Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
My bracket is officially busted with the complete and utter implosion by Miami (OH) in last night's second semifinal, which was almost as much of a route as the first.
Between the two games, the winning teams scored 15 goals against two defensive-minded teams. Miami went into Thursday's game ranked first in the nation in team defense with the two top goaltenders in goals against average. RIT was ranked third in team defense.
Wisconsin scored in the opening minutes of the first two periods, using its superior speed and skating to its advantage as RIT spent most of the day chasing the Badgers around in the defensive zone. Boston College took advantage of Miami spending almost an entire period in the penalty box (seven penalties for 14 minutes), scoring its first two goals with a man advantage.
In both cases the offenses used an opponents' weakness to its advantage. In RIT's case, the Tigers like to keep the puck in front of them at all times and use a system that more often than not will make up for their lack of standout skilled players. Wisconsin, however, has too many skill players and players headed to the NHL, including some very good offensive-minded defensemen. RIT couldn't contain them all and as a result, the Badgers were able to move around pretty freely in the Tigers' zone.
Boston College didn't shy away from the physical play, despite the Red Hawks' size advantage, accepted contact and often as a result a Miami player found his way to the penalty box. It's hard to win when you're down a man for nearly one third of the game. Miami is a team used to playing with a lead and once it fell behind by three goals, the Eagles had to be feeling secure about their chances.
And while both teams did play smart, explosive offensive hockey and that's the first thing that comes to mind when talking about the games, it was the defensive efforts that really sealed the deal for the Eagles and Badgers. Yes, there were many goals against good defenses, but throw on top of that the fact that RIT and Miami were both top-10 teams in scoring offense and the combined 13-goal differential in the two semifinals looks even more impressive.
John Muse only had to make 17 saves for BC and Scott Gudmanson had to make just 13 for Wisconsin. And why? Because the defenses didn't allow anything in their own respective zones.
What makes both of these teams so dangerous is the fact that the defense begins with the forwards and that they both have forechecking down to a science. Both teams are aggressive in pursuing the puck, putting pressure on the puck carrier, regardless of the zone. They feast upon turnovers in the neutral zone, giving them the opportunities to turn defense into offense almost instantly. And if that's not enough, they backcheck tremendously well.
So what happens when two teams with a similar repertoire like this face off? More often than not, it's not the high-scoring, lamp lighting affairs people would expect. Sometimes both teams that have the kind of skill these two do at the forward position hold each other to a stalemate with the team making the first mistake giving up the first goal.
Then again, I could be completely wrong and we could see BC/Yale all over again. Either way, strap in for some exciting hockey.
(Click on the bracket for a larger view.)
