NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament: Allentown Regional Preview
As NCAA tournament action is happening in the three other regional locations, Allentown will be home to a few strong teams. What does each team bring to the table, and what players should we be looking out for this weekend?
The first-seeded Michigan Wolverines are just coming off of their second consecutive Big Ten championship title against Minnesota. They have a young, fast and explosive offense that forces opponents to collapse in the defensive zone.
The offense is led by star freshman Adam Fantilli who leads the entire NCAA with 61 points. He is second in goals and looks to be the consensus second-overall pick in the upcoming NHL draft. Luke Hughes is having another solid season at Michigan with 42 points, second among defensemen.
Other notable players for the Wolverines include Gavin Brindley, Rutger McGroarty and Mackie Samoskevich.
Next up, the Penn State Nittany Lions, the second seed and the host for this region. Penn State has quite a few contributors, but at the top of the list is senior Kevin Wall who leads the team with 29 points. Ture Linden and Connor MacEachern are two other key pieces to the offense.
Christian Berger and Jimmy Dowd Jr. both lead the blue line with 17 points each and in the crease, Liam Souliere has had himself a strong campaign with 18 wins and a .913 save percentage.
Michigan Tech will be Penn State’s opponent in round one and the Huskies aren’t really known for their goal-scoring. Instead, the defense is what has helped them finish top 15 in the PairWise. They have the fourth-best penalty kill in the nation and third-best goals against per game. They’ve only let in 80 goals all year which puts them seventh best in the NCAA.
A big reason for this success is because of star goaltender Blake Pietila. He leads the NCAA with 10 shutouts, a 1.99 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
Kyle Kukkonen leads the forward group with 18 goals on the season, which is more than any player for Penn State.
Colgate will slot in against Michigan as the fourth seed. Junior Alex Young leads the way with 21 goals on the season and 39 points overall. Matt Verboon is also up there with 35 points in 39 games, and on the defensive side, Nick Anderson has piled up 29 points.
Goaltender Carter Gylander has been great in the paint for the Raiders, racking up a .918 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average.
These teams all play a strong style of game, but only one will advance to the Final Four. Will Michigan stay hot, or will another team rain on the Wolverines’ parade?
Anthony Desher is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email acd5698@psu.edu.
