The Other Sweet 16- the NCAA Hockey Tournament

The NCAA hockey tournament gets underway on Friday as Minn-Duluth will look to defend its NCAA against Maine in the Worcester, Mass.-regional.

If every team I'm picking wins, then that region will go to top-seed Boston College which open up NCAA against Air Force. My other three teams (keep in mind, I am a novice with college hockey) in the Frozen Four are Minnesota, Miami (Ohio) and Denver University. I am also going to project that the Boston College Eagles will win it all in Tampa, Fla. (yes, that is where the Frozen Four is taking place, starting on April 5th).

But, the first round game I am most anxious to watch is in the Green Bay, Wisc.-region where Michigan, the top seed in the region, will face Cornell (pictured).

The Big Red have shocked the Wolverines before as they won the first of a three game series against the 'Big Blue' in Ann Arbor 5-4 during the NCAA tournament in 1991. But, the format is now single-game elimination, thus at the time, the Wolverines were able to rebound and advance two games to one.

Whoever wins the game between Michigan and Cornell, which will be broadcast on Friday night on ESPN-U, will then face the winner of the Ferris State (Grand Rapids, Mich.)-Denver game.

Michigan has won nine titles, followed by Denver and North Dakota, teams that have won seven titles each. Boston College has won four titles.

In the Bridgeport, Conn.-region, top-seed Union (NY) plays Michigan State, the only school that also made the Sweet 16 in men's basketball. The other game in the region pits Maimi (Ohio) against Mass-Lowell.

The Wolverines will be coming off a loss in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) conference tournament, which won by Western Michigan, a team that plays North Dakota in the St. Paul region (for the other two regions, check out our sister blog "The Daily Vampire"). Ferris State, Miami (Ohio) and Michigan State are the other three teams from that conference in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan has many outstanding players, including freshman Alex Guptill from Canada, senior Luke Glendenning from Grand Rapids, Mich., and senior goaltender Shawn Hunwick from Sterling Heights, Mich.

Cornell, a team that plays in the Ivy League in other sports, won the ECAC tournament over Colgate 3-0 in Atlantic City, NJ, with goals from senior Sean Collins from Canada, sophomore Dustin Mowrey from Canada and freshman John McCarron from Macomb, Mich.

The Big Red also got 25 saves from goaltender Andy Iles who is coincidentally from Itahca, NY, where Cornell is located. And, if Cornell should become one of the rare four seeds that advances to the Final Four, they will have a player from the Sunshine State on the roster as freshman Brain Ferlin is from Jacksonville, Fla.

Quote of the Day/Week-Ethan Hawke

Today, since we were all born in 1970 here, we are going to quote famous people born that year. On our other blog "The Daily Vampire," we quoted Uma Thurman, so to be 'fair and balanced,' we are quoting her ex-husband the actor, singer, novelist Ethan Hawke, who will turn 42 on Nov. 6. Thurman turns 42 on April 29.

Here is his quote:

"Memory is a wonderful think if you don't deal with the past."

SIDEBAR ONE: Kudos to the Harvard Crimson men's basketball team as they won the Ivy League title by beating Cornell on the road in Ithaca, NY, 67-63 to capture the crown.

The Crimson (26-4) won over the Big Red thanks to Oliver McNally who scored 17 points, and Brandyn Curry, a junior from Huntersville, NC, who added 12 points, including three 3-point shots.

SIDEBAR TWO: Yes, English soccer games can air pretty darn early here in the United States. So, in case you didn't get up at 7:45 a.m. on Saturday to watch the match either, I thought I would mention that Arsenal won over rival Liverpool 2-1.

For the winning side, both goals came from Dutch superstar Robin van Persie (31st, 92nd mins.) and for Liverpool the lone goal came from French player Laurent Koscielny.

Sports Desk- Utah Edges Stanford in Women's Gymnastics

Senior Kyndal Robarts scored individual victories on the vault beam helping the Utes win its home meet over Pac-12 rival Stanford 196.3-196.1. Robarts had a career-high 9.975 on vault, a 9.875 on beam and a 9.80 on floor.

Robarts was also awarded with the Special Performance of the Week for the Pac-12 Conference; she became the third Utes awarded with that title this season.

Her teammates senior Cortni Beers and sophomore Corrie Lothrop are the other Utes gymnast who won the honor.

