Michigan will not be the first team to win 10 National Championships in Hockey
Michigan has been sitting on 9 National Championships in Hockey for literally decades, right on the doorstep of a record 10 National Championships. I always felt certain that we would be the first to get there.
But alas, it is not to be. Denver caught up with us at 9 two years ago, and now they just got the 10th.
Michigan could use a lesson in finishing from Denver, who is an amazing 10 and 3 in National Championship games. (We could also use a lesson in finishing in Basketball from UConn, who is an incredible 6 and 0 in National Championship games.)
But in fairness, I guess, Denver will never even play in a Basketball National Championship game, and UConn is not likely to play in a Hockey National Championship game in our lifetimes.
So, our record in not the greatest when we get there, but Michigan has probably played in more team-based National Championships spread across more sports than any other school. It would be nice to finish more of those at the top, but it's still very impressive to be the only school that has played for a National Championship in all of the major team sports in the last ten years.
And thank goodness for Football. That was the last sport that I thought we would break the National Championship jinx.
GO BLUE!
Yes I would prefer Michigan to be standing alone at 10 championships, but I'm not even mad at Denver pulling it off. espn love for BC blew up and I witnessed one of the greatest saves.
I was rooting against Denver, but I had to appreciate their ability to do to BC what BC did to us, and then some. They deserved the win.
"... espn love for BC ..."
This is a reminder to me that I've always had a difficult time cheering for teams that are darlings of East Coast media (Red Sox, Yankees, Eagles, etc.).
If you're old enough to remember Seton Hall in '89, the whole East Coast was ready to be "Randy" in South Park. Michigan spoiled the party.
I was impressed by Denver, but moreso by BC, last Thursday. Anyway, Denver earned it. But I will say, I think Denver has an advantage playing at altitude, then coming down to sea level to play. They have to be more fit than the rest of us, training and living at altitude.
This advantage doesn’t seem to work for Colorado teams in basically any other sport.
April 13th, 2024 at 10:12 PM ^
Nuggets just won but their history sure does support your statement.
April 13th, 2024 at 10:51 PM ^
And the Broncos have 3 Super Bowl trophies...
April 13th, 2024 at 10:55 PM ^
Not quite the accomplishment of altitude power houses such as Pittsburgh, San Fran, Dallas, Green Bay, New York, Kansas City, or Boston
Take this FWIW --- it is dated by a few years (2018) --- but a statistical analysis that indicated that ALL of the Rockies, Broncos and Nuggets had the highest home-field advantage in their respective leagues. The Avalanche were very high up there as well.
https://www.westword.com/news/denver-dominates-home-field-advantage-in-major-sports-leagues-10765214
Now: I suppose there are 2 possible explanations for that. (1) The road teams go to Denver and THEY aren't acclimated to the altitude, and play worse. Or, (2) Denver teams are disproportionately WORSE (on a relative basis, vis-a-vis other teams leaving their homes) when they go play on the road.
#2 really doesn't make sense to me. I think Denver teams' "altitude advantage" is mostly something experienced at home, it's experienced much less on the road.
Here is an interesting factoid to chew on:
7 of Michigan’s 9 national championships had a frozen four in Colorado.
1 out of Denver’s 10 national championships had a frozen four in Colorado.
Why does Michigan demonstrate this insane performance advantage in frozen fours at high altitude?
The defense rests.
April 14th, 2024 at 11:12 AM ^
Not that I want to get in a pissing match about this, and I'm not trying to be mean, but that's cherry-picking a couple statistics without considering context. And there's A LOT of missing context behind those 2 particular statistics:
- The NCAA Hockey Championships first began in 1948: Michigan won 6 of the first 9. They were by far the dominant team of that era, I'm not taking that away from Michigan. But of note, EVERY Frozen Four from 1948-1957 was held in Colorado Springs. In the 1950s, the NCAA didn't move Championships around to nearly the degree they do in the present day (most of the NCAA basketball Final Fours in the 1940s/1950s were at either MSG or Kansas City, MO).
- Denver didn't even have a college hockey team in 1948. They began in 1949-50, and gradually became better, but Michigan had 6 titles before Denver even qualified for their first NCAA tournament (the 1958 season). And as it is, that's right when the NCAA began moving the Frozen Four around (1958 was the 1st non-Colorado springs Frozen Four: it was in MSP and Denver won it).
- Once we get to the 1958-2024 era (e.g., rotating Frozen Fours, Denver & Michigan both having well-established programs), there have been 5 Frozen Fours held in the state of Colorado. Denver has won 2* of them (1961 & 1969), Michigan won 1 of them (1964), and other schools (Minnesota/BC) won the other 2.
-----
*Your "1 of 10" stat should really be "2 of 10."
April 14th, 2024 at 12:27 PM ^
For sure, the whole conversation started out with the ridiculous and unfounded concept that Denver hockey was winning championships more easily because they play at altitude. The 2 out of 10 (I stand corrected, but the dramatic difference remains) vs. 7 out of 9 is just as anecdotal as the nonsense theory that started this, but man - it’s a hilarious outlier.
+1. Gotcha, my bad, I misread your post, I thought you were arguing for U-M having advantage at altitude. Have a great day!
MGoBlog: come for the sports; stay for the discussions about banging two coconut halves together.
Oh, well. Just beat them to 11.
11 is one louder
OR change to a base-9 system instead of a base-10 system, and boast that Michigan was the first to 9 hockey championships.
OR simply boast that Michigan was the first to 9 hockey championships.
OR boast how many national championships Michigan has.
OR not worry about quantity and appreciate the quality of Michigan in so many fields.
OR change to a base-9 system instead of a base-10 system, and boast that Michigan was the first to 9 hockey championships.
You screwed up the math. We'd be the first to 10 <sub>9</sub> hockey championships.
I forgot that the championship game was today.
Michigan has 15 frozen fours since 1990 and 2 titles. Denