My NCAA Tournament Outlook

My own thoughts on the NCAA tourney brackets has Minnesota and Wisconsin advancing to Duluth past North Dakota (Min) and Mercyhurst (Wis), while Cornell/BU (Boston U) and BC (Boston College)/St. Lawrence will be the interesting games of the quarterfinals..

I'm not sure about Cornell, and St. Lawrence has a real chance to beat BC so right now I expect Minnesota/Wisconsin/BU/St. Lawrence to be the final four teams. Wisconsin would face St. Lawrence and Minnesota faces BU if that scenario unfolds..

I'm not cheering for Minnesota and Wisconsin (or any team really) just that the WCHA retains it's stronghold on the National Championship it's had since UMD won the first one way back.

Mercyhurst's Vicki Bendus Wins Kazmaier Award

Mercyhurst junior Vicki Bendus won the 2010 Patty Kazmaier award today for the top D1 women's college hockey player.

Photos From Cornell's Overtime Win Against Mercyhurst

Click the blog title to view all of my photos from the 3-2 Overtime Cornell Semi-Final win against Mercyhurst in the NCAA Women's D1 Frozen Four!

UMD Women Upset #1 Mercyhurst 4-3!

Click the blog title to view the collegehockeystats.net box score...

Behind 39 Jenny Harss saves, the Bulldogs upset the unbeaten #1 team in the country Mercyhurst, 4-3 in Erie, PA.

Saara Tuominen, Laura Fridfinnson, and Audrey Cournoyer scored in the first 9 minutes of the second to give UMD a 3-0 lead, which was cut to 3-1 when Mercyhurst's Bailey Bram scored with 21 seconds left in the period. An Emmanuelle Blais goal 5 minutes into the third period gave UMD back their 3 goal lead, but Mercyhurst's scored back to back goals to cut the lead to the final 4-3 UMD score.

Kirsti Hakala got her first assist of the season and second as a Bulldog, while Blais had two assists, and Jamie Rasmussen and Fridfinnson again assisted on a goal.

UMD heads to St. Cloud next weekend, minus Saara Tuominen and Mariia Posa, who are gone for the 4 Nations Cup tournament. Justine Fisher played defense in the Mercyhurst series, likely to step into Posa's vancancy for the St. Cloud weekend and maybe the rest of the season?

Blais & Rasmussen WCHA Players of Week

It seems like a no-brainer really.. with 4 goals and an assist against North Dakota, Emmanuelle Blais was named WCHA offensive player of the week, and Jamie Rasmussen with1 goal and 4 assists is the defensive player of the week for her efforts against the Sioux.

UMD heads to Erie, PA to face unbeaten Mercyhurst this weekend, and after that series, Saara Tuominen and Mariia Posa head to Finland for a week for the 4 Nations Cup tournament, which means they'll miss the series in St. Cloud.