Regional Brackets:

SEMI FINALS RESULTS 3/20:

HOCKEY EAST:
Great balls of fire what a great college hockey game last night between UMass-Lowell and Northeastern. Final minute of regulation UML ties it up and sends the game into overtime. NU must be dissapointed about taking the too many men penalty and coming up short in OT.
UML 3 - NU 2 -OT

Boston College hung in there against the #1 seed BU but could not stave off the 44 second blitz.
BU 3 - BC 2

Final tonight at the TD Banknorth Garden 7pm
UML vs. BU

ECAC:
Cornell beats Princeton 4-3 to advance to the final.

Yale beats St. Lawrence 4-3 to advance as well.

The Final is tonight at 7:30
Yale vs. Cornell.

CCHA:
No surprises in the CCHA last night as Michigan put away Alaska for good and Notre Dame took care of Northern Michigan.

Michigan 3 - Alaska 1
Notre Dame 2 - Northern Michigan 1

Final is tonight at 7:30 and it should be a great one.
Michigan vs. Notre Dame

WCHA:
Much like in Hockey East we had the underdog Minnesota-Duluth continuing their great play and shutting out North Dakota at home. What in the world is going on??

Denver also shut out Wisconsin.

Minnesota-Duluth 3 - North Dakota 0
Denver 3 - Wisconsin 0

Final is tonight 8pm CT
Denver vs. Minnesota-Duluth

ATLANTIC:
Airforce 3 - Bentley 0
Mercyhurst 5 - Rochester Tech 4 -OT

Final is tonight 7:05
Airforce vs. Mercyhurst

CURRENT RANKINGS AS OF 3/16:

Here are your current rankings after last weekend's action.

LAST NIGHT'S RESULTS 3/15:

CCHA:
Crazy upsets in the CCHA last night - Alaska snuck by Ohio State in a 1-0 shut out to advance to the Semi's.

Miami loses to Northern Michigan in a 3-1 game (someone needs to lose their job...).

HOCKEY EAST:
Northeastern took a ride on the emotional rollercoaster last night leading for most of the game but with 34 seconds left in regulation UMass tied the game forcing the overtime. NU took the game on Tuckerman's goal (if that kid doesn't get player of the week somethings wrong).

Boston University trounced Maine but still has powerplay problems that need to be addressed before playing a BC team that is playing very well of late.

ECAC:
Cornell beats Rensselaer by only 1 goal but hey they still won right??

Princeton 3, Union 1. I'm still surprised this went 3 games.

All brackets are set for the net round of the playoffs. Stay tuned for those!

SCHEDULE 3/15 - WINNERS ADVANCE:

CLICK ON THE SCHEDULE BELOW TO ENLARGE

Sunday Morning Report 3/15:

HOCKEY EAST:
#17 Boston College advances to the next round upsetting #3 New Hampshire on their home sheet.

UMass-Lowell also advances sweeping #7 Vermont at the Gut! They stole Friday's game and put the hammer down last night.

#4 Northeastern beats Massachusetts at Matthews Arena forcing an exciting 3rd game tonight.

#2 Boston University loses at home to Maine and will also play tonight to decide who moves on.

ECAC:
#9 Yale takes both games against Brown as expected.

#13 St. Lawrence held off a tough Quinnipiac team to take both games.

#12 Cornell, shut out in Friday's game came back strong to deliver their own shut out to Rensselaer - tonights game will decide it.

Union surprises all by winning at #10 Princeton on Saturday night by a wide margin - big game 3 tonight should be one to watch.

CCHA:
Top ranked Notre Dame made quick work of Nebraska-Omaha on Friday night, then beat them with only one goal on Saturday to advance to the next round.

#3 Michigan rolled over Western Michigan both Friday and Saturday to also advance.

Northern Michigan stays alive beating #8 Miami at their home ice in overtime Saturday night to force a deciding 3rd game.

#14 Ohio State after being shut out in the first game at Alaska, rallied back to win. The two teams play tonight to see who advances.

WCHA:
#5 North Dakota took care of Michigan Tech in both games at home.

#6 Denver beat Alaska-Anchorage in 2 one goal games they'll need to get out of 1st gear if they want to keep advancing.

"On the Bubble" Minnesota-Duluth upsets #15 Colorado College in Colorado! Oh my!

#18 Wisconsin rolls over Minnesota State advancing to the next round.

#16 Minnesota beats the "out of gas" #19 St. Cloud State in both games (Saturday's was a shut out). This series should have been closer in my opionion.

ATLANTIC HOCKEY:
Mercyhurst took care of bid-ness handily sending Army home for good and advancing.

