Wisconsin, BC Advance to Title Game

It wasn’t the most exciting semifinal round, unless you were fans of BC or Wisconsin, but at least there was tons of offense as a rematch of the 2006 national title game is all set. In that one Wisconsin downed Boston College in Milwaukee, and I imagine Saturday night’s game will be just as great.

In the early game, Wisconsin hopped all over RIT right away, when John Mitchell scored just 1:30 into the game. 8 minutes later, Derek Stepan scored the official game winner.

RIT used all three goalies in the game, but I wouldn’t say starter Jered DeMichiel played poorly, it’s just that Wisconsin had too much size, speed and skill for the Tigers. RIT got it done with grit and determination two weeks ago, but sometimes sheer talent just wins out. Stepan had two goals and two assists for the Badgers, possible Hobey winner Blake Geoffrion had a goal, and Brendan Smith had 5 assists. Wisconsin’s talented defense held RIT to just 13 shots in the game, and only 4 in the 3rd period when RIT was pressing and Wisconsin was not playing hard at all.

In the second game, Miami held off BC for awhile, but their size was no match for the Eagles’ speed. The Eagles scored 7 goals on 30 shots, and John Muse had another solid effort in an NCAA tournament game. With the win he stayed undefeated in his career in the NCAA tournament, moving to 7-0. Connor Knapp got the start for Miami, but allowed 3 goals on only 9 shots.

With the loss, Miami ends its season with the second most wins in school history, but their season comes to an end at the hands of BC for the 4th time in the past 5 years. Still, with their goalies and potentially great Seniors next year, the Redhawks could be back in the Frozen Four. Of course, the Eagles could be waiting for them.