Of all the upsets in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Bemidji State's 5-1 win over Notre Dame has to be the most shocking. It wasn't just the fact that the Beavers won. It was that they made a huge upset look so darn easy.
Bemidji State started the game with a bit of a flukey goal, but really, Bemidji pretty much controlled the game. Notre Dame ended up with a 35-19 shot advantage, but it's not like Bemidji's Matt Dalton had to stand on his head. Once BSU built their 2-0 lead, they never seemed in any real danger of giving it up. Notre Dame looked like they were out of the tournament before they even got into it.
I'm still not sure how BSU did it. They've got some nice, hard-working guys, and I've seen them grind out some tough victories against good opponents, but I never thought they had the talent to blow out such a quality team. It helps that some of their guys like Cody Bostock, Graham McManamin, Travis Winter, Tyler Lehrke, and Tyler Schofield have got to be on their like 8th year of eligibility. They seem like they're permanent members of that team. Also, congratulations go out to Matt Francis for becoming the first ever player to commit to St. Cloud State and win an NCAA tournament game.
Anyway, this victory is almost storybook stuff for Bemidji State. Their future in Division I hockey will likely be decided this summer. This win was like one last opportunity to showcase that yes, they can compete with and beat the very best. It would be hard for anybody who watched today's game--and most of those teams voting on BSU should have been, since their seasons ended recently, or in Tech and UAA's case, back in January--and not come away thinking that it would be a damn shame if college hockey lost a program like that.