In a vastly different part of the country in Ithaca, NY, on the campus of Cornell University, the home team Big Red finished second to the Penn Quakers at the Ivy League classic over the weekend. The other two Ivy schools with women's gymnastics programs Brown and Yale, finished third and fourth respectively.

Tiffany Chen of Cornell won the Ivy title on vault. The Big red scored a 191.85, the team's highest score of the year.

For the Quakers, senior Laura DiPaolo helped pave the way to victory with a 9.725 on vault, and her freshman teammate Amber Woo scored a 9.725 on beam.

The scores for the visiting teams were: Penn (192.65), Brown (191.075) and Yale (190.725).

Sports Desk: Princeton Beats Harvard 70-62

It is a very rare occasion when an Ivy League men's basketball is nationally televised, but since then 21st ranked Harvard University had won nine basketball games in a row, it's road game with Princeton on Saturday night set up a pivotal match-up.

And, the underdog Princeton Tigers (13-10, 4-3 in Ivy League play) prevailed with a 70-62 win thanks in large part to Ian Hummer's (pictured) 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Other players for the Tigers who scored in double figures were T.J. Bray (12), Brendan Connolly (11), Denton Koon (10) and Mark Darrow (10).

In defeat for the Crimson, Keith Wright scored 16 points and Brandyn Curry, of Huntersville, NC, scored 15 points.

Harvard did prevail in the team's road game against Pennsylvania by a 56-50 score on Friday night with 17 points from freshman Corbin Miller.

On Friday night, Princeton won its home game over struggling Dartmouth, a team with a 4-20 record, by a 59-47 margin.

Like Princeton, Cornell also had a triumphant homestand over the weekend in the Ivy League. The Big Red (10-12, 5-3) went on a 15-1 run in the second half to defeat Brown 72-63 on Saturday night. The night before, the team won an overtime thriller over Yale 85-84 in overtime.

For the Big Red, Chris Wroblewski, a senior from Highland Park, Ill., was named Ivy League Men's Basketball Palyer of the Week.

In other Ivy League sports, Harvard's women's hockey player Jillian Dempsey was named the school's athelete of the week as she scored five goals, one short of an NCAA record, in the team's 10-1 victory over Princeton.

And, in women's gymnastics, Cornell, one of four Ivy League schools with women's gymnastics teams (Yale, Brown and Penn are the others) came in second at the team's Big Red Invitanial.

The school in Ithaca, New York, came in second behind Southern Connecticut in the four-team meet. Lexi Schupp of Cornell won bars and her teammate Maelanie Stanrdige won beam.

The final score of the meet was: Southern Connecticut 190.05, Cornell 189.55, Ithaca College 187.250 and West Chester 185. 750.

Here is the full scoreboard in men's basketball for the Ivy League, which traditionally plays its games on Friday and Saturday nights.

Friday:

Cornell 85 Yale 84, OT

Harvard 56 Penn 50

Princeton 59 Dartmouth 47

Columbia 86 Brown 60

Saturday:

Cornell 72 Brown 63

Princeton 70 Harvard 62

Penn 58 Dartmouth 55

Yale 59 Columbia 58

Bonus Road Trip (8 of 10)_ In the Ivy League

Today, we ask you the blog reader how far apart two Ivy League towns are. We are going with Providence, Rhode Island, the home of Brown University (the school nickname is the Brown Bears) and Ithaca, New York, home of Cornell University (the Big Red).

Among Brown's most famous recent alumnus is Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone, who made headlines by posing partially nude for "ESPN Magazine" last year. Sacramone who was captain of the 2008 Olympics team also dated current Denver Broncos quarterback Brady Quinn who got replaced by Tim Tebow, who has headlines for 'Tebowing,' a religious ritual which has made him popular with evangelicals.

The current Brown University gymnastics roster features gymnast Kasey Haas, who is from right here in the Tarheel state as she hails from Charlotte, NC.

Cornell also has a gymnastics team, which features the likes of Tiffany Chen on their roster; she is from California. The Big Red's gymnastics team will take part in the George Washington University Invitational in Washington, DC, on Jan. 15. Their first home meet will be against fellow Ivy Leaguers Pennsylvania University on Jan. 25.

Brown and Cornell face each other in gymnastics in Providence on March 11. So how far will that trek be?

Is the answer:

A) 4 hours, 45 minutes

B) 5 hours, 45 minutes

C) 6 hours, 45 minutes

D) 7 hours, 45 minutes