Miami seeks 2nd chance at title in Frozen 4
April 7, 2010
Miami of Ohio is looking for a second chance in the Frozen Four.
A year ago, Redhawks fans were chanting “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!” withtheir school ahead by two goals and on the verge of winning its first nationalchampionship in any team sport. Then Boston University cut the lead to one with59 seconds left, tied it with 17 seconds left, then stunned the RedHawks with afluke goal in overtime.
Miami coach Enrico Blasi concedes the loss could have been devastating.Instead, he said, the RedHawks used it as motivation. The team sat down a fewdays after the loss and talked out their frustrations. They then started talkingabout all that they accomplished, including advancing to the Frozen Four for thefirst time.
“We had a great run,” Blasi said. “We took a lot of good memories, a lotof experience out of what happened: How to compete at a high level, how toprepare at a high level. We got closer as a team. We know what it takes to getthere. We know what it takes to win the whole thing. I think those were allthings that were real positives throughout the season.”
Top-seeded Miami (29-7-7) will get to find out how well it learned when itplays fourth-seeded Boston College (27-10-3) in a semifinal game Thursday nightat Ford Field in Detroit. In the first game, Rochester Institute of Technology(28-11-1), which was seeded 15th in the 16-team field, faces third-seedWisconsin (27-10-4). The winners play 7 p.m. Saturday in the title game.
This season, Miami faced a far more difficult loss to overcome.
On Feb. 5, student manager Brendan Burke, the son of Toronto Maple Leafsgeneral manager Brian Burke, was killed in a car crash in Indiana.
“What we do on the ice is a game and we love it. But what happened toBrendan, that’s real life. It’s something you have to go through together,” hesaid.
Blasi said the team has a family atmosphere that he calls “thebrotherhood.”
“We just stayed together. If we needed to talk about it, we talked aboutit. If we needed to do the stuff we do on the ice, then we focused on that. Wetried to do what we could for each other. Basically that’s the way we gotthrough it,” he said. “There’s no easy way.”
Miami captain Tommy Wingels said the RedHawks dealt with the championshiploss in different ways.
“You can scream and pout about it for days and weeks and let it get to you,or you can start working again. I think we took the second route and it’s paidoff,” he said.
Before losing to BU last season, the RedHawks were knocked out of the NCAAtournament three straight years by Boston College. Wingels said it is amotivating factor heading into Thursday night.
“You remember those games and who beat you. But ultimately you’ve just gotto worry about how you’re team is going to play,” he said. “In the back of ourminds we’ll definitely know that we lost to Boston College my freshman year.”
Boston College coach Jerry York has led the Eagles to their fourth FrozenFour appearance in the last five years and a national title in 2008.
“The goal we seek lives with you the rest of your life, so all four teamswon’t lack motivation whatsoever,” he said.
Wisconsin is seeking its seventh NCAA hockey championship, it’s first since2006. It has won two national championships in Detroit before, beating Michigan6-5 in overtime at Olympia Stadium in 1977 and beating Colgate 7-3 at Joe LouisArena in 1990. Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves assisted on the game-winning goal in1977.
Eaves has other connections to Detroit. He went to high school across theriver in Windsor, Ontario, and his son, Patrick, is a right wing for the DetroitRed Wings.
“It could be very, very special,” he said.
RIT, in just its fifth year of Divison I hockey, is making its first FrozenFour appearance. Goalie Jared DeMichiel said the Tigers aren’t worried thatWisconsin is favored.
“You can call us underdog, overdog, you can call us Snoop Dogg if you want.We don’t really care,” he said.
Frozen Four-cast: RIT on the rise
April 6, 2010
The electronic scroll on the front of the team’s charter bus painted theperfect picture—“RIT Hockey. Who are these guys?”
“I put it in real quick,” driver Jim McKay said. “I thought it was veryappropriate.”
Was it ever.
“It’s funny. We were joking we were Rhode Island Tech,” star defensemanDan Ringwald said. “Hopefully, people now know we’re the Rochester Institute ofTechnology.”
They should.
The Tigers are in the Frozen Four for the first time—just five years aftermoving to Division I. It wasn’t an easy path: RIT stunned perennial powersDenver and New Hampshire last week in the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament.
RIT beat second-ranked Denver 2-1 behind the stalwart goaltending of seniorJared DeMichiel, then dismantled Hockey East regular-season champ UNH 6-2 in amasterful exhibit of team play spurred by goals from Tyler Brenner, Brent Alexinand Stevan Matic in a 94-second span to win the East Regional in Albany, N.Y.
DeMichiel, one of the keys to the Tigers’ success, was selected the mostoutstanding player of the regional after stopping 63 of 66 shots. He has a 1.98goals-against average, .924 save percentage, and leads the nation in wins with27.
“Our goal this year was to get to the NCAAs. That was upfront, the veryfirst meeting we ever had,” coach Wayne Wilson said. “We want to do a littlebit better than the teams before us have done. Hopefully, we can set a bar thatno other team can beat.”
