Frozen Four Detroit:

The NCAA Frozen Four kicks off tonight at Ford Field in Detroit. About a year ago, I had my face buried in my hands as I watched my BU Terriers fall behind 3-1 to Miami in the championship game .... followed by the greatest 59 seconds of hockey I've ever seen when we tied it up and went on to win in OT. It was one of the greatest feelings. Funny how sports can do that to you, isn't it?

But now it's officially time to move on.

Miami-Ohio is back after becoming BU's victim last year in the final game. I love the type of team head coach Enrico Blasi puts together, and I wouldn't mind seeing them finally get their championship. They're still probably feeling the sting of last year's game. This would be a great way to redeem it.

Miami's opponent tonight is good, old Boston College. I'm not the best person to talk about them considering I hate them. The bottom line is they have a good team again. We'll see how they fair. In two of their last three games they gave up over six goals (6 and 7 respectively). Um, that's not that good. They gotta figure something out.

The Wisconsin Badgers. Who doesn't love Bucky the Badger? I've always been a Wisco fan (was THIS close to going there for school too); I probably like them more than any other team in the final four. Blake Geoffrion is the big name here. He's up for the Hobey, and he's pretty unreal. Count on him to do some damage.


And finally, the Cinderella team. Ah, how I love these types of teams. Following in Bemidji State's footsteps, RIT has surprisingly found its way into the semi-finals. RI-who? Yeah, I know. You'll love them though because there's no way not to. No scholarship players. No drafted players. Just a hard-working team who are riding a hot goaltender. They took out Denver and UNH -- no easy feat. They can do this. Will they? I don't know, but I kind of hope so. 

One of my favorite college hockey writers, Ryan Lambert over at Puck Daddy, put together a little preview here. Although I can't say I agree with 'Jerry York is the best coach in college hockey.' That belongs to Jack Parker in my eyes. But that's because I'm absolutely biased, and I've had a closer look at how Jack interacts and helps his players grow. Regardless, the both of them together are a hard act for any coach to follow. But that was completely off topic.

Both games tonight will be shown on ESPN 2 starting at 5:30 with the Wisconsin-RIT match-up.