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EVELETH….  By the time you open this edition of your World Wide Duluth Reader Weekly, the best hockey tourney of all will have a few games under it’s belt. I will give you my thoughts on the upcoming first round of the 2015 National Hockey League Stanley Cup tournament in due time. But first, last weeks NCAA Men’s Frozen Four has come and gone and Providence College is the victor. They played a strong game versus the University of Nebraska-Omaha (4-1W) in the National Semi’s and then took down a tough opponent in Boston University in the Championship tilt by a score of 4-3.
The title game went back and forth and to be honest, the Friars were aided by a strange bit of luck when the game was on the line. They went up 1-0 in the 1st, then BU went ahead with 2 straight tallies 4 seconds apart (an NCAA record) to finish the 1st. Providence tied it on a PPG at 4:29, but BU went back up on the Friars at 11:36 and finished the 2nd with the 3-2 lead. Then in the 3rd, with BU having applied some major pressure, but with the Friars answering back, forward Tom Parisi flipped the puck toward the BU goal where goalie Matt O’Connor gloved it, and then had the puck drop from his glove and roll between his legs and into the goal. The game was tied at 3-3.
BU then looked to turn up the heat and did, but the older, more veteran Friars responded and at 13:43 right after a faceoff win the Friars Brandon Tanev spotted a rocket of a shot into the upper corner for a 4-3 Friar lead. The Terriers pushed hard to the extent that they could, the Friars responded with some of their own heat, but it was to no avail for the runner-up Terriers. This is the Friars 1st title in 4 Frozen Four appearances and their 1st F4 since 1985. After observing them in the regional’s they caught my eye as a team that could go all the way. A veteran roster with a strong defensive game that peaked at the right time. Congrats to Providence….

THE STANLEY CUP TOURNEY
IS HERE and I am ready! I love it and I stated here earlier that this is the best of all tourneys. I know I have been fired up over the Olympics  too, but after a lot of thought, this one is it. The Olympics are now a mid-season NHL All Star tourney, started and finished in 2 weeks time, so I had to conclude that the tradition, the lore, the best trophy on the planet, the sacrifices that these players will make over the next 2 months to get their name engraved on this beautiful trophy, yes, the Olympics are awesome, but this tournament is the coup de grace. There are no two ways about it.
The MFAN Jr. and I were at the Wild-STL Blues tilt on Saturday and it was hard to get a grip on what may unfold between these two in the 1st round. The Wild sat Suter and Koivu and the Blues sat a couple of upper level players too. The Wild could have moved into 3rd place with a win and a BlackHawk loss out in Denver, however, the results of the Hawk-Av tilt didn’t matter after the Wild lost 4-2 against the Note. (the Hawks ended up losing) Anyway, who will do what with which to whom in the 1st round? Here it is;

IN THE EASTERN CONFERENCE;
(H = Home Ice Ad)
Montreal Canadiens (H) vs. Ottawa Senators; The Habs are my all-time favorites led by 2 great players in G Carey Price and D PK Subban. They were also 9-11 in their last 20 regular season games. The Sens have been lights out shortly after a coaching change and an untried player in goal who has become a hockey icon after pulling the Sens back from the hockey abyss. Can the Habs best Andrew “the Hamburglar” Hammond and move on? Habs in 6 games…
Tampa Bay Lightning (H) vs. Detroit Red Wings; the Wings have the superior coach, the more accomplished veterans and question marks in goal, along with some dinged up guys. The Bolts have a superstar scorer, a great goalie who has not a minute of NHL playoff experience, but the better team offense and slightly better defense. Look for Wings in 7 games…
New York Rangers (H) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins; the NYR made it to the Cup Final last year and I thought they might take a step back. They are better this year and have one of the fastest teams in the game. The Penguins lost depth at forward, and will be missing a couple of their stars, had a year of injury and illness, and a poor record over the past month. It’s too hard to pick the Pens, NYR in 5 games.
Washington Capitals (H) vs. New York Islanders; since the arrival of Alex Ovechkin, the Caps have been anything but offensively challenged, their problem has been in the 2 way game. With Coach Barry Trotz they are doing well at both. The NYI have not had a stellar end to their regular season, going 6-12 in their last 18 games. Can’t pick the Isles here, Caps in 6 games….

WESTERN CONFERENCE;
STL Blues (H) vs. Minnesota Wild; the Blues are big, skilled and can play any style you want. All teams have a chink in their armor though and goaltending might be the Blues challenge. Coach Hitch doesn’t seem to have full confidence in vet Brian Elliott and Jake Allen has 1 minute of playoff experience. The Wild, when icing their best roster possible can play with any team in the league and Zach Parise elevates the compete level of this team to places they didn’t know they had. Wild in 7 games…
Nashville Predators (H) vs. Chicago Blackhawk’s; the Preds had the leagues hottest start but have cooled down, but are still going to be a tough out. G Pekka Rinne is all-world. The Hawks have the Champs pedigree and even without home ice will make it past the Preds. Hawks in 6 games…
Anaheim Duck (H) vs. Winnipeg Jets; the Duck had another great start to the season and have coasted the past 6 weeks. Unsettled in goal and Coach Boudreau has had little playoff success. The Jets have played hungry, are maybe bigger and faster then the Duck and just look more on their game right now. Jets in 6 games….
Vancouver Canucks (H) vs. Calgary Flames; while both clubs had up and down season finishes, the Flames may have had a better push at years end. VAN has unsettled goaltending now, and the Flames have more playoff coaching experience behind the bench in Bob Hartley. I feel that gets the Flames through at least one round this year. Flames in 6 games….  PEACE

Marc Elliott is a sports opinion writer who splits his time between his hometown in Illinois and Minnesota