DULUTH — Duluth, Minn. coach Maura Crowell made a rare mistake Sunday when addressing her team about what was to come after the NCAA Tournament selection show, which initially beat the Bulldogs 5-0. They were talking about a possible rematch with top-seeded Ohio State. WCHA Final Faceoff a few days ago.
Thankfully for Crowell, she said UMD has a room full of NCAA Tournament professionals. Some of those pros gave the coach strange looks as she spoke, but Crowell quickly corrected her demeanor and shifted her focus to college competition.
It's not the Buckeyes, it's the team. The Bulldogs will play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at 6pm CDT at the Ohio State University Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio. If and only if the Bulldogs defeat the Huskies, they will play the Buckeyes again on Saturday at 3pm CDT at the OSU Ice Rink.
“This week I'm just trying to focus on practice every day,” UMD senior forward Katie Davis said. He is one of four players on the Bulldogs team and will be making UMD's fourth NCAA Tournament appearance. “We're really good at adjusting to the details of different practices during practice, even on other game weekends. We also produce a ton of video, so UConn's Being able to watch different clips really helps throughout the week. We're just trying to stay in the present.”
Crowell is right to talk about bringing his former professional teams to the NCAA Tournament, including 15 players who were on NCAA Tournament teams at UMD and elsewhere.
Thirteen of the 15 were Bulldogs from last season who were in roughly the same situation as UMD is in this year, and nine were Bulldogs who were in the same situation the year before that. In UMD's last two NCAA Tournament trips, they defeated an Eastern team in the first round and faced the school's biggest rival, the Minnesota Golden Gophers, in the regional final.
How has UMD handled first-round games the past two years? In 2022, the Bulldogs dominated ECAC regular-season champion Harvard, 4-0, and were ECAC postseason runner-up a year ago They shut out Clarkson 2-0.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune
UMD is 4-1 in its past three trips to the NCAA Tournament against ECAC and Hockey East teams, with one loss coming in overtime to Northeastern in the controversial 2021 Frozen Four. It is something.
So while the coaches may have been one step ahead on Sunday morning, the players certainly weren't. They focus on his UConn. Because that's the only way to get to Ohio State.
“It's very exciting and a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country,” Bulldogs fifth-year senior captain Manon McMahon said of the draw. “I think teams that are quote unquote ‘underdogs’ are very dangerous, especially in domestic tournaments, especially in positions where you are fighting for your life. I'm very confident in this group. (Sweep) I think we play our best hockey when there's a lot at stake, as we saw from St. Cloud. That's very exciting for us and I think it gives us a lot of confidence. ”
The University of Connecticut women's hockey program, better known as UConn, is in the midst of a historic season, winning its first regular and postseason titles in the Hockey East and making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 seasons as an NCAA Division I program. I have earned the right to participate. This year's 25 wins are also a program record.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune
Crowell said the Huskies play a good structured system and have good goaltending. Junior goaltender Megan Warrener (third, .951) and senior Tia Chan (fifth, .949) both rank in the top five in the NCAA in save percentage, as do UMD sophomore Haley McLeod. (2nd place, .954) and freshman Yves Gascon. (4th, .951).
“They have some quick forwards, guys who can come up off the ice and attack the net well,” Crowell said of UW. “They had a great year. Winning the championship says a lot about the program and we look forward to seeing them on Thursday.”
Despite all of their success, the Huskies need a 1-0 overtime win over Northeastern on Saturday afternoon to clinch Hockey East's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, where they will face the Bulldogs on Thursday. I was unable to participate in the event.
Union University went 1-3 in ECAC and WCHA play and 3-3-1 in non-conference play, finishing 10th in the pairwise rankings (Quinnipiac, the last at-large team eliminated, was 9th). was). These two leagues each played four games in the NCAA Tournament, but Union College was the only representative from Hockey East as the conference finished 8-26-2 in ECAC games and 0-8 in WCHA games. .
The Huskies and Bulldogs share two common opponents this season: Quinnipiac and Minnesota. UConn is 0-3 against the Bobcats and Gophers, while UMD is 0-4-2.
