College Hockey National Championship open thread

Always root

For the little guy

I attended both UM and Union College. I actually was in the very first class after hockey was added as a program (Class of 1979) and it was thrilling, even though it wasn't Division I. The great coach Ned Harkness (won national championships at both Cornell and RPI) was the program's first coach and although the hockey team won immediately, the entire program was highly controversial on this tiny, and extremely traditional, liberal arts college (women had only been enrolled about 5 years). The campus divided into pro-hockey and anti-hockey factions; many old timers around campus argued that you couldn't have a winning Division I program without corrupting academic values. As the child of a Michigan alum raised on the Wolverines, I always thought that argument was nonsense; after all, Michigan could perform at a championship level and was one of the best educations in the entire world. I thought the whole controversy was a false dichotomy and loved the hockey team, all of whom were members of my class. There was some ugly anti-Canadian sentiment around campus too, directed at the hockey players. Eventually Harkness was forced out, the entire 20-player team quit with him, and the excitement that was Union hockey went into a dark age. I continued my educaiton at Michigan and didn't give much thought to Union hockey until about a decade ago, when they started making noise at the Division I level and began to win a lot of games against traditional hockey powers. I live in Albany, close to Schenectady, and therefore had a front-row seat to the hockey renaissance taking place on the Union campus. It was obvious that the Union team was very good, perhaps a legitimate national power, yet never in a million years would I have dreamed that Union could make the leap into the Frozen Four and national title aspirations as quickly as it did. Tonight I am very proud to be a Union alumnus, because I can attest that like the University of Michigan, this school and this program have done it the right way....a great education coupled now with a national Division I championship. It is unbelievable that they have accomplished this without offering scholarships and in Schenectady, a rust belt town that since GE pulled up stakes, has almost no industry and very little wealth, and doesn't have an atmosphere like Ann Arbor that would attract top talent. Bennett would be a worthy successor to Red. Hail to the Dutchmen!

I thought this was a great frozen four. Three of the powers of the sport and one cinderella and the cinderella actually won. I would've been cheering for Union outright if I wasn't watching with a friend of mine who's a Gopher.

Incredible that Union did that with no scholarships. People are going to be coming hard for their coach