March 26, 2008
NCAA Tournament
West Regional Preview | Colorado Springs, Colo.

NCAA WEST REGIONAL PREVIEW

Senior forward Mike Radja has scored a team-high 19 goals this season for New Hampshire, the West Regional's No. 1 seed.

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NCAA WEST REGIONAL World Arena Friday, March 28 6:30 p.m. ET: No. 1 New Hampshire vs. No. 4 Notre Dame 10 p.m. ET: No. 2 Colorado College vs. No. 3 Michigan State Saturday, March 29 10 p.m. ET: Regional Final

By Mike Eidelbes

HOT TOPIC

In the frontier spirit of Colorado Springs — not to mention the dusty ol’ cowtown about an hour up the trail hosting the Frozen Four in a couple weeks — perhaps this portion of the NCAA tournament bracket should be renamed the Wild West Regional. After all, it really wouldn’t come as a surprise for any of the four teams to cap the weekend with a victory lap around the wide open space better known as the World Arena ice sheet.

Who knows what kind of games we’ll have out there? The Olympic-sized pond might be conducive to a barrage of goals, what with more room for skill players to maneuver and three of the country’s top scoring offenses in the bracket. Or, since all four teams rank 14th or better nationally in scoring defense and the goalies manning the creases in this regional are among the best around (more on that later), maybe three tense, low-scoring affairs are on the horizon.

The story lines abound. Can New Hampshire shed the blue-and-white monkey — Chim-Chim is nearing retirement age — from its back? Will Colorado College ride its home ice advantage to its second Frozen Four appearance in four seasons? Can Michigan State do what it did last year, and emerge as a No. 3 seed to win the national championship? Can Notre Dame put crooked numbers on the scoreboard?

Wild West, indeed.

BACK STORY

Make that backstop story. It wouldn’t be all that crazy to make the claim that this regional boasts the strongest goaltending quartet in tournament history.

After all, the least heralded netminder of the lot, Notre Dame’s Jordan Pearce, enters the weekend with a 1.94 goals against average and a .917 save percentage in his first year as a full-time starter. The youngest, 20-year-old Colorado College freshman Richard Bachman, last week was named WCHA Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. The oldest, Kevin Regan of New Hampshire, is the 2008 Hockey East Player of the Year and a Hobey Baker Award finalist. The shortest, 5-foot-6 Jeff Lerg of Michigan State, is also a Hobey finalist. Oh, he also led the Spartans to an NCAA championship last season.

Outside of goal-starved Notre Dame, the offenses in this regional are capable of scoring goals in a hurry. That said, each of the four goalies in this region have the ability to single-handedly steal a win for their team.

ON A ROLL

Yikes. New Hampshire lost its last game, a 5-4 triple-overtime decision to Boston College in last week’s Hockey East tournament semifinal. Still, the BC game could’ve gone either way, and of the teams in this region, the Wildcats probably have the most momentum. Prior to being ousted by the Eagles, UNH had reeled off a 12-1-2 mark, the lone loss coming in a meaningless (for the ‘Cats, anyway) season-ending game against Vermont.

The other three teams in the West enter the weekend with two-game losing streaks. Michigan State hasn’t played since March 16, the night it was bounced from a best-of-three CCHA quarterfinal series by Northern Michigan. Colorado College hadn’t lost consecutive games since Oct. 26-Nov. 3, when the Tigers were swept by UNH at the Whitt, then lost the front end of a series at North Dakota – until last weekend, that is, when CC was dinged by both Minnesota and the Fighting Sioux in the WCHA Final Five.

Notre Dame, like Colorado College, lost a pair of games in its league tournament last weekend, falling to both Miami and Northern Michigan by identical 2-1 scores. That’s a microcosm of the team’s woes, however. Since hitting the Christmas break with a 16-4-0 record, Notre Dame has gone 8-11-4.

