University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Prepare for Boston College in NCAA Opener
3/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota appears in the NCAA tournament for the eighth straight year and national-best 32nd time overall. The Gophers meet another traditional national power, Boston College, in the opening round in Worcester, Mass. Minnesota is seeded third and Boston College is the second seed. The winner plays Sunday for a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four.
Broadcast
Both games will be televised on ESPNU with Sunday’s game shown live. Saturday’s game will air live on FSN North. All games involving Minnesota will air on the Gopher Radio Network.
Series History
Minnesota leads the all-time series with Boston College 14-10-2. The Gophers and Eagles last met in the Mariucci Classic in 2002 with Minnesota prevailing 2-1. Minnesota has played Boston College the most times of any opponent in the postseason at eight times with each team winning four. The teams last met in the postseason in the 1990 first round with the Eagles winning a best-of-three series in three games. There has never been a shutout in the series.
About the Eagles
Boston College and Minnesota nearly met in the regular season as the Eagles made two trips to the Twin Cities to participate in the IceBreaker Invitational and Dodge Holiday Classic, but they avoided the Gophers each time. Boston College was the national runner-up the past two years and features the nation’s leading scorer in junior Nathan Gerbe, who has 28 goals and 29 assists for 57 points. Joe Whitney ranks second nationally with 39 assists and second in scoring among defensemen. Like Minnesota, the Eagles feature a freshman goaltender in John Muse, who has played every minute in goal this season and fashioned a 2.26 goals against average and .919 save percentage. The Eagles have won five straight games and won the Hockey East tournament as the fourth seed, beating top-seeded New Hampshire 5-4 in triple overtime in the semifinals and Vermont 4-0 in the finals.
Last Time Out
Minnesota’s improbable postseason run culminated in a berth in the WCHA Final Five title game and the NCAA tournament. The Gophers have played seven straight one-goal games, including four overtime games. Mike Howe scored with 12.7 seconds left in regulation for a 3-2 win over St. Cloud State in the opening round of the WCHA Final Five and Mike Hoeffel had two goals, including the game-winner in overtime for a 2-1 win over Colorado College in the semifinals. Ryan Flynn scored the Gophers’ lone goal in a 2-1 loss to Denver in the title game. Alex Kangas stopped 94 of 99 shots to earn tournament MVP honors.
Bouncing Back
An NCAA tournament berth appeared to be a distant hope for the Gophers on Feb. 22 when they entered a game with Wisconsin alone in ninth place in the WCHA. However, Minnesota closed the regular season with a 3-1-2 record to place seventh in the league. The Gophers then won a three-game playoff series with three overtime games at Minnesota State and won twice at the WCHA Final Five to reach the title game and secure the postseason bid. Minnesota is 7-3-2 since Feb. 22.
What a Week!
Minnesota’s past week will be memorable for everyone involved as the Gophers played six thrilling games in a nine-day span. Four of the games went to overtime and all were decided by one goal:
* - The Gophers totaled 446 minutes and 55 seconds over the six days, which is the equivalent of nearly eight and a half games.
* - The Gophers played nearly 87 minutes of overtime and outshot its opponents 46-43 in the extra sessions.
* - Total game time over the span was 17 hours, 47 minutes, which averages to a length of two hours, 57 minutes per game.
* - The Gophers’ opponents scored just four goals in five-on-five situations. The opponents also tallied four power play goals and one shorthanded goal.
* - Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas stopped 209 of 218 shots faced, finishing with a 1.21 goals against average and .959 save percentage for the week.
Lucky Seven
Minnesota became just the second No. 7 seed to reach the WCHA playoff championship game. The only other seventh seed to accomplish the feat was Michigan Tech in 1996. The Gophers were the fourth team to reach the final after playing in the play-in game, but still no team has won three games to take the WCHA playoff title.
Three’s Company
Minnesota is a No. 3 seed for the tournament, which was a lucky spot in last year’s field as Michigan State won the national championship and was one of three No. 3 seeds to reach the Frozen Four. Two No. 3 seeds were in the Frozen Four in 2006 and at least one has reached the Frozen Four in five of the last seven seasons. Six No. 3 seeds have won national titles since seeding began in 1970.