Canisius split at Bentley and will play tonight to break the tie.

Holy Cross wins the 1st game but loses the 2nd to RIT forcing tonights decider.

Airforce also wins on Friday and loses on Satuday to Sacred Heart and will also play tonight.

COLLEGE HOCKEY AMERICA:
Bemidji State takes 1st place in CHA beating Robert Morris who, by losing takes 2nd place.

The 3rd place game against Alabama-Huntsville and Niagra ended in a 1-1 tie after the overtime.

CONFERENCE PLAYOFF PREVIEWS:

Here are some previews of each conference as we await this week's playoff match ups:

HOCKEY EAST

CCHA

WCHA

ECAC

ATLATIC HOCKEY

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE 3/13 & 3/14:

With Western Michigan beating Lake Superior handily last night and Quinnipiac's overtime win against Clarkson, the college hockey playoff schedule is now set.

CLICK THE SCHEDULES BELOW TO ENLARGE:

BU TAKES THE CROWN:

Providence 0 - at #2 Boston University 3

As expected Boston University took care of Providence, snatching the Hockey East title from Northeastern on the last game of the regular season.

2 games still in progress:

Lake Superior at Western Michigan to see who will play in the next round of the CCHA playoffs.

Colgate at Quinnipiac likewise for the ECAC.

Weekend Wrap 3/6, 3/7 & 3/8:

HOCKEY EAST:
Boston College beat Northeastern at Conte Forum last night to all but dash NU's hope at capturing it's first Hockey East title.

Boston University can take the Hockey East crown with a win or a tie today in Providence.

New Hampshire did what they had to do in Vermont this weekend hanging on to 3rd place.

UMass-Lowell (clinched 5th place) continued to play well enough at home against a sputtering Maine squad.

Massachusetts split with Merrimack which is a microcosm of their season (warm & cold).

CCHA preliminary playoffs:
Advancing to the next round we have Nebraska-Omaha, Ohio State and Northern Michigan but the real battle is with Lake Superior and Western Michigan. They will play tonight at Western Michigan to decide who stays and who goes home. Lake Superior came within a wisker of upsetting WM last night but came up just shy in double overtime. It's all or nothing tonight.

WCHA:
North Dakota split their games in Wisconsin as did Minnesota at Michigan Tech.

St. Cloud is not exaclty "peaking" and can't be happy about their performance coming away with only a tie and a loss to Minnesota State.

Minnesota Duluth limps in the the playoffs after a dismal showing at home against Alaska Anchorage.

ECAC preliminary playoffs:
Last place Brown beats Harvard who could not muster even one goal all weekend at home.

Rensselaer showed some grit and determination advancing into the next round, beating 6th place Dartmouth on their home sheet.

Union disposed of Clarkson for good this year with 2 convincing wins at home.

Colgate & Quinnipiac split Friday & Saturday's games and will battle tonight to see who will advance.

WHO'S HOT & WHO'S NOT 3/6, 3/7 & 3/8:

Recap of how teams did on the weekend starting 3/6.

"GREAT" (++) WIN & WIN:
#2 Boston University
#14 Ohio State (advance to next round)
UMass-Lowell
Nebraska-Omaha (advance to next round)
Northern Micehigan (advance to next round)
Alaska Anchorage
Brown (advance to next round)
Rensselaer (advance to next round)
Union (advance to next round)

"GOOD" (+~) WIN & TIE:
Minnesota State

"NO BLOOD" (+-) WIN & LOSS:
#3 Northeastern
#5 North Dakota
#7 Vermont
#11 New Hampshire
#16 Minnesota
#19 Boston College
#20 Wisconsin
Massachusetts
Merrimack
Lake Superior (tie breaker today)
Western Michigan (tie breaker today)
Michigan Tech
Colgate (tie breaker today)
Qunnipiac (tie breaker today)

"KISS YOUR SISTER" (~~) TIE & TIE:
(no teams with 2 ties this week)

"NOT GOOD" (~-) TIE & LOSS:
#18 St. Cloud State

"BAD" (--) LOSS & LOSS:
#17 Minnesota Duluth
Maine
Providence
Ferris State (out of playoffs)
Bowling Green (out of playoffs)
Dartmouth (out of playoffs)
Clarkson (out of playoffs)
Harvard (out of playoffs)

WCHA RESULTS 3/6:

Last week of the regular season in the WCHA and here are Saturday's results:

Alaska Anchorage 5 - at #17 Minnesota Duluth 4
#16 Minnesota 5 - at Michigan Tech 6 -OT
Minnesota State 5 - at #18 St. Cloud State 1
#5 North Dakota 2 - at #20 Wisconsin 1

It was a night mostly of upsets as you can see except for UND who clinched 1st place!

