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This past week, I had the privilege of attending the Frozen Four games at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The Frozen Four featured Yale, Quinnipiac, St. Cloud State University, and UMass-Lowell, who traveled to the steel city on their quest to win the NCAA Division I Ice Hockey Championship. The three games played during the two day Frozen Four were exciting and included an overtime winner, A goal by a hometown player in the championship game, and two goals in 13 seconds. Before getting into the three games, I wanted to take a minute to focus on the other event that surrounded the three games, Frozen Fest along with the arena itself.
Frozen Fest: Frozen fest featured some great giveaways including a freezer mug given to everyone by Allstate. There were also activities like skill shooting, speed shooting, and games featuring some of the NCAA spring sports. There was live music both days and the participating teams held pep rallies to pump up not only their fans, but all in attendance for the games. It was a great way to prepare to head into the arena.
Consol Energy Center: The arena was decked out in Frozen Four Logos and banners in the concourses, lobbies, and the seating bowl. As the photos will show below they did a great job incorporating the bridges of Pittsburgh into the logos. The atmosphere inside during every game was impressive as the arena did a good job mixing the live music from team bands with the regular music they play. They also had in-game interviews with some big names like Ray Shearo, Billy Guerin, and Derek Schooley being featured in interviews. One touch I enjoyed was the use of Mike Lange saying "A Great Day for Hockey" prior to each game on Thursday and "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh" on Saturday.
Now Onto the Games...
Semifinals: Both semifinal games were exciting but I will start with the 3-2 overtime win by Yale over UMass-Lowell in the first game. It appeared that Yale was looking at a trip to the National Championship game with two first period goals by Mitch Witek and Antoine Laganiere, but UMass-Lowell was not going down without a fight. At 14:38 of the second period, they got on the board thanks to Riley Wetmore and just 14 seconds later, Joseph Pendenza tied the game, exciting their contingency.
In the second game, Quinnipiac used three first-period goals to defeat St. Cloud State University 4-1. The first period goals came from Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Ben Arnt, and Jeremy Langlois. Samuels-Thomas ended up with two points in the period, getting the assist on the Arnt goal. St. Cloud State got their lone goal from Joey Benik in the second period, before Kellen Jones set the final score later in the period. Despite losing by three goals, St. Cloud State outshot the Bobcats 34-28. Ryan Faragher took the loss stopping 24 of 28 shots, while Eric Hartzell stopped 33 of 34 shots in the win.
Recaps for both games:
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Finals: For fans of Yale and Quinnipiac, their National Championship meeting on Saturday night was their fourth meeting this season. Yale had been unable to pick up a victory in the previous three meetings, but the fourth time was the charm for the Bulldogs, as they shutout Qunnipiac 4-0, winning their first National Title the history of their program, while winning the first NCAA National Championship for a team sport since 1953. It appeared that neither team would get on the board as the second period would down, but Clinton Bourbonais got the Bulldogs on the board, as his shot from the left faceoff circle cleared the pads of Eric Hartzell with four seconds left in the period. Yale pick up goals from Charles Orzetti and Andrew Miller in the first ten minutes of the third period, before Pittsburgh's own Jesse Root set the final score with an empty net goal at 13:02.
Final Thoughts: This was another great event brought into the city of Pittsburgh. The fans from all four schools were noticable, along with fans from other schools and people like me who attended the games to see some exciting hockey, which we received. Fans packed local bars, restaurants, and hotels providing a boost to the local economy along with the other events going on in town this past weekend. The state of Pennsylvania will benefit from the Frozen Four again next year as Philadelphia takes the reigns and hosts the event in 2014.
- The Flood City Sports Fan
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