Yale Wins NCAA DI National Championship

Yale coach Keith Allain and the Bulldogs' seniors with the national championship trophy

The Yale University Bulldogs won the first NCAA Division I men's national championship of Penn State's NCAA DI era with a surprisingly decisive 4-0 win over Quinnipiac Saturday night at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center.

It would take an entire post to fully explore the unlikeliness of Yale ending as the last team standing of the 59 in DI. But start with the usual restrictions on Ivy League teams - admissions, academics, scholarships and scheduling - that only Cornell and Harvard have successfully navigated in the history of college hockey. Continue through a long history of fairly limited success that only began to change when head coach Keith Allain took over in 2006 and a solid-but-unspectacular 2012-2013 record of 18-12-3 as of the point Union and Quinnipiac dumped the Bulldogs from the ECAC Tournament by a combined 8-0 score. Yale needed Michigan to lose to Notre Dame in the CCHA championship game just to qualify for the NCAA Tournament as the 15th seed of 16 teams. They then had to battle three top seeds, a second seed, and a 23-year streak of conference failure at the NCAAs that prompted detractors to label the collection of 12 proud institutions as the "EZAC."

Yale conquered all of it. In the West Region's semifinal on March 29th, Jesse Root, a Pittsburgh native who played with former Ice Lions captain Jim Recupero on the Pittsburgh Hornets, buried Minnesota and their 15 NHL draft picks just nine seconds into overtime. That 3-2 result, combined with Lowell's blowout of Wisconsin shortly after, saw all qualifying members of the coming Big Ten eliminated within the first two games of the tournament. Against North Dakota, which boasts 14 NHL selections of their own (Yale, by the way, has four), Josh Balch, Root, Stu Wilson and Kenny Agostino supplied a four-goal third-period barrage to definitively flip the Fighting Sioux's 1-0 lead after 40 minutes and propel the Bulldogs to the Frozen Four. In the national semifinals, Yale posted another 3-2 overtime win, this time over Hockey East champion UMass-Lowell and with captain Andrew Miller providing the heroics.

That set up a championship tilt with Quinnipiac, another Connecticut-based ECAC team, one located just 7.9 miles down Whitney Avenue from New Haven in Hamden. QU - largely a commuter school into the 1990s and one that has only had DI hockey since 1999 - behind goaltender Eric Hartzell, a Hobey Baker finalist, and a strong senior class, was a surprise top-ranked team in the country for much of the season and the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Giant slayer Yale, however, went blow for blow with the Bobcats during an incredible first 40 minutes that caused no less of an authority than PSU captain Tommy Olczyk's brother Eddie, a graduating forward at Massachusetts, to declare the contest "maybe the best hockey game I've ever seen, period."

Hartzell faltered with just 3.5 seconds remaining in the second period when he allowed Clinton Bourbonais' redirection of a Gus Young shot from the bottom of the circle to slip through for a 1-0 Yale lead. Early in the third, Bourbonais found Charles Orzetti streaking down left wing. Orzetti's initial shot from range was turned aside, but the freshman tracked down his rebound and fired five hole from an extremely tight angle to make it 2-0. After that second fairly weak goal the Bobcats, which had arguably been the better team to that point, deflated some, allowing Miller's breakaway goal off a feed from Agostino and Root's empty netter to render much of the final period disappointingly academic. Bulldog goaltender Jeff Malcolm was spectuclar in making 36 saves to earn the game's first star on his 24th birthday.

What does it all mean for Penn State? Perhaps most significantly, Yale's win (along with Quinnipiac's high seed and advancement to the championship game, itself a great story that shouldn't be lost in defeat) may indicate a new era of parity in college hockey. After Harvard's 1989 championship - the last for the ECAC until now - and Lake Superior State's brief rise to prominence under Frank Anzalone and Jeff Jackson, every single national title from 1995 through 2010 was taken home by one of the blue bloods: Boston University, Boston College, Michigan, Michigan State, North Dakota, Maine, Minnesota, Denver or Wisconsin. In 2011, Minnesota-Duluth broke the string, emerging from years of mediocrity to win a first title. Last season's NCAA Tournament, despite BC ultimately taking it, was noted for the presence of Cinderellas Ferris State and Union in the Frozen Four. This season's semifinals doubled that with all four programs (St. Cloud State and UMass-Lowell joined Yale and QU) seeking a first-ever national title.