MADISON, Wis. (March 6) — Even over the hum of the Zamboni machine, the North Dakota celebration could be heard from well down the hall.

After five years of coming up just short in the end, No. 5 North Dakota scored its two goals on special teams and won another big game in the Kohl Center, this one by a 2-1 margin to capture its first MacNaughton Cup since the 2004 season.

Read the entire article here.

CCHA RESULTS 3/6:

Best of 3 playoffs started last night and here are the results:

Ferris State 0 - at Nebraska-Omaha 3
Bowling Green 4 - at #14 Ohio State 5
Lake Superior 6 - at Western Michigan 3
Michigan State 3 - at Northern Michigan 5

#14 Ohio State takes game one to put Bowling Green back on their heels.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (March 6) — The Ohio State Buckeyes, disappointed after missing out on a first round bye by a single point, responded with a 5-4 win over the Bowling Green Falcons in front of 817 in the OSU Ice Arena Friday night.

Read the entire article here.

#19 Boston College 1 - at #3 Northeastern 2

Fantastic game at Matthews Arena tonight. BC took a 1-0 lead deep into the 3rd period but with 26 seconds left, junior Randy Guzior tied the game after NU pulled goalie Brad Thiessen in the hopes that they can somehow hold on to their 1st place dreams.

It looked like the two teams were going to remain knotted when late in the overtime freshman Steve Quailer netted one to put Northeastern atop the Hockey East standings for at least one more night!

NU is now the master of their domain - it's simple, win one more and you finish 1st in Hockey East for the first time ever.

Other Hockey East results 3/6:
#2 Boston University 8 - at Providence 2
Massachusetts 2 - at Merrimack 3 -OT
#11 New Hampshire 4 - at #7 Vermont 6
Maine 3 - at UMass-Lowell 5

ECAC results 3/6:
Brown 1 - at Harvard 0
Rensselaer 3 - at Dartmouth 2 -OT
Clarkson 3 - at Union 5
Colgate 2 - Quinnipiac 3 -OT

ON CAMPUS CLIPS:

Three of the six conferences completed regular-season play last weekend:

Yale won the ECACHL title; Air Force and RIT ended co-champions of Atlantic Hockey; Notre Dame topped the CCHA. ... Hockey East and WCHA champions will be decided this weekend with Northeastern and North Dakota holding a one-point lead on BU and Denver, respectively, while Bemidji State is a lock to win the CHA crown in its final weekend. ... Michigan State's Jeff Lerg became the CCHA's all-time saves leader and moved past Tim Thomas into second place on the all-time NCAA list with a 35-save performance in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Notre Dame. He has 3,951 career saves, and would become only the second netminder in NCAA history to reach 4,000. ... NHL.com sends condolences to the family, friends and Notre Dame hockey community on the unexpected passing last Friday of the team's play-by-play announcer, Mike Lockert, at the age of 43. The hockey program honored Lockert with a tribute prior to its game against Michigan State, which included some of his recent radio calls and a moment of silence. Lockert, who hailed from Los Angeles, had been the radio voice of Notre Dame hockey for seven seasons. "It's just devastating to me," Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said after his team's 5-0 win against Michigan State. "I got to know Mike real well. I was just dumbfounded (Friday) morning when I found out. There's nothing I can say except that he was a part of our team. It's not just so much about the voice but the man behind the voice. He was a tremendous man."

By Bob Snow - NHL.com Correspondent

SCHEDULE 3/6, 3/7 & 3/8:

CLICK ON THE SCHEDULE TO ENLARGE

LAST WEEK OF THE REGULAR SEASON FOR HOCKEY EAST:

PRELIMINARY PLAYOFFS START IN CCHA THIS WEEKEND:

LAST WEEK OF THE REGULAR SEASON FOR WCHA:

PRELIMINARY PLAYOFFS START IN ECAC THIS WEEKEND:

NATIONAL RANKINGS (WEEKEND 3/6/09)

1.
Notre Dame
— (no change from last week's rank)
Goaltender Jordan Pearce picked up career wins 54 and 55 this weekend in the Irish's sweep of Michigan State. He's one shy of the school's record set by Lance Madson.
27-5-3 (21-4-3 CCHA)
LAST WEEK: W vs. Michigan State, 5-0; W at Michigan State, 2-1.
THIS WEEK: Off

