Like it’s roundball counterpart, it started in March and comes to a head this week.
And it’s cold, cold madness — albeit it in its own unique way.
While bluebloods vs. Cinderellas took center stage again in college basketball’s yearly showcase, this week’s annual NCAA Division I Frozen Four has proved to be appointment television of its own kind.
That viewership includes a number of individuals who make up the Tucson Roadrunners’ roster and coaches’ room.
“The Frozen Four is everybody’s goal and dream who plays college hockey … and a few of us were lucky enough to have the opportunity to make it there,” said Tucson goaltender Hunter Miska, who, as a college freshman, backstopped Minnesota-Duluth to the Frozen Four and a national runner-up finish.
Currently, Miska and his Tucson teammates are embroiled in their own postseason push, with the Roadrunners on the road Tuesday and Wednesday for a pair of 5 p.m. starts against the Iowa Wild.
Tucson is in need of every last point it can get with an American Hockey League Calder Cup playoff berth still within reach.
But the Minneapolis-area native, who stayed in his home state for his college experience, most assuredly plans to keep an eye and ear on how his Bulldogs fair this weekend.
“I keep track of every game. I’m pretty excited about it,” Miska said. “It’s still pretty fun seeing those guys play.”
Forget the idea of a 68- or 64-team bracket. Since there are only 60 or so NCAA DI hockey programs, just 16 teams make the NCAA DI hockey tournament each year.
This season, that included Arizona State waving the flag for the Southwest’s evolving hockey community. The Sun Devils went dancing in just their fourth year of varsity existence.
For Miska, this past weekend’s round of 16 and round of eight results mean the second-year pro owns bragging rights for a bit in the Roadrunners’ locker room.
While Notre Dame, where both Jordan Gross and Robbie Russo spent four seasons on the blueline, bowed out in the round of eight, Miska’s alma mater defeated Bowling Green Saturday and Quinnipiac on Sunday to reach the Frozen Four for the third consecutive year.
And Harvard, the alma mater of goaltender Merrick Madsen — Madsen spent a chunk of the fall with the Roadrunners but is currently assigned to the ECHL’s Norfolk Admirals — also made the tournament, but fell in the opening round.
While Russo never reached the Frozen Four, he did pace the Fighting Irish to the 16-team tournament twice. And in 2017, Madsen with Harvard, Miska with Minnesota-Duluth and Gross with Notre Dame all reached the four-team final weekend, with Miska and Madsen in opposite nets during one of the semifinal matchups.
There’s also forward Hudson Fasching — a freshman in 2014 at Minnesota, long considered one of college hockey’s own bluebloods, helping the Golden Gophers also reach the championship game.
“We definitely give each other some jabs about it. (Miska) and his couple of teammates around the league, they’re always chirping about the rivalry. … Our record against Duluth when I was there was not pretty. It’s a sore spot,” Fasching said with a laugh.
For Gross, after 2017, he returned to college hockey’s biggest stage in 2018, too.
“Playoff hockey anywhere is the best time of the year,” said Gross, the 2018 NCAA East Regional Most Outstanding Player as the Irish ended up the national runner-up. “The college hockey season is so short. Every game matters so much, so when you’re one of the top 16 teams at the end of the year it shows how special your season was.”
While the Roadrunners lay claim to a solid number of Frozen Four alumni, the presence of college hockey players across the AHL and NHL is still growing.
According to College Hockey Inc., which declares itself a “nonprofit entity dedicated to promoting NCAA Division I men’s college hockey” and “works closely with the commissioners of the six Division I men’s hockey conferences,” 32 percent of players on 2017-18 NHL rosters previously played at the NCAA DI level. In 2004, it was 23 percent, according to CHI and NHL reports.
While short-lived, defenseman Dakota Mermis, Tucson’s captain this season, also spent part of an NCAA DI season NCAA tournament and Frozen Four regular Denver before Canada’s major junior circuit came calling. (Denver joins Massachusetts, Minnesota-Duluth and Providence in this weekend’s 2019 Frozen Four.)
Tucson coach Jay Varady, who, from college hockey to juniors to minor pro, has coached in almost every developmental level that exists in North America, said college players bring the benefit of being “usually just older. … They’re a little stronger, maybe they lived in an apartment by themselves.
“They get a couple more years of development,” he added.
Added Miska: “Being American, we grew up watching college hockey, so major junior wasn’t really in my mind. And I started playing goalie in my freshman year of high school … so I wanted that extra time to mature.”
Varady played in college, too. He skated at Union College for three seasons, but moved behind the bench as an assistant coach for his senior season after an upper-body injury ended his playing career. Varady’s time on the small Schenectady, New York, campus came a decade-plus before Union won its lone NCAA DI title in 2014, when the Dutchmen defeated Fasching’s Golden Gophers in the title game.
Varady said it’s natural for the Roadrunners’ locker room to keep tabs on how this week shakes out.
“I’m a hockey fan … so for sure I’m checking scores,” he said. “We’re pretty much all big hockey fans.”
