UPDATE: April 10.: Third-seeded North Dakota beat the top seed Quinnipiac Bobcats 5 to 1 Saturday night to capture the 2016 NCAA Championship title.
WASHINGTON — Less than a week after Upper Marlboro, Maryland native Kris Jenkins (Gonzaga College High School) hit a buzzer-beating three pointer to give Villanova the national championship in men’s college basketball, another local athlete is seeking a title at this weekend’s NCAA Frozen Four.
Potomac, Maryland native Sam Anas (Landon School) gets his shot Saturday night as the top-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats (32–3–7) face third-seeded North Dakota (33–6–4) in the national title game in men’s college hockey (8 p.m., ESPN2).
Anas is wrapping up his junior campaign with Quinnipiac, where he spent this past season as an assistant captain and enters the championship game as the team’s leading scorer with 24 goals and 50 points in 42 games.
On Friday, Anas was named a First-Team All American marking the second time in as many years that he received All-American honors (Anas was a Second-Team All American in 2014-15). He was also named National Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2013-14.
“We definitely had an outstanding year,” Anas said in a phone interview from the Frozen Four in Tampa. “It’s definitely the best year that I’ve been a part of at Quinnipiac, and it’s crazy to think that we’re in April and still playing hockey and that we only have three losses on the year. So that’s definitely a credit to our team.”
Anas, 22, attended the Frozen Four as a fan when it was played at Verizon Center in 2009 but says that nothing compares to finally playing on college hockey’s biggest stage and the pomp and circumstance that surrounds it.
The red carpet was literally rolled out for the Bobcats shortly after their arrival in Tampa early last week and as the tournament’s No. 1 seed, they have also had access to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s locker room and facilities at Amelie Arena.
“It’s tough to ignore all that’s going on here,” Anas said. “You walk around Tampa and there are Frozen Four banners all across the city, and just to think that a few years ago I was watching these games on TV and now to be playing in them is pretty cool. But at the same time, once we get to the rink, we know it’s all business.”