Frequent Visitor
Minnesota is making its eighth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, which is the second-longest current streak behind Michigan’s NCAA-record 18 straight appearances. Minnesota’s streak is the ninth longest all-time. The Gophers also own the second-longest streak with 13 straight from 1985-97. Maine had made nine straight trips prior to this season.
Adding Another
The Gophers have made more NCAA tournament appearances than any other school as they appear in the field for the 32nd time. Michigan is making its 31st appearance, while Boston University has made 30 trips and Boston College is in its 28th appearance. Minnesota’s 50-32 all-time record marks the most wins of any team in the history of the tournament. Michigan is second with 44 wins and Boston College is fifth with 33 victories.
Moving On
Minnesota has made 19 trips to the NCAA Frozen Four, which is the fourth-highest total of any school. Michigan has made 22 appearances, while Boston College and Boston University have each made 20 trips. Minnesota has been to the Frozen Four three of the past six years, winning titles in 2002 and 2003 and losing in the semifinals in 2005.
Rookie Impact
Minnesota freshman goaltender Alex Kangas has had an improbable freshman season, taking over the team’s starting job during the second half of the season and posting the best single-season numbers in school history to this point. Kangas played in five of the team’s first 17 games of the year, but has now played in 25 of the last 27 contests, including 23 straight entering the NCAA tournament.
* - Kangas was named the MVP of the WCHA Final Five, joining Brett Sterling from Colorado College in 2005 as the only players from losing teams to win the award. In six postseason games he has a 1.21 goals against average and .959 save percentage.
* - Kangas has started 20 straight games and posted a 1.64 goals against average and .940 save percentage with an 8-6-6 record over the span.
* - His season goals against average has dipped to 1.92 and his save percentage has risen to .932. Both of those numbers rank fifth in the country and second among all freshman goaltenders behind Colorado College’s Richard Bachman.
* - Kangas has a chance to eclipse Minnesota’s single-season goaltending records as Kellen Briggs owns the record for goals against average at 2.13 in 2006-07 and Jack McCarten had a .920 save percentage in 1956-57.
Heartstoppers
The past two weeks have been among the most dramatic in Minnesota history as the Gophers have played seven straight one-goal games for the first time ever. Minnesota played six consecutive one-goal games from Jan. 12-29, 1938. The Gophers won four straight one-goal games during the recent stretch, which was the second time that’s happened. They also accomplished the feat Nov. 29-Dec. 14, 1975 with sweeps over Minnesota Duluth and St. Louis University. Like the recent streak, that stretch also included three overtime victories.
Keeping Them Close
Neither Minnesota nor its opponents have had bigger than a one-goal advantage at any point of the Gophers’ six postseason games. In fact, Saturday’s overtime game with Colorado College was tied for all but 59 seconds. The three games at Minnesota State were all decided in overtime and last week’s game with St. Cloud State was determined with 12.7 seconds left in the third period.
Extra, Extra
Overtimes have been the norm this season for the Gophers, who have played an NCAA single-season record 16 overtime games. Minnesota also has a national-high and schoolrecord-tying nine ties as the Gophers are 3-4-9 in the overtime contests. Minnesota has won three straight overtime games after failing to win in its first 13 extra sessions. Friday’s win over Colorado College marked just the second time this season that the Gophers scored the tying goal to send the game to overtime. Interestingly, Boston College has played the second-most overtime games in the country with 13. The Eagles are 3-3-7 in overtime games.
Down to the Wire
The Gophers have played an incredible 35 games decided by two goals or less. In fact, Minnesota has played 17 one-goal games and had nine ties. The Gophers are 10-7 in one-goal games and 4-5 in two-goal games. Of Minnesota’s 44 games, 42 have had a margin of two goals or less at some point during the third period. The only two games that were not within two goals in the final period were Nov. 2 against Denver and Nov. 24 at Michigan.
