FIRST semi-FinalNCAA "Frozen Four". 4:30 pm eastern time @ CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh, PA. it plays on ESPN2
U Mass-Lowell #3 tourney seed overall
pre tourney odds 14-1
overall record 28-10-2 1st in Hockey East regular season and won the HE tourney
last loss vs Providence 0-3 March 8th. their ONLY loss in their last 15 games
NCAA tourney. beat #14 seed Wisconsin 6-1 and #7 seed New Hampshire 2-0
the Riverhawks come into the tourney as one of the BEST defensive teams in the country. they have only given up more than 2 GA's once in their last 14 and that was the 3 in the Providence loss. only the Q and Miami-Ohio have a better team Gaa and I believe that is because goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who is #1 overall in NCAA Hockey this season with a 1.31 Gaa and 0.953 save % and 6 shutouts (including his last game over offensive powerhouse New Hampshire) was alternating until the HE and NCAA playoffs. he is 20-2 this season. U M-L is mostly US Juniors program kids from either US Hockey league, North American Hockey league and Eastern Juniors Hockey league but you sure wouldn't notice it the way they playing. IF the Q and SCS are the "Honey Badgers" of offense, these guys are the "Kayopectate" of D.
Yale #15 tourney seed overall
pre tourney odds 60-1
overall record 20-12-3 3rd in ECAC regular season
last loss to Quinnipiac 0-3 quarter-fianls of ECAC tourney
NCAA tourney. beat #2 seed Minnesota 3-2 in OT and #8 seed North Dakota 4-1
the "Eli" didn't have a great season and only "squeeked in" when both Boston University and Michigan lost their conference tourney championship games to U M-L and Notre Dame which would have given either an automatic berth in the NCAA's and bumped Yale. BUT since getting in, they have been playing inspired hockey. like most ECAC schools, their players are a mix of US Juniors (like U M-L) BUT the Yale crew of Kenny Agostino, Andrew Miller and Jesse Root with Jeff Malcolm in goal remind me of my 2007 Michigan State team with Justin Abdelkader (now with the Red Wings), Tim Kennedy and Chris Mueller with little Jeff Lerg in goal who also just "squeeked in" to the tourney BUT, after beating Boston U and Notre Dame, then beat first Maine 4-2 and then Boston College 3-1 in the "Frozen Four" as the #14 seed @ 50-1 pre tourney odds.
the matchup: "on paper" the "Eli" have NO chance against U M-L BUT they didn't have a chance vs either Minnesota or UND either. I have a buck on U M-L @ 14-1 pre tourney SO I will defintely "hedge" some in this game. the "Eli" just look like a "dangerous dog"
Yale +200 5 -105 (+1 1/2 -150)
U Mass-Lowell -240 5 (-115 -1 1/2 +130)
booked Yale for a buck for the reasons given
Hot Forum Topics
