four foe: No. 1-ranked North Dakota
The Michigan hockey team has its Frozen Four opponent.
No. 1-ranked North Dakota became the only top-seeded team to win its regional when it routed Denver 6-1 in Sunday’s Midwest Regional final.
The Fighting Sioux (32-8-3) will play Michigan (28-10-4) in one of two national semifinals to be played April 7 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
While Michigan advanced with one-goal wins over Nebraska-Omaha and Colorado College, North Dakota was dominant on the way to winning its regional.
The Sioux beat RPI 6-0 in Saturday’s semifinal. Senior forward Matt Frattin, who leads the nation in goals, scored just one of North Dakota’s 12 tournament goals.
Sophomore goaltender Aaron Dell made 47 saves in two wins to lower his nation-best 1.83 goals-against average.
North Dakota will be seeking its first trip to the championship game since 2001 and its first title since 1997. Michigan’s last championship game appearance was in 1998, when it beat Boston College.
The other semifinal will match Notre Dame (25-13-5) against Minnesota-Duluth (24-10-6). Michigan finished two points ahead of second-place Notre Dame in the CCHA regular season standings and beat the Irish 4-2 in the third-place game of the league's postseason tournament.
Comments
Scooter
Wed, Mar 30, 2011 : 12:23 a.m.
It seems that UM got the #4 "seed" into the Frozen Four, having to play North Dakota. It's consistent with how the regional brackets were organized, but suggests that perhaps there should be a re-seeding of the matchups based on results from regionals, overall season records, ...
lumberg48108
Mon, Mar 28, 2011 : 2:02 p.m.
Lets be honest, a U-M vs. Notre Dame final would be so cool ... but lets also be honest, no one expects that match-up to happen! Either way, great season for U-M and great year for CCHA
tater
Mon, Mar 28, 2011 : 4:56 a.m.
I don't like this matchup; I hope there aren't a lot of "local" tix to be snatched up by NoDak fans. The close game thing could go either way, though. It could end up that the Wolverines are used to adversity and North Dakota isn't. Or it could end up that North Dakota really is that good.
We're that good
Tue, Apr 5, 2011 : 7:11 a.m.
The last time ND won the national title wasn't in 1997 like the article says, it was in 2000. Although they did win it in 1997, too. As for a home crowd advantage, at least 90% of the crowd will be wearing green.