UNH's road to glory is longer than BC's
If the University of New Hampshire wants to make it to the Frozen Four in Denver, the Wildcats are going to have to go through Colorado Springs.
Yesterday, the NCAA announced its Division 1 men's hockey pairings. UNH (25-9-3) is seeded No. 1 in the West and will take on fourth-seeded Notre Dame (24-15-4) at the World Arena Friday. The only other Hockey East school in the tournament is Boston College (21-11-8), the Northeast Regional's No. 2 seed, which will go up against No. 3 seed Minnesota (19-16-9) Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester.
The Eagles have been in the same tournament with Minnesota twice already this season - opening weekend in the IceBreaker Tournament in St. Paul and in the Dodge Holiday Classic in Minneapolis after Christmas - but have yet to face the Golden Gophers.
"We're actually very excited," said BC captain Mike Brennan, whose team captured the conference title Saturday night with a 4-0 win over Vermont. "Being close to home is always nice. We're really excited about playing Minnesota. We know they have a great team and we have the utmost respect for their program. We were looking forward to playing Minnesota when we were out there, but we didn't have that opportunity.
"I think they're a fast team and they like to skate, which we like to do, and I think it's going to be a great matchup for us."
The Gophers finished seventh in the WCHA but won four straight tournament games by one goal - three in overtime - before losing to Denver, 2-1, in the final. Minnesota is one of six WCHA teams in the tournament.
If BC and UNH are to have a rematch of their triple-overtime Hockey East semifinal, it won't come until the NCAA championship, but the Eagles don't mind.
"It's always nice playing different teams," said Brennan. "That's what the tournament is all about, getting a chance to play the other top teams in the nation. We wouldn't mind if we had to play another Hockey East team but it's nice playing other teams. Maybe we'll see them down the road."
In contrast to the Wildcats, who were consistently good throughout the season, the Eagles had some growing pains. Brennan thinks that will help them.
"We went through some ups and downs there at the beginning of the year," he said. "The biggest thing is just staying positive. The 24 guys in that room, that's exactly what we do. BC hockey, we like to pride ourselves on peaking at the right time and making a playoff run and that's what we've been trying to do. So far it's been good and we're going to try to keep it going."
UNH captain Matt Fornataro said his team doesn't know much about Notre Dame, which finished fourth in the CCHA and lost to Miami University in overtime in the conference semifinal.
"They've been a good team over the last couple of years," he said. "They're well coached and they have some good forwards up front. I have one friend I played junior with on the team [junior Garrett Regan] and I'm trying to get a hold of him."
Fornataro doesn't expect Regan to give him much in the way of intel.
"It will probably be like pulling teeth," he said with a laugh, "but I'll try my best."
Brennan believes this edition of the Eagles is every bit as good as the last two, each of which lost in the NCAA championship game.
"Every team has been very close but this team has been through a lot this year," said Brennan. "We have a lot of chemistry and a lot of great guys in the room and we stick together and I think that's the biggest part to get through a tournament like this. We have some similarities to last year's team. Talent-wise, I definitely think we're as good as last year. I think we really work hard around the net. We're gritty, we're fast, and we've put that all together for a pretty good run so far."
Both teams have unfinished business.
"I think learning from past experience is huge," said Brennan. "A lot of guys on this team have played in a national championship game. I think 95 percent of us have, so we know what to expect. The senior class is pretty hungry for a national championship. We've been there twice and it's kind of slipped out of our hands so we're pretty hungry and we have the team to do it. There's one more trophy the senior class hasn't won and we're really excited to get the chance to get after it again.
"We were on the bubble there for a while and we kind of pulled through. We're excited to be in the tournament and we're very excited about Minnesota."
UNH won just one NCAA Tournament game in Fornataro's first three years and that was when he was a freshman. He vows this year will be different.
"We feel like we're better than that," he said. "We definitely feel we have something to prove. We're definitely hungry and we have the right mind-set right now. I think things are going to fall into place for us. [UNH and BC] are going to represent Hockey East well. We both have a great chance to win this whole thing."
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at Marrapese@globe.com.
