On day three of the 2024 NCHC Play of the Year Tournament our third set of first-round match-ups are available for fan voting. The first match-up pits two goals against each other, while the other has saves going head-to-head.
In the first match-up on Friday, North Dakota's Jackson Blake steals the puck out of midair and dishes to Cameron Berg for a pretty goal against Minnesota Duluth in Week 19, while Denver's Zeev Buium uses some nifty moves to score the overtime game-winning goal against St. Cloud State in the Frozen Faceoff semifinals.
In the other first-round match-up Friday, CC goaltender Kaidan Mbereko makes a sprawling stop against St. Cloud State in Week 16, while UND netminder Ludvig Persson makes his own sprawling glove save on an odd-man rush against the Huskies in Week 14.
Winning our first round match-ups from Thursday were CC's Stanley Cooley/Tommy Middleton, as well as Omaha's Ty Mueller. Cooley/Middleton received 76 percent of the 353 votes to top UMD goalie Matthew Thiessen, while Mueller advanced with 59 percent of the vote over WMU's Joe Cassetti. Cooley/Middleton and Mueller will meet in a quarterfinal on April 8.
Videos for both of today's match-ups are below with the poll to vote below each video. Voting will remain open until Saturday at noon ET, when the final two first-round match-ups are posted and today's winners are announced. Today's winners move on to meet in the quarterfinals on April 9. The entire bracket (with schedule) can be seen at the bottom of the page.
CAMERON BERG/JACKSON BLAKE VS. ZEEV BUIUM
NCHC Poll
KAIDAN MBEREKO VS. LUDVIG PERSSON
NCHC Poll
--#NCHChockey--