In this century alone, the NCAA men’s hockey tournament has twice seen a top seed in a given regional go down in the first minute of overtime in the first game. In both cases, the upset victim was a familiar maroon-and-gold machine, while the winning program had little or no precedent for success going in.
This year’s bracket is brimming with opportunities for similar occurrences. As College Hockey Inc. noted in a Monday press release, “Each region features at least one team that has never won a title, and eight of the 16 teams did not make the tournament a year ago. Penn State is making its first appearance in the tournament in just the fifth year of its Division I program. Only three schools – Denver, North Dakota and Providence – have made the tournament for at least four straight years.”
Lower-seeded teams, such as Penn State, Ohio State, Cornell and Air Force all go into the national quarterfinals with considerably less national tournament experience on their roster than their opponents. But while the past proves anything can happen, they have some lofty events to live up to if they are to pull a particularly historic upset.
With that in mind, here are the top 10 upsets in NCAA men’s hockey tournament history.
10. 1991 NCAA first round: Alaska-Anchorage over Boston College, 3-1 and 3-2
BC was coming off a narrow loss in a national semifinal to Wisconsin in 1990, won the Hockey East regular season crown and featured the eventual Hobey Baker winner in forward David Emma. UAA gained its second-ever NCAA tourney bid as the second-lowest seed in the field of 12, and had to travel 5,000 miles to play a best-of-three series.
A recipe for disaster turned into a shocking upset when the Seawolves held the Eagles to three goals total. The sudden defeat set the Eagles reeling, and they didn’t sniff the national postseason for another seven years.
9. 1966 NCAA semifinal: Michigan State 2, Boston University 1
The Spartans were the WCHA co-champions, but entered the nationals with a 14-13-0 record. Yet they were able to take out the 27-6-0 Terriers. Doug Volmar’s goal with 7:39 left in regulation provided a two-goal cushion for MSU and ended up the game winner.
8. 1966 NCAA final: Michigan State 6, Clarkson 1
The improbable run to Sparty’s first-ever men’s hockey crown culminated with this blowout victory. MSU tallied four times in the third period to put the game out of reach against the ECAC tournament champions, who came into the title contest with the best record of the four entrants at 24-2-0.
Mike Coppo’s two-goal effort placed him on the all-tournament team while goaltender Gaye Cooley earned Most Outstanding Player honors for allowing just two goals in two games.
7. 2013 West Regional semifinal: Yale 3, Minnesota 2 (OT)
Blink and you missed it. Got up for a snack? Tough luck. Had enough time to use the restroom? Think again.
Yale entered the NCAAs seeded fourth in the region and No. 15 overall. It began this improbable run to the program’s first national title four years ago by making history –Jesse Root’s marker just nine seconds into the first overtime against Adam Wilcox was the quickest end-game extra-session shot in NCAA men’s hockey tournament history.
The marker breathed new life into the Bulldogs, who had squandered an early 2-0 lead, and devastated the Golden Gophers, whose postseason history following back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003 continued to turned up little but deep disappointment.
6. 1999 West Regional final: Boston College 3, North Dakota 1
The Fighting Sioux had all the odds in their favor as the nation’s No. 1 team, granted the top seed and burning for redemption after winning the WCHA regular-season title but seeing the Denver gain the autobid for winning the playoff crown.
The Eagles set out to prove that their appearance in the previous title game was no fluke. But their chances of making it a game didn’t look great after sweating out a 2-1 win over Northern Michigan in their opener the night before.
But a hallmark of Jerry York’s teams in the late ’90s was turning in their best performances when it absolutely mattered most, and No. 1 came tumbling down. Scott Clemmensen stopped 31 shots, the BC defense shackled UND’s offensive stars, including future NHLer Jason Blake. Freshman Jeff Giuliano picked up the game winner with 2:15 left in regulation and Brian Gionta added an empty netter just before the buzzer.
