College Hockey’s March Madness Continues: This weekend’s NCAA Division one television schedule (3/29 – 3/31)

Here is this weekend’s National College Hockey television schedule. The NCAA’s final 16 has been set, the national tourney starts this weekend. Starting on Friday afternoon, there is a full slate of college hockey on television again this weekend, if you have ESPNU.

In my opinion, this is most wonderful time of the year. It’s also very stressful. There is a finality, which surrounds the college hockey tourney. Seasons and careers end, with losses in the National tourney.

There are college players that will sit in the locker room with their jersey still on hours after a loss, and not want to take off their jersey, for the last time.   

This is also the time of year that fans have to worry if their favorite players with eligibility are going to sign in the offseason. A few high profile players have already signed professional deals in the last week.

Check your television guide for times in your local area. As with any schedule, channels will change and have in the past. There may also be games on in your local area that may not be on nationally. ESPNU is on (DirecTV 208 and Dish Network 141).

Even with the NHL ending it’s lockout and making it back to our television dials, there has is still been a lot of watchable college hockey on television. Some fans actually prefer College hockey to the NHL.

Day	Date	Match-up	Network	Time	DTV/Dish
Fri.	Mar. 29	UMN vs. Yale	ESPNU	1:00 p.m.	208 / 141
Fri.	Mar. 29	Mass Lowell vs. Wisconsin	ESPN3	3:30 p.m.	628 / 434
Fri.	Mar. 29	UND vs. Niagara	ESPNU	4:30 p.m.	208 / 141
Fri.	Mar. 29	Denver vs. New Hampshire	ESPNU	7:00 p.m.	208 / 141
Fri.	Mar. 29	Wisconsin vs. UMass Lowell	ESPNU	9:30 p.m. *	208
Sat.	Mar. 30	NCAA Midwest Regional	TBD	12:30 p.m.
Sat.	Mar. 30	NCAA West Reg. Final	ESPNU	3:00 p.m.	208 / 141
Sat.	Mar. 30	NCAA Midwest Regional	TBD	4:00 p.m.
Sat.	Mar. 30	Quinnipiac vs. Canisius	ESPN3	4:30 p.m.	628 / 434
Sat.	Mar. 30	NCAA Northeast Reg. Final	ESPNU	5:30 p.m.	208 / 141
Sat.	Mar. 30	Boston College vs. Union	ESPNU	8:00 p.m.	208 / 141
Sun.	Mar. 31	NCAA Midwest Reg. Final	ESPNU	3:00 p.m.	208 / 141
Sun.	Mar. 31	NCAA East Reg. Final	ESPNU	5:30 p.m.	208 / 141

Cross-posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

Related articles

• College Hockey's March Madness: This weekend's NCAA Division one television schedule (3/21 - 3/24) (thehockeywriters.com)
• WCHA Hockey: What Are We Doing Here? (insidehockey.com)
• College Hockey's March Madness Continues: This weekend's NCAA Division one television schedule (3/29 - 3/31) (thehockeywriters.com)

This weekend’s NCAA Division one television schedule (2/22 – 2/24)

Here is this weekend’s National College Hockey television schedule. There is a full slate of college hockey on television again this weekend. Check your television guide for times in your local area. As with any schedules, channels will change and have in the past.

This weekend, there will also be four college hockey games that will be available in Canada, so, for college hockey fans north of the border, you should check your local television guides as well.

For UND hockey fans, this weekend, both games from Denver will be on television. Friday night’s game will be a national broadcast on NBC Sports Network. Saturday night’s game will be on Root Sports, so if your cable company gets Root Sports or if you have the Sports Pack and you have Dish or DirecTV, you will be able to watch Saturday night’s game as well.

Fri.	Feb. 22		New Hampshire at Vermont	NESN	6:00 p.m.	628 / 434
Fri.	Feb. 22		Yale at Quinnipiac	NBC Sports Net.	6:30 p.m.	603 / 159
Fri.	Feb. 22		Notre Dame at Western Michigan	CBS Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)
Fri.	Feb. 22		Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota	FS North +	7:00 p.m.	657/ 444
Fri.	Feb. 22		North Dakota at Denver	NBC Sports Net.	9:00 p.m.	220/ 159
Sat.	Feb. 23		New Hampshire at Vermont	CBS Sports Net.	6:00 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)
Sat.	Feb. 23		Minnesota Duluth at Minnesota	BTN	7:00 p.m.	610 / 439 (C)
Sat.	Feb. 23		North Dakota at Denver	ROOT Sports	8:00 p.m.	683 / 414
Sun.	Feb. 24		Boston College at Merrimack	CBS Sports Net.	3:00 p.m.	613 / 158 (C)

*NESN = New England Sports Network, FCS = Fox College Sports, FSN+ = Fox Sports North-Plus, NBCSN = NBC Sports Network, DirecTV requires the “Sports Pack” to view the Regional sports Networks, (C) Denotes games available in Canada. All times are Central Standard Time.

