I was much closer to the team and the sport a decade ago. They were as good as their records.

Odd things happen to good teams in the NCAA hockey tournament. It is as simple as that. Without checking numbers I'm not sure of the exact statistics, but since the tournament expanded to 16 teams for the 2002-2003 season, just about every year a number one seed has lost in the first round, and often the 15th or 16th team has beaten the overall 1 or 2.

The 2007 team was phenomenal. But after building a 2-0 lead and chasing the goalie on their first 3 shots against Huntsville in Grand Rapids, the team could not pot another quick goal. The subsequent overtime periods taxed them to the point they were a half a stride short of MSU the next day. It didn't help that MSU barely broke a sweat in their opening game against Boston University and basically had to skate their top two lines for about 4 minutes total in the third period of their game. And then there's Tim Kennedy...

Kennedy and Kyle Lawson tangled in the first period and each received a minor for unsportsman like conduct. Problem was, Kennedy speared Lawson and should have been tossed from the game. Problem got even worse when Tim Kennedy scored the game winning goal in the third period.

I think had Notre Dame managed to beat Huntsville going way 5 or 6 to one (and it looked that way five minutes into the first period) we'd have knocked off MSU the next night, and we would have gone to St. Louis and won the title that MSU claimed two weeks later. I really believe that.

2009 was just a fluke. An awful bounce off awful boards (the ice and boards at Van Andel have been problematic more than once in the games Iv'e seen there) led to Bemidji scoring the first goal of the game just 90 seconds or so in, and we never recovered from the shock.

In 2007 a CCHA team won it all, and in 2009 another one should have but Miami managed to lose the title game in about as horrible a way as you can (blowing a 2 goal lead in the final minute of regulation and losing in OT on a goal every bit as flukey as the one Bemidji scored against Notre Dame). In 2007 CCHA teams went 3-1 in the opening round and in 2009 number 1 seeds lost 3 of 4 opening round games.

The NCAA tournament is an imponderable nightmare more often than not, and Notre Dame's teams in 2007 and 2009 were really, really good.

main years in the Big East in hoops were my favorite years of conference affiliation in any sports. We had great natural rivals in the CCHA and there was so much talent. Same for hoops facing Cuse, Pitt, UCONN, Nova, GTown, Seton Hall, Marquette, Louisville, West Virginia, etc. It was a fantastic brand of competition! I was in heaven those years.

I have sworn to never see ND play at Van Andel ever again

than Mr. Wednesday...
He jinxed BOTH his teams.

They were rooting for Cornell so that I wouldn't be rooting for NU against ND.

the 07-08 team that got us to our first FF. As you point out, odd tings happen in the Tournament.

That team couldn't score a goal to save their lives half the time and we were the last at-large team in (and then JUST barely -- we got in over Minnesota State on the basis of a better record against our 5 common opponents), and then we went and potted 15 goals in our 3 NCAA wins on the way to that first FF.

Other than the heartburn of watching your own team play, the NCAA hockey tournament is my favorite playoff, college or pro.

amazing how the one-and-done is far more entertaining if the Irish aren't involved. Of course, I'd much rather have the pain and the laser focus on every face-off.