Follow the WCHA Final Five quarterfinals

Greetings from the Xcel Energy Center. We’ve got Wisconsin and Minnesota State coming up in about 23 minutes.

Minnesota State is 0-2 at the Final Five and last appeared at one in 2003. Wisconsin was last here in 2010 and its last win was in the 3rd place game in 2009.

Stomper and Bucky have taken the ice. Stomper appears to be a very solid skater.

Joel Rumpel will start in goal for Wisconsin. WCHA Freshman of the Year, Stephon Williams, is back between the pipes for Minnesota State.

Tyler Elbrecht and Brett Stern starting on defense for the Mavericks. Chase Grant, Matt Leitner, and Bryce Gervais up front.

Jake McCabe and Frankie Simonelli start on the blueline for the Badgers. Nic Kerdiles, Mark Zengerle, and Tyler Barnes up front.

We are just about ready for the drop of the puck.

Game audio should be streaming on wcha.com

Typical Thursday afternoon crowd. Little less than half full. Lots of UND fans, but both teams well-represented.

Both teams that are actually playing this game are well-represented, I should say.

Gervais with the game’s first good scoring chance off a faceoff.

Nice goal by Barnes. He pushed the puck off the boards past a Mavericks’ defender before skating in and beating Williams glove side.

The Mavericks look shaky with the puck early. Cost them once already.

The Badgers’ Sean Little with a turnover at center ice that leads to a scoring chance for the Mavericks.

Long shift for the Badgers allows the Mavericks several chances to tie things up, but Rumpel stands his ground.

Not many of them made it on net, but MSU had an extended shift in the Wisconsin zone that yielded lots of shot attempts.

NIce chance for Hayes after taking a pass near the Badgers’ blueline.

Hayes draws a penalty on the play. LaBate off for tripping. After the media timeout MSU will have a power play.

Wisconsin is 17-7-3 when scoring first.

It took the Mavericks 51 seconds to get their first shot on the advantage. The Badgers snatched up the rebound, skated the length of the rink and found the back of the net.

Jefferson Dahl with the goal.

The Badgers are 5-0 this season when Dahl scores.

Tough goal for Stephon Williams to give up. Not really a great look for Dahl and a tough angle.

The Badgers strike again. Kerdiles with a one-timer through the wickets.

Mavericks’ head coach Mike Hastings calls a timeout to try and calm his crew down.

For the Badgers, that’s now three goals on just five shots.

Just a reminder, both WCHA Semi-Final games started out 3-0 last season.

UMD came back from a 3-0 deficit then lost in overtime last year to Denver. UND was down 3-0 after 30 minutes in the night game, then scored six unanswered en route to a 6-3 win.

Badgers had zero three-goal first periods in the first 36 games. Two of them in the last three.

I think it is safe to say that the Badgers’ offense is peaking at the right time.

The Badgers are heading to their first power play of the game thanks to a boarding penalty from Eli Zuck.

The Badgers appear to be looking for the perfect play rather than shots on this advantage.

Mavericks kill off the advantage. However, the Badgers’ Brendan Woods nearly scores shortly after. Williams had to come up with a huge toe save.

Yes he is, and appears to settling in.

The Badgers’ Michael Mersch with a power move around a Mavericks’ defender, but Williams is there to make the stop before getting bowled over.

After the Badgers’ Mark Zengerle gets away with a bit of hook in front of his own end, captain John Ramage runs into Williams at the other. Both teams appear to be a bit disjointed at this point.

That’s a fair question. I would say Williams may be, but so far it appears that neither squad is skating that well. It could just be the jitters of the opening game.

Badgers’ defenseman Kevin Schulze takes a hooking penalty. Mavericks back on the power play.

The Mavericks’ McInnes set up in front by Jean-Paul Lafontaine, but he hits the post.

Eleven seconds left.

Mavericks’ winger Chase Grant is whistled for interference just after the advantage ends.

Mersch takes a pass from Zengerle in the corner, but his one-timer is gobbled up by Williams.

The first period comes to an end with the Badgers holding a 3-0 lead. They will have 1:00 of power play time to start the second.

The Badgers are 8-4-2 when leading after one period.

Actually, I’d say the lower bowl is fairly full. Plenty of open space in the upper rings.

Nope. They are set to remain within the Top 16 even with a loss in nearly every scenario. Try the Pairwise predictor on USCHO. I think there are some scenarios in which they are out but not many.

