It's big. Long a punching bag to the rest of college hockey, AIC had never had a season above .500 before this year. St. Cloud State, a year after being upset by Air Force in the NCAA Tournament first round, became the first team to be the number one overall seed in two consecutive years. Throughout the season, SCSU played like the best team in college hockey.
A week later, I get the feeling this is one - the third time St. Cloud State has been upset as one of the top two teams over the past four seasons - that will be remembered among college hockey fans more than the Air Force and Ferris State ones. However, it's also easy for the upset to be forgotten. Several major ones have. Others become footnotes in lists every time the latest upset happens.
There is a difference between being memorable and an upset. RIT upsetting Minnesota State in 2015 was the first time a No. 1 overall seed was upset by the No. 16 overall seed yet no one would call it as massive or monumental as when Holy Cross upset Minnesota in 2006; even though it wouldn't be a top-five upset by the numbers in 2019. Penn State, laughed off by many in college hockey and not seen as worthy as a high three seed in 2017, obliterating Union 10-3 is not an upset by the numbers yet remains memorable for more than what happened on the ice.
Rather than ranking the top upsets, I wanted to go through the most important ones that should get more digital ink.
5. Cornell (15th overall seed) over Michigan (2nd overall seed) in 2012
Very few people witnessed the Big Red upsetting a top Wolverines team in Green Bay. Wisconsin missed the NCAA Tournament for a second consecutive year and no team on the western side of Lake Michigan or Upper Peninsula made an appearance.
Cornell's win also came at a time when the first-round No. 4 over No. 1 upset was expected. The Wolverines had already been toppled by Air Force in 2009 in a year where the 16th overall seed went to the Frozen Four. RIT went to the Frozen Four as the 15th overall seed in 2010. The expectation in 2012 wasn't whether a top team would see a promising season end in the first round, but which team.
Still, a year removed from a national championship game appearance and returning goalie Shawn Hunwick among others, this upset seems to be the end of an era for Michigan. The Wolverines missed the 2013 NCAA Tournament to snap a streak going back to 1991. Since losing to Cornell, Michigan has gone from annually appearing in the NCAA Tournament to making two appearances since 2012.
4. Yale (15) over Minnesota (2) in 2013
Everyone brings up Holy Cross. Few people bring up Yale, which was just as bad of an upset from a seeding perspective to Minnesota.
With Michigan missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 23 years, 2013 was a bad time for the West Regional to be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2200 people watched the Gophers see its national championship dreams end before most people got off work Friday afternoon. A third-period comeback went out the door nine seconds into overtime.
Like the upset seven years earlier, this Minnesota team was massively talented with future NHLers. The Gophers entered the NCAA Tournament having won its second straight MacNaughton Cup and returning most of the key pieces from the 2012 Frozen Four. Erik Haula and Nate Schmidt turned down turning pro while Nick Bjugstad waited until mid-July to decide to come back to Dinkytown for his junior season to take care of unfinished business. The one question mark in net was quickly answered when freshman Adam Wilcox seamlessly fit in goal.
Simply, Minnesota appeared in Frozen Fours in 2012 and 2014 yet the most talented team was the one that didn't in 2013.
Yale, a team two years earlier failed to make the Frozen Four as the number one overall seed (and needed overtime to stave off Air Force), had the performance of a lifetime to also help make this one move down the list. The Bulldogs, a week earlier, lost twice in the ECAC tournament by a combined 8-0 score. After upsetting Minnesota, Yale went on to defeat three No. 1 seeds - the top three overall seeds - and a good North Dakota team that had won the Broadmoor Trophy to claim the national championship.
(The only No. 1 seed to not lose to Yale was Notre Dame, who themselves were upset in the first round by St. Cloud State. The Huskies have been on the other side of this list although, as of 2019, the upset led to the Huskies' only Frozen Four appearance.)
3. Colorado College (15) over Boston College (2) in 2011
There's a pattern here with the number two overall seed in the late 2000s-early 2010s to where I wonder how some of the most recent upsets will be seen. Five straight NCAA Tournaments saw the second overall seed lose in the first round. (It hasn't gotten much better since Boston College ended the streak in 2014. Besides looking to be the first repeat champion since Denver in 2005, UMD would be the 1st number two overall seed since that Pioneers squad to win a national championship if the Bulldogs pull it off this weekend.) Of the teams that lost, BC falling to CC might be the most surprising.
Two teams stood out as being hot and invincible entering the 2011 NCAA Tournament. One was North Dakota, who had not lost since January.
The other was defending national champion Boston College. The Eagles were 20-2-1 since the beginning of December and had the experience of winning a national championship. It wouldn't have shocked anyone to see the Eagles repeat and win its third title in four years. Cam Atkinson won the Hobey, John Muse had a fantastic season in net and Jerry York's team had players such as Chris Kreider, Brian Dumoulin, Jimmy Hayes, and Bill Arnold and Kevin Hayes as freshmen.