In short, NCAA Division I hockey has arguably never been more ripe for unlikely programs to find success. And that's a good thing if your program just completed its first season at the DI level. Put that trend together with a blue-and-white clad team winning every single championship since PSU entered the fray (okay, that one's a little more tenuous), and the future looks promising for the Nittany Lions.

Empty seats at the Consol Energy Center were prominent during Thursday's semifinals

Another storyline with some relation with PSU was Pittsburgh's role as host of the Frozen Four, which received mostly positive reviews from observers on the heels of numerous articles written about the city's emergence as a hockey market in the buildup to the event. The major negative: Although ticket sales represented near-sellouts of 17,428 (semifinals) and 18,184 (championship game), it was the worst-attended Frozen Four since 2006's championships in Milwaukee, and overwhelming numbers of empty seats visible during Thursday's semifinals presented an ugly backdrop to the games. Fortunately, the crowd for Saturday's final went a long way towards redeeming things, with a full house of much-more-involved patrons including a sturdy presence of Penn State fans, according to eyewitness reports.

Philadelphia will host next year's Frozen Four, and will undoubtedly seek to one-up their cross-commonwealth archrivals. Penn State's second chance to compete for a close-to-home national championship begins just 180 days from now, against Army on October 11th at the nearly-complete Pegula Ice Arena.

The Penn Stater's Guide to the NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Divison I hockey tournament starts Friday. Since Penn State's still two years away from having any reason whatsoever to care about it (note to the more dense among you: that's not a prediction that we'll be there in 2013), I thought it might be helpful to throw this post out there. I've ranked each qualifying team within their region based on the benefit, or lack thereof, to Penn State from that team's success - or in some cases based on things that have already happened.

Just to be redundant, this post has absolutely nothing to do with predictions, analyzing matchups, or my personal rooting interests - even they aren't completely in line with this. It's simply weighing each school in terms of their relationship with Penn State, however tenuous that may be in some cases. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you're looking for the more conventional sort of thing, here's some bracket stuff from NCAA.com (interactive and PDF), as well as some typically great analysis from College Hockey News.

Northeast Region (Manchester, NH)

Miami vs. New Hampshire, Saturday 4:00 p.m., ESPNU
Notre Dame vs. Merrimack, Saturday 7:30 p.m., ESPN3.com
Regional Final, Sunday 8:00 p.m., ESPNU


1. New Hampshire. Why UNH? Try this one: the Wildcats have a tournament-high four Pennsylvanians on their roster, thanks mostly to a recruiting pipeline with the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. They're not inconsequential guys either - two are alternate captain Matt Campanale (Chester Springs, PA), a senior defenseman and star goaltender Matt Di Girolamo (Ambler, PA). Senior forward Greg Manz (Wayne, PA) and hulking freshman d-man Eric Knodel (West Chester, PA) round out the group. Knodel has yet to play for UNH but was a fifth-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2009 - not exactly stunning news if you're familiar with Brian Burke.

2. Miami. The RedHawks get this spot over Merrimack solely because they have a rink that Joe Battista liked on his arena tour across North America. Bonus points for the fact that they're a non-traditional program that's thrust themselves into the elite of college hockey over the last few seasons. We have less NCAA tradition than anyone out there, so why not admire one of the models for bad to good?

3. Merrimack. The Warriors are making just their second-ever trip to the NCAA tournament since going DI in 1984. While there's not a Penn State interest on either side of the ledger here, as you go through this post, you'll see that I tend to give the underdogs a bump when all things are equal. Why shouldn't I? Until further notice, we're an underdog too. I'll always give more weight to a solid PSU angle (well, except in this region, as you'll see in a second), but without one, more power to the little guy.

4. Notre Dame. While South Bend was another stop on the PSU rink tour, that gets outweighed by the fact that it's Notre Dame. Hey, I can't be expected to check my partiality all the time.

East Region (Bridgeport, CT)

Union vs. Minnesota-Duluth, Friday 3:00 p.m., ESPNU
Yale vs. Air Force, Friday 6:30 p.m., ESPNU
Regional Final, Saturday 6:30 p.m., ESPNU


1. Minnesota-Duluth. In the weakest region for Penn State connections, the Bulldogs get the nod for having an arena that Battista really liked. I'll even given them a few bonus points for the glut of pictures on the venue's official site (I'm deliberately avoiding use of its proper name so I don't change my mind about this placement). I was also really, really tempted to downgrade UMD based on the rantings of Bruce Ciskie, but managed to resist.