Actually, yes, that’s correct. SiouxSports.com has the numbers here, MSU can finish no lower than 15th but depending on how many automatic bids there are they could be out. http://blog.siouxsports.com/2013/03/18/2143/ Only a 4.1% chance statistically.

Sorry. Was looking at Niagara’s. Mankato’s chances of missing the tournament are at 0.3%…

Try it out in the Pairwise Predictor on USCHO.com. Nearly every scenario would put SCSU in.

We are 2:37 away from the start of the second period. The Badgers outshot the Mavericks 13-7 in that opening frame.

It appears you are right, though I thought usually Jim Dahl runs those numbers with win probabilities calculated from KRACH. Maybe not.

Time for the second period puck drop. The Badgers control the puck and begin their push down the ice.

The Badgers’ Jake McCabe takes a hooking penalty. We have four on four briefly.

With the penalty over, the Mavericks have just under two minutes of power play time.

Rumpel keeps Hayes from stuffing one home.

The Badgers manage to clear the puck down the ice, effectively ending any advantage for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks have closed the shot gap. The Badgers now lead 13-11 in shots.

A turnover by the Badgers’ Keegan Meuer leads to another shot from the high slot for the Mavericks.

With 15:20 remaining in the period, the Mavericks have now evened the shot clock, 13-13.

Badgers’ captain John Ramage with a quick shot that Williams has to hang on to.

The Badgers’ Kerdiles with a one-timer that hits the post. The Badgers look energized after that last media timeout.

Badgers’ center Brendan Woods takes a penalty for hooking.

The Badgers’ Dahl had a great chance shorthanded, but was thwarted by Williams.

They certainly have skated much better this period than they had in the first.

Nice block by Dahl off a shot from Mavericks’ Zach Lehrke. The block leads to a 3 on 1 rush and Dahl nets his second of the night.

Jefferson Dahl putting his name in the all-tournament team discussion already. Long time to go for that, obviously.

Ramage drops the Mavericks’ Teddy Blueger with a hit in the high slot. He’ll take a seat in the box for that one.

Discussion over whether to give him 2 or 5 for this one.

Ramage is assessed a five-minute major for charging.

You are welcome Bill.

To be fair, it is not as though the Mavericks have played poorly. Wisconsin has capitalized on their opportunities.

It seems to be a fair call given the severity of the hit,

Mavericks score! Zach Palmquist with the goal off a pass across the slot from Lafontaine.

There was no misconduct assessed with the major, so he’ll be back once he’s served his time.

Grant takes a penalty for hitting after the whistle. We’ll have two minutes of four on four.

The Mavericks’ Jon Jutzi attempts to push the puck through McCabe, but the Badgers’ stalwart refuses to yield.

The Badgers appear to strike again when Mersch and Barnes crash the net.

Williams is hurt on the play. The referees are reviewing whether the net was off before the goal went in.

The goal will stand. Barnes with the tally, his second of the night. Williams is up and will be replaced by Phil Cook.

Williams needed help to get off the ice, which has to be a concern for the Mavericks going forward into the NCAA tournament, assuming that happens.

It does not appear that he has returned from the locker room yet.

It appeared to be more of a right knee issue.

Mavericks score on the power play (still the major power play). Eriah Hayes with the one-timer from the slot.

The Mavericks nearly strike again, but hit the post.

Minnesota State’s Chase Grant goes to the locker room with what looked like a right leg injury.

Tim, I’m from Michigan Tech. There, we get half-off pizza!

Mersch and Woods link up for a scoring chance, but the Mavericks’ Cook comes up big.

Dahl completes the hat trick.

Dahl crashed the net, the puck hit him and went in. The play is now under review.

Shots are even, 23-23.

It was determined that Dahl’s skates were in the crease before the puck got there.

Probably

Hayes drills McCabe, gets whistled for the hit. McCabe takes an embellishment penalty on the play.

After two periods, Wisconsin holds a 5-2 lead on the scoreboard. The Mavericks hold a 24-23 advantage in shots.

Yes, winner plays SCSU tomorrow at 2:07 p.m.

Screening the goalie can be interpreted as interfering with the goalie. Have seen that called before.

I.e. screening the goalie when you are also in the crease.

After the second period, the Mavericks are now 2 for 7 on the power play. The Badgers are 0 for 2.

We are back on here with the start of the third period.

The Mavericks have done a good job of getting the puck deep into the Badgers’ zone, but that hasn’t translated to shots on goal.

Badgers’ winger Joseph Labate takes an interference penalty to keep the Mavericks from getting a great scoring chance.

Correction, they are calling it hooking.

