Inside College Hockey | 2005 Frozen Four: Coach's Take

April 9, 2005
NCAA Frozen Four
Frozen Four Championship: Coach's Take

Inside College Hockey talked to two head coaches whose teams have played North Dakota and Denver. In exchange for anonymity, they gave us their candid breakdowns of the matchups.

Up front Denver has an advantage because of their depth. Their top five or six guys can all move the puck and score, and they don’t have to worry if one or two guys get shut down.

North Dakota counters that with age and size on the blue line. They’re big and they’re old, and they’re very difficult to get to the net against.

You oppose that defense knowing you’re just not going to get many looks at the net. You’ve got to try to use their size against them and shooting quick shots off the edges, trying to make the North Dakota D screen their own goalie.

If you try to hard to penetrate against North Dakota’s defense, you’re giving up shots, and that’s not smart.

The two teams’ defenses couldn’t contrast each other more. North Dakota is the consummate defensive team, and Denver is so good offensively because of the D they have that can lead the rush.

I’ve got to think that Denver might have the advantage because of their depth at forward, but North Dakota’s defense makes it so tough to get to the net that Denver’s strength could be taken away.

It sounds like a cop-out, but the teams are so evenly matched that it might come down to which goalie plays the best.

My gut feeling is that North Dakota’s playing the best hockey in the country.

Denver scored six power play goals on Thursday, so North Dakota has to play physical but disciplined because Denver’s power play is so dangerous.

The way to counter the size of North Dakota’s defense is to pressure them and get the puck behind them. You can create turnovers by staying on them when the defense handles the puck and forcing them to cough it up.

It’s probably a coin flip, but when it comes right down to it, North Dakota seems like a team of destiny, and I could see them winning a 3-2 game.