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Frozen Four
The eyes of the hockey world focus on Buffalo
By Dave Ricci
From April 9-12 Buffalo, NY will be the heart of the collegiate hockey world as Minnesota, Michigan, Cornell and New Hampshire will do battle with the National Championship at stake.
The semi-finals will take place at noon and 6PM at HSBC Arena on Thursday April 10. Cornell (30-4-1) will take on the University of New Hampshire (27-7-6) in the first game while Michigan (30-9-3) faces defending champions Minnesota (26-8-9) in the nightcap.
Wolverines’ coach Red Berenson spoke of the difficult task his team faces against Minnesota. "It’s huge. It’s a bit of a David and Goliath thing here. Even though Michigan has a strong history and tradition in this tournament. I can’t tell you this is one of our top teams we were devastated last summer by the loss of key players. We’re up against it and we’re going to have to come out with our absolute very best game if we want to stay in the game because they (Minnesota) can just roll right over you."
Minnesota’s Thomas Vanek (W.C.H.A. Rookie of the Year) knows the Wolverines pose a serious threat to their title and that Michigan’s freshman goalie, Al Montoya (2.32 GAA, 4 shutouts) will be tough to beat. Vanek said, "He’s really good he knows his angles he’s a great goalie. We’ve got to beat him with screens and traffic in front of the net."
Cornell will be going for their first national title since 1970 when the Big Red went on a 29-0 tear on their way to their second title in school history. Led by sophomore goalie and Hobey Baker finalist David LeNeveu Cornell is the odds on favorite to win it all. Co-captain Stephen Baby said, "We expected to be here so it is nothing out of the blue that we are here. Yes we are being compared to the 1980 (Cornell) team (that made the Frozen Four) but the team we really want to be compared to is the 1970 team that won."
New Hampshire will go into the semi-final game without leading scorer Lanny Gare who’s sidelined with a shoulder injury.
The championship game will take place on Saturday April 12 at 7PM. Expect Minnesota-Cornell in the finals.
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