The Frozen Four – Fun facts and which Charlotte Checkers have had NCAA success

I love the Frozen Four tournament.  When all of my friends are talking about “March Madness” my mind instantly goes to the Division I hockey teams hoping to make the post season.

On Thursday (while the Checkers take on the Texas Stars), the semi-finals will be underway in Pittsburgh, with St. Cloud State taking on top-ranked Quinnipiac, and UMass-Lowell will face Yale.  The final is on Saturday.

Half of the tournament is over already, and my NCAA team lost in the second round unfortunately, so I’m without a team to cheer for in the Frozen Four this weekend.

Sean Dolan captained the Wisconsin Badgers during his senior year of college.

This year, the Frozen Four consists of three teams who’ve never made it to the Frozen Four, and a fourth team who has only made it once.   When my team gets eliminated early in the tournament, I like to cheer for the underdog, but that’s a hard choice this year, because none of the teams have a lot of post-season success.  I can’t tell you the last time the Frozen Four didn’t include one of the NCAA powerhouses such as Sean Dolan’s Wisconsin or John Muse’s Boston College.

A few fun facts about this year’s Frozen Four:

• The mascots of the four teams include pretty regular creatures.  Two types of dogs, a cat, and a bird.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a Golden Gopher, A Fighting Sioux, or a mythical creature like a Golden Knight or Buckeye. This makes me sad.
• Yale and Quinnipiac are located on the same street in Connecticut, only eight miles away.
• St. Cloud State University has never been to a Frozen Four before this year, though the state of Minnesota has 20 players in the Frozen Four this year.
• University of Massachusetts – Lowell is also making their first-ever Frozen Four appearance. They have the fewest Canadians on their team with three, and are the only team to not have a player from the state of Minnesota.

• 

  David Marshall as a member of the Quinnipiac Bobcats.

  Quinnipiac has the most Canadians on their team with six.  This is their first Frozen Four, and only their second appearance in the post season.  In 2002, they lost in the first round to Cornell.  Charlotte Checkers forward David Marshall spent four years playing for the Quinnipiac Bobcats Connecticut.

• Yale is set to make their second Frozen Four appearance in their history.  They last made it to the Frozen Four in 1952.  Former Hurricanes player Mike Commodore was recruited by Yale, but they wanted him to re-take the SAT to be accepted.  He instead chose to attend the University of North Dakota, where he won the Frozen Four tournament in 2000.

NCAA Alumni on the Charlotte Checkers

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  John Muse is one of the greatest goaltender’s to ever play for Boston College.

  John Muse is undoubtedly the most successful member of the Checkers when it comes to his NCAA experience.  He won two Frozen Fours in 2008 and 2010, and appeared in the NCAA tournament in 2011 (the year, by the way, former Checker Justin Faulk’s Duluth team won the championship).  His record in the NCAA tournament was 13-1.

• Checkers center Jeremy Welsh spent three seasons at Union College.  Welsh played in two NCAA tournaments in 2011 and 2012.  Last year, Welsh was a member of the Union Dutchmen team that made the Division I Frozen Four for the first time in the team’s history.

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  Justin Krueger spent four years as a member of the Cornell Big Red hockey team.

  Justin Krueger and Riley Nash both played college hockey at Cornell.  The mascot of Cornell is “Big Red.”  Krueger and Nash made two NCAA hockey tournament appearances in 2009 and 2010.

• Sean Dolan was the captain of the Wisconsin Badgers during his senior season in 2010-11.  He made two NCAA tournament appearances during his college career, in 2008 and 2010.  His junior year, in 2010, his team lost to the goaltending of John Muse and Boston College for the championship.

• 

  Rob Madore played college hockey at the University of Vermont.

  Rob Madore played four seasons at the University of Vermont.  He appeared in two NCAA tournaments in 2009 and 2010.  His name is on the school’s record books alongside Tim Thomas in pretty much every stat category.

