Frozen Four Pre-Season Picks

Yesterday I gave you my regional picks from the bracketology, now its time to pick the Frozen Four.

But first lets recap the teams who won their region.

East: Boston College
Midwest: Minnesota
West: Maine
Northeast: Wisconsin

Here are the Frozen Four matchups (with the overall seeds):

#1 Boston College vs #4 Wisconsin
#2 Minnesota vs #6 Maine

Now lets pick the National Semifinals.

We will start with Minnesota and Maine:

Maine got in with two hard fought victories over Ohio State and North Dakota. Minnesota got in by defeating Sacred Heart and Michigan. This game is a rematch of the 2002 National Championship game in which Minnesota won a thriller in overtime 4-3. The coaches are still there in Don Lucia from Minnesota, and Tim Whitehead from Maine. Both of this years squad should be strong defensively. The goaltending matchup is even, the offense pretty much the same. This will be a really good semi-final. In the end however, the Minnesota Golden Gophers will prevail and move on to the National Championship game.

Final Score: Minnesota 3, Maine 2

Boston College vs Wisconsin:

They play each other twice in the regular season (both at Wisconsin) this month, which should be a great series. The rematch of the 2006 National Championship game which Wisconsin won will be a good one. Boston College is thinking about one thing in this game, revenge. Wisconsin is looking to start a dynasty by winning back to back National Titles. This will be a game of goaltending and defense. Boston College has the better defense, but the edge in goal, a slight one will go to Wisconsin. Schneider is great and so is Elliott and they are two of the best goaltenders in the country. This will come down to an overtime game I think. BC has the better goal scoring, but will not need much as Schneider will outplay Elliott and give BC the victory.

Final Score: Boston College 2, Wisconsin 1 (OT)

The National Championship Boston College vs Minnesota:

Two of the well-known college hockey schools in the country will face each other in the National Championship game. Both teams survived in one goal victories. Minnesota is a good all around team, and BC can say the same thing about themselves. The question for the Gophers is who will stop 6"7 Brian Boyle from picking up the garbage in front of the net? The question for the Eagles is who will step up in this matchup? For Minnesota, they might have to double team Boyle in front of the net creating more scoring oppurtunities. For BC, Boyle and Schneider can not be the only impact players in this game. So therefore who will win the matchups? Minnesota is a young team with a great Freshman class, but BC has the more veteran team. In the end it will be BC with the more experience in this game, therefore I am picking the Eagles to win their third National Championship and their second in seven seasons under head coach Jerry York.

Final score: Boston College 3, Minnesota 2

Well these are my predictions for the upcoming season. The puck drops on Friday, with a number of games. Tommorrow we will preview the upcoming games including Maine vs Minnesota in the US Hockey Hall of Fame game, and the Icebreaker tournament from Oxford, Ohio, where Vermont, Colgate, Denver, and host Miami will look to get off to a fast start.