A Savant's Guide To Bemidji State Hockey

Michigan's opponent in the NCAA Midwest Regional hockey tournament Saturday night is Bemidji State University. Until last season hockey world knew as much about them as they could Wikipedia. That's when they burst upon the major college hockey scene as suprise winners of the College Hockey America (CHA) tournament championship and the 16th overall seed in the 16-seed NCAA playoffs.

Then they captured the hearts of hockey America, not merely pulling off the biggest upset in NCAA Division I tourney history, but blowing away the #1 overall seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 5-1, on their way to the school's first Frozen Four berth.

But there's so much more to this modest northern Minnesota college than one would imagine. So here's everything you ever wanted to know about Bemidj... okay, maybe not much you wanted to know, but once you see how interesting the history of Bemidji State Beavers' hockey really is—and how much they have in common with the Wolverines—I'm sure you'll be the better for it!

BEMIDJI STATE HOCKEY TRIVIA (or "BEMIDJIVIA")

As storied a hockey program as the University of Michigan may be, the fact is that Bemidji State has more national championships in men’s hockey – 13 to the Wolverines' 9. Seven were won in the NAIA, with one NCAA Division-III and five NCAA Division-II titles to go along with it.

Each year from 1993-98 a men's hockey national championship trophy bore the name of either Michigan or Bemidji State, a string of six straight seasons one or the other captured an NCAA hockey title.

Bemidji State won its most recent national championship (in D-II) in 1997 by defeating Alabama-Huntsville, 4-2. 4 and 2 happen to be the seeds of Alabama-Huntsville and Bemidji State in this weekend’s Midwest Regional, Huntsville being the fourth seed (facing top-seed Miami) while BSU is seeded second. Should each win on Saturday they would face each other in the NCAA quarterfinals on Sunday night in what would be the first-ever playoff meeting of CHA conference foes.

Bemidji State and Miami are two of three teams from last year’s Frozen Four to earn berths in this year's NCAA playoffs. Vermont is the third; they lace 'em up against top-seeded Wisconsin in the West Regional in St. Paul, MN. Boston University, 2009 Frozen Four national champions, failed to qualify this year.

Four Bemidji State hockey players have reached the NHL, most notably Joel Otto of Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers fame. Although the list of celebrities and notable BSU grads is nearly non-existent, it did happen to be the birthplace of Jane Russel.

The Beavers hold two very impressive NCAA hockey records to this day, for most wins in a row (43, from 1983-85) and best season record (31-0, in 1983-84).

Bemidji State has a two-game winning streak in Regional play, with both wins (over Notre Dame and Cornell) occurring in the state of Michigan (during last year's Midwest Regional in Grand Rapids). They ultimately lost in the Frozen Four semifinals to the Miami Redhawks, 4-1. Barring yet another major upset, Miami will face the Michigan-Bemidji winner this coming Sunday.

The Beavers are 2-2 all-time the in the NCAA Division-I Regional playoffs. Their only two defeats were to teams who went on to win the national championship (in 2005 they lost to Denver 4-3 in OT; in 2006 they lost to eventual champ Wisconsin 4-0).

This weekend's regional semifinal will mark the first-ever meeting between Michigan and Bemidji State. In fact, the Wolverines have never skated against a team nicknamed the Beavers before. BSU hasn't played a Wolverine team in hockey before, but that probably goes without saying.

Bemidji State has, however, defeated a University of Michigan campus before—and in the playoffs no less. The Beavers defeated U-M/Dearborn 4-3 in 1980 for their seventh national hockey championship.

Michigan may be facing the Beavers on Saturday, but if Lake Superior State had any say in things, they would take on BSU instead. After all, they've got a bit of a score to settle. It seems that Bemidji State beat the Lakers in the national championship game three years in a row (1968-69-70).

In fact, Bemidji State won its first-ever national hockey title with a 5-4 overtime victory over Lake Superior State. The last time the Wolverines faced LSSU in the NCAAs was 1994, when they lost to the Lakers by an identical 5-4 score. And also in overtime. The previous week Michigan won the CCHA Tournament championship with a 3-0 victory over the same Lake Superior State team, earning them their first #1 national ranking since the days of Red Berenson. Red as Michigan's left-handed center, not head coach.

