Inside College Hockey | 2004 Frozen Four: Coach's Takes

April 5, 2004
NCAA Frozen Four
Frozen Four Semifinals: Coach's Takes

Inside College Hockey talked to two head coaches whose teams have played the teams involved in each of Thursday's semifinal games. In exchange for anonymity, they each gave us a candid breakdown of the matchups:

"[Isaac Reichmuth] might be playing well enough to take them all the way this year."

Denver vs. Minnesota Duluth

A tight forecheck is one key against the Bulldogs. If you can force them to make turnovers, and not let their forwards get going, you might have some success. But if you sit back against UMD and those forwards have room to work, they’ll make you pay.

A big team like Denver will try to clutch and grab and slow it down, especially on a NHL-size rink, but I see UMD’s forwards taking the game to them.

For Denver, the key will be puck control. The more you give the puck away to those UMD forwards, the more chance you have of pulling it out of your own net, so they’ll want to hold onto the puck and slow it down.

Both goalies are pretty good, but Reichmuth has been more consistent than Berkhoel throughout the season. Like any good goalie in the WCHA, Berkhoel can throw one great game at you now and then, and that’s one of the reasons they got to Boston, but overall I think Reichmuth is a better goalie. He might be playing well enough to take them all the way this year.

UMD’s defense is more mobile than Denver’s. Denver is big defensively, and Caldwell does a good job, but Denver’s not as deep defensively as UMD. With the way Geisler and Hambly move the puck, I look for UMD to have an advantage there.

I see UMD winning about 5-2.

Boston College vs. Maine

BC’s ability to get on the puck and make plays when they get on it is absolutely uncanny. They just have that special ability to get the puck on their sticks and make things happen. They have a number of guys with skill, and a number of guys who can score goals.

They are clearly a much different team with Ben Eaves in the lineup, and they were good without him. But he gives them that creativity and leadership, and he’s obviously a tremendous big-game player.

BC’s defense is underrated. They do a good job of forcing you to the outside and limiting your shots. They play hard and they transition the puck extremely well.

They get help from their forwards, too. BC is one of the only teams in college hockey that will skate you down on the backcheck. They get to you, take the puck, and all of a sudden it’s going the other way.

The question mark, no matter what they say or how many big saves he makes, is still in goal. As big as the saves were that [Matti Kaltiainen] made in overtime against Michigan, he gave up two goals that should have been stopped. In a one-game, winner-take-all tournament, that’s a big question mark.

It’s not so much that he’s vulnerable in any one area. It just seems like he has two or three segments in each game when his mentality seems to shift. He’ll make great saves when he’s confident. But in the midst of a game, he’s battling the puck, and it’s obvious to everyone in the arena that he’s having trouble. It’s just a question of whether you can get to him during those times when he’s struggling. We never could.

One thing to watch on Maine’s side is their faceoff plays. BC is good here, too, but Maine sets the standard. They’ll interchange Shields with the defenseman in their offensive zone, and the D will clear things out for him. He’ll walk down the wall, and he’ll be on his forehand, and it can really mess up your coverage – do you double up on that side? They really get you second-guessing yourself.

One thing about Maine’s defense is that they’ve improved considerably in their own zone since the beginning of the year. They make it really difficult to generate offense. This will be a key matchup in the game, because BC is so good off the cycle.

Their goaltending, obviously, has been tremendous, with both of them. How important was Doyle’s relief appearance against Harvard to get them settled down? Then Howard gets himself straightened out and plays well the next day.

There’s not a lot you can do to try to beat them. You just have to keep throwing pucks at them and try to get them moving side to side. Fundamentally both are very, very sound. Howard is a little bit bigger, and he must have an edge right now because he’s the guy they’ve been going to. But both are terrific.

On special teams, BC’s power play gives them a little bit of an edge. Both are very dangerous man-down, though, so watch for that. I don’t know what the stats are [they share the national lead with 12 SHGs each], but both are a threat to score shorthanded.

It will be interesting to see what the psyche of each team is. How will that series in Maine at the end of the regular season impact this game? And remember, as much attention as they’ll give to each other, the focus at this time of year has to be on their own teams. They’ll be more concerned with executing their systems and making sure that they are playing well than they are about the other team.