By: Jim Williams
Washington, D.C.
There is an ice storm in Chinatown tonight and the Caps are on the road. It is the NCAA Frozen Four and that is really something special.
Tonight starting at 5p.m. on ESPN2 the four best men’s college hockey teams will faceoff for a spot Saturday nights final and a chance to become the 2009 NCAA Champion.
It will be Bemidji State taking on Miami of Ohio with the nightcap featuring a couple of powers from the Northeast as Boston University squares off against Vermont.
For John Vassallo the senior coordinating producer in charge of tonight’s coverage the NCAA Frozen makes for a very special night at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. and you can bet he is going to enjoy every minute of it. With a sellout crowd for all three nights there will be plenty to enjoy for puckheads.
Vassallo told me: “I grew up in New England and loved college hockey so being able to do the Frozen Four is something I look forward to every year. We will cover tonight’s Frozen Four and Saturday’s National Final like we were covering The Stanley Cup Playoffs. We will have nine cameras following the action along with a few special touches that will include a camera a center ice to show the speed of the action and then we will have the over head goal cameras so that should there be any question if a goal is indeed a goal we will have it covered.”
The broadcast team will be Garry Thorne and Barry Melrose with Clay Matvick handling the rink side duties.
Matvick and I talked about the growth of college hockey in the United States: “I think that there is a direct link between the National Junior hockey program and the growth of college hockey in this country. We are getting completive with some of the best countries in the world like Canada and Sweden so yes I think that has been a huge boost for college hockey. Another area is in the amount of college exposure we are now getting. Regional sports networks are doing more games but broadband has really helped give mass exposure to the game. Then ESPN has come in and we do the entire tournament and that really puts the sport on the map big time.”
Friday night the action moves over to ESPNU where at 7 p.m., ESPNU when Matvick and Ben Holden will present the Hobey Baker Award live. For those who don’t follow college hockey the award honors college hockey’s top men’s player and the show will be hosted by Boston University boasts two of the three Hobey Baker Award finalists: defenseman Matt Gilroy and forward Colin Wilson. Northeastern goaltender Brad Thiessen is also a finalist all the action will take place live at the Verizon Center.
Vassallo promised some great beauty shots from Washington and was very impressed with the arena, the NCAA organizing committee and the Washington Capitals who have very involved in making the Frozen Four an event that hockey fans circle on their calendars every year.
Once again the Championship game will air on ESPN Saturday night at 7p.m.
By the way Thorne will have a very busy weekend as he will do the Frozen Four tonight on ESPN2 then Friday will join Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer as they do the Orioles – Rays game on MASN then it will be back to Washington Saturday for final and Sunday it will be ESPN Sunday Night Baseball with Dave Campbell on ESPN Radio.
