In one of the most, if not the most, stunning upsets in the history of NCAA college hockey, #16th Seeded American International College (AIC) of Springfield, Mass. and Atlantic Hockey, upset top seeded and top-ranked St. Cloud State in the NCAA West Regional in Fargo, N.D., 2-1.
The upset means that Denver will face AIC on Saturday Night, March 30 for the Regional Crown (7 pm MT, ESPNU), with the winner advancing to April’s NCAA Frozen Four in Buffalo.
AIC built a 2-0 second period lead on a couple of soft goals through SCSU netminder David Hrenak, and St. Cloud scored a third period power play goal to cut the AIC lead to 2-1. Despite a barrage of SCSU shots (34-13 for the game), AIC held on for the upset.
AIC, with 1700 undergrads, has only been Division I for 22 years, and has never had a winning season until this year.
North Dakota fans in Fargo are expected to cheer for AIC tomorrow against the Pioneers.
Wow what an opportunity for the Pios…
Expect an early surge of emotion from American International and the always classy NoDaks. Solid goal tending and take care of business will hopefully win the day.
This is beyond shocking.
As we said in Massachusetts … “ho-LEE” … wow. I grew up in the Bay State, never heard of AIC until this year, serioiusly. Didn’t know it was a college there.
I still cannot believe this. What a shocking, bizarre result.
This has to be a major pivot for Carle and the rest of the coaches–they went from an all but certain matchup against a league foe and a team they know, a team against whom they would for sure have been the underdog, to now a matchup against a team they probably don’t know much about, and the Pios find themselves as the favorite. Crazy.