Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase 2010 – RMU’s Miracle on Ice
Since 1980 when the US defeated the Soviets in Olympic Ice Hockey, anytime you have a major upset someone will shout out “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!” Friday night I was that guy on Press Row at the 2010 Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase at Mellon Arena. The Robert Morris Colonials Men’s team(4-12-3) defeated Miami (13-2-5) who is currently the number one team in the nation, 3-1 in front of the brave 3654 who fought the snowstorm slamming Pittsburgh. In other words, this “wasn’t supposed to happen”… but it did and I had prime sets at center ice to witness it all.
Miami proved at the first drop of the puck that they are a well oiled machine and an obvious favorite to go to the Frozen Four. This night, however, their only goal would come from a 5-3 power play. RMU played tough, capitalized on mistakes Miami made and after giving up an early 1-o lead came back strong in the 3rd for 2 goals.
As the clock ran down the RMU faithful were drowning out the large contingency of Miami fans who made the trip and as the clock hit zero you would think the Pens won the Stanley cup… again. Christ I’m getting chills typing this. It was an amazing night for college hockey and I think that the University did a fantastic job marketing the great product they have in Division 1 hockey. I have my own personal rule to not talk about my employment on this blog so I need to find a craft way to talk about the behind the scenes of the Showcase.
Only issue from the night came from the disgustingly drunk Miami fans who don’t take kindly to losing. It was to the point that I thought fights were going to break out from the grief they gave RMU fans. Ironic coming from the losing team eh? I admit, those of us not from Miami on press row jumped up and celebrated when RMU won, but one guy was louder than the rest. He shouted in a drunken slur to myself and a few others “This was your big win of the year! Ours will be the Frozen Four!” I said “Not if your number 1 team in the nation can’t beat a 4-12 team.” He said a few more things so I pointed to the scoreboard. He gave me the finger and was dragged out by his embarrassed wife.