2.
Boston University
— (no change from last week's rank)
Consistent. Hot. The Terriers have just one loss in their last 23 games (18-1-4) and still aren't even in first place in their own conference, because ...
25-5-4 (16-5-4 Hockey East)
LAST WEEK: W vs. Massachusetts, 6-3; W vs. Massachusetts, 7-2.
THIS WEEK: at Providence, vs. Providence

3.
Northeastern
— (no change from last week's rank)
... the Huskies maintained their Hockey East lead with a sweep of UMass Lowell. Brad Thiessen made 56 saves on 57 shots faced. Freshman center Mike McLaughlin had a goal in each win.
22-8-4 (17-5-3 Hockey East)
LAST WEEK: W vs. UMass Lowell, 3-0; W at UMass Lowell, 3-1.
THIS WEEK: vs. Boston College, at Boston College

4.
Michigan
— (no change from last week's rank)
It's the college hockey equivalent of adding Chris Pronger at the trading deadline: Captain Mark Mitera, in his first games since injuring his knee on Oct. 10, had a goal and an assist in the Wolverines' sweep of Ferris State.
26-10-0 (20-8-0 CCHA)
LAST WEEK: W at Ferris State, 6-1; W vs. Ferris State, 4-0.
THIS WEEK: Off

5.
North Dakota
— (no change from last week's rank)
The Fighting Sioux, one point from winning the WCHA regular-season title, are 12-1-3 since Jan. 1. With their penchant for second-half success, maybe Dave Hakstol should schedule all 36 games after Christmas from here on out.
21-11-4 (16-6-4 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: T vs. Colorado College, 4-4 ot; W vs. Colorado College, 4-3 ot.
THIS WEEK: at Wisconsin, at Wisconsin

6.
Denver
— (no change from last week's rank)
Already playing without high-scoring forward Tyler Bozak, the Pioneers may have suffered another blow when forward Rhett Rakhshani, the team's second-leading scorer, was injured in Friday's win vs. St. Cloud State and missed Saturday's rematch.
16-8-3 (20-10-4 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: W vs. St. Cloud State, 3-1; L vs. St. Cloud State, 2-1 ot.
THIS WEEK: vs. Colorado College

7.
Vermont
+2 (from last week's rank)
Justin Milo has 10 goals on the season. Four of them are game-winners, including Saturday's decisive tally with 4:20 remaining at Maine.
19-8-5 (14-7-4 Hockey East)
LAST WEEK: W at Maine, 3-2; W at Maine, 2-1.
THIS WEEK: vs. New Hampshire, vs. New Hampshire

8.
Miami
— (no change from last week's rank)
Salute to round numbers: Justin Mercier's empty-net goal with 60 seconds left in Saturday's 7-5 win at Ohio State was his 10th of the season and his 100th career point in his 150th career game.
19-10-5 (17-7-4 CCHA)
LAST WEEK: L vs. Ohio State, 6-2; W at Ohio State, 7-5.
THIS WEEK: Off

9.
Yale
+1 (from last week's rank)
Yale won ECAC Hockey with 32 points, but a 3-1-0 record in the four head-to-head games against Cornell and Princeton was the difference between the top three in the ECACH standings.
20-7-2 (15-5-2 ECAC Hockey)
LAST WEEK: W vs. Cornell, 4-2; L vs. Colgate, 3-2 ot.
THIS WEEK: Off

10.
Princeton
-3 (from last week's rank)
Have no fear, Princeton fans. The Tigers lost their last two regular-season games last season too, then went on to win the ECAC Hockey playoff title.
20-9-0 (14-8-0 ECAC Hockey)
LAST WEEK: L at Dartmouth, 2-0; L at Harvard, 3-2.
THIS WEEK: Off

11.
New Hampshire
+1 (from last week's rank)
The Wildcats have taken 11 of a possible 12 points in their last six Hockey East games. Four of the five wins were by one goal, or a two-goal margin that included an empty-net goal.
18-9-5 (14-7-4 Hockey East)
LAST WEEK: W at Merrimack, 4-3; W vs. Merrimack, 1-0.
THIS WEEK: at Vermont, at Vermont

12.
Cornell
-1 (from last week's rank)
The Big Red scored two goals in the last 12 minutes of the third period on Saturday at Brown to tie the game, then got an overtime power-play goal from Blake Gallagher to beat the last-place Bears and clinch second place in the league.
18-7-4 (13-6-3 ECAC Hockey)
LAST WEEK: L at Yale, 4-2; W at Brown, 3-2 ot.
THIS WEEK: Off

