Inside College Hockey | 2003 Midwest Regional Preview

March 27, 2003
NCAA Tournament
Midwest Regional Preview | Ann Arbor, Mich.

NCAA Tournament Coverage

Saturday, March 29

Noon EST: No. 1 Colorado College vs. No. 4 Wayne State

3:30 p.m. EST: No. 2 Maine vs. No. 3 Michigan

Sunday, March 30

3 p.m. EST: Regional Final

HOT TOPIC

Flash back to the 2002 West Regional in Ann Arbor. Michigan, fresh off a CCHA playoff championship, makes the NCAA Tournament as an unheralded No. 4 seed, downs St. Cloud State in first round, then upsets top-seed Denver in front of the home fans to earn a trip to St. Paul for the Frozen Four.

Now it's 2003, and we're looking forward to the 2003 Midwest Regional in Ann Arbor. Michigan, fresh off a CCHA playoff championship, made the NCAA Tournament as an unheralded No. 3 seed. Should they down Maine – the game at Yost Arena Saturday is the Black Bears' first contest in 22 days – the Wolverines would likely face another No. 1 seed from the Rocky Mountain State, Colorado College, in front of the home fans to earn a trip to Buffalo for the Frozen Four.

Colorado College's Tom Preissing.

Colorado College, mind you, is familiar with Yost. The Tigers, the lowest seed in last year's West Regional, ousted a Michigan team – Michigan State – in the first round before losing to eventual national champion Minnesota. But one win was a considered acceptable for Scott Owens' team last year. This year, anything short of a trip to the Frozen Four for Peter Sejna and friends will be a disappointment.

Certainly, Michigan's postseason success in Yost Arena – since the start the regional format in 1992, the Wolverines are unbeaten in NCAA Tournament games in Ann Arbor – is lodged in the recesses of the minds of Colorado College players. Missing this year, however, are Michigan's faux motivational excuses they used to play the "woe is me" card all the way to St. Paul – having to remove the block "M" logo from the ice surface, not getting to dress in their own locker room and not getting to wear their yellow sweaters. The Tigers' motives are simple; they came out flat in the first six minutes of last weekend's WCHA playoff championship game, which cost them the Broadmoor Trophy, and are out to prove that performance was a fluke.

BACK STORY

With the buzz surrounding Colorado College and Peter Sejna, the advantages of Michigan playing in their own rink and Wayne State earning its first tournament bid, Maine seems like the forgotten team. Understandable, seeing as how the Black Bears were swept out of the first round of the Hockey East tournament with a loss to Massachusetts March 7. Maine closed the year with a 3-7-2 slide, but this team lost last year's national title in overtime and was one of the nation's top three teams through the first four months of the season.

ON A ROLL

Here's a real stretch. Peter Sejna is good. Sure, he's the nation's leading scorer, a mortal lock for first-team All America honors and arguably the favorite to win the Hobey Baker Award. Look inside his numbers, however. He's scored a point in all but one of the Tigers' 40 games. He's had one or more points 27 times this season. In 16 games against teams that have qualified for the NCAA Tournament, he's scored 32 points. Ridiculous.

MR. CLUTCH

It's been said on this site on numerous occasions: senior forward Jed Ortmeyer is the heart and soul of the Michigan Wolverines. He scored the winner in the team's 2002 CCHA playoff championship win, then repeated the feat this season. He scored the winner when U-M knocked Denver out of last season's NCAA Tournament and added two assists for good measure. While he's skilled, he's also one of the few players at coach Red Berenson's disposal that can will his way to the net and make something out of nothing.

SOMETHING TO PROVE

The run Maine interim coach Tim Whitehead and his team made to the brink of the school's third national championship in the wake of bench boss Shawn Walsh's death last season was stirring. The good vibrations continued this year, as the Black Bears reeled off an early eight-game win streak and owned a 20-2-4 record through Jan. 25. Then the team's untested goalie tandem of sophomore Frank Doyle and freshman Jim Howard revealed its soft underbelly, allowing four or more goals in seven of Maine's last 12 games. The offense wasn't much better, recording two or fewer goals seven times during that same stretch. Whitehead said the team needed a break to regroup. Hopefully, three weeks was enough time, especially for the slumping Colin Shields (no goals and six points since Dec. 15).

ONE TO WATCH

The guys between the pipes. Interesting note: none of the key goaltenders in the Midwest Regional – Colorado College's Curtis McElhinney, Doyle and Howard from Maine, Michigan's Al Montoya and David Guerrera of Wayne State – have logged a second of NCAA Tournament time, and all but Guerrera are freshmen or sophomores. Which one will play like they've been there before?

SUNDAY STORYLINE?

A Colorado College-Michigan would generate tons of interest, but the Tigers' terrific run started in Anchorage, when they blanked Maine at the Nye Frontier Classic. Prior to the win against the Black Bears, CC had split a season-opening home series against Mass.-Lowell. The shutout of Maine spurred the Tigers to a 15-game unbeaten streak.