After several slow passes that seemed to put the Badgers to sleep, Lafontaine gets a great scoring chance but Rumpel makes the stop.

Blueger is back on the ice for the Mavericks.

The Badgers’ McCabe is still fuming over a non-call during the penalty kill.

Mavericks hold a 26-23 edge in shots despite trailing 5-2 at this point.

Dahl with another attempt at the hat trick, but this time Cook makes the stop.

Rumpel with a pair of saves off his left leg to preserve the three-goal lead.

Eriah Hayes is having himself a game. Kept moving his feet and drew a penalty. Mankato gets a power play with 11:51 to go.

Ramage sent to the sin bin for interference.

Very good point, Bruce.

He’s been okay today. Defensively, he hasn’t been challenged that much.

Frankie Simonelli gives the Badgers a four-goal lead officially.

The Badgers have taken eight penalties thus far.

We haven’t heard anything up here yet.

This day could be going from bad to worse for the Mavericks with Williams and now Zuck needing help off the ice.

The announced attendance is 15,971.

The Mavericks now hold a 30-25 advantage in shots despite trailing by four.

To our understanding, the Badgers would have to have lost today to be out of the running.

The Badgers’ offense seems to agree.

The Badgers have been wearing their home whites.

With just over four minutes left, the Badgers appear to be hanging on rather than pushing for more offense.

That is a very fair statement, Robert. With the changing landscape of the league, they are certainly well-positioned for a home playoff spot, considering how many of their top contributors are freshman and sophomores.

The Badgers strike again. Labate gets loose and beats Cook through the legs.

This is the most goals the Badgers have scored this season.

Last minute of play.

With the clock winding down, the Badgers clear the puck the length of the rink.

With that, the Badgers win, 7-2. The Mavericks finish the game with a 40-27 advantage in shots. Lafontaine named Player of the Game for the Mavericks. Dahl earns the honor for the Badgers.

Thanks everyone for joining us for this WCHA Quarterfinal. We hope you’ll return for tonight’s contest.

Just a reminder, we will return just before 7 pm CDT for the nightcap between North Dakota and Colorado College.

Hello again hockey fans, and welcome to USCHO’s continuing coverage of the WCHA Final Five.

I’ll be passing along starting lineups as soon as we get them up here. North Dakota will be in their home whites while the Tigers will be wearing their road blacks.

The Tigers will be starting Joe Howe between the pipes. Peter Stoykowych and Mike Boivin will patrol the blueline. Alexander Krushelnyski, Rylan Schwartz and Charlie Taft will the starters up front.

North Dakota will counter with Clarke Saunders in goal, Andrew MacWilliam and Dillon Simpson on the back end, and Brendan O’Donnell, Corban Knight and Danny Kristo at forward.

Schwartz is the only Tigers’ skater with more than six career points in in playoff games. He has 14 in 15 games.

North Dakota’s Danny Kristo has nine points in eight career WCHA Final Five games.

We still have six minutes left to go until we drop the puck here in St. Paul, but in terms of the crowd, we may have quite a lot of late arrivals. Xcel Energy Center is maybe – maybe – half-full at the moment,.

Predictably, there’s much louder roars as North Dakota’s starters are introduced than what we had when CC’s starters were named. Particularly interesting reaction when Danny Kristo was introduced by the PA announcer. Loud applause from the UND fans, but some very noticeable boos, as well from fans not wearing green.

Pretty nifty bow-tie on SCSU’s Nick Jensen as he’s introduced to the crowd along with the WCHA’s other 2012-13 season award winners.

Here we go! Opening faceoff goes to the Tigers.

PA announcer: “Who’s ready for some WCHA hockey?” Only everyone in the arena, thank you. UND-CC is now underway.

Howe challenged within the first minute.

North Dakota definitely ready to go, they have kept the puck in the Tigers’ end throughout the first couple of minutes.

North Dakota’s Drake Caggiula takes a charging penalty.

Drake Caggiula is off to the box 1:16 into the game for charging. Left his feet and absolutely leveled Hunter Fejes. Obvious call.

Tigers’ power play goal. Rylan Schwartz picks up his 18th of the season by finishing off a loose puck behind Saunders.

Rylan Schwartz puts Colorado College ahead 1-0 on a power play goal 3:06 into the game. A steal in the corner in UND’s zone leads to a scoring chance out front, and when Cody Bradley feeds Schwartz with UND goaltender Clarke Saunders way out of position, all Schwartz had to do was walk the puck in. He won’t score many easier goals than that.

Shots are even, 1-1, right now.

