In 2006 the college hockey world witnessed the greatest upset in the history of the sport.
This historical event took place at the University of North Dakota's palatial Ralph Engelstad Arena in the 2006 NCAA Western Regional. Minnesota was the top seeded team of the region, and went into the game as the #3 team in the country. Their opponent was Holy Cross of the new Atlantic Hockey Association, a league that was (and still is) an after thought in college hockey.
Most people expected the Golden Gophers to skate all over the Crusaders... except my little brother Adam who was 10 years old at the time. Every year before the NCAA tournament everyone in my family fills out a bracket, just like most people do for the NCAA Basketball tournament. You saw this game between the Gophers and Crusaders and it was incredibly easy to pick the top seeded team. Minnesota was historically a national powerhouse, had many future NHLers on their roster, won back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003, and Holy Cross was from a weak league, never won an NCAA tournament game, and didn't have the recruiting or money power that Minnesota had. When I saw that he picked Holy Cross to defeat Minnesota I told him he was nuts and that there was no way that would happen. Well, I looked pretty dumb when Holy Cross shocked Minnesota 4-3 in overtime.
When HC's Tyler McGregor put the puck past Gopher goalie Kellen Briggs just 53 seconds into overtime the college hockey world went into pandemonium. This is pretty obvious from listening to the reaction of the announcers in this video, which is the best part about this video. The shock and emotion is what made this moment so great.
Maybe this is how Matt Dubrey and Brian Unger will react when Union beats a national powerhouse in the NCAA tournament.
For more about this amazing game check out Go Holy Cross.com and USA Today.com.
If you can't see the video click here.
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