Merrimack's goalie dominance, Dartmouth's long-awaited return, and Michigan's explosive offense highlight crucial NCAA tournament previews.
Six conference championships left us with things to take away as we look forward to the NCAA tournament this upcoming Thursday.
Number one: Max Lundgren and Merrimack aren’t joking around
Any team with goaltending has the biggest piece of the recipe for a national championship, and the Warriors have displayed that to the country in Max Lundgren.
Lundgren, a 23-year-old from Sweden, made 49 saves in the process of being the first eight seed to win the Hockey East Tournament, as the Warriors were outshot by double, 50-25. Lundgren fought off 22 saves for the Warriors to carry on.
Prior to the championship game? A 24-save shutout against UMass. The three most recent wins that came in the Hockey East tournament were all against ranked opponents.
Momentum is the deadliest weapon in a single-elimination tournament, like such. We’ll see what Merrimack can do against #2 North Dakota in Sioux Falls.
Number two: Dartmouth is prepared for first dance since 1980.
There is no denying that the dancing shoes for the Big Green have collected some dust, but there is no reason to let that impact your opinion on how incredible Head Coach Reid Cashman and his squadron have been all season.
Dartmouth made sure they remained red hot, with an overtime victory over Princeton in the ECAC Championship, automatically bringing them into the NCAA tournament, although they had an at-large bid on lock. Tim Busconi’s game-winner and Emmett Croteau’s dominant performance in net didn’t want the Princeton Tigers snatching that conference title from them.
Another team with scorching hot momentum will have Wisconsin to start, as the Badgers had a freezing Big Ten Tournament, losing to Ohio State in the quarterfinals. Wisconsin will play its first game in 15 days against Dartmouth, which can play as an advantage to Dartmouth if they can start out fast and make the Badgers play catch-up.
Number three: Michigan is as good as we thought they were
Jack Ivankovic, TJ Hughes, whoever else you’d like to converse about: they all have been doing their job, showcasing Michigan’s bounce back from not winning the regular season title but taking the banner for the tournament.
Michigan beat rival Ohio State with seven unique goal scorers in a 7-3 victory back on Saturday, soaking in their last game of the season at deadly Yost Ice Arena.
Good offenses can still be inconsistent, but Michigan is above that profile. The Wolverines scored 18 goals in just three games in their dominant Big Ten title run. Bentley will have a tough task of holding this offense to less than four goals, something that has not been done since February 26th, a month ago, by the time Michigan engages in first-round action.