{"id":97381,"date":"2012-04-05T10:17:45","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T15:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/ccha-blog\/?p=1341"},"modified":"2012-04-05T10:17:45","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T15:17:45","slug":"paulas-picks-frozen-four-semifinals-april-5-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2012\/04\/05\/paulas-picks-frozen-four-semifinals-april-5-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Paula's picks, Frozen Four semifinals: April 5, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a great day for hockey. It’s a little overcast and the palm trees are too still — just a little breeze — but it’s lovely. Yes, it’s a little freaky that college hockey’s grand finale is being played out this weekend in a subtropical climate, but the greater hockey community seems to have adjusted very nicely.
\nTime to pick the semifinals games. My apologies to Union College and Boston College. Why I owe them apologies will be clear in just a moment.
\nRegionals weekend:<\/strong> 3-9
\nSeason to date:<\/strong> 135-100-25 (.567)
\nNone of the teams I predicted to make the Frozen Four did so. That means I was lucky for both the Dutchmen and the Golden Gophers … two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Semifinal picks<\/h4>\n

Today’s picks with very brief rationalizations.
\nFerris State vs. Union College.<\/strong> I am happy for each of these programs, but — frankly — happier for the Bulldogs. I’ve been covering CCHA hockey since 1995, and I can honestly say that the Ferris State program epitomizes what CCHA hockey is all about: hard-working, committed to academics as well as athletics, great CCHA citizens, and some of the nicest people in the business. Sadly, I think the Bulldogs will fall to the Dutchmen. Of the four teams in this field, FSU has the least-reliable offense. It’s difficult to determine who will score and when. That was typical of the entire CCHA this season, great defense and streaky offense. I think we’re looking at a really good, low-scoring game. Union 2-1<\/b>
\nMinnesota vs. Boston College.<\/strong> Each of these teams is scary-fast with the ability to both score and defend but the Eagles haven’t lost a game since Jan. 21 and didn’t allow a goal in the Northeast regional. BC 4-2<\/b>
\nNo, I’m not trying to jinx the Dutchmen and Eagles. I really think that they’ll win. I really thought my picks for the regionals would win, too. I’m just that bad.<\/p>\n

My schedule and yesterday’s Ferris State stories<\/h4>\n

For today, my duties include a feature on Ferris State — something game-related, so look for it later — as well as live blogging during the first semifinal. Brian Sullivan and I will split a couple of stories related to the Minnesota-BC game later today. He and I are also splitting coverage of the Hobey Baker Award ceremony tomorrow.
\nYou can check out everything I wrote or uploaded about Ferris State yesterday on the Frozen Four blog<\/a>. I recommend that you browse that blog for great coverage of the whole event, but here are links to what I posted yesterday in case you don’t have the time.
\nFSU’s great defense and No. 21 offense.<\/a>
\nVideo reaction to Bob Daniels winning the Spencer Penrose Award, and a little CCHA pride.<\/a>
\nThe big-school-small-school nonsense.<\/a>
\nThe Bulldogs and their playoff beards.<\/a>
\nAs always, you can comment here and I will respond. Play nice, CCHA fans. Also, email is welcome (paula.weston@uscho.com) and comments via Twitter (@paulacweston).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a great day for hockey. It’s a little overcast and the palm trees are too still — just a little breeze — but it’s lovely. Yes, it’s a little freaky that college hockey’s grand finale is being played out this weekend in a subtropical climate, but the greater hockey community seems to have adjusted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425,934],"tags":[1300,1483],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPaula's picks, Frozen Four semifinals: April 5, 2012 - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's a great day for hockey. It's a little overcast and the palm trees are too still -- just a little breeze -- but it's lovely. 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