BC's reward was the sixth-place team in the WCHA, Colorado College. The Tigers, with the two Schwartz brothers and Joe Howe in net, barely got past Wisconsin in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The team seemed to be held up by quality wins (being the last team to beat the aforementioned North Dakota) and a dominant year for the WCHA in non-conference play where five WCHA schools made the 16 team NCAA Tournament. CC had by far the worst record of any school.
As expected, this one wasn't close. As unexpected, it was Colorado College jumping out to a 7-2 lead after two periods and winning 8-4. After Jimmy Hayes scored on the opening shift, nothing else went Boston College's way in a year where everything had to that point.
BC had a similarly dominant second half the following year, winning its third national championship in five seasons. It remains the last stretch by a team that can be considered a dynasty, however, it can be easy to forget the lost chance to add one more in 2011.
2. Bemidji State (16) over Notre Dame (2) in 2009
Of all the upsets on this list, this is the one which gets brought up the most. The Beavers made the 2009 Frozen Four and were the first ever number 16th overall seed to win; a feat matched by RIT in 2015, Air Force in 2018 and AIC this year. Upsetting Notre Dame made Air Force's upset over Michigan a day earlier forgotten by the end of the weekend.
That said, it's easy to forget how massive the ramifications were for the Beavers. In 2009, the CHA was dying. Wayne State had folded its program. Of the four remaining teams, Niagara and Robert Morris were headed to Atlantic Hockey, putting Bemidji State and Alabama-Huntsville in a tough spot. The Beavers applied to join the rest of the Minnesota schools in the WCHA. At the time of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, the league hadn't accepted and was looking for a 12th member.
So the 2009 Frozen Four run was important as it put Bemidji State on the map in several ways. To get there, the Beavers, a week removed from needing overtime to defeat Robert Morris and earn the CHA automatic bid, routed a Notre Dame team that had made the national championship game a year prior and won ten games in a row entering the NCAA Tournament. This wasn't a lucky bounce or overtime win. This wasn't catching a good team on a downswing.
Only RIT in 2015 had a worse Pairwise ranking among NCAA Tournament winners than Bemidji State's 37th in 2009. (As an aside, it's amazing how Notre Dame's stretches of being massively upset during the late 2000s and early 2010s haven't followed the Fighting Irish like several other schools. This isn't the last they show up either.) Overall, this marks a turning point, one that should be remembered for one, between the win being a massive upset by ranking, history and the after effect of it making it easier to accept Bemidji State in the WCHA. The Beavers joined with Nebraska-Omaha later that summer.
1. Alaska-Anchorage (W6) over Boston College (E3) in 1991
Most of the big upsets forgotten are in the modern era of the 16-team NCAA Tournament that has been played since 2003. This one isn't. This one happened in an era when the first round was a best-of-three series played on home ice.
Former Minnesota head coach Don Lucia (who knows a thing or two about upsets and at the time coached rival Alaska) brought this series up several times over the years. Alaska-Anchorage, an independent team a few years away from joining the WCHA, made the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year. (The Seawolves would again the following year, which until Arizona State stood as the last time an independent school had.) An unheralded school, UAA went to Boston to face an Eagles team in a stretch of making 7 of 8 NCAA Tournaments and beat them twice in a row.
Twice. Once might be a fluke, but twice is certainly an upset worthy of being number one.
Nearly 30 years later, this remains the high point of Alaska-Anchorage's NCAA tenure.
HM: Notre Dame barely beating Alabama-Huntsville, 2007
2007 gets overlooked nowadays for being a strange tournament. In hindsight, it served as a precursor to 2009 and shows where the future of the NCAA Tournament was heading.
Three No. 3 seeds advanced to the Frozen Four, including national champion Michigan State. Two No. 1 seeds were upset in the opening round a year after Holy Cross. The other two No. 1 seeds barely escaped. Minnesota, as the No. 1 overall seed, needed a third-period comeback to defeat Air Force in Denver. Notre Dame, facing 16th overall seed Alabama-Huntsville (this is the last year where the No. 1 overall wasn't protected), was taken to double overtime.
So much changes if the Chargers were able to come through with the win. For one, it would still by far be the biggest upset by value. UAH was 49th of 59 D1 teams in the Pairwise. It would lessen the Bemidji State upset two years later. Alabama-Huntsville got into the tournament with a 13-19-3 record after winning three games in three days to take the CHA automatic bid. It might make it easier for the CCHA or another conference to take in the Chargers, who nearly folded its program after the CHA did.
Finally, while it wouldn't lessen the Holy Cross impact, college hockey would have another example in back-to-back years. Beating Minnesota (and that Minnesota team in particular) will always stand out. Having it stand out for three years on its own helped further shape Holy Cross into the influential and monumental upset.
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