MR. CLUTCH

Six players in this regional rank among the nation’s top 10 in game-winning goals — UNH’s Mike Radja is tied for third with six, while CC’s Chad Rau and Scott McCulloch, MSU’s Justin Abdelkader and Tim Kennedy, and Notre Dame’s Ryan Thang all have five. In the race for the aforementioned moniker, however, they’re all runners-up to Jeff Lerg.

Never mind his play in last year’s NCAA tournament, when he allowed a total of five goals in four Spartan wins. Look instead at his performances this season in instances when State needed a boost. After a pair of decisive losses to Michigan Tech and Providence in the Great Lakes Invitational and a come-from-ahead tie with CCHA cellar-dweller Lake Superior State, Lerg stopped 64 of 66 shots in a win and tie against Notre Dame. He made 26 saves in a 1-0 shutout of Michigan at Yost Ice Arena in January, snapping the Wolverines’ 10-game winning streak in the process. The following month, he guided MSU to a 5-2 win over Michigan in a game in which the Spartans were outshot, 33-22.

The amazing thing about Lerg is his steadiness. His demeanor on the ice is calm, almost reassuring. So, too, is his style. He’s not much for scrambling, excels at limiting rebounds, and is downright conservative when it comes to playing the puck.

SOMETHING TO PROVE

Though it’s had more near misses than a JFK air-traffic controller, New Hampshire still seeks its first NCAA championship. On the surface, it wouldn’t appear that this is the Wildcats’ year, either.

After all, their reward for earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament is an airplane ride three-quarters of the way across the country. And a potential matchup against an opponent that’s been consistently ranked among the top five teams in the nation since Veteran’s Day. In said team’s home rink, where it is 18-2-0 this season.

Provided both teams win their opening-round games, the prospect of facing Colorado College in World Arena isn’t all that daunting for UNH. After all, the Wildcats are right at home on the big ice. They swept the Tigers in a series at the Whitt in October, and last season, they stole a pair of games from CC in Colorado Springs. In each of those four wins, the Wildcats have scored no fewer than four goals.

This may not be coach Dick Umile’s most talented team, but it’s among the most well rounded. Balance is the key for UNH, which ran away with the Hockey East regular-season title. Eight players have 20 or more points, led by seniors Matt Fornataro and Mike Radja. James vanRiemsdyk is an elite talent at forward. Brad Flaishans and Craig Switzer, both seniors, pace a veteran corps of defensemen. Then there’s Regan, a sure All-American, in goal.

Outside of Michigan, no team has been more consistent this season than New Hampshire. That steadiness gives the Wildcats a great chance to make a return trip to Colorado in two weeks.

ONE TO WATCH

Chad Rau certainly doesn’t generate a lot of hype. Heck, the Colorado College junior forward isn’t even the most talked about player on his team — that distinction belongs to freshman goaltender Richard Bachman. A closer look at Rau’s statistics is an indication of his importance to the Tigers. In many ways, he is to his team what Kevin Porter is to Michigan.

Only Miami’s Ryan Jones has more goals this season than Rau’s 28 (he shares that distinction with three others.) A special teams threat, he leads the country with six shorthanded goals and paces the Tigers with seven power-play goals. The Eden Prairie, Minn., native, is tied for seventh nationally with five game-winning scores, and he’s done it all while taking just three minor penalties all season.

The Tigers’ top face-off man, Rau thrives thanks to his quick, accurate shot and a knack for putting himself in a position to score. He’s listed 5-11 and 185 lbs., but he plays stronger than his size would indicate and is difficult to knock off the puck.

SATURDAY STORYLINE

The Olympic-sized ice sheet at World Arena certainly favors New Hampshire and Colorado College in the opening-round contests. Jordan Pearce has been terrific for Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish are unable to produce enough offense to take the heat off him. Don’t expect that to change this weekend. Conventional wisdom, meanwhile, would seem to point to Colorado College holding the edge over Michigan State in the other first-round match. The Tigers looked awfully vulnerable in its two losses at last week’s WCHA Final Five, and the Spartans are a team that turns in its best performances when everyone else has written them off. This, along with Saturday’s Northeast Regional contest pitting Boston College against Minnesota, is the most intriguing first-round match of the tournament.