Cross posted at the Hockey Writers Combine.

UND: The Weekend Ahead (11/2-11/3)

The University of North Dakota plays a two-game non-conference series against the Boston University Terriers this weekend at Ralph Englestad Arena on November 2 and 3.

Friday, #5 USCHO and USA Today poll – North Dakota (2-1-1, 1-0-1 WCHA) versus Boston University (3-1-0, 3-1-0 Hockey East)

Game times: 7:37 pm CT on Friday, 7:07 pm CT on Saturday.

Radio:  UND 96.1 (KQHT-FM) – The Fox.

Webcast and Audio:  UNDSPORTS.COM

Television: TV: Midco Sports Network, FOX College Sports Central (DirecTV 623), NESN (DirecTV 628), DISH Network 434

Series History: UND leads the All-Time series against BU: 11-7-1 (.605), UND’s record against the Terriers in Grand Forks UND leads the series 5-0-1 (.833), UND against BU In Boston, MA UND trails the series 4-6-0 (.400), UND vs. BU at Neutral sites, UND leads the series 2-1-0 (.667), in the Last 10 games against BU, UND leads the series 8-1-1 (.850). UND played against BU in Boston during the Ice Breaker Tourney on 10/10/2008 and UND lost 5-1.

Players to Watch:

North Dakota: Forwards: Danny Kristo (0g-4a—4pts), Connor Gaarder (0g-2a—2pts), Corbin Knight (2-g0—2pts), Carter Rowney (1g-1a—2pts), Roco Grimaldi (2g-2a—4pts), Mark MacMillan (2g-0a—2pts). Defense: Jordan Schmaltz (1g1a—2pts) Dillon Simpson (0g-2a—2pts), Andrew MacWilliam (0g-1a—1pts), Derek Forbort (2g-1a—3pts). Goaltenders: Clarke Saunders 1-1-1, 1.64 GAA, .940 save percentage, Zane Gothberg 1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .944 save percentage.

Boston University: Forwards: Cason Hohmann (3g-3a—6pts), Evan Rodriques (0g-5a—5pts), Wade Megan (3g-1a—4pts), Danny O’Regan (2g-2a—4pts). Defense: Garrett Noonan 1g-2a—3pts), Matt Grzelcyk (0g-3a—3pts), Alexx Privitera (0g-2a—2pts). Goaltender: Matt O’Connor 3-0-0, 1.75 GAA, 0.945 save percentage.

UND Official Web Page

BU Official Web Page

My take on the FCS Hockey broadcasts

Back in the summer, UND signed an agreement with Midco-Sports Network to broadcast around 40 games including all of the home games for UND Men’s Hockey, in addition will broadcast games from other sports to include, football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball. This agreement with MIDCO severed a relationship that the school had with WDAZ and the Fighting Sioux Sports Network. 

For this season, next season the games will no longer be on FCS because of the exclusivity deal that was signed between the NCHC and CBSN, all of the UND Men’s Hockey home games are going to be shown on FCS, just like they were under the former television deal. 

This means that you can watch UND Hockey where ever you are in the United States if you have Fox College Sports on your local cable package or if you have the sports pack on your DirecTV package. Also, Dish Network doesn’t carry Fox College Sports as of this time. 

I have heard a lot of comments on the quality of the UND Hockey Broadcast on FCS this season so far and till this past Sunday night, I hadn’t see any of the broadcasts on Fox College Sports.   

             

On Sunday night, I kind of blew up twitter with this comment – this was the first time that I had seen the broadcasts on FCS – because I attended the games in person. Needless to say, I was less than impressed with the picture that was coming across my television screen. 

I am watching last night's game on my DVR... Oh boy, the picture is really bad. Now I know what everyone is complaining about.
— Eric J. Burton (@goon48) October 29, 2012

I want to be clear, this isn’t meant to be a slam on the University of North Dakota, I am just saying the broadcasts that is coming across the FCS television channels isn’t up to par, just yet. Currently, there are people working on this issue, so I would imagine that there will be adjustments made in the near future.

@goon48 @20gdawg @fergy2004 HD coming next year. I will make sure to pass along each of your concerns re:quality. Working hard 4 you!
— Katie O'Keefe-Hale (@KOKeefeHale) October 29, 2012

It would also appear that this issue is on the back end – in other words – it’s on FCS’s side and that needs to be clean up before this issue will be fixed. This is what @UNDSID Jayson Hajdu had this to say yesterday on Sioux Sports.

"I looked into the issue some of you have reported regarding the audio not synching properly, and by all accounts everything checks out fine on the front end when the signal is sent out from Midco's uplink truck. So obviously there is an issue on the back end that needs to be solved.

We had already been in contact with Midco earlier this morning, and both parties have regular communication with FOX College Sports, so hopefully this particular issue can be rectified in short order."

