Beaver Power couldn’t chip past the Frozen Four.
Miami of Ohio ousted Bemidji State, 4-1, in the NCAA national semifinals on Thursday at Verizon Center. The feel-good long shots exited to their great north homes despite enjoying a virtual home-crowd advantage.
Bemidji State was the sentimental choice, the final team in the 16-school bracket. Unfortunately, the second coming of the Mighty Ducks was ousted after a three-goal blitz midway through the game.
Beavers backers huddled around one corner, a few hundred strong. Amazingly, they were the biggest contingent as fans wearing Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine and North Dakota gear peppered the stands. One even donned a Sidney Crosby jersey without malice in a building that would normally scorn the Caps’ rival.
Oddly, the building was barely one-third filled at the start of the doubleheader. Maybe the warm-weather site proved too tempting for the northern fans. Darn those cherry blossoms. About 10 minutes later the stands were nearly two-thirds capacity, but you’d never see so many empty seats at the NCAA basketball’s Final Four.
The dominant chanting was “Let’s go Beavers” while the George Mason band assisted. Bemidji State making the Frozen Four is a little like Mason reaching the 2006 Final Four. Given the Patriots’ legendary upset of Connecticut at Verizon in the region final, maybe the mojo would spill over to the similarly-clad green team.
“We love our boys,” declared the many hand-held signs encircling the large Beaver Pride banner. A Homer Simpson supporter’s sign said, “Woo-hoo.” One simply read, “Yay.” Maybe they’re not big on talking at a northern outpost where your lips can freeze together.
It was a scoreless first period despite Miami of Ohio swarming the opposing goal like lobbyists around a lawmaker. Bemidji State goalie Matt Dalton survived more point-blank shots than Billy the Kid. Dalton gloved one in the waning minutes of the first period that would have handcuffed Ryan Zimmerman. The Caps or maybe the Nats should sign him. With 15 seconds remaining in the period, Dalton denied another high-percentage shot.
Dalton couldn’t overcome so many Miami breakaways, though. The Redhawks’ first goal slipped through a sliver of space, the second on a bang-bang play. Bemidji State countered 70 seconds later, but Miami scored again 61 seconds afterwards.
Oh well — the Frozen Four turned out to be pretty cool anyway.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com or e-mail [email protected]
