West region semifinals: (1) Boston College vs. (4) Colorado College
By Joe Micik
The Boston College Eagles’ men’s hockey team’s path to title defense begins tonight. At 9pm EDT on ESPNU, BC will meet the Tigers of Colorado College in their first-round game of the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
The #2 Eagles will meet the #13 Tigers at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis for the first time since 1998. Boston College has played Colorado College 17 times previously, with BC owning the all-time series 12-4-1, including a 2-1 record in the NCAA Tournament.
The Eagles enter this playoff game as the Hockey East champion and the region’s top seed, having compiled a 30-7-1 record to this point. Boston College’s 6-4 start (which isn’t a bad stretch, just bad for BC) to the season seems very distant now, as they have gone a staggering 24-3-1 since November 13. Included in that impressive stretch were a Beanpot victory, a Hockey East regular-season title, and the aforementioned conference tournament title.
Colorado College enters this game as an at-large bid out of the WCHA, having gone 22-18-3 in their season so far. They entered into the WCHA Tournament and beat Wisconsin, which earned them a spot in the conference’s “Final Five.” In the quarterfinals, they dismissed Alaska-Anchorage before losing a close semifinal to North Dakota. That late performance helped the Tigers sneak into the NCAA field.
The points leader for Colorado College is senior Stephen Schultz with 43, many of them coming on assists. The scoring leader for the Tigers is Tyler Johnson, a senior from Minnesota, who has 20 on the season. That mark is tied for 22nd in Division I college hockey. Johnson is much higher on another list, however: power play goals. He has 12 of them, which is good for a 2nd-place tie in all of Division I. Nick Dineen, another Tiger, is right behind him at 11. As an offense, however, Johnson’s team is 23rd overall with 3.12 goals per game. Defensively, they allow 2.91 goals per game, which is 32nd-best. CC’s goalie, Joe Howe, is a sophomore with a .901 save percentage.
The Tigers have a top power-play scorer on their team in Tyler Johnson, which has helped make them one of the better teams on that front in the nation. Colorado College converts on penalty chances 22.51% of the time this season (10th in D-I). On the penalty kill, however, they’re a little less flashy, disposing of only 82.5% of their own penalties (24th in D-I). They also don’t make much of shorthanded opportunities, scoring only three times this season.
We know what the Eagles bring to the table both offensively and defensively. Boston College has two players at fifty points or higher this year: Cam Atkinson (51) and Brian Gibbons (50). The Eagles also have two twenty-goal scorers: Atkinson (30) and Jimmy Hayes (20). Atkinson’s 30 goals make him second in the nation in scoring.
The Eagles’ offensive attack is strong, at even strength, on the power play, and even shorthanded. BC has the third-best offense in the nation overall (3.92 goals per game), the sixth-best power-play scoring in the nation (24.04%), and lead Division I in shorthanded goals (13). What this tells you is that there is basically nowhere for opposing teams to hide: unless you play some absolutely smothering defense or have a hot offense that can keep up, you are probably going to have difficulty with Boston College. Taking advantage of BC’s defense/goaltending wouldn’t be of much help, either, with John Muse in net (.926 save percentage, 10th-best in D-I) and a unit that allows only 2.26 goals per game, sixth-best in the nation. The Eagles also have an outstanding penalty kill, wiping out 86.9% of opposing chances, which is fourth-best in the land.
On paper, there is not much doubt as to which one of these teams is better. Colorado College has had a good year, but Boston College is one of the most complete teams you will find anywhere in Division I hockey. The Tigers do a few things well, whereas the Eagles do everything well. There are no bad teams in this tournament, so a BC loss could be forgivable, but it seems clear that the Eagles will have a good chance at moving on to the regional final.