Nice defensive play by the Tigers’ Scott Winkler to break up an offensive chance for UND’s Danny Kristo.

North Dakota has gone back to controlling play, however, they are not generating shots.

Tigers’ winger Archie Skalbeck gets loose in the slot and fires a wrister that Saunders handles well.

Token Alaska-Anchorage fan really cutting a rug during the dance prompt on the jumbotron. Well, maybe not a rug. Many muscles, surely.

Some good sustained pressure from North Dakota in the CC zone. Joe Howe lost his stick behind the net and has had to use a Tigers player’s stick. Teammate Peter Maric nearly tripped over Howe’s stick to the goalie’s right-hand side.

North Dakota’s line of Rocco Grimaldi, Carter Rowney, and Michael Parks do a nice job of forechecking. The strong shift is finished off by a scoring chance off the line change by Connor Gaarder.

Almost halfway through the first period, North Dakota holds an 8-3 edge in shots.

O’Donnell with a pass back to Simpson for a shot from the right point. Howe is again able to make the save.

Andrew MacWilliam with a huge hit on Archie Skalbeck along the boards at the CC blue line. Didn’t merit a penalty and he didn’t get one, but I’ve seen players blown down for less in that sort of situation.

I realize this may have been stated already, but North Dakota has definitely been the better team in this game. Carter Rowney just undressed a Tigers’ defender before firing a shot just wide of Howe.

Gopher fan popping the diagonal script on the front of his replica sweater on the jumbotron gets booed by the (mostly UND) fans in the building. Trolls gonna troll.

North Dakota comes in on a three-on-two. Nick Mattson gets the shot, Howe makes another solid stop.

A North Dakota dump-in just skittered across the crease when Howe went out to play it.

Schwartz picks Connor Gaarder’s pocket and leads a 2-on-1 for CC into the UND zone. Well-recovered, though, by the UND defense. Gaarder was really let out of jail there.

Grimaldi has been buzzing around the Tigers’ net, but like his teammates, he hasn’t found the back of the net.

North Dakota ties it up as Drake Caggiula beats Howe short-side.

To add insult to injury, Tigers’ captain William Rapuzzi is whistled for a penalty.

Interesting shift there, as Grimaldi fed Caggiula across the crease. Grimaldi is the second line, Caggiula the fourth. Definitely in the midst of a line change. The interesting part is that Rocco and Caggiula were on the same line for a few weekends earlier in the season and had some good chemistry.

Timely that we should have a comment about Grimaldi. Right after that pops up, he sets up Drake Caggiula in the slot, and Caggiula beat Howe to the CC goalie’s stick side. Very well-worked goal for UND that started with a Tiger turnover in the corner in CC’s own zone.

William Rapuzzi is off for slashing, as well, so UND is on a power play just after having equalized. Needless to say we could be witnessing a big change in the game’s momentum here.

Howe comes up big again, and some rough stuff after the whistle leads to a penalty for North Dakota’s Mark MacMillan.

Mark MacMillan kills UND’s power play at 16:06, taking a roughing call after a fracas took place right in front of the CC goaltender Howe. As I write this, the Tigers have just gone back to full strength and are on an abbreviated power play. Still 1:10 left on that as I enter this…now.

Rapuzzi comes out of the penalty box and gets set up in the high slot. His shot is blocked, however.

Grimaldi is whistled for tripping, putting the Tigers on a 5 on 3 power play for the next 57 seconds.

CC’s about to get a 5-on-3 power play here for the next 57 seconds. Rocco Grimaldi is blown down for tripping, and the second-year freshman makes a beeline for the box. Crowd didn’t like the call, but Grimaldi didn’t question it.

CC’s Boivin set up at the high point, but his big blast is blocked out of the zone.

Corban Knight blocks a Mike Boivin shot at the top of the slot and struggles off the ice. My guess is Knight just has a stinger from that. I doubt it’s anything worse than that.

North Dakota kills off the advantage.

North Dakota kills the 5-on-3 and is back at full-strength. Still 1-1 as I write this in the final 45 seconds of the first period.

North Dakota strikes again.

Kristo with the goal.

Danny Kristo puts UND ahead with 9.1 seconds left in the first period. A shot from the left circle that Howe really should have had hits him but still plops into the net. that’s Kristo’s 25

‘th goal of the season.

At the end of the first period, North Dakota leads 2-1 on the scoreboard and 11-4 in shots.

And we are back. The Tigers will look to right the ship while North Dakota will look to continue the pressure.

Howe stacks the pads to keep O’Donnell from scoring.

