Frozen Four Tournament BreakDown
Seeds 13-16
Vermont #13
Photo Courtesy of Getty Images. Credit Richard T Gagnon
The 13th seeded Vermont Catamounts are a team that can easily pull an upset out at this tournament based on their strong play against UMass in their first round battle at the Hockey East Championship. Goaltender Brody Hoffman came up big for the Catamounts and backstopped them to the tournament once he took over the crease. He finished the year third in goals against average with 2.01 and fourth in save percentage with .927. He’s posted a .934 save percentage in the team’s last 9 games on way to the Frozen Four.
Chris McCarthy leads the offence with 40 points while Mario Puskarich is one of the most exciting talents on the offence of the Catamounts with 19 goals on the season.
North Dakota #14
North Dakota just snuck into the Frozen Four tournament with an impressive showing in the B1G Ten Championship Title Game. They boast 15 NHL draft picks, yet their leading scorer Rocco Grimaldi scored just 14 goals. They got solid goaltending from Zane Gothberg who lead the NCHC with a 2.05 GAA. North Dakota just snuck into the Frozen Four tournament and will need a massive performance from Rocco Grimaldi and Zane Gothberg to stick around.
Denver #15
The Denver Pioneers finished 6th in their conference but managed to pull off a big win in the NCHC tournament finals. Defenceman Joey LaLeggia finished second in the nation with 12 goals and goaltender Sam Brittain finished in a tie for third with his .932 save percentage. The Pioneers don’t get a lot of shots on the opponents net and give up a bucket-load on their net which is not a recipe for success in this kind of tournament.
Robert Morris #16
Rounding out the 16 teams competing in the Frozen Four is 16th seed Robert Morris. The Colonials just snuck into the tournament after winning the Atlantic Hockey Postseason Tournament and will make their first appearance ever in the tournament. They’re the long shots in the tournament led by Cody Wydo who put up 37 points and 22 goals.
They’re a long shot but anything can happen in a single game elimination tournament.