Another Frozen Four concludes, and another college hockey season comes to an end. It’s been a blast for me to cover Atlantic Hockey and do a national D-III blog this season, and it’s been a real pleasure and privilege to do the Frozen Four Blog this week. Hopefully, it’s given you a flavor of what things were like here in St. Louis.

Enjoy the off-season, and we’ll see you next October…and eventually in Denver.

It was a lighthearted but emotional press conference for the Spartans, who fulfilled the dream that every college hockey player has – to hold the trophy aloft after winning the final game of the season.

The rest of the USCHO crew will have all the details with a variety of recaps and features. I am left to offer a few impressions:

• Senior captain Chris Lawrence, still wearing his skates, entering the press room and slamming the national championship trophy down on the table in jubilation.

• Lawrence admitting that he wept before the game, knowing that win or lose, it would be his last.

• The look of satisfaction and vindication on Jeff Lerg’s face, knowing what he had accomplished, and proud that he had “sent a message” that when playing against the likes of John Curry, David Brown, Ben Bishop and Cory Schneider, he had beaten them all. That he was a pretty darn good goalie, too.

• Lawrence telling the story about how the team did 21 sit-ups every day to remind them that it has been 21 years since the Spartans had last won a national title.

• Coach Rick Comley, looking tired but exonerated, candidly talking about the pressure he faces coaching a premier program like Michigan State, and how happy he was for the CCHA and for his mentor, Ron Mason.

• The genuine respect and love these players had for each other.

Enjoy, guys.

Tim Kennedy – Michigan State

Justin Abdelkader – Michigan State

Nathan Gerbe – Boston College

Tyler Howells – Michigan State

Brian Boyle – Boston College

Jeff Lerg – Michigan State

MVP: Justin Abdelkader

0:00: Twenty minutes to go. Maybe.

0:00: Miscellaneous factoid: BC is 23-1 when leading after two periods this season.

1:10: A great chance by the Spartans has the crowd buzzing. Kennedy puts one through the crease behind Schneider. Right after, Abdelkader goes to the box for interference.

3:39: BC with a couple of good chances, but after some discussion Matt Greene heads to the penalty box for running into Lerg.

4:41: Lerg with the save of the game, a beauty glove stop off a shorthanded two-on-one for BC.

5:39: BC back to full strength, still leading 1-0.

7:51: Things getting chippy with battles all over the ice. Offsetting penalties result to Kucharski (BC) and Graham (State). We’ll skate 4×4.

9:47: BC’s Tim Filangieri is called for a hook.

9:53: Right off the faceoff, Boyle pinches and Tim Kennedy gets around him, walks in and beats Schneider short side. We’re tied at One.

13:01: The O-Word is starting to make its way around the pressbox. Also, we’re being told that Boyle is now being credited with the first BC goal. Have to check the replay on that one.

16:49: It’s not overtime yet, but the teams are playing like it is.

19:42: Spartans score! A turnover leads to a 3-on-1 for Michigan State. Abdelkader hits the post, but the Spartans maintain possession, and Kennedy finds Abdelkader, who makes the most of his second chance, deflecting the pass past Schneider at the far post. Boyle breaks a stick over his own head. 2-1 Michigan State.

19:58: Mueller seals the deal with an empty net score. Michigan State is on the ice celebrating, but there’s still 1.7 seconds to go. Equipment all over the place. Confusion ensues.

20:00: Jerry York comes off the bench and signals them to run the clock down. Game over. Spartans are champs!

20:01: And USCHO has the ad up for Michigan State merch. Have at it.

3:34: BC gets its second power play of the game when Abdelkader hooks Benn Ferriero in front of the Spartan net. The Eagles’ power play is clicking at 35% over the last 13 games.

5:00: Another State hooking call – Crowder goes off. 5×3 for BC.

6:14: Lerg comes up huge on Ben Smith, who was all alone in front.

6:50: BC draws first blood on the power play. Brock Bradford gets to a lose puck that squirted out from the corner and lifts a wrist shot that Lerg gets a piece of, but not enough. 1-0 Boston College.

8:38: BC’s Tim Filangieri goes to the sin bin for interference. Michigan State gets it’s second power play of the game. The Spartans have a success rate of 18.9% this season.

10:31: Schneider makes a huge poke save to keep the Spartans off the board, but Boyle goes off for a trip. A short 5×3 for Michigan State.

12:31: Back to even strength.

12:58: And just like that, the Spartans g back on the power play. Carl Sneep with a slash. A TV timeout gives both coaches a chance to set up their special teams.

15:04: A great chance by Chris Mueller just after the power play expired is thwarted by Schneider.

16:32: Michigan State’s Dan Vukovic lays a big check on BC’s Matt Greene, but it’s Vukovic that gets the worst of it, getting stunned momentarily and leaving a pool of blood on the ice. We’ve got a play stoppage as things are cleaned up.

16:32: They just announced the attendance: 19,432 – a new record for a championship game.

17:03: Lerg stones Joe Rooney on a partial breakaway to keep things 1-0 BC.

