Tom Serratore and Tyler Scofield participated in an NCAA press conference today.

Here's the audio

Here's what I received from Beaver Pride regarding travel and tickets for the Frozen Four.

BUS ONLY

Depart (John Glas Fieldhouse) 8 a.m. CST on Wednesday, April 8 Arrive in Wash. D.C. at approx. 12 Noon CST on Thursday, April 9

The bus will stay for the entire tournament, including the Sat. night championship game. You will be responsible for your own lodging - however, we will have block of rooms at the Red River Inn (info below).

Depart immediately following the championship game
Arrive in Bemidji?????

We must get 49 passengers to take the bus - if we do not fill up we will have to cancel. However, if we get enough for another bus we will take more than one.

Cost: $180 per person

HOTEL

We are working on getting a block of rooms at the Red Roof Inn Downtown. It is within walking distance of arena. Cost will be $189/room/night. More details after we get the contract signed. **You will be responsible for booking your own lodging - we will provide the number and booking info**

**If there are students or fans who cannot afford the hotel, there are individuals who have offered rooms as well as the possibility of some dorm rooms so contact us if you want more info on this option.

TICKETS

Tickets are $177 each and are available at the ticket office by calling 218-755-2045 or stopping into Deputy 202 You will need to secure your own ticket; they are NOT included with the bus.

Wray Wright
Beaver Pride Coordinator
218-755-2827 (office)

I had heard that a charter plane was a possibility...until the cost was revealed at over $1800 per person! If you don't feel like riding a bus for a day and a half, shop around. I've seen flights from Minneapolis to DC for about $300 per person.

As of this morning (3/31/09), Bemidji State is the only school to apply for membership into the WCHA. The deadline to apply is this afternoon.

From the Grand Forks Herald

The Bemidji State men's hockey team overcame long odds to become the first No. 16 overall seed to make the NCAA Frozen Four on Sunday.

An even larger battle lies ahead, though.

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s window for accepting new applicants will close today, and Bemidji State is the only school that has applied.

The Beavers are desperate to find a league, because their current home of College Hockey America will be down to two teams after next season and will disband. Sustaining a college hockey program without a conference would be nearly impossible.

Bemidji State seems to be a natural fit for the WCHA because of its close proximity to the other schools, but the WCHA has 10 teams and an odd number would present scheduling issues.

"It is problematic," WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod said of the possibility of an 11-team league. "And if we end up with 11, the Association will have to make a decision on the pros and cons of an 11-team league."

McLeod and UND faculty representative Sue Jeno will make a site visit to Bemidji State on Friday on behalf of the league. BSU officials will then present their case for admission to every WCHA school during April's American Hockey Coaches' Association meetings in Florida.

The faculty representatives of the 10 member schools could vote (eight of 10 votes are needed for acceptance) on whether to allow Bemidji State at that time, but there’s a strong possibility that they won’t.

Muddy waters

"There are a few things going on that have kind of muddied the water in Division I a little bit," McLeod said. "There are all kinds of scenarios out there. There could be a domino effect if things happen in other places."

McLeod said he couldn’t elaborate on the other behind-the-scenes happenings around the country.

"I can't talk about individual schools and what’s going on," he said. "But there are some circumstances that could affect things."

It is believed that Bowling Green, a member of the 12-team Central Collegiate Hockey Association, may drop its program. There may be other teams considering the same cost-saving measure.

If the CCHA lost a program, it's possible that another school would be interested in applying for membership in the WCHA to keep both leagues with even numbers.

The WCHA would need to once again lift a moratorium on expansion to receive new applications, but McLeod said that could be done in the spring or in the summer.

The vote on whether to allow Bemidji State may not come until the dust has settled this summer.

Effect of the Frozen Four run

Bemidji State's improbable run to the Frozen Four this season also may help pull some strings.

No WCHA team qualified for the Frozen Four this year for the first time since 1999, but the Beavers will be there. How will that change things?

"It doesn’t change the facts, but it certainly changes the feelings when you deal with your heart, for sure," McLeod said. "In one case, you’re dealing with your heart. I think everyone knows how everyone feels about Bemidji State and this certainly adds to that. You also have to deal with your head and business sense, too. How and where those two come together . . . that’s the crux of the issue."

