Michigan may well have made history yesterday as they entered as the #1 regional seed, and lost to the #4 regional seed, for the second time in a four year stretch.  Painful memories, hoped to be forgotten, of the embarassing 2009 shutout loss to an unranked Air Force team, were fully refreshed in the Michigan psyche by yesterday’s opening round upset loss to Cornell, a team that only made it into the NCAA’s by virtue of a win over Colgate in the consolation round of the ECAC tournament last weekend.  This is to take nothing away from the contrasting preparation and play of Cornell, which overcame an early Michigan goal and then played powerfully on the attack from then on, yesterday.  In addition, UMass-Lowell’s upset win over Miami of Ohio made it a rough start in the NCAA tournament for the CCHA, which lost in three out of four opporunities, all except for Ferris State’s win over Denver.  We’ll start with a look at the UMass-Lowell win, then dive into the Michigan debacle, and end it with a brief look at our pool.

UMass-Lowell came out with guns blazing in the second game of the Eastern Regional yesterday, particulalry in the play of its special teams.  It was Josh Holstrom’s early first period powerplay goal, only nine seconds after a Miami boarding penatly, that got things going for the Riverhawks, putting UMass-Lowell up 1-0.  Then late in the first it was Colin Wright’s shorthanded goal that extended the lead to 2-0.  Early in the second, Riley Wetmore added a goal to put UMass-Lowell up 3-0, and it looked like it might be a runaway.  But Miami turned things around and put an end to Lowell’s hot streak, aided in the second by three minutes of Lowell penalties, and holding strong through a two minute penalty of their own.  For most of the third period it was Miami’s game, as Trent Vogelhuber tallied one three minutes into the period to make it 3-1, and then in a blink, fourteen seconds later, Austin Czarnik added one to make it a real game at 3-2.  Miami survived another two minutes shorthanded, and then midway through the third, Alden Hirschfeld scored to tie it up, 3-3.  With four minutes remaining, UMass-Lowell suffered a five minute major penalty, and somehow fought Miami off to send it to OT.  OT opened with Lowell still shorthanded for another minute of the major penalty.  With the penalty about to expire, but Miami still on the power play, Cameron Schilling nearly won it for the RedHawks as he one-timed a hard shot off the pipe.  But less than a minute after Mass-Lowell killed the major penalty, Riley Wetmore’s soft redirection of a teammate’s shot limped into the goal for game winner for the Riverhawks.

UMass-Lowell advances to play Union College today in the East Regional Final in Bridgeport, CT, at 3:30pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.

This game was a big upset in our pool, as 26 out of 31 had picked Miami of Ohio as the Winner.

Well, it started out looking like the Wolverine’s day, as Luke Glendenning put #1 Midwest Regional seed Michigan up 1-0 with his score only one minute into the game.  But what the screaming, nearly delerious maize and blue fans didn’t anticipate at that moment was the Wolverines being shut out for the next fifty-five minutes of play by #4 seed Cornell.  Cornell’s John McCarron scored nine minutes after the opening Michigan goal on a power play opportunity, and Joakim Ryan silenced the stunned crowd one minute into the second on a short handed goal to put Cornell up 2-1.  Cornell fought off 25 shots in the first two periods, 17 in the second alone, before frustrating Michigan in the third by continually getting the puck out of the Cornell zone.  But with four minutes left in the third, Michigan’s Kevin Lynch scored to tie it at 2-2, once again igniting the crowd’s spirits into near pandemonium and to send the game into OT.  But four minutes into OT it was Cornell’s Rodger Craig who made it 3-2, scoring the winning goal, once again silencing the crowd and dropping their spirits into the cavernous darkness of the 2009 Air Force loss that they had prayed so hard not to relive.  This surely creates a painful void for them until the October start of next season.

Cornell celebrates this win by advancing to the Midwest Regional Final against Ferris State tonight in Green Bay, WI, at 6pm Pacific Time on ESPNU.

This game was a huge upset in our pool, with 29 of 31 having picked Michigan to win; to say nothing of the catastrophic upset this is for Michigan, with the bitter memory of last year’s overtime loss to Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA championship game, still stinging.  So near, next year, became only a painful illusion so fast, and so early.

10:30am PT  #4 North Dakota opens West Regional play vs. #12 Western Michigan in St. Paul, MN, on Fox Sports North.

1:00pm PT     #1 Boston College opens Northeast Regional play vs. The #16 United States Air Force Academy in Worcester, MA, on ESPNU.

2:00pm PT     #6 Minnesota faces #8 Boston University in West Regional play in St. Paul, MN, on New England Sports Network, and Fox Sports North.

3:30pm PT     #3 Union College faces #13 UMass-Lowell in the East Regional final in Bridgeport, CT, on ESPNU

4:30pm PT     #5 Minnesota-Duluth faces #11 Maine in Northeast Regional play in Worcester, MA, on Fox Sports North.

6:00pm Pt      #9 Ferris State faces #14 Cornell in the Midwest Regional Final in Green Bay, WI, on ESPNU.

After today we’ll know two of the teams to advance to the Frozen Four!

Well, I’m a little late on reporting this.  We have 31 contestants this year, not quite reaching our high of 35 from last year.  And these 31 pool entrants have chosen eight different teams as the eventual winner of it all.  Those teams, and the number of entrants picking them, are:

Clearly we already have a number of entrants who have yesterday lost their eventual champion pick — Michigan:  BBeettendorf, MBettendorf, Allen, Huberty, Kramer, Peterson, DShymanski, and Ryan; and Miami of Ohio:  Pastor and Sweeney.

The first game starts in only half an hour!

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers!

— Tom