• Matt Beca played for the Clarkson University Golden Knights for four seasons.  He appeared in two NCAA tournaments in 2007 and 2008.
• Danny Biega, Checkers defenseman, played three years at Harvard.  The mascot of Harvard is “Crimson” which is VERY different from the “Big Red” of Cornell.  Harvard and Cornell are fierce rivals. I hope the Checkers players who skated for different shades of red in College can put aside those rivalries now that they are professionals!
• Eric Baier played four years for the Providence Friars. During his time there, they didn’t make the post season.

• 

  Zac Dalpe played for the the Ohio State Buckeyes for two years before turning pro.

  Zac Dalpe spent two years at Ohio State. During his freshman year, his team appeared in the NCAA tournament.

• Bobby Raymond spent four years at the Rochester Institute of Technology.  It was a Division III school his freshman year, but joined the Division I ranks his second year.  While he didn’t play in an NCAA tournament as a student, his teammates made it the year after he graduated.

Checkers lose 3-2 to the #NorfolkingAdmirals

And then there were eight.

Of the 20 players that dressed tonight in Charlotte, only eight were on the opening-night roster for the Checkers in October.  The list of injured players was even longer than the healthy opening-night Checkers, and came in at nine.  (Just for a refresher, the injured players are: Zac Dalpe, Sean Dolan, Marc-Andre Gragnani, AJ Jenks, Michal Jordan, Andreas Nodl, Luke Pither, Jerome Samson &  Justin Shugg).

Tonight, three more players made their Checkers debut.  Forwards Casey Pierro-Zabotel and C.J. Severyn were signed to professional try-outs yesterday, while defenseman Danny Biega signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Hurricanes today, following the end of his Harvard season.  Biega was a third-round draft pick of the Hurricanes in 2010, and just completed his fourth year of NCAA hockey.  Biega, unfortunately, left the game after only his first three shifts.  Disoriented after a hit, he left the ice with Checkers trainer Brian Maddox and did not return.

Overall, it was a great effort by the Checkers, especially with so many new players on the ice, and chemistry still being developed.

“One advantage is they’re all trying to make an impression and they all want to stay here and they are bringing some energy to the lineup,” said Coach Jeff Daniels about the new additions to the lineup. “They are playing hard, and if they keep playing like that we’ll start winning some games.”

The game was not short on physicality.  Jeremy Welsh nearly fought after the final buzzer, and Nicolas Blanchard threw some hard blows at John Kurtz during the second period. The Checkers penalty kill remained strong, killing four of five penalties, and maintaining their second-place PK in the league.

Brett Sutter’s goal in the third period seemed to inject a new level of energy into the Checkers lineup, but the team was unable to carry on the momentum to a game-tying goal.

Though the game ended as a loss on the scoresheet, a lot can be taken from the energy and level of play that the Checkers exhibited.

“I have to say the new guys have been picking up very quickly and contributing offensively and defensively, and especially working very hard,” said Checkers defenseman Justin Krueger. “Even though we had a loss there was still a lot of energy and good stuff from the new guys and I feel like we are headed in the right direction.”

 

Odds and ends and off-topic rambling:

• Good news Checkers fans – Zac Dalpe took part in the morning skate today, though he was wearing a yellow no-contact jersey.  Fingers are crossed his recovery is speedy!
• In honor of the upcoming “Old Time Hockey” weekend, I was tempted to ask the guys at the post game media scrum what advice they thought the Hanson brothers would give a team battling countless injuries, but decided to keep it professional.  I am, however, tempted to ask for a box of foil to be delivered to the locker room.  And to ask the Checkmates to incorporate a pinwheel into their routine this weekend, because that would be epic!
• Speaking of old time hockey…. by the end of the season I’m going to have a hand-knit retro Checkers sweater, and it’s going to be amazing.
• I miss Mike Murphy a lot.  And I even miss Justin Pogge.  There, I said it.  I wonder if we could lure either of them back to Charlotte.  Of course, if I was living in Italy like Pogge is, I’m not sure I’d want to leave!
• I have some great marketing ideas for the Checkers and penalty box sponsorship opportunities that can help the team on and off the ice.  How does the “Brussels Sprouts and Lima Beans Penalty Box” sound for the Checkers? They wouldn’t want to visit it, right? And the “Krispy Kreme” visitors box, complete with a red neon “Hot and Now” sign above it.  Lure the visiting team in there for some glazed goodness!