There’s our shot chart from the first period. We’re underway with the second now.

North Dakota is back to controlling play, but have only generated three shots thus far.

Nice zone entry by the Tigers, but Krushelnyski’s chance was blocked.

North Dakota now holds a edge in shots of 15-5.

The Tigers are starting to get their skates underneath them, but only have two shots to show for it this period.

Tigers with another nice zone entry, Boivin with a shot on goal and Rapuzzi nearly gets the rebound.

CC defenseman Mike Boivin puts a speculative shot from the left circle off the near-side post. i’m not sure Saunders knew anything about the shot – It looked innocent enough at the time.

Colorado College takes a penalty for too many men on the ice.

The Tigers score shorthanded, Krushelnyski gets loose and beats Saunders with a backhand.

Dillon Simpson takes a slashing penalty as well. Not good for North Dakota fans.

Alexander Krushelnyski nets at 7:54 of the second period, and it’s a shorty. A turnover by Grimaldi in CC’s zone lead to a 2-on-1 the other way. Krushelnyski kept the puck for himself and buried a wrist shot from the right circle past Saunders.

Another turnover by North Dakota allows the Tigers to relieve the pressure UND was putting on.

Penalty called on CC’s Cody Bradley.

North Dakota’s about to go on a power play at the 12:21 mark of the second period. CC forward Cody Bradley is off for a pretty weak slashing call.

This might be the break North Dakota has been looking for. Then again, Krushelnyski scored on the last power play.

Knight feeds Gleason, but Howe makes the stop after the cross-ice pass.

Howe is really hot at the moment. Robbed Gleason with a glove save at the far post, like Daver said, and then he just made another save on a shot I’m not sure he actually saw.

Shots are 19-8 to UND right now, but it’s been a very even game

Nothing doing on the power play. Krushelnyski gets another scoring chance just after.

They were dead even, 14-14 after one period. This period has felt more like UND’s advantage, but don’t quote me on that yet :)

With 3:02 left in the period, North Dakota leads in shots 20-10.

If not for Howe, CC would not be in this game.

North Dakota goes back on the power play after Aaron Harstad takes a penalty.

The Tigers are getting great penalty killing from Schwartz and Krushelnyski, the duo are frustrating UND.

CC kills off another UND advantage. Harstad gets a scoring chance right out of the box.

North Dakota and Colorado College are tied at 2-2 after 40 in St. Paul. UND came into the second period holding onto a 2-1 lead, but an Alexander Krushelnyski goal in the middle frame put paid tot that. Very entertaining game here at the X.

After two periods, we are tied 2-2. North Dakota still leads in shots, 20-10.

Bruce, they haven’t announced attendance yet.

As we prepare for the third period, I just wanted to pass along a little known “fact” according to Wikipedia, North Dakota’s school colors are green and pink. Can any UND fans corroborate this?

North Dakota is 4-2-4 this season when tied after two periods.

The Tigers are 2-4-2 when tied after two periods.

And we are back for the third period!

The Tigers’ Eamonn McDermott takes a boarding penalty.

Eamonn McDermott is off for two for boarding, giving UND another power play. Debatable as to whether that could’ve been five minutes as opposed to the two he got

Today’s attendance: 17,038.

CC would have to win the Final Five.

Wisconsin needs to win tomorrow. They might need some help along with that, though.

Funny thing about Wisconsin is that they’ve had such difficulty scoring this season, but the Badgers have turned it around lately. Now, if only UW can sort out its power play and penalty kill, it’d really be up to something.

The Tigers grab the lead again with a goal from Hunter Fejes.

A big snipe from Fejes – assist to Andrew Hamburg – at 3:42 of the second period. Fejes gained the zone down the right wing and, with the UND defenseman effectively screening Saunders, Fejes beat the UND goalie high from beyond the right-hand circle.

There is an old hockey adage that seems appropriate here. If you let a lesser team hang around long enough, they just might sting you. It would seem North Dakota is living proof of that right now.

3:42 of the third period, beg your pardon.

Good scoring chance for CC’s Winkler. He spun around and fired a wrist shot that hit the post to Saunders’ left.

Grimaldi held on a great drive into the offensive zone. Harstad will serve two for the hold.

Hunter Fejes is being helped down into the CC locker room.

Looks like it was just an equipment issue, though, as he’s back on the Tigers’ bench.

I hate to say it, but he did not fall down, so it would have been a long shot to call the penalty shot on the play.

North Dakota has now gone 0 for 6 on the man advantage.