The Weekly Feed: Experimentation Edition
Morning Roundup: Change Edition
Former Blade Staffers Launch 'DC Agenda'
D.C. Insurance Dept. Denies Birth Control Coverage Meddling
D.C. Unemployment Rate Reaches 11.9 Percent
Last second drama at the Frozen Four final, played at the Verizon Center on Saturday night, was the fitting culmination of an NCAA hockey tournament for the ages. Boston University and Miami (Ohio) faced off for a championship after Thursday night semifinal victories. Miami took a 3-1 lead deep into the third period, and an underdog win and unlikely champion would have been par for the course in a 2009 full of upsets. BU goalie Kieran Millan was pulled with 3:32 remaining in the 3rd period for an extra attacker, and when the clock wound down towards one remaining minute, the Terriers were all but finished. When they buried the puck with 59.5 seconds remaining, 3-2 was likely too little too late. But BU’s desperation attack was poised and relentless, and with 17.4 seconds to play, Boston’s Nick Bonino one-timed a shot past the left side of a beaten Cody Reichard. It was a heart stopping turn of events for Miami, a team and fan base who could all but hear the final horn and see a championship as the light at the end of a 60-second tunnel.
Instead, they were going to sudden death overtime—anyone’s game, but advantage BU. The tourney’s top seed had more talent, was brimming with confidence, and held momentum to spare. And a bit of luck. Colby Cohen’s game winner at 11:47 of OT flew from his stick, deflecting off a sliding Miami Assistant Captain Kevin Roeder. From there it flipped high, soft, and wobbly—floating then dipping like an unhittable curveball. Reichard never saw it, looking forward then to his right as the puck fell behind his left shoulder and into the back of his net. Euphoria for a Terrier squad and Boston partisans whose quest for an NCAA title looked doomed just minutes before, but a tough pill to swallow for members of the 18,512 strong crowd inclined to pull for the underdog. For the RedHawks and their fan base, it’s hard to imagine an easy recovery from a championship lost like this one in the last minute. If it were my team, I’d have to be carried out of the arena with an oxygen mask and on a stretcher. The game had no goat—no crying 20-year-old to shoulder the blame—which is something Miami may take solace in. Roeder’s block was the right play to make. Reichard didn’t blow the game winner by letting in a softie. It was a smart, hard shot from Cohen and a fortuitous deflection for Boston University.
The Post’s Josh White captured well just what makes college hockey and the NCAA tournament special in Saturday’s Metro section. The sport, played on 58 campuses on the Division I level across the country, can ignite passion in a school and local community. It is peppered with vocal and creative students, cheers, and bands. It’s a pure form of athletics, exciting to watch, full of talent, yet miles away from the commercialism of NCAA football and basketball.
The Frozen Four tournament is a gathering for the college hockey community—an annual rite and reunion of sorts for many a fan. Thousands of BU and Vermont fans made the drive down from New England for the weekend, Miami fans trekked east from Oxford, OH, and Bemidji State fans represented their corner of the rink well, some even bussing in on a 1,300 mile road trip. But what’s more are the jerseys representing dozens of schools that did not even make it to the tournament. The nod of acknowledgment to a fellow fan sporting a jacket from your college’s conference as you walk the streets of DC. A team skating to their fans to raise sticks to mark notching a win or suffering a season-ending loss. Fans gave applause for victorious student athletes regardless of who they were pulling for at the start of the season.
DC schools field club hockey teams in Georgetown and George Washington. The Naval Academy, now playing Division 1 club hockey in a new arena, was the host institution for Washington’s Frozen Four bid. With Army and Air Force already playing at the NCAA’s top level, perhaps it’s only a matter of time before the D-I game comes to Annapolis. For now, DC is left to “Rock the Red” as the Capitals embark on Stanley Cup Playoff run starting this week. And for those of you few DC residents that took advantage of the weekend’s festivities—organizers estimated that nearly 90 percent of attendees came from out of town—the 2010 Frozen Four in Detroit is only one year away.
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Damn BU. That final minute was like watching puppy torture.
"organizers estimated that nearly 90 percent of attendees came from out of town"
Perhaps because those of us locals who applied last year (with a $350 deposit) for tix to this Frozen Four were rejected by the NCAA/disfavored in the ticket lottery...
Good point. With the NCAA lottery system, strong preference is given to people that buy tickets every year or at least try to. Guess that doesn't leave room for local fans, which is something worth addressing. As I've mentioned previously as someone whose been to these tournaments before, I think it's easier to wait and then buy tickets resold tickets at face value or less. (Stub Hub prices were astronomical leading up to the FF, but drop down to face value or much less outside the game, and especially after the semifinals). But I think your average fan just wants to buy tickets from the organizer and loses interest when forced to play the second-hand ticket game.
Certainly - I considered buying tix second-hand, and probably would have, had any of the teams I follow made it out of the regionals this year. On the other hand, I've been burned before with counterfeit tickets (NHL playoffs) and am fairly wary when it comes to ticket resellers.