Who needs basketball?

This NCAA tournament for basketball has been for the most part boring compared to last year. Two of the closest games were between the 8 and 9 seeds (Ohio St/Siena and Tennessee/Oklahoma St) where the winner went on to predictably lose to the #1 seed in the next round. There have been a lack of buzzer beaters with the notable exception being the Villanova-Pitt game last night. For most part the games have been boring and the top seeds have advanced as planned.

However, in the college hockey tournament there have been upsets, last second drama and pretty much everything you would normally expect in the college basketball tournament. Lets recaps what has happened so far in the college hockey tournament.

• The #1 seeds went 1-3 in the first round. Compare that to college basketball where the #1 seeds have gone 13-1.
• Bemidji St. (a former DII school) beat #1 seed Notre Dame in an upset more shocking than anything that in college basketball.
• University of Minnesota-Duluth was down 2 goals with less than a minute to go against Princeton and won. They pulled their goalie and scored a goal with 40 seconds to put the margin at 1. Then they scored another miracle goal with 0.8 seconds to force overtime, which led to another goal and victory.
• The University of New Hampshire beat North Dakota 6-5 in OT in another amazing game. Just in case you missed it New Hampshire scored their 5th goal with 0.1 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.

Finally, the mighty Redhawks (my mighty Redhawks) of Miami University defeated #1 seeded Denver (4-2) and #2 seeded University Minnesota-Duluth (2-1) in back to back games to go to their first ever Frozen Four. After 3 consecutive losses in the Elite 8, it was time to celebrate like it was 1809 in Oxford, OH. I went to the game on Friday, but couldn't find tickets to last night's game because of the strong contingent of UMD fans in Minneapolis yesterday. I wanted to scalp them, but all available seats had been bought up. Unfortunately for UMD fans though they had to leave unhappy and confused about how a school they thought was located in Florida was able to beat the Bulldogs in a practical home game for UMD.

Now Miami will play the winner of the Cornell-Bemidji St. game in the Frozen Four in Washington DC on April 9th. I am riding this hockey bandwagon for as long as it goes because honestly this hockey experience has been more exciting and gratifying than the college basketball tournament. Who knew? Lets just hope this doesn't mean I start talking with a Minnesota accent while eating lutefisk.

Go Redhawks! I am proud to be a Miami alum after two great games and a spot in the Frozen Four.