By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO —
In recent years, the NCAA men’s hockey tournament has had some great Cinderella moments.
The shocker was in 2006 when Holy Cross knocked off top-seeded Minnesota 4-3 in overtime in the first round of the tournament. The game, played in front of a large, anti-Gophers crowd in North Dakota’s Ralph Engelstad Arena, produced a memorable YouTube moment in which a pair of rightly giddy student broadcasters did their best “Do you believe in miracles?” imitation after Holy Cross’ game-winning goal in overtime.
(Their sound bite was even played in Mankato by the Civic Center’s sound man before a game against Minnesota, which was a little embarrassing considering Minnesota State was in the midst of a three-year winless streak against the Gophers at the time.)
Two years later, Bemidji State was college hockey’s Cinderella, upsetting Notre Dame and then doing one better by beating Cornell and getting to the Frozen Four.
This spring, it was Rochester Institute of Technology that set out to become the darling, as it shocked Denver and then defeated New Hampshire to get to championship weekend.
The success of the small schools and the parity in college hockey in recent years prompted discussion of changing the NCAA tournament format in the future.
During the sport’s national meetings in Florida last month, a proposal was made that would make the first round of the 16-team tournament be a best-of-three-games series played at the home site of the higher seed. From there, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals would return to a single-elimination format.
The idea, which would have to be approved by the NCAA and could not go into effect until the 2012 tournament, would reward high seeds that had better regular seasons.
It could also ensure better attendance on the first weekend of the tournament, as many recent regionals have looked more like late-season, spring-break crowds in Mankato than important national-tournament battles.
The NCAA last played a best-of-three first round in 1991. Most top seeds advanced to the Frozen Four in that format. Since the 16-team format was put into place in 2003, less than half of the top seeds get to the semifinals.
But not all No. 4 seeds are little Cinderella stories like Holy Cross, Bemidji State and RIT.
When Bemidji made it to the Frozen Four, they were knocked out by Miami, a big-conference school that was also a No. 4 seed. In 2008, Notre Dame, which also hails from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, also made it to the championship game as a No. 4.
A best-of-three series in the first round does have some intrigue, as does having a Frozen Four that truly has the country’s best teams.
But there’s something to be said about the upsets, too.
Consider the 2005 Frozen Four. Three No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 made it to Columbus, Ohio. Those teams included Denver, North Dakota, Minnesota and Colorado College — all teams from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.
College hockey didn’t really like that all that much, either.
Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Read his blog at mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com.
