Boston College Smokes Wisconsin, 5-0, For National Championship

TV coverage: Live on ESPN

SBN blogs: BC Interruption, covering the Eagles. Bucky’s 5th Quarter, covering the Badgers.

Boston College dominated top-ranked Miami of Ohio on Thursday night to advance to the NCAA final. They’ll face Wisconsin. Eagles fans at SBN’s BC blog, BC Interruption, rejoiced in their fourth straight tournament win over the Redhawks.

Keep checking in at BCI for more Frozen Four madness as the championship game nears.

The Miami Red Hawks tried to keep the game close, in fact bringing the score to 3-1 with thirteen minutes left in the third period. The Boston College Eagles then exploded for four goals, including three in a minute and a half, to defeat Miami 7-1 to advance to the national championship.

Ben Smith scored two goals for Boston College while Jimmy Hayes, Joe Whitney, Cam Atkinson, Patch Alber, and Paul Carey all scored one goal a piece. Joe Hartman scored the lone goal for Miami. Boston College outshot Miami 30-18 in the game and converted 2 of 5 on the power play while Miami (OH) went 0 for 2 on the powerplay.BC quarterback John Muse made 17 saves on the night while Miami goaltender Connor Knapp was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on nine shots. Cody Reichard came in and made 17 saves on 21 shots.

The BC Eagles took a 3-0 lead into the third period of the second semifinal game in the Frozen Four, but the Miami Red Hawks have just recently scored to bring the deficit to two. Jimmy Hayes and Joe Whitney scored the two goals for BC in the second period while Joe Hartman scored the lone goal for the Miami Red Hawks.

BC is outshooting the Red Hawks 23-16 and have also converted on two power play chances of their four while Miami has gone 0 for 2 in the game. With roughly 13 minutes left in the game, Miami needs another quick score to continue building on the momentum they just created.

Ben Smith has scored the only goal for the Boston College Eagles as they take a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. This game has been a defensive battle from the start as both teams have combined for a total of 11 shots, 6-5 advantage Miami (OH). BC’s goal came on the powerplay, which is 1 for 2 on the night.

Miami (OH)‘s Connor Knapp has played well besides letting in the lone goal of the game thus far, making four saves. On the other end, John Muse has made all six saves he has faced in the first

The Wisconsin Badgers will be playing on Saturday as they took care of the RIT Tigers with an 8-1 victory in the first semifinal game of the Frozen Four. Derek Stepan had two goals while John Mitchell, Jordy Murray, Blake Geoffrion, Justin Schultz, Michael Davies, and Craig Smith all had one goal. RIT’s lone goal was scored by Tyler Brenner. Brenden Smith had three assists.

RIT was outshot 37-14 in the game and just looked out of place as Wisconsin controlled the game for pretty much the full 60 minutes. The only goal they allowed was Brenner’s powerplay goal at the end of the second period. The Badgers controlled the play and will now face the winner of the Boston College/Miami (OH) game that will face off at 8:30 pm EST.

It appears that the Cinderella run for RIT in this tournament is going to come to a screeching halt as the Wisconsin Badgers are dominating every facet of the game with a 6-1 lead after two periods in Detroit. Jordy Murray, Justin Schultz, Michael Davies, and Blake Geoffrion have all scored for the Badgers. Tyler Brenner has scored late in the second period for the Tigers.

The Badgers are outshooting Tigers 23-9 after two periods and have scored on the powerplay and even strength. RIT looks increasingly frustrated as they have taken some penalties driven just by frustration and the Badgers have made them pay with two power play goals in that period.

John Mitchell and Derek Stepan both score in the first period to give Wisconsin a 2-0 lead in the first period of the first semifinal of the Frozen Four.

is having major issues trying to compete with Wisconsin, being outshot 10-6 and being held scoreless at this point in the game.

The 2010 NCAA Frozen Four is this weekend at Detroit’s Ford Field. While the reasoning for holding the event in a football stadium is obvious -- more seats, more fans -- it doesn’t mean that the home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions will necessarily be all that full.

The NCAA is expecting a crowd of about 30,000 on hand for each of the three games this weekend in a building that seats 65,000 for football an 78,000 for basketball. Some of that has to do with the configuration of the arena (warning: PDF file), of course.

Here’s the updated bracket following this weekend’s action. Boston College will take on Miami in a battle of number-one seeds in the first semifinal on April 8, while one-seed Wisconsin will take on Cinderella fourth-seed RIT in the other. Click the bracket to enlarge.

Top-seeded Miami University snuck by the Michigan Wolverines in double overtime on Sunday night to win the Midwest Regional and advance to the Frozen Four in Detroit. It was a back and forth game, with both teams outlasting brutal attacks from the other throughout. Tied at two through three periods, they would head to riveting sudden death.

