March 21, 2005

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Michigan, the CCHA Tournament champion, and Ohio State, the playoff runner-up, will represent the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament.

The Wolverines (30-7-3), appearing in the NCAA Tourney for a record-setting 15th straight season, will be the No. 2 seed at the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich., and meet the No. 3-seeded Wisconsin Badgers (23-13-4) of the WCHA on Friday, March 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Wolverines and Badgers hooked up at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisc., earlier this season. Wisconsin took the Nov. 27 contest, 3-1. No. 1 Colorado College of the WCHA and No. 4 Colgate of the ECACHL are the two other participants at the Midwest Regional, hosted by Western Michigan University.

Michigan earned the CCHA's automatic bid into the NCAA Tourney by beating Ohio State, 4-2, on Saturday night at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena, to claim the CCHA Playoff championship for the seventh time in the past 12 years. Wisconsin suffered a 3-2 loss to North Dakota this past Thursday at the WCHA Final Five play-in game in St. Paul, Minn.

The Buckeyes (27-10-4), making their third consecutive NCAA Tourney appearance and fifth overall, are headed to Minneapolis, Minn., as the No. 3 seed. Ohio State will take on No. 2 seed and ECACHL champion Cornell (26-4-3) on Saturday, March 26 at 5 p.m. CT in the West Regional. The Buckeyes and Big Red have not met this season but were involved in two games last season. Ohio State claimed a 4-3 victory in Ithaca, N.Y., on Nov. 22, 2003; Cornell won, 4-3, in overtime, in the championship game of the Everblades College Classic on Dec. 28, 2003. The Big Red followed up their regular-season championship by beating Harvard, 3-1 last night in Albany, N.Y., for the ECACHL playoff championship. No. 1 Minnesota of the WCHA and No. 4 Maine of Hockey East are the two other teams competing in the West Regional.

CCHA referees Brian Aaron, Kevin Hall, Steve Piotrowski, Matt Shegos and Mark Wilkins and assistant referees Brian Hill, Brent Gawlik, Dave Kronenberg, Ken Landis, Kevin Langseth, John Philo, Keith Sergott and Paul Tunison have been selected by the NCAA to officiate this year's tournament. The top officials in the nation are utilized by the NCAA regardless of conference affiliation.

Super 6 Wrap-Up

Alaska Fairbanks- The Nanooks, who beat Northern Michigan, 6-3, in the Super 6 quarterfinals and Michigan State, 3-2, in the third-place game, had two freshmen named to the Super 6 All-Tournament team. Goalie Wylie Rogers stopped 104-of-112 shots (.929) faced over three games while Ryan McLeod finished first in CCHA playoff scoring with five goals and three assists.

Michigan- Junior forward Jeff Tambellini, recipient of the Bill Beagan trophy as the Super 6 MVP, has recorded three game-winning goals over the past four games while junior netminder Al Montoya has allowed four goals in four games while compiling a save percentage of .944.

Michigan State- Sophomore forward Tom Goebel, who endured a 19-game goal drought between Dec. 11 and Mar. 12, scored in three of the Spartans' last four games of the season. He finished with 6-15-21 totals after recording 15-17-32 as a freshman.

Nebraska-Omaha- The Mavericks, who dressed 15 freshmen and sophomores, were blanked, 5-0, by Michigan State in the Super 6 quarterfinals. It was the first shutout loss since March 12, 2004 (42 games) for the Mavs, who were blanked six times last season.

Northern Michigan- CCHA Player of the Year Tuomas Tarkki surrendered five goals in the Wildcats' 6-3 loss to UAF in the Super Six quarterfinals. No CCHA team had beaten Tarkki more than three times in 26 regular-season and playoff games.

Ohio State- The Buckeyes went 0-for-7 on the power play and allowed two power-play goals on 10 Michigan chances in the Mason Cup championship game. No team in the nation has enjoyed more power-play chances this season (296) nor allowed the opposition more man-advantage opportunities (313).