If I hear anything I will pass it on.

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Goon's Frozen Four review

Much like Sioux7 my brackets for the NCAA Hockey Tourney were totally busted as I got only one out of four brackets right, usually I am able to pick two of the four correctly.

Just for the record, my Frozen Four brackets included Michigan, Miami, Boston College and North Dakota.

I confess as a college hockey fan I am not all that excited with this season’s Frozen Four field, to be honest with you it bores me. This Frozen Four could end up being as bad as the 2010 Frozen Four that was at Four Field where Boston College ran through the field like a hot knife through butter. I could see the same thing happening again this season.

Unfortunately, the two best teams are in the same bracket and the attractive match-up is Minnesota and Boston College; other than that, nothing really jumps out at me in this season’s Frozen Four. In one bracket we have what I would consider a snooze feast between Union College and Ferris State, and there are others that agree with me.

 

Game time for the first game between Union College (26-7-7) and Ferris State (25-11-5) is 3:30 p.m. Central Standard Time Thursday.  The game is on ESPNU (DirecTV208 and Dish Network148) 

My prediction is that the Ferris State University Bulldogs, who are lead by head hockey coach Bob Daniels, who incidentally was awarded the 2012 Spencer Penrose Award, will end Union’s magical season in a boring non-eventful game if you’re still awake by the end of the game you will see Ferris State win in a trap feast 2-1 game.

Both teams Union and Ferris State have never been in the Frozen Four so one of these two teams is going to make the championship game of the Frozen Four for the first time in their team’s history. 

Fun and interesting facts about Ferris State and Union: The Bulldogs and Dutchman's rosters contain  NO NHL Draft picks, there is not a single one on either team, that is almost unheard of in today’s college hockey world. Just for the record, Union college has , Boston College has 9 and Minnesota has 17 NHL draft Choices.  

In the evening title it’s the Boston College Eagles (31-10-1) vs. the Minnesota Golden Gophers (28-13-1) at 7:00 p.m. Central Standard Time Thursday. The game is on ESPN2 ( DirecTV and 209 Dish Network 144)

This season’s Frozen Four prohibitive favorite, Boston College is a team that has three solid forward lines that could be most teams first line on any team. The Gophers are also loaded through the forward lines as well. Here are the lines that both teams used in their last games.

Boston College Forward Lines 

Barry Almeida (22g-16—38pts) – Bill Arnold (17g-17a—34pts) – Steven Whitney (13g-22a—35pts)

Chris Kreider (22g-21a—41pts) – Kevin Hayes 6g-20a—26tps) – Destry Straight (3g-6a—9pts)

Johnn Gaudreau (20g-21a—41pts) – Pat Mullane (10g-26a—36pts) – Paul Carey (15g-12a—27pts) 

Minnesota Gophers Forward Lines

Kyle Rau (18g-25a—43pts) – Nick Bjugstad 25g-17a—42pts) – Zach Budish  (12g-23a—35)

Sam Warning (6g-9a—15pts) – Erik Haula (20g-28a—48pts) – Jake Hansen (15g-22a—37pts) 

Nate Condon (11g-19a—30tps) – Travis Boyd (1g-8-a—9pts) – Taylor Matson (8g-15a—23pts) 

Goalies

Boston College goalie Parker Milner, 27-5-0, 1.70 goals against average and a .935 save percentage. It would be an understatement to say that Milner has been on fire as of late, during the Eagles' current 17-game winning streak, Milner has been flawless and sports a 17-0-0 record and an impressive 1.11 goals-against average with a mind popping .960 save percentage.

Minnesota goalie Kent Patterson, 28-13-1, 2.23 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. I have seen Gopher fans make the argument that Patterson has been the has been the MVP for the Golden Gophers.

As Sioux7 laid out in his blog post, both teams are similar statistically and I do expect that special teams will have a major factor in this game’s outcome.

Minnesota ranks
1st in team offense with a 3.67 avg/gm
8th in team defense with a 2.21 avg/gam
5th on the Power Play at 23.24% (43/185)
36th on the Penalty Kill at 81.0% (149/184)

Boston College ranks
6th in team offense with a 3.50 avg/gm
2nd in team defense with a 2.07 avg/gam
11th on the Power Play at 21.55% (39/181)
3rd on the Penalty Kill at 88.0% (162/184)

That being said, I am going to stick with my earlier prediction that made a week ago, I do expect to eat a little crow if my prediction is wrong.  That being said, I have seen a lot of good teams get absolutely steam rolled by the Boston College Eagles during the NCAA tourney.

 I also predict that the Boston College Eagles will win their programs fifth NCAA Title by a 6-3 score against the Ferris State Bulldogs.

Related articles

• Frozen Four Match-Ups (by Sioux 7) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Redwing77's Frozen Four Opinion Piece! (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• My prediction for the Frozen Four (ndgoon.blogspot.com)