Frozen Faceoff highlights best of NCHC hockey talent

Xcel Energy Center, the home of the Minnesota Wild, will host the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's (NCHC) Frozen Faceoff championship tournament March 16-17, 2018. Leading up to the Frozen Faceoff, Wild.com will feature different aspects of the NCHC related to the Wild and Xcel Energy Center. More information, including tickets, is available at the Xcel Energy Center's Frozen Faceoff page.

For the second straight year, the top four seeds of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference playoffs are back in the Frozen Faceoff. As all four teams rank in the top 12 of the USCHO.com poll, the 2018 Frozen Faceoff will again host top-level teams -- something that has become a defining characteristic of the tournament.
However, the fifth rendition of the NCHC's postseason tournament will have a decidedly different feel, with this year's venue change from Target Center in Minneapolis to the Wild's home ice at Xcel Energy Center. A classic hockey venue that has been the stage for countless
memorable college hockey moments
over the years, Xcel Energy Center is the perfect stage for what will be a hotly contested championship.
"We've had some good memories there ... so we're excited to get back there," said Minnesota Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin, who, among a number of other Xcel Energy Center memories, won a national championship in 2011 in St. Paul.
The defending champion Bulldogs face Denver in the semifinals Friday night, a rematch of the 2017 national championship game. The teams have a budding rivalry, with their past five matchups being decided by a single goal. Of course, ever since the title game, the rivalry has leaned in favor of the Pioneers.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 ranked St. Cloud State will do battle with an all-too-familiar foe: fourth-seeded North Dakota.
"Over my 12 years here, we've found ourselves with North Dakota at the end of the season a lot of times," said Huskies head coach Bob Motzko. "The rivalry is strong -- 'intensity' might be a word you want to put there."
The Frozen Faceoff has proven to be a great tune-up for the NCAA Tournament -- just ask the Bulldogs, Fighting Hawks or Pioneers, all teams that have gone from the Frozen Faceoff to the Frozen Four Championship game.
For SCSU, UMD and Denver, who are essentially all NCAA Tournament locks, this year's tournament will hopefully be a great momentum boost as it has been in years past.
But North Dakota will need at least one win in St. Paul in order to fully ensure its 16th consecutive NCAA Tournament. That element gives the Fighting Hawks another layer of motivation, although that sense of urgency is nothing different from what they've had over the past few weeks -- and in a pair of close games against fifth-seeded Nebraska Omaha in the first round of the NCHC playoffs.
"We've been facing that all year with our backs against the wall, and it seems like our guys like the challenge," Fighting Hawks head coach Brad Berry said. "It's going to be tough competition down there, but we know that to keep our season alive we need to have success down there."
The top-seeded Huskies nearly missed their second-straight Frozen Faceoff after struggling against eighth-seed Miami this past weekend. While SCSU has a 2-0-2 record against the Fighting Hawks this season, it faces them after playing three more periods of hockey than UND last week.
Nonetheless, the Fighting Hawks will have a tough test against not only the second-highest scoring team in college hockey but also arguably the deepest. The Huskies have eight different players with 22 points or more, and four with at least 30. While there's no standalone superstar on the team, there are four lines that can score.
Senior captain Jimmy Schuldt said SCSU is trying not to focus on their No. 1 ranking.
"Early in the year we were ranked one and I think we maybe let it get to our heads and we had a rough month or so after that, so we just need to know that each game is gonna be a battle," Schuldt said.
While the Fighting Hawks are just four games over .500 mark, they were a few bounces of the puck away from a handful of wins. During the regular season, the Fighting Hawks played in 14 overtime games, 10 of which officially ended in a tie. While UND has struggled in these stalemates this season, the tide appears to be turning. After going 0-2-2 to close out the regular season, the Fighting Hawks picked up a momentous overtime victory over Omaha Saturday night to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
"It's a fine line between winning and losing games, and finally now we're getting to the point where we're closing out some games," Berry said after Saturday night's win. "There were stretches during the season where we were playing good hockey, but for whatever reason we were losing. Now, the details are getting more complete, so we're able to do that."
Meanwhile, UMD's biggest question mark coming into the season was in the net: how could they replace Mike Richter Award finalist goaltender Hunter Miska? It didn't take long for the likes of sophomore goaltender Hunter Shephard to quash any fears.
Shepard, who set a program record with eight shutouts this season, has a 1.31 goals against average since his first start of 2018. His rise has mirrored that of his team's, as well. Since sneaking into sixth place at the end of 2017, the Bulldogs rattled off 10 conference wins in the second half to catapult themselves to a third place finish.
"Hunter's been playing awesome ever since around Christmas, and I think his confidence gives the rest of our team confidence," said Bulldog senior Karson Kuhlman.
Even as the Pioneers have beaten the Bulldogs in eight of their last nine matchups, DU bench boss Jim Montgomery believes that UMD is a dangerous team, calling them the best NCHC team of the second half on the pre-tournament conference call.
While defending NCAA champion Denver proved to be human this season, the fourth-ranked Pioneers are a force to be reckoned with on both ends of the ice. Just like last season, the Pioneers are ninth among NCAA programs in scoring offense, averaging 3.30 goals per game. However, with offensive juggernauts like Henrik Borgstrom, Dylan Gambrell and Troy Terry, Denver is always on the edge of a scoring outburst.
Such was the case Sunday, when the Pioneers advanced to the Frozen Faceoff with a dominating 6-1 win in the decisive game three against rival Colorado College.
After Denver fell in the opening game of the first round to the Tigers, the team held a players-only meeting to make sure they were on the right track. Two wins and a Frozen Faceoff berth later, Montgomery is proud of the group.
"It showed in the way we played, we played inspired hockey, and it comes from our leaders… they took ownership of this team and they made it their own," Montgomery said.
Related:
- NCHC tournament adds to Xcel Energy Center's college hockey legacy - Watch: NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton gives the Let's Play Hockey call