And lastly, had top-seeded Michigan not lost 2-0 to Air Force last year in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA hockey playoff history (aside from Bemidji State knocking off #1 Notre Dame), and had they gone on to defeat Vermont—who needed two OTs to beat the Falcons—in the regional final, they would have ended up facing the Beavers in the Frozen Four semis. Which means you would have read most of this article on my blog exactly one year ago.

There. Now go impress those other bar patrons!

From "Never Before" To "Once Again"

They skated with thirty pounds of equipment on their bodies, and the weight of high expectations on their shoulders. A weight those who don't understand the importance of tradition will never bear.

They played four games in two weekends, facing teams among the top 10 in those all-important KRACH power rankings. Yet no opponent could rival the pressure they placed upon themselves not to be The Team.

The University of Michigan won a most improbable CCHA Tournament championship Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena with a run as inspiring as its motive. Each of coach Red Berensen's last 19 Wolverine teams had earned berths in the NCAA playoffs without the need for a post-season conference tournament championship. No school in NCAA hockey history--not even Ron Mason's Michigan State Spartans--had ever amassed such sustained success. And this year's team was determined not to be the one everyone would remember: The Team that ended The Streak.

The all began in March of 1991. The first Iraq War was in full swing, and it would be another three years before anyone knew what a world wide web was. Current Michigan defenseman and Columbus Blue Jacket draft pick Kevin Lynch, who scored twice in the Wolverines' 5-2 semifinal shocker over #2 Miami, was an eight-month-old embryo inside his mother's belly at the time. To lend further perspective, Red's 1991 squad started the string with a win over Cornell before being swept out of the NCAAs by Boston University. Leading the Terrier attack? A senior forward by the name of Tony Amonte.

Nineteen years later, the Wolverines entered the CCHA Tournament in seventh place, a second-division regular-season finish in the 12-team conference, with a 14-13-1 record, 19-17-1 overall. Losers of four of their last six, the maize and blue had also dropped six straight on the road. To call the season mediocre would have been flattering.

But that was the "before" photo, as Michigan proceeded to go Charles Atlas on the rest of the conference. After sweeping Lake Superior State in their play-in series--play-in series!--all this seven seed did was take down second-place Michigan State (twice, in their own arena), run top-seeded and #2-ranked Miami out of the Joe, and weather a well-balanced and equally well-coached Northern Michigan team for the 2-1 clincher.

If that alone weren't a Shawn-White-worthy turnaround, they pulled it off without their captain and starting goaltender, neither of which were in uniform for the final four games. Senior defenseman Chris Summers, future property of the Phoenix Coyotes, suffered an unspecified lower body injury in the opening round series against the Lakers, and hasn't played since. And starting netminder Bryan Hogan injured himself in the final series of the regular season against Notre Dame while defending a 2-on-1 Irish rush. He skated at Joe Louis Arena this past weekend, but is still less than 100% and listed as back-up to fellow junior Shawn Hunwick [pictured here rehydrating].

Making just his seventh career start since the injury to Hogan, Hunwick sucked the hope out of every sliver of Huskie momentum, allowing a single goal on 19 shots. In six CCHA playoff games Hunwick surrendered a mere nine goals. Exactly three per weekend. And won the CCHA Tournament's Most Valuable Player award without a second thought from the voters.

So now the Wolverines begin NCAA tourney run number twenty, this time enjoying the rare benefit of selection committee generosity. Michigam travels to Fort Wayne, Indiana, as the Midwest Regional's third seed, and will face 2009 Frozen Four semifinalist Bimidji State Saturday at 7:30pm. A win will score them a potential re-match with the Miami Redhawks, thirsting for revenge not just from this year's CCHA semis, but also from last season's crushing overtime loss in the National Championship game. The Redhawks had Boston University dead to rites by a 3-1 count with less than a minute to play before the Terriers tied the game, scoring twice after pulling their goalie and winning it in the extra period.

No team seeded higher than fourth had ever won the CCHA Tournament championship before the #7 Wolverines. But enough with the "never before". It's time for Coach Berenson to lead his white-hot maize-and-blue skaters back into the more familiar world of "once again". Hail!