20:00: And that does it for the second period. SOG for the period was 12-6 in favor of Michigan State, but the lone goal went to BC.

I’ll be liveblogging the finals from the pressbox high atop the Scottrade Center. As with the semifinals, there will be a separate blog post for each period. Reload to see updates as each period progresses.

Here are the line charts:

Michigan State Forwards:
Kennedy-Abdelkader-Crowder
Lerg-Mueller-McKenzie (starters)
Schepke-Sucharski-Sprague
Lawrence-McClellan (Michigan State using an extra defenseman)

Michigan State Defense:
Graham-Dunne
Gentile-Snavely
Howells-Vukovic (starters)
Ratchuk

Michigan State Goal:
Lerg

Boston College Forwards:
Gerbe-Smith-Bradford
Rooney-Bertram-Ferriero
Price-Greene-Gannon (starters)
Kucharski-Lombardi-Orpik

Boston College Defense:
Boyle-Brennan
Filangieri-Motherwell (starters)
O”hanley-Sneep

Boston College Goal:
Schneider

0:00: It’s on.

4:46: Not many whistles, but no good scoring chances, either. Just one SOG so far.

9:46: The tempo favors Michigan State so far, but the Spartans take an interference penalty (Snavely).

11:46: Nice job on the PK by the Spartans and we’re back to even strength.

14:57: best chance so far for either squad. BC’s brock Bradford goes hard to the net, and after a scramble, Lerg gets his stick on the goal line, stopping a sliding puck that got under him. A review confirms no goal.

17:34: Now it’s the Eagles’ turn to take a penalty – Bertram for holding the stick.

17:51: A shorthanded chance by BC ends with a pushing and shoving in front of the Spartan net. Gerbe (BC) and Graham (State) go off.

19:27: Schnieder with a big glove save to keep things scoreless.

20:00: The first period is in the books. Shots in favor of BC 13-6, but the play was much closer than that.

I’ll be back in a new blog post with second period action.

How the Eagles win:

• Keep doing what they’ve been doing. The Long Run is now at 13 games, the longest under coach Jerry York. Over that span, BC has outscored its opponents 61-23. “We’ve had some bounces,” York said. “Maybe just good Karma going on.”

“Around Beanpot time, we decided to look in the mirror and change a few things starting with how we approach practice and how we mentally approached games,” said senior Brian Boyle. “…with this win streak, we need to put the past behind us and move on from here.”

“Once we started winning games, we found a lot of confidence and consistency,” said junior Mike Brenna. “That’s played a big part in this run.”

• Keep the game in the middle of the ice – don’t let get into a physical contest with Michigan State along the boards and in the corners.

• Use their speed – the Rooney empty net goal was example of how BC’s speed kills.

• Learn from last year’s loss to Wisconsin. “I think (the players) really learned a lot from it,” said York. “Not specifically the X’s and O’s of the game but how to handle yourself under that type of situation. That is our Super Bowl; that is our World Series. It’s something you can’t teach, you can’t practice.”

A few of the 300 ways Michigan State can win:

• Be physical. Negate the Eagle’s speed with size and intensity. “We can’t try to play BC’s game,” said Spartan coach Rick Comley. “We just have to go out and be who we are…We’re not as quick as they are, and I think they score better than we do, but that doesn’t mean that they’re better than we are, overall as a team. We just have to be very, very careful to maximize what’s become our style of play.”

“We’ve known all year that when we play physical, we’re at our best,” said State captain Chris Lawrence. “The more we hit, the better we play, it seems like. Coach always says that when we’re hitting and blocking shots, he can tell we’re into the game.”

• Withstand an initial onslaught. BC has been getting up on opponents early during their now-13 game winning streak. “If I can keep my fingers crossed about anything, it would be to get through the first five minutes,” Comley said. “Honest to God. They’re a big challenge and we have great respect for them, but we have to be ourselves.”

• Get a big game from Jeff Lerg. It’s expected that BC will outshoot Michigan State, so the Spartans are going to need Lerg to be sharp. He was in the Midwest Regional, making 44 saves on 46 shots and being named MVP. On Thursday, he again shined, stopping 29 of 31 shots and holding the Black Bears scoreless over the final 56 minutes of the contest.

It’s about four hours to game time and the USCHO crew is getting ready to head over to the rink. It’s only about a four block walk to the Scottrade Center, albeit through unseasonably cold weather here in St. Louis.

We were Glad to get an invitation to a party last night hosted by my friend Joe, who covers hockey in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Pretty amazing since he lives in New York. Tune in later for reasons why Michigan State, a 3:2 underdog according to the gurus in Vegas, will win this thing. And why it won’t.

My favorite quotes so far:

“Well, I’m working on a five-star sudoku. It’s taking me a while. It’s probably going to take me until six o’clock tomorrow night.”
- Michigan State coach Rick Comley’s opening remark in Friday’s press conference.

“I didn’t think when I was riding the pine in Junior B hockey that I’d ever be nominated for the Hobey Baker award.”
- Air Force’s Eric Ehn