College Hockey Update:  Midwest Regional play of the NCAA Men’s Division I Hockey Tournament opened yesterday and ended with RIT making history as the first Tournament #16 seed to ever beat the Tournament #1 seed, by a 2-1 margin over top-seeded Mankato State.

The RIT Tigers, resplendent in their bright orange “away” uniforms also brought plenty of game on the ice to catch your eye.

They played an up-tempo pace that served them well, as they were able to run their offensive set in the Mankato zone early on, and an Alexander Kuqali goal gave RIT the 1-0 lead, about five minutes into the first period.

Think that was a bit of a shock?  You should have seen the looks on the Mankato fans’ faces when the period ended with RIT leading, 1-0.  RIT seemed well represented in the crowd of 4,100, and they kept the place loud as they had much to cheer about.

In the second, both teams did a great job of containing each other in a classic, close, hard-fought hockey battle.  Midway through the period, Mankato capitlalized on one of their five power-play opportunities of the game, as C.J. Franklin scored to tie it up.

But RIT did not relent, and did not seem intimidated by the odds.  Both teams continued to fight and contain, until the third, when Mankato went on an assault that saw them gain a shots-on-goal advantage of 16-5.  But with about five or six minutes to go, it would be a shot by RIT junior forward Josh Mitchell, or Osoyoos, BC, that would silence even the most ardent Maverick fan in attendance.

The goal was initially reviewed as a possible interference, as a collision between an RIT player and a Mankato player sent the Mankato player into his goalie, putting the goalie down, and in a tough spot to make a play on Mitchell’s shot.  But after a careful review of replay video, the officials said that the video clearly showed that the Mankato player had initiated the contact, and that therefore the goal stood.

You should have heard those crazy Tiger fans at that point!  They were almost as loud as at the end of the game.

RIT advanced to the Midwest Regional final, today at 4:30pm Pacific Time, to play the winner of the Nebraska-Omaha vs. Harvard game.

The results of this RIT win could be classified as an upset in our pool, since one single entrant out of forty-four chose RIT to win.

Providence Really, Truly, Outlasts Miami of Ohio

In the second game of the Eastern Regional, in Providence, RI., Providence, the #4 regional seed, stunned Miami of Ohio, the #1 regional seed, in both the first and second periods, with two very different periods of play.  In the first, Providence stunned ’em by matching their play in every way, playing them toe-to-toe in what ended up being a somehow fairly contained, yet high-scoring period of play.

Miami got on the board first, four minutes into the game, for the 1-0 lead.  Six minutes later Providence netted one to tie it up at 1-1, and send the somewhat partisan crowd of 8,000 into pandemonium. Three minutes later, Miami came back and took a 2-1 lead.  But a mere minute and a half later, Providence again tied it, now 2-2, which is how the first frame completed.  All of this off of only seven shots for Providence, and only five for Miami!

The second was probably even more stunning for Miami, as Providence sent the game into an unplanned orbit by shelling the RedHawks for a thirteen minute stretch, accumulating four unanswered goals, and taking what, at the time, seemed to be perhaps a commanding 6-2 lead. Providence dominated the period in shots on goal by a 18-7 count.

In the third, it was hard to tell if a “different” Miami team, recharged and attacking, had emerged, or if a “different” Providence team, over-confident and too relaxed, had emerged,  It was probably both.  The two battled it out for about an eight minute stalemate, and then Miami placed all its goods on the table for a big bet, adding an extra attacker and pulling their goalie.

And did it pay back, or what??  Three and half minutes later, Miami went of an eight-and-a-half minute, three unanswered goals streak, giving everyone in Providence an ulcer.  Not only did Miami execute nearly flawlessly on the high-risk extra-attacker offense, but when Providence had opportunities to seal the deal on the open net, Miami players flew out of nowhere to play surrogate-goalie and deny the Friars.  And I mean spectacular stuff, like guys fling through the air to land stretched out on the ice, tipping shots off at the last one-tenth of a second.  And late in the game, Miami’s Austin Czarnik had what looked like the golden, game-tying opportunity at an open net from his side, but he just couldn’t get enough control of the puck for a good shot.

So, the last goal in regulation would not be a RedHawk goal to send the game, unbelievably into OT; instead Providence had held on and outlasted Miami in this classic, and with only seven ticks left, Providence scored on the empty net to make the final 7-5.

Providence advanced to the Eastern Regional Championship Game, today at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, to play the winner of the earlier game between Denver and Boston College. Don’t know who won that earlier game?  Then you’ll have to keep on reading.

The results of this game were certainly an upset in our pool, as only nine entries out of forty-four had gone with the #15 ranked Friars to take down #4 ranked Miami of Ohio.

Nebraska-Omaha Shows Harvard The Door

A  dominating first period by Nebraska-Omaha, in which they scored very early for a 1-0 lead over Harvard, and then on a power play goal at the end of the period for a 2-0 lead, set the Mavericks up for a win in first round play in the Midwest Region, and gave UNO its first-ever win in an NCAA Tournament.  UNO outshot Harvard 15-9 in the first frame.

After a stalemated second period, Harvard came out, guns-a-blazin’ in the third, and Jimmy Vessey netted one for the Crimson to make it a close 2-1 game.  But despite all the offense Harvard continued to throw at them, UNO held then off.

Late in the third Harvard added and extra attacker and pulled their goalie, but a subsequent Harvard penalty evened things up on the ice at five-on-five, Harvard still with the empty net, and UNO found it to take a 3-1 lead.  With only six ticks left, UNO found it again, ending it at 4-1.

UNO advanced to the Midwest Regional final, today at 4:30pm Pacific Time, to play RIT.

This win by UNO would be a clear upset in our pool, as only eleven entries picked the Mavericks to beat Harvard.

Denver Grounds Eagles

After two periods of a close game, Denver took off in the third to beat Boston College and advance to the final game in the Eastern Region yesterday.

Denver got on the board first on a power play goal only five minutes into the game.  It took twelve minutes of play, but Boston College scored the next goal to make tie it at 1-1.  Then, only three minutes later, and with only seven seconds remaining to play in the period, Denver score again to make it 2-1.  Denver outshot BC 14-6 in the first frame.

After a stalemated second, Denver scored eight minutes into the third, and then again a minute later, to take the 4-1 lead.  BC was pressing in the third, and with five minutes left to play, netted one on a power play to cut the lead to 4-2.  BC had to add and extra attacker and pull their goalie, but they could not convert, and in fact, Denver took advantage of the open net with about a minute and a half to play, to make the final, 5-2.

Denver advanced to the Eastern Regional Championship Game, today at 2:00pm Pacific Time on ESPNU, to play Providence College.

The Denver win would be a minor upset in our pool, with 24 of 44 entries having picked Boston College to win.

About Our Pool

Two Things:  First, I earlier reported that we had 43 entrants in the pool making it the largest pool we’ve ever had; I had forgotten to add in one entrant who submitted to me on paper, so we really have 44 this year, and a lot of the summaries have been reporting a given number of picks out of 44 entrants as a result.  Fear not, no hanky-panky going on here, as this entrant picked Minnesota to go all the way, making it five who picked the Golden Gophers this year.  Second, you may have noticed a lot of reporting of game results being upsets in the pool.  Yes, this is a year in which the brackets are largely cratered, and the winner will likely have a low number of picks.

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

— Tom