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Kasimir Kaskisuo, UMD’s once and former Finnish goaltending hero, paused during a break in the 4-2 victory over North Dakota in the NCHC semifinals at Target Center. Photo credit: John Gilbert

It’s easy to be afflicted with a little tunnel vision when it comes to being a hockey fan in Northeastern Minnesota. We know that there is a lot more hockey to be played, but pardon us if we became so enamored with the UMD Bulldogs and their dramatic finishing rush that we might have to be retrained to appreciate the four teams headed off to Tampa Bay, Fla., for the NCAA Hockey Frozen Four.

The National Collegiate Hockey Conference acquitted itself well and reaffirmed that it is indeed the strongest league in college hockey, as both North Dakota and Denver won their regionals and will be going to Florida long after Spring Break time. In fact, they will play each other in the Thursday, April 7 semifinals, so one of them is assured of being in the Saturday title game, two days later.

The other semifinal will find No. 1 ranked Quinnipiac taking on perennial power Boston College. It was the Boston College Eagles who ended UMD’s determined bid in the Northeastern Regional at Worcester, Mass.

But to fully appreciate how and why the Bulldogs captured the attention of hockey fans and casual observers alike, all you need to do is go back to the final PairWise rating, the formula to rank the top 16 teams for the NCAA tournament. Here are the top 5:  1. Quinnipiac, 2. St. Cloud State, 3. North Dakota, 4-5. (tie) Providence and Boston College.

Now look at UMD’s final two weekends. At the NCHC tournament’s Frozen Faceoff in Target Center, UMD stunned league champion North Dakota 4-2, thanks to a rally from a 1-0 first-period deficit for two goals by Dominic Toninato and one each by Alex Iafallo and Corey Farley. The next night, UMD fell to St. Cloud State 3-1 in the league playoff final, as the Huskies avenged a painful home-ice sweep at UMD’s hands two weeks earlier, which cost them the league title. Glance back at the PairWise, and UMD had to play the No. 3 and No. 2 teams in the country.

   At the Northeast Regional, UMD was the fourth seed and faced off against Providence, which won the NCAA title last year, and was co-champ of Hockey East with Boston College. Karson Kuhlman, former Cloquet-Esko-Carlton star, lunged into the crease to poke in the loose rebound of a Willie Raskob shot in the second overtime, and UMD’s victory over one of the two teams tied atop Hockey East assured the NCAA of a new champion.

Moving into the region final, UMD had reason to be exhausted after playing nearly two full games the night before, and all they had to do was beat Boston College – the other Hockey East co-champ and the co-No. 4 ranked team in the country. Boston College was very good, and managed to get a goal past Kasimir Kaskisuo in the UMD net. Then they got a second goal, and no matter how hard UMD played, and no matter how well they Bulldogs outplayed BC, they couldn’t seem to get a goal, and fell behind 3-0 in the third period.

About the time even the most loyal UMD booster was giving up, Austin Farley scored    a power-play goal. With less than five minutes remaining, Kuhlman scored, and UMD had closed to 3-2. The Bulldogs stormed the net through the closing minutes, and in the final 30 seconds the puck pinballed in and around the crease, but wouldn’t go in, and the Eagles escaped with a 3-2 victory.

Kaskisuo, a sophomore from Finland who played for the Minnesota Wilderness junior team, made some spectacular saves throughout both the league and NCAA tournaments, and if he would like to have a couple of those final game goals back, he also stopped a couple of breakaways that could have prevented UMD from still being in the game for the closing rally.

Still, it was something of a jolt after the team returned to Duluth Sunday, to learn that Kaskisuo had been lured to leave UMD after two superb seasons and sign a two-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. With Matt McNeely leaving after his senior year, it means UMD will be starting fresh with one of two freshman goaltenders. The Maple Leafs, determined to improve their status in the NHL, recently acquired Alex Stalock, another former UMD star goaltender, from San Jose, where he gained considerable experience and showed patches of brilliance. We can only imagine the scenario next season or the year after, when the Maple Leafs might have a goalie tandem of Stalock and Kaskisuo.

   Every team succeeding at the NCAA regionals has outstanding goaltending, obviously. In St. Paul’s Xcel Center, a longshot from the WCHA, Ferris State, pulled off the biggest upset of the first round by eliminating St. Cloud State. Ferris State led 3-1 and 4-2 by fouling up the usually slick Huskies and reducing their skillful playmaking. Finally, the Huskies rallied at the end for two goals to force overtime. With all the momentum on their side, the Huskies never got it together in OT, and a 2-on-2 Ferris State rush, Jared VanWormer cut to the net and scored on a rebound at 0:18 – eliminating the Huskies.

Almost overlooked in the West Regional, Denver’s powerful Pioneers jumped on proud Boston University, building a 5-0 lead to 7-1, and winning 7-2 to oust BU. Denver had its hands full with Ferris State in the final, heavily outshooting the Bulldogs, but needing a third-period rally from a 3-3 tie to win 6-3 and pack their equipment for Tampa.

At Cincinnati, North Dakota was the No. 1 seed but had to make the longer trip, thanks to that 4-2 NCHC playoff loss to UMD. The Fighting Hawks didn’t seem to mind, however, as they flew past a Northeastern team that had gained the regional as the hottest team in college hockey. North Dakota sped to a 6-2 victory. The other semifinal in Cincinnati was a battle between Michigan and Notre Dame – right on the heels of the announcement that Notre Dame will move from Hockey East to become an affiliate member of the beleaguered Big Ten the year after next. The explosive Wolverines got past their old football rival 3-2 in overtime to gain the region final. They never had a chance, as their speed suddenly looked less speedy against North Dakota, which cruised to a 5-2 victory over the nation’s highest-scoring team.

In the East Regional, at Albany, N.Y., Quinnipiac put down RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) 4-0, and then faced a challenge from Massachusetts-Lowell in the final, falling behind 1-0 in the first period before taking over the game in the third period to win 4-1.

And that should make for a stirring Frozen Four. Quinnipiac is a genuine power, as is Boston College. That game ranks as a toss-up. And consider that North Dakota beat Denver twice in Denver, and Denver beat North Dakota twice in Grand Forks, and the teams tied 1-1 in the NCHC third-place game. So they can settle things in Tampa at the semifinals.

A Mass-Lowell victory over Quinnipiac would have sent two Hockey East teams – out of six that started the 16-team event – to Tampa to face two NCHC teams. Instead, it will be one Hockey East team, one ECAC team, and the two NCHC powers. Which seems only proper, when you think about it.