Notre Dame came into Denver as the first-ever fourth seed to play in the Frozen Four, which means they’ll also be the first to play for the whole thing. The Irish knocked off top-ranked and top-seeded Michigan 5-4 in overtime.

They’ll now take on Boston College, which laid a 6-1 beating on the University of North Dakota Flickertails. Hopefully the Irish will get back the services of 6’4″, 225 lb. forward Christian Hanson, who limped off the ice late in the game as cameras cut to the concerned face of his long-haired Dad – someone who looked like he might have been, say, rhythm guitarist in the Guess Who. In fact, he’s actually a movie star.


That’s right, Christian is the child of the Hanson Brother who is actually named Hanson. It’s easy to forget that both Dave “Jack” Hanson (above, left) and his Carlson cousins were good hockey players, especially considering the NHL had but a dozen teams back then. The Chicago Tribune picked up on the story of the Slap Shot star and son on Wednesday, as did Sportscenter earlier this week. But overall, I thought this older Blue and Gold piece was more entertaining.

The puck drops for BC-ND Saturday on ESPN proper (and call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed the sound of good old overexcitable attorney Gary Thorne calling a hockey game. Really took me back to those pre-lockout days).