2. Union. Absent any strong PSU-related reasons, how can you not root for UC? In general and as I mentioned, I think rooting anti-establishment is a decent position to take. And since joining Division I in 1991-1992, the Dutchmen have been mediocre at best and putrid at worst...until last year and now this year. If they can do it, who can't?

3. Air Force. Do it for former Icers Bobby Pate and Mike Carrano, who once upon a time transferred from Colorado Springs. The Falcons stay behind Union because obviously they didn't like it there too much.

4. Yale. Nothing personal Yalies, I just couldn't think of a reason why an average Penn Stater should root for you, other than having sick unis that I hope to rip off substantially. Of course, I couldn't think of a reason to root against you either, so should you make it out of the region, you have a decided edge on BC, North Dakota or Denver, schools more likely to be there than ones I favored in their regions.

Yes, please.

West Region (St. Louis, MO)

Michigan vs. Nebraska-Omaha, Friday 5:30 p.m., ESPN3.com
Boston Coll. vs. Colorado Coll., Friday 9:00 p.m., ESPNU
Regional Final, Saturday 9:00 p.m., ESPNU


1. Michigan. The Big Ten certainly isn't the most popular entity in college hockey right now. But the true problem, as far as I'm concerned, is the tone of the verbal grenades. They've gone from "the Big Ten's going to be too good and ruin college hockey" to "the Big Ten sucks, only Michigan even made the tournament this year." I've never been one of the root for your conference crowd, but if the skunkbears were to add to their record nine national championships, it might put some fear back into people.

2. Nebraska-Omaha. UNO was the last program to go from scratch to major Division I conference, and as such, I've always had an affinity for them, one that's heightened since PSU's decision to take that label away. They're 14 years in and a legitimate player in the best conference in college hockey. Not bad. Now let's hire us our own Dean Blais and do it even quicker.

3. Colorado College. Like Yale, there's nothing obviously pointing pro or con with respect to CC. I have tremendous respect for what they've gone through to get where they are today and for the fact that they're a school of 2,000 students swimming with the sharks. You have to be anti-America or pro-Denver to not appreciate that. But the lack of a PSU connection sticks them in third.

4. Boston College. Does anyone, other than their fans, ever root for the defending champs in anything? Something a little more sturdy than that: if we're going to be regulars in the EJHL recruiting scene (Jake Friedman and Tim Carr both came from there), we're going to be bumping up against Jerry York's juggernaut more than a couple times.

Midwest Region (Green Bay, WI)

North Dakota vs. RPI, Saturday 1:30 p.m., ESPN3.com
Denver vs. W. Michigan, Saturday 5:00 p.m., ESPN3.com
Regional Final, Sunday 5:30 p.m., ESPNU


1. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. RPI's another personal favorite, but more importantly in terms of Penn State interests, Oren Eizenman went there. Oren, of course, is the brother of Icers legend Alon (1997-2001). Backup goalie Bryce Merriam shares a hometown of Bethel Park, PA with Tim O'Brien.

2. Western Michigan. Don't we kind of owe it to society to wish the best for one of those weaker CCHA schools we're supposedly killing off with the whole Big Ten thing? Plus, like Union and Merrimack, they're a nice story - they haven't been to this show since 1996 and came oh so close to their first conference title of any kind before falling to Miami in the CCHA title game.

3. North Dakota. Like BC, they hardly need help. If it weren't for special circumstances with respect to Denver, I would've placed them last. Not to mention the fact that one of their more prominent fans/bloggers irrationally hates PSU over the whole Alabama-Huntsville/CCHA thing. Unless we led Tom Anastos on, and judging by how pro-Big Ten our administration has always been we didn't, that situation is in no way our fault. If anything, the idiot squad braying about how we may or may not have killed Bowling Green at some undetermined point in the future should be praising us for breaking up the airtight conference structure and possibly saving UAH.

4. Denver. If George Gwozdecky is in fact a candidate for the PSU coaching job, why root for him to drive his price up? He's well-qualified, regardless of how the Pios do in this tournament, so a flameout hardly changes his level of consideration. But a national title or a Frozen Four would certainly affect the asking price of a guy who's already pretty expensive.