Hot Harvard gears up
Crimson get ready for Minnesota-Duluth tilt
Part of the mystique of reaching a Frozen Four is that often the opponent is an unfamiliar one.
Such is the case between Harvard and MinnesotaDuluth, who meet in the national semifinals in Chicago on April 6. The nonconference foes have not met since 1996.
NCAA Frozen Four cohost Notre Dame faces favored Denver in the other national semifinal.
“I’m not sure. In this day and age, there really is no such thing as an unknown commodity with all the games on TV,” Harvard coach Ted Donato said during a teleconference yesterday. “We all recruit on the same global area and so we’re all familiar with each others’ players. So, I don’t think there is an advantage or a disadvantage.”
Donato joined UMassLowell coach Norm Bazin among the 10 coaches named as finalists for the Spencer Penrose Award as Division 1 Coach of the Year. All four Frozen Four coaches, Donato, Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson, Denver’s Jim Montgomery and Minnesota-Duluth’s Scott Sandelin, are included.
“We’re in the process, right now, of gathering information on them but we have great respect for Minnesota-Duluth,” Donato said. “Coach Sandelin is among the very best coaches in the country. They have had success on the national level year-in and year-out. They have a good mix of size and skill, and they’re very good going about the job of winning. So, we have a great deal of respect for them.’’
The Crimson (28-5-2), making their first Frozen Four visit since 1994, are riding a 17-game unbeaten streak (16-0-1). Junior goaltender Merrick Madsen was named the regional MVP last weekend, his second straight MVP. One week earlier, the 6-foot-5 goalie took ECAC tourney honors.
Up front, the potent Crimson boast five skaters with 40 or more points. They include Hobey Baker Award finalist and cocaptain Alexander Kerfoot (16-29-45), forwards Tyler Moy (22-23-45) and Sean Malone (19-24-43), defenseman Adam Fox (6-34-40) and forward Ryan Donato (21-19-40) of Scituate.
“I think a great part of our success has been our senior leadership,” Donato said. “Our guys have played in the NCAA tournament before and are familiar with the big stage and I think that they’ve learned from past successes and past failures.’’
UMD (27-6-7) is also hot, winning 18 of its last 19 outings (15-1-3).
Notre Dame (23-11-5) is the first host school to play in the Frozen Four since Wisconsin in 2006.
“We’re thrilled to come out of a tough regional. It’s a great time to be Irish,’’ said ND coach Jeff Jackson, who will rely on ironman goaltender Cal Petersen and Bruins draft pick Anders Bjork (21-31-52), who is ninth in scoring nationally.
Denver’s Jim Montgomery, the ex-Maine star, took his first coaching job under Jackson.
“A to Z, I learned to run a program at a high level,” Montgomery said.