Staff
Fort Frances native Joe Basaraba and the rest of the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs team will continue their quest to repeat as NCAA Division I men’s hockey national champs this weekend when tournament play gets underway in Worcester, Mass.
The Bulldogs, who are seeded second in the Northeast region following a regular-season record of 24-9-6, will take on the Maine Black Bears in the semi-finals Saturday night.
The winner then will face either the top-ranked Boston College Eagles or fourth-seeded Air Force Falcons on Sunday evening.
This past weekend, the Bulldogs fell short of winning the WCHA conference championship in St. Paul, where the Denver Pioneers earned a dramatic 4-3 double-overtime win in the semi-finals Friday afternoon.
Basaraba, in his sophomore season with UMD, has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 38 games this season—a huge jump from his five points in 36 games last year.
The other two local players in the Division I ranks saw their seasons come to an end over the last couple of weeks.
Forward Mitch Cain and the Bemidji State Beavers, along with goalie Ryan Faragher and the St. Cloud State Huskies, both were eliminated by the eventual WCHA champion North Dakota Fighting Sioux.
In 12 games this season, Cain had a goal and four assists. Faragher, meanwhile, appeared in 24 games, compiling a 9-11-3 record with a 2.78 GAA.
And in the OHL, Belleville Bulls’ captain Luke Judson, an Emo native, will lead his team into the post-season starting tomorrow night.
The seventh-seeded Bulls will take on the second-place Ottawa 67’s in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Judson, in his final season in the OHL, was fifth in team scoring this season with 18 goals and 21 assists in 67 games.
