Eagles Win National Title

Even with all of Wisconsin’s talent on the blueline, they couldn’t handle the speed of Boston College’s forwards. But it was the Eagles defense that stole the show as they held the Badgers to just 20 shots, all of which were saved by John Muse, who has never lost an NCAA Tournament game in his life. A plethora of other Wisconsin shots were blocked by Eagle forwards and defensemen, who had one of the best defensive games in the history of the tournament.

Wisconsin’s Hobey winner Blake Geoffrion was rendered basically ineffective as Boston College’s largely unheralded defensemen shut down the Senior. It was a pair of Freshmen, Brian Dumoulin and Philip Samuelsson, who had the most blocked shots for the Eagles.

This year’s Frozen may have been a boring one, but credit goes to the Eagles on that. A lot was made on the ESPN telecasts about BC having short, speedy forwards, and while I think the whole small thing gets overplayed, there is no doubt that they showed off their speed in these two games.

On the Wisconsin side, it will be tough not to wonder what might have been. The Badgers were probably the most talented team in America this year, but Geoffrion as well as Brendan Smith and who knows who else from their defensemen will be gone to the pros and while the Badgers have a ton of talent, they will have to start over from a leadership perspective. Goaltender Scott Gudmandson, while not stellar this year, was at least serviceable, but he had a total meltdown in last night’s game, giving up for sure 2 soft goals and another that was borderline.

On the flip side, John Muse stays undefeated in NCAA tournament games, and as no NHL team owns his rights (thanks to Ryan Lambert for that tidbit) he will likely be back in Chestnut Hill next winter to try to keep that streak alive.

I’m sure he’d like to do it the way he did it this year and his Freshman year, and not his Sophomore year when BC missed the NCAA tournament. Hats off to the Boston College Eagles, your 2009-10 national champions.