13.
St. Lawrence
+4 (from last week's rank)
The Saints had not recorded a single shutout all season, but senior goalie Alex Petizian blanked both Union and Renssealer over the weekend. The last time SLU shut out back-to-back opponents? Also RPI and Union, in November of 1997.
19-11-4 (11-7-4 ECAC Hockey)
LAST WEEK: W at Union, 2-0; W at Rensselaer, 2-0.
THIS WEEK: Off

14.
Ohio State
+1 (from last week's rank)
Should the Buckeyes get past Bowling Green this weekend in the first round of the CCHA playoffs, their reward will be a trip to Fairbanks – the second in roughly six weeks – for a quarterfinal series against Alaska.
20-12-4 (13-11-4 CCHA)
LAST WEEK: W at Miami, 6-2; L vs. Miami, 7-5.
THIS WEEK: vs. Bowling Green (CCHA First Round Series)

15.
Colorado College
+1 (from last week's rank)
The Tigers played their 10th and 11th overtime contests of the season this weekend at North Dakota, but Sunday's loss to the Fighting Sioux was the first time CC ended up on the wrong side of the ledger.
16-10-9 (12-9-6 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: T at North Dakota, 4-4 ot; L at North Dakota, 4-3 ot.
THIS WEEK: at Denver

16.
Minnesota
+2 (from last week's rank)
Backup goaltender Kent Patterson made his first career start Friday against Minnesota Duluth and earned a 2-2 tie by stopping 34 of the 36 shots he faced. Starter Alex Kangas returned Saturday to make 28 saves in a 5-3 win.
14-11-7 (11-10-5 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: T vs. Minnesota Duluth, 2-2 ot; W vs. Minnesota Duluth, 5-3.
THIS WEEK: at Michigan Tech, at Michigan Tech

17.
Minnesota Duluth
-4 (from last week's rank)
He did his part: Forward MacGregor Sharp scored three goals over an 18-minute stretch of Saturday's game at Mariucci, turning a 2-0 Minnesota lead into a 3-2 Bulldog edge early in the third period before the Gophers rallied to win.
16-10-8 (10-9-7 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: T at Minnesota, 2-2 ot; L at Minnesota, 5-3.
THIS WEEK: vs. Alaska Anchorage, vs. Alaska Anchorage

18.
St. Cloud State
+1 (from last week's rank)
The Huskies have put together a little bit of a run over the last 10 games, going 6-3-1 during that span as they make a late push for a home-ice berth in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
18-14-2 (13-12-1 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: L at Denver, 3-1; W at Denver, 2-1 ot.
THIS WEEK: vs. Minnesota State, at Minnesota State

19.
Boston College
Not Ranked last week
Seven different players scored BC's nine goals on the weekend. That's the type of offensive balance that can make the Eagles dangerous. We'll see if they can keep it going against Northeastern, the nation's eighth-best defensive team.
15-12-5 (10-10-5 Hockey East)
LAST WEEK: W vs. Providence, 5-1; W at Providence, 4-3 ot.
THIS WEEK: at Northeastern, vs. Northeastern

20.
Wisconsin
-6 (from last week's rank)
How much do Badger fans hate to see games knotted at the end of regulation? In the last two seasons, Bucky has lost six overtime games, the latest coming Friday at Mankato against Minnesota State.
16-14-4 (13-10-3 WCHA)
LAST WEEK: L at Minnesota State, 4-3 ot; T at Minnesota State, 3-3 ot.
THIS WEEK: vs. North Dakota, vs. North Dakota

WHO'S HOT & WHO'S NOT 2/27, 2/28 & 3/1:

Recap of how teams did on the weekend starting 2/27.

"GREAT" (++) WIN & WIN:
#1 Notre Dame
#2 Boston University
#3 Northeastern
#4 Michigan
#9 Vermont
#12 New Hampshire
#17 St. Lawrence
Boston College
Western Michigan
Northern Michigan
Alaska Anchorage
Harvard

"GOOD" (+~) WIN & TIE:
#5 North Dakota
#18 Minnesota
Minnesota State
Colgate

"NO BLOOD" (+-) WIN & LOSS:
#6 Denver
#8 Miami
#10 Yale
#11 Cornell
#15 Ohio State
#19 St. Cloud State
Union
Quinnipiac
Dartmouth
Clarkson

"KISS YOUR SISTER" (~~) TIE & TIE:
no teams with 2 ties this week

"NOT GOOD" (~-) TIE & LOSS:
#13 Minnesota-Duluth
#14 Wisconsin
#16 Colorado College
Brown

"BAD" (--) LOSS & LOSS:
#7 Princeton
#20 UMass Lowell
Maine
Merrimack
Providence
UMass
Ferris State
Michigan State
Bowling Green
Lake Superior
Alaska
Rensseler