What does this mean for BSU? No one is quite sure, but we will see soon. One of the "possibilities" mentioned in the article is the fact that the Athletic Director at Nebraska Omaha just took the same job at Upper Iowa University. David Miller has NOT been a proponent of UNO switching leagues to join the WCHA (as has been talked about for nearly three months). Will the new AD (whomever he is)?

Another of the "possibilities" is that Northern Michigan would 'come back' to the WCHA. They have moved back and forth from the CCHA to the WCHA and back to the CCHA for two decades. Their administration is still said to be "considering" the pros and cons of a potential move.

Like I said...wait and see!

I've also been asked if there is a way to go to DC to watch the games.

Beaver Pride is checking on this, and I'll get back to you when I find out more.

I've been asked...and yes, the games from the weekend are on the archives...just click on the game to the right on the schedule!

These last few days have certainly been a whirlwind...and I'm only the radio announcer!

To Tom, Bert, Teddy, Marv and the rest of the staff of the BSU athletics department and the hockey team, congratulations! What you did this past weekend was something that will forever be remembered.

For the Beavers to win, they needed to play well. The gameplan was executed to perfection!

To think that BSU COULD win, wasn't that far-fetched. College hockey has changed over the years. Tom always says that the margin of error is so slim now. BUT, Bemidji State didn't just win two hockey games. THEY WON BY A COMBINED SEVEN GOALS!

Tyler Scofield, there's no doubt that you deserved the Midwest Regional Most valuable Player Award. Since the Beavers are in the Frozen Four, he won't be able to participate in the skills challenge. I think he put on his own skills demonstration on the ice this weekend!

Matt Dalton...this save:

(from USCHO.com)

is unbelievable!

Enjoy the moment...BSU has definitely made history!

Sorry I haven't blogged much since last night. I've been busy getting ready for the broadcast tonight. Here's the matchup with Cornell:

                         Bemidji State      Cornell
Record	                 19-15-1	    22-9-4
Head-to-Head	         0-0-0	            0-0-0
Goals	                 101 / 2.89	    91 / 2.60
Goals Against	         92 / 2.63	    70 / 2.00
Power Play	         20.9%	            15.7%
Penalty Kill	         85.1%	            86.7%
Avg. Height / Weight	 5' 10" / 178 lbs.  6'0" / 187 lbs.
Avg. Age	         22y 6m	            22y 0m

 
Team Scoring Leaders
M. Read	        14-23-37       R. Nash	     13-22-35
T. Scofield	20-15-35       C. Greening   15-16-31
B. Hunt	        9-23-32        B. Gallagher  7-21-28
M. Francis	12-12-24       E. Barlow     13-14-27
B. Marino	7-12-19        M. Kennedy    10-10-20
	

Team Goaltenders
  	
M. Dalton	18-10-1 2.21   B. Scrivens   22-9-4 1.77
O. Alamano	1-5-0 4.21     M. Garman     0-0-0 6.98

Enjoy the game tonight...pregame starts at 6pm central

6:30pm Eastern Update Here are the lines for tonight's second semifinal:

Cornell (unchanged from Saturday)
Patrick Kennedy - Riley Nash - Evan Barlow
Colin Greening - Michael Kennedy - Locke Jillson
Sean Collins - Tyler Mugford - Jordan Kary
Joe Scali - Derek Punches - Dan Nicholls

Brendon Nash - Sean Whitney
Keir Ross - Jared Seminoff
Taylor Davenport - Justin Krueger

Ben Scrivens
Michael Garman
Troy Davenport

Bemidji State (unchanged from Saturday)
Tyler Scofield - Matt Read - Matt Francis
Jamie MacQueen - Travis Winter - Tyler Lehrke
Ben Kinne - Shea Walters - Ryan Cramer
Ian Lowe - Chris McKelvie - Brandon Marino

Brad Hunt - Cody Bostock
Chris Peluso - Graham McManamin
Ryan Adams - Kyle Hardwick

Matt Dalton
Orlando Alamano
Dan Bakala

Notre Dame is good...no doubt about that. But as yesterday proved (when three of the four winners were underdogs) anything can happen in a one-and-done tournament.