When that bus arrived back at campus in the wee hours the morning afterRIT’s big win, a police escort guided the way to an impromptu welcome receptionorganized after the final horn in Albany. The throng included RIT president BillDestler and pretty much left the players speechless—a thrill rivaling thedeafening cheers they receive at every home game in 2,100-seat Frank RitterArena, one of the loudest rinks in college hockey.
“None of us really expected what was there. It was really humbling,” saidsophomore forward Cameron Burt, who leads the Tigers in scoring with 16 goalsand 47 points. “A few of us thought maybe 40 or 50 people, but when we got offthe bus and there were hundreds of people waiting outside for us cheering, itwas just a surreal experience—something I’ll never forget.”
Sort of like this breakout season for the Tigers (28-11-1), who have won 12straight games heading into Thursday’s semifinal against traditional powerWisconsin (27-10-4) at Ford Field in Burt’s hometown of Detroit.
When Wilson was hired 11 years ago, this was not what he envisioned.
“I just wanted to be a head coach,” said Wilson, an assistant for a decadeat his alma mater, Bowling Green. “I had been an assistant for a long time andjust wanted to move on. The program had a great reputation. I put my name in thering and ended up getting the job.”
Things changed in a heartbeat.
“All of a sudden I get a call around Christmastime. ‘Hey, we’re going totake the program to Division I.’ I wasn’t prepared for that,” Wilson said. “Itook the job based on that it was going to be Division III and that’s what I’dbe coaching for the rest of my career.
“OK. What’s the change of thought? That went to just excited to be back inDivision I to, ‘Oh my God! What are we getting ourselves into?”’
As it’s turned out, something pretty good. A longtime power in collegehockey’s lower echelons—RIT hockey began in 1962 and the team won nationalchampionships in Division II and Division III in the 1980s—the Tigers haveexcelled in the fledgling Atlantic Hockey Association since going 6-22-2 in2005-06, their first season in Division I.
“It’s a pretty big jump, but I’d been planning it for 30 years,” athleticdirector Lou Spiotti Jr. said. “It’s just amazing. It probably didn’t shock ourplayers because they believed they could do it, but it shocked a lot of otherpeople.”
The Tigers began the season with five straight setbacks, losing every timethey ventured out of conference. That they compete in the Atlantic HockeyAssociation, whose members also include Sacred Heart, Air Force, Army, HolyCross, Bentley, Connecticut, Canisius and American International, only added tothe perception that their newfound success was a fluke. After all, RIT is thefirst AHA school to reach the Frozen Four—Wisconsin is seeking its seventhnational championship.
“It takes time to grow,” AHA commissioner Robert DeGregorio Jr. said.“Our league is getting more and more competitive and we’re getting stronger. Wedon’t have the longevity that a BU (Boston University) or a UNH or Minnesotahas. We don’t have two or three teams that have had Division I hockey for 25 or35 years or a storied history of All-Americans, Hobey Baker winners or nationalchampionships. We’re seven years old, but we’re getting there.
“What surprised everybody was RIT was their equal,” DeGregorio said.“They didn’t have any non-league wins, and that affects your power rating. Butthey’ve got two non-league wins now.”
The first was not necessarily a surprise to the victim.
“The college hockey landscape has changed so dramatically. Every yearyou’re seeing the nontraditional teams either pushing the traditional teamsright to the wire or winning games,” Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. “Theyhave tremendous balance and depth. I didn’t see a weak link. I didn’t see aHobey Baker skater, maybe their goaltender, but no weak link.”
Wilson has built his team much like the perennial powers, reaching intoCanada and the ranks of junior hockey for much of his talent. One of those isthe 23-year-old Ringwald, who plays alongside freshman Chris Tanev to form oneof the most efficient backline duos in the nation. Tanev is a plus-35 on theseason and Ringwald a plus-23.
Ringwald readily admits that RIT, which does not offer athleticscholarships, did not top his list of college choices. He changed his mind afterhe realized he’d be able to play as a freshman.
“That was one of the big draws for me, as well as the fact that there’s nodoubt about the academics,” said Ringwald, who’s already working on his MBA.
When they take the ice against the Badgers on Thursday, the Tigers will haveto contend with the likes of players like Blake Geoffrion. He’s one of threefinalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the best player in thenation. He’s also a grandson of former Montreal Canadiens Hall of Famer Bernie“Boom Boom” Geoffrion, the man generally credited with inventing the slapshot.
Rest assured RIT won’t be starstruck because this isn’t the first wave theAHA has made. Holy Cross knocked off Minnesota, a No. 1 seed, in 2006 and lastyear Air Force beat Michigan, also a No. 1 seed, before losing to Vermont indouble overtime on a shot that had to be replayed.
“We definitely would like to make some noise,” said Burt, from Detroit’snorthwest side. “It’s huge, monumental here for us, the school, the wholecommunity. It would give the whole city something to cheer about.”
