Numbers to Know Leading Up To The National Title Game
College hockey will crown its champion for the 2020-21 season this weekend, as Massachusetts, Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota State and St. Cloud State square off in the 2021 Frozen Four. The field started with 16 teams, and after some having to forfeit due to positive COVID-19 tests, others surviving five-overtime thrillers and nail-biting regional action, only four teams remain. Three programs from the state of Minnesota and one from New England have survived one of the more challenging seasons in history and will meet in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Last year was the first time in 72 seasons that the NCAA did not award a national champion in hockey after the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. So as the event returns to the spotlight, we take a closer look at where it all originated for the players competing for a title.
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Percent of the 109 players rostered across the four teams are from Minnesota. Not all that surprising, given that three of the four teams remaining are from the State of Hockey. What may be a surprise is that this is the first year in history that multiple schools from the land of 10,000 lakes qualified for the Frozen Four in the same tournament.
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Different Minnesota high schools produced at least one of the previously mentioned players. Hermantown High School (6), Holy Family Catholic (3) and Elk River High School (3) are at the forefront, and the Minnesota High School Hockey League (MHSHL) continues to be a leader in development of youth hockey players in the United States.
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American youth organizations have at least one representative in Pittsburgh. The Arizona Jr. Coyotes, Chicago Mission, Chicago Young Americans, Colorado Thunderbirds, HoneyBaked, LA Jr. Kings and Selects Academy are among those with multiple alumni vying for the national title.
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Canadians are represented on all four teams, including nine from Ontario, five from Alberta, two from Saskatchewan as well as one from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Four of them played their youth hockey in Ontario’s legendary Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) which has produced hundreds of current and former NHL players.
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Countries — aside from the obvious U.S. and Canada — including three from Finland, two from Czech Republic and one from each of Germany, Slovakia and Japan. Six of those nationalities are represented on St. Cloud State’s roster, with the Huskies’ top two scorers hailing from the Scandinavian country.
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