I will be updating a few things here before faceoff...check for updates below!

Here's the matchup with the Fighting Irish:

 	                Bemidji State        Notre Dame 
Record	                18-15-1	             31-5-3
Head-to-Head	        0-0-0	             0-0-0
Goals	                96 / 2.82	     134 / 3.44
Goals Against	        91 / 2.68	     64 / 1.64
Power Play	        20.9%	             23.0%
Penalty Kill	        84.8%	             89.7%
Avg. Height / Weight	5'10" / 177.58 lbs.  5'11" / 189.96 lbs.
Avg. Age	        22y 6m	             21y 7m
Coach	                Tom Serratore	     Jeff Jackson

Team Scoring Leaders    M. Read 13-22-35     E. Condra 13-25-38
                        T. Scofield 18-14-32 C. Ridderwall 17-15-32
                        B. Hunt 9-22-31      C. Hanson 16-15-31
                        M. Francis 12-12-24  K. Deeth 4-27-31
                        B. Marino 7-12-19    B. Maday 16-14-30
 
Team Goaltenders        M. Dalton 17-10-1    J. Pearce 30-5-3
                        O. Alamano 1-5-0     T. O'Brien	1-0-0 

The NCAA doesn't allow radio stations or newspapers to blog from games...but the BSU Sports Information Office will be. It can be viewed during the game here

4pm Eastern Update I was downstairs waiting for the early game to start, and was trying to watch the UND - UNH game. Why is lacrosse a sport? I've never really watched it before today, but Virgina and Maryland went into SEVEN overtimes. So, no playoff hockey to be watched! Instead I was tortured by watching an hour of lacrosse in which NOBODY scored. In the hockey game during that same stretch, SIX goals were scored!

4:10pm Eastern Update Here are the lines for tonight's second semifinal:

Notre Dame
Garrett Regan - Christian Hanson - Christiaan Minella
Ryan Thang - Ben Ryan - Erik Condra
Calle Ridderwall - Kevin Deeth - Billy Maday
Dan Kissel - Justin White - Ryan Guentzel

Ian Cole - Kyle Lawson
Brett Blatchford - Teddy Ruth
Luke Lucyk - Sean Lorenz

Jordan Pearce
Tom O'Brien
Brian Brooke

Bemidji State
Tyler Scofield - Matt Read - Matt Francis
Jamie MacQueen - Travis Winter - Tyler Lehrke
Ben Kinne - Shea Walters - Ryan Cramer
Ian Lowe - Chris McKelvie - Brandon Marino

Brad Hunt - Cody Bostock
Chris Peluso - Graham McManamin
Ryan Adams - Kyle Hardwick

Matt Dalton
Orlando Alamano
Dan Bakala

4:20pm Eastern Update Attendance for the early game is TERRIBLE! There might be 1000-1500 people here.

The press conference was canceled today, so no audio.

Brian Bissonette did sit down with Jeff Jackson from Notre Dame though. Here is that interview.

I also got a chance to visit with all six seniors on this years BSU team. That interview is here.

Other than the team watching the Air Force Falcons win today, not much going on here in Grand Rapids.

As for practice today...the ice seemed TERRIBLE today. I'll talk to Tom about it tomorrow on the pregame show.

Why is it that the most comfortable flight all year only lasts an hour? The NCAA has a set of criteria that they use on how to transport NCAA tournament participants. One good thing about living in Bemidji, is that unless the games are in Grand Forks or Minneapolis, a charter flight is used. The NCAA pays for 37 people in the "official traveling party".

The flight was on a 737, which usually seats about 130 people. This flight (all first class sized seats with first class leg room) had 56 seats!

Again, why is it that the flight is only an hour!

The arena in Grand Rapids (Van Andel Arena) seats about 11,000. The arena was built for concerts and such, but it looks like a nice sheet of ice. The corners are egg shaped, so watch out for how the puck moves behind the goal. At the Glas, the goal line hits with boards at the START of the corner. Here, the goal line hits the middle of the corner.

Practice is at 2pm today...followed by a press conference. I'll try to get the audio up on the site tonight.