And we're underway here in Washington, DC. The town known for red, white and blue is awash in red and white, at least within the Verizon Center.
It's tough to tell the fans apart without a program -- red and white everywhere, like a Red Wings game.
While the Boston fans have made their presence known all weekend, the Miami fans are trading chants with equal vigor. "Go BU!" is answered with "Let's Go Redhawks!" on each end of the arena. Boston's been here before, and won it last in 1995. In contrast, this is the first Miami squad from any sport to compete in a national championship.
The puck dropped on a packed arena, surely rivaling the 18,427 who attended the two semifinal games. Boston picked up right where it left off against Vermont, showing that it was not afraid to put it's national-best penalty kill to the test. Taking two penalties within the first 5:19 of the game, Boston was able to effectively kill off the infractions, rarely allowing a Miami shot to even reach freshman goalie Millan.
Despite taking 4 penalties in the opening frame, the Terriers hit the back of the net first. Chris Connolly picked the puck out of the scrum in front of the Redhawk crease and danced to the right of the prone goalie Reichard before sweeping the puck in for the Terriers' first tally.
A pair of penalties to either side were killed off, and Miami outshot Boston 10-9 to end the first. It seemed like the first few minutes were spent with both teams feeling each other out, but they quickly found their footing and began executing their respective game plans. Miami's physical game is evident with every hit, including one that sent Hobey Baker winner Matt Gilroy to the ice when he jumped up into the Miami zone. But Boston's been spending plenty of time in the Miami zone, so a goal was inevitable with this high-powered squad.
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