The excitement of the game caused some controversy in the first overtime, when it appeared Michigan had scored the game winning goal. The puck was on the goal line inside the post behind Miami goalie Connor Knapp. It was poked free by an attacking player, but the play was quickly blown dead. It shouldn’t have been, as Knapp never had control of the puck. Michigan put it in the net, but it was all for naught because the only play that can be reviewed in that situation is whether or not the puck crossed the line before the whistle.

SB Nation’s Boston College blog, BC Interruption, has the recap as the Eagles dispatched the Yale Bulldogs by a ridiculous score of 9-7 to win the Northeast Regional and advance to the Frozen Four. It’s BC’s 23rd ever Frozen Four.

Here’s Brian from BCI:

Here’s a run down of Saturday’s action in the 2010 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Hockey Tournament. Scroll down for a look at the updated bracket as today’s action begins.

Northeast Regional, Final -- Worcester, Mass.

5:30 PM ET: #1 Boston College Eagles vs #3 Yale Bulldogs

It happens furiously this time of year. As teams are eliminated from their respective conference tournament’s and now the NCAA tournament, seniors sign with NHL clubs in hopes of turning their hockey dreams into a career.

Brayden Irwin, power forward from the Vermont Catamounts, has signed with his home town team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. SB Nation’s Leafs blog, Pension Plan Puppets, has the details.

Chris Dilks at SB Nation’s Western College Hockey Blog was on the ground in St. Paul on Friday and Saturday for the NCAA West Regional at Xcel Energy Center. He filed an ‘odds and ends’ report with miscellanous observations from the two day event. The Wisconsin Badgers prevailed in the bracket to advance to the Frozen Four in Detroit.

Here’s a taste of Dilks’ report:

After two days of hockey, the RIT Tigers have shocked the tournament by advancing to the Frozen Four. They’ll face off against Wisconsin next weekend in Detroit. Two regional finals will be played on Sunday to determine which teams will join them in the Motor City. Let’s quickly take a glance at all of Saturday’s action.

1:30 PM ET: #1 Boston College Eagles 3, #4 Alaska Nanooks 1

If the Alaska Nanooks have nothing else to show for their 4,089 mile trip to Worcester, they can take comfort in the fact that their Death Bear pregame videos made Jerry York’s grandkids cry.

SBN’s Boston College blog, BC Interruption, has the story.

Cinderellas are thriving not only in college basketball, but in college hockey too. Third-seeded Yale topped North Dakota 3-2 to advance to the Northeast Regional final. RIT bounced UNH 6-2 to complete their improbable run to the Frozen Four in winning the East Regional.

SBN’s BC Interrpution, covering the Boston College Eagles, has a full rundown. BC will play Yale on Sunday.

In the first game of Saturday’s NCAA hockey tournament action, the top-seeded Boston College Eagles outlasted Alaska 3-1 at the DCU Center in Worcester. BC advances to the Northeast Regional Final to play the winner of Yale and North Dakota. SB Nation’s Boston College blog, BC Interruption, recapped their team’s victory.

Click through for the entire read.

Here’s a run down of Saturday’s action in the 2010 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Hockey Tournament.

1:30 PM ET: #1 Boston College Eagles vs #4 Alaska Nanooks

Cinderella stories aren’t exclusive to basketball.

The RIT -- that’s Rochester Institute of Technology, by the way -- Tigers have slayed Goliath, beating the top-seeded Denver Pioneers 2-1 in the first round of the East Regional. RIT plays in Atlantic Hockey, widely regarded as one of the weakest conferences in college hockey. They don’t award scholarships, and they were the 15th overall seed of 16 teams in the entire NCAA tournament.

We mentioned back on March 14 how the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers had broken in to the NCAA tournament field in controversial fashion by winning the College Hockey America tournament. SB Nation’s Derek Zona argues at From The Rink why you should root for the Chargers once the tournament kicks off this weekend.

Click through to read the entire article.

There are always questions when it comes to NCAA seeds, and there are a few questions this season mainly about the three seeds. From College Hockey News:

According to the Pairwise Rankings, Michigan should be playing North Dakota while Bemijdi State would be playing Yale. Instead, they flipped Michigan and Yale to create more interest in the regionals.

SBN’s Calgary Flames blog, Matchsticks and Gasoline, took a look this past weekend at some successful college free agent signings by NHL teams and why they could be a good idea for teams looking to add depth for little salary.

Here’s an excerpt:

View the 2010 NCAA Division 1 Hockey Tournament bracket below. Click to enlarge.