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After today, the "better team" part is open to debate.
UMD's is also up
We wondered before the season how the blue line would hold up, seeing as how they seemed to be a couple of bodies short. In the end, they managed to perform okay defensively, but seemingly at the expense of the offense, as they weren't as productive up front as one may have expected beforehand. If two years ago we'd been told that UMD would win the NCAA in one of the two coming seasons and miss the Frozen Four in the other, I doubt that many would have correctly placed the correct year on each outcome. Now next year I'd anticipate that graduation would leave a mark, but given they are hosting in the postseason, it probably won't be as simple as that.
That is the difference that stands out between last year and this season. Last season, Blais seemed to always be on her game down the stretch, and this year Irwin wasn't.
I suppose the other choice in this or any system would have been to try different people at D. Coach Miller moved Wong and Fridfinnson, and while Wong in particular did well, nobody really filled in the subsequent holes created up front.
BC did what a team is supposed to do -- stomp on the opponent early and never let them back up. Minnesota struggled with giving up early goals during the season, e.g. their first game in Columbus or the final one in Madison, and it took them a long time to right the ship on most occasions. The exception was the first home game against Bemidji when they have up a penalty shot goal in the first minute and went on to play a strong first period. Maybe the outcome would have changed had Schaus been a lesser goalie, but obviously, she is a huge reason why BC is where they are. Earlier in the year, I thought that BC would be a dangerous tourney opponent because of their seniors in key roles. Despite their strong record over the final month, it seemed like they had been playing well only in spurts during games. That wasn't a problem for the Eagles yesterday.
Yes, she missed a lot of games, but it was more than that. UMD won a lot of the games where she was out with an injury. She played in Minneapolis in January, and she wasn't that much of a factor, not like she was in October or like Blais was in the final four meetings last season. I assumed she was healthy then, but I don't know when she was impacted and by what.
