THE GREAT WHITE BEAR

Looks like a headline you'd expect to see in autumn on the college football page! But this is hockey, and the rivalry between the two schools is quickly coming to match their football rivalry! Before a sold out crowd at the Joe in Hockeytown last night, the Mighty Wolverines captured the Mason Cup, given to the CCHA tournament champion, with a 4-2 victory over #10 Ohio State! This gives them an automatic birth in the NCAA tourney, and almost assuredly a number one seed (tournament selection show today on espn 2). Many thanks to Scott and Tracy, who had the boys over to watch the game on the big screen HDTV! GOTTA get me one of those!

The six conference champions with automatic births to the FROZEN FINALS are:
BOSTON COLLEGE (Hockey East)
MERCYHURST (Atlantic Hockey Assoc.)
CORNELL (East Coast Athletic Conference)
MICHIGAN (Central Collegiate Hockey Assoc.)
BEMIDJI STATE (College Hockey Assoc.)
DENVER (Western Collegiate Hockey Assoc.)

Final regular season poll:
1. COLORADO COLLEGE
2. DENVER
3. CORNELL
4. MICHIGAN
5. BOSTON COLLEGE
6. MINNESOTA
7, NEW HAMPSHIRE
8. HARVARD
9. BOSTON UNIVERSITY
10. OHIO STATE
11. WISCONSIN
12. MAINE
13. NORTH DAKOTA
14. COLGATE
15. NORTHERN MICHIGAN

While tickets to the FROZEN FOUR have been sold out for 10 mos., there are still tickets available for a couple of the regional finals, including the Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids. Look for those to disappear quickly if Michigan gets seeded there!