Cohen's goal wasn't too crazy. In terms of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, a deflected puck off a diving defender fluttering past the Miami goaltender could be considered normal.
It came in a national championship game where BU trailed the RedHawks by two goals entering the final minute of regulation. It came in a tournament where the Terriers weren't the first team to claw back from two goals down entering the final minute of regulation. It came in a tournament when Air Force upsetting Michigan in Friday's opening game was both a major deal and forgotten about 48 hours later.
The 2009 NCAA Tournament was the tournament that, looking back, helped shape its perception of unpredictability, where the last at-large team to get in has won as many times in the last six years as a No. 1 seed. This tournament had everything.
On the 10 year anniversary, let's take a look back at the craziness.
The Rise of the Upsets
At the time, an Atlantic Hockey team beating one of the top two overall seeds was considered a major upset. Opposing fans wore Holy Cross jerseys at Minnesota games for multiple years. Other No. 1 seeds who had lost were not the number one or two overall seeds. They fell to teams outside the CHA and Atlantic Hockey.
Still, Air Force, champion of Atlantic Hockey, getting its first win was years in the making. The Falcons led Minnesota 3-1 midway through the third period in 2007. Frank Serratore's team the next year took Miami to overtime.
With Air Force facing the lowest No. 1 seed, Michigan, it was time for the Falcons to break through and become the second Atlantic Hockey team to earn an NCAA Tournament win, shutting out the Wolverines 2-0.
That stood as the 2009 tournament's biggest upset for about 24 hours. Bemidji State, champion of a four-team CHA league, became the first 16th overall seed to win a game after routing Notre Dame 5-1.
Entering 2009, a total of four No. 4 seeds had won since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 16 teams in 2003. Miami's upset win over Denver made it three of the four No. 4 seeds winning that year.
Parity has shifted around to the point where the Falcons' big game reputation is known. These days no one is surprised to see Air Force upset a team like No. 1 overall seed St. Cloud State (or the Huskies to be upset twice in three years by a low seeded team).
Buzzer Beaters and Comebacks Galore
Unfortunately for Miami, the upset win wasn't even the most shocking of the Minneapolis regional. With the Gophers missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine seasons, it was up to Minnesota Duluth to represent the "State of Hockey" at Mariucci.
On a roll thanks to Alex Stalock's WCHA Final Five performance that saw the Bulldogs be the first team to win the Broadmoor Trophy with three wins in three days, UMD trailed Princeton 4-2 with a minute to play. Guy Gadowsky's Princeton team, looking for its first-ever NCAA Tournament win, gave up an extra-attacker goal with 40 seconds left and another with .8 seconds remaining after a goaltending gaffe in the closing seconds.
Mike Connolly scored in overtime to complete the "Miracle at Mariucci" and continue UMD's roll for another day.
Scoring with 0.8 seconds remaining in regulation is impressive yet ended up being an eternity compared to New Hampshire's buzzer beater theatrics.
The Wildcats, trailing 5-3 in the third period, came back to tie North Dakota with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock. 0.1! After a review, Thomas Fortney's goal stood and 45 seconds later Peter LeBlanc sent UND home from Manchester. (As far as I know, no one made t-shirts like the slightly more famous one 5 years and .5 seconds later.)
Boston University was the number one overall seed and the only one of the No. 1 seeds to advance. Despite holding serve, the Terriers needed late magic of its own to reach the Frozen Four and be able to make the late championship comeback.
One day after New Hampshire's final minute heroics, the Wildcats were the ones burned as BU's Jason Lawrence scored with 15 seconds remaining to break a 1-1 tie.
In most tournaments, this wouldn't be an afterthought.
Frozen Four Surprises
Ten years later, it can be easy to forget that the Frozen Four consisted of two No. 4 seeds and a No. 3 seed.
That may not seem like a big deal now. Minnesota Duluth has twice won national championships as a No. 3 seed. Yale and Providence each won as a No. 4 seed. Back then it was a surprise, one fitting for the unpredictability of the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
As one top team after another struggled, 16th overall seed Bemidji State thrived. Tom Serratore's team had lost six straight games from the end of December into late January yet were able to defeat No. 2 overall Notre Dame and Cornell by a combined 9-2 score to advance to the program's first D1 Frozen Four.
Miami jumped out to a 2-0 lead against Minnesota Duluth and, unlike Princeton a day before (or the RedHawks a week and a half later), held on to move to Washington DC.
It was up to Vermont, meanwhile, to give the crowd the most entertaining second-round finish by winning on a goal no one saw. Playing Air Force in a No. 3 vs. No. 4 matchup, the Catamounts and Falcons were deep in the second overtime. (To this day, college hockey fans were an Air Force goal away from a Serratore brothers Frozen Four.) Vermont's Dan Lawson shot the puck off the boards and play went on for a minute or two.
And then it stopped for 15 minutes and never began again. Turns out Lawson's shot went through the net. Following a long review, the officials awarded Vermont a goal and ticket to the Frozen Four.
Forgotten Surprises (and the one we all remember)
Miami and Bemidji State's victories meant the national championship game would feature a No. 4 seed. The RedHawks took care of business in Washington DC, dispatching the Beavers 4-1.
Boston University, on the other hand, struggled throughout long stretches of the Terriers' national semifinal against Vermont. The Catamounts out-shot BU 16-6 in the second period and held a 4-3 lead midway through the third period. It wasn't enough. Chris Higgins and Colin Wilson put Boston University ahead and through to the national championship game.
In the context of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, it was almost normal. A third-period comeback gets forgotten amongst the craziness.
Of course, it gets forgotten in the last minute trailing a No. 4 seed by two goals comeback; the second such miracle in a 15 game tournament.
In a way, that's the lasting effect of the craziness ten years ago. When miracles happen regularly, they don't seem to be miracles. The 2009 tournament came at a time when the landscape of college hockey was changing and when parity picked up. A massive upset doesn't carry the same weight in 2019 as it did in 2009.
On the surface, the top overall seed winning the entire NCAA Tournament doesn't seem landscape-changing. Dig further below, the ways Boston University needed to win, that three No. 1 seeds lost first-round matchups and the unpredictability now seem familiar but back then was not.
No one expected Miami as one of the last at-large bids nearly winning it all. Few expected Air Force or an Atlantic Hockey team to kick off the tournament with a win. This weekend, few would be surprised if Harvard, a No. 4 seed, upsets UMass in the opening game of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. A No. 4 seed has won each year since 2006. We've seen that upset so many times before.
In the year following Boston University's crazy win, Atlantic Hockey autobid RIT made the Frozen Four. In 2013, two No. 4 seeds advanced to the Frozen Four with Yale defeating number one overall seed Quinnipiac for the national championship.
The 2009 NCAA Tournament still comes to mind ten years later for more than Minnesota Duluth completing a miracle that legitimately could be the third or fourth-best. The tournament comes to mind because of how regular those miracles happen and being in a spot these days where unpredictable happens often.
Add in a dash of buzzer beaters and goals through nets and it's a tournament that's hard to forget.
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