The 2010 NCAA Frozen Four is this weekend at Detroit's Ford Field. While the reasoning for holding the event in a football stadium is obvious -- more seats, more fans -- it doesn't mean that the home of the NFL's Detroit Lions will necessarily be all that full.
The NCAA is expecting a crowd of about 30,000 on hand for each of the three games this weekend in a building that seats 65,000 for football an 78,000 for basketball. Some of that has to do with the configuration of the arena (warning: PDF file), of course.
Either way, it should be a pretty electric atmosphere at Ford Field for these games. The RIT Tigers are the Cinderella, a team in a poor conference who wasn't given much thought. After upsetting Denver and, to an extent, New Hampshire, in the Regionals, RIT has proven that they can slay the dragon. There's no reason that they can't win two more games in this tournament, and fans in Rochester have taken notice. It's the Tigers' first Division 1 NCAA Tournament and their first Frozen Four.
The other teams, however, have certainly been here before. All number one seeds, Wisconsin, Miami and Boston College have all won national championships in the past and their fans all expect to win.
Both semifinal games are on Thursday.
As already mentioned, the RIT Tigers are the suddenly-feared Cinderella. They've proven to the college hockey world that a great team in a poor conference doesn't necessarily make that team a pushover simply because of that poor conference.
Wisconsin is going to give the Tigers their biggest challenge yet, though. The Badgers are a solid team from top to bottom, led by senior Hobey Baker candidate Blake Geoffrion. Their offense isn't just one player deep, though, and they can put up a potent attack that will fire toward the Tigers at will.
SBN's Boston College blog, BC Interruption, took the liberty of previewing this game... logically. Here's an excerpt.
The Eagles first opponent will be top seed from the Midwest Regional, the Miami RedHawks. To get to the Frozen Four, the RedHawks scraped past Alabama-Huntsville (2-1) and Michigan (3-2 OT) to get back to the Frozen Four. This year marks the first time in program history the RedHawks have made back-to-back appearances in the Frozen Four. Jerry York's team will have to contend with the toughest defense in the country statistically. The RedHawks are giving up a minuscule 1.84 goals per game. Both Miami goaltenders rank 1-2 in the nation in GAA. After being bounced from the NCAAs the last four seasons by a Hockey East school from Boston, Miami certainly has something to prove when they face the Eagles again tomorrow.
Click over to BCI to get the entire read.
Here's our bracket, updated just prior to today's round.
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2010 Frozen Four Preview: Miami, BC, Wisconsin, RIT Battle For National Title This Weekend
Apr 8
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