5. 1969 NCAA final: Denver 4, Cornell 3
How could a team that finished its conference’s co-champion with a 23-6-0 overall record pull off an upset? When the opponent is the 26-1-0 ECAC titlists who captured a national crown just two years before.
The Pioneers, featuring burly defenseman Keith Magnuson, pulled off this shocker against Big Red thanks to 33 saves by Gerry Peters, the game clincher by Tom Miller midway through the third period and three assists by Magnuson. Left in the dust was future Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, who stopped just 21 shots in defeat for Cornell.
4. 1992 East Regional: Michigan State 3, Maine 2
The Black Bears entered the national tournament with the No. 1 overall seed and the presumptive Hobey Baker Award winner in Scott Pellerin. The Spartans were an at-large selection from the CCHA.
But thanks to two goals from Dwayne Norris and the winner by Bryan Smolinski just after the midway point of regulation, MSU made it stick, paving the way for Lake Superior State to begin its run of two titles in three seasons.
3. 1991 NCAA final: Northern Michigan 8, Boston University 7 (3OT)
Although both NMU (WCHA) and BU (Hockey East) gained admission to the 12-team tourney field by winning their respective conference playoff championships, the balance of power was clearly tipped towards Jack Parker’s roster. The Terriers featured no fewer than five surefire future NHLers: Tony Amonte, Shawn McEachern, Ed Ronan, Scott LaChance and Keith Tkachuk.
But Darryl Plandowski ended it at 1:25 of the sixth period, giving the Wildcats their first national crown after several wild momentum swings from both sides. BU led, 3-0, then NMU roared back to score seven of the next eight goals for a 7-4 edge, only to see the Terriers tie the game on David Sacco’s tally with 39 seconds left in regulation.
Scott Beattie, the smallest player on both sides at 5-foot-7 and 164 pounds, had a hat trick for NMU and was named Most Outstanding Player.
2. 2006 West Regional semifinal: Holy Cross 4, Minnesota 3 (OT)
The overall second-seeded Golden Gophers were only three years removed from their last of back-to-back NCAA titles and made the Frozen Four in three of the previous four seasons. The Crusaders entered play as the champions of Atlantic Hockey but were buried as a fourth seed in the region and 15th overall. Since tournament expansion to 16 teams in 2003, No. 1 seeds had finished 15-0 against No. 4.
No matter. Well-behaved Jesuit programs rarely make history. Holy Cross assumed control in the second period, taking leads of 1-0 and 2-1, then didn’t fold when Minnesota forged ahead early in the third period. Pierre Napert-Frenette tied it and Tyler McGregor’s second goal of the contest, coming just 53 seconds into extra time won it and sent shockwaves through the hockey world. Tony Quesada stopped 35 shots to claim the biggest victory of his brief career.
1. 2000 West Regional quarterfinal: Niagara 4, New Hampshire 1
The Wildcats entered the tournament as the defending national runners-up, having lost to neighbor and rival Maine, while also carrying a chip on their shoulders after being eliminated in the Hockey East semifinals by Boston College. Despite losing Hobey Baker winner and high-powered winger Jason Krog, Dick Umile’s team still had senior Mike Souza and the dynamic Darren Haydar atop the scoring list, with solid sophomore Ty Conklin manning the net.
In just its second season as a Division I program, and as the lowest seed in the region, Niagara figured to be a pushover against a national powerhouse despite its winning the newly-formed College Hockey America (which did not yet receive an NCAA autobid) regular-season and playoff titles by going undefeated in conference play and rolling up 29 wins.
On that Friday night, however, the Purple Eagles flipped the script. Mikko Sivonen scored a pair of goals, Niagara tallied four times on only 19 shots and Greg Gardner turned away 34 Wildcat shots for a shocking three-goal margin of victory. The win blew the doors off the veneer of primacy for the major conferences and helped kick the door open for a tournament expanded from 12 to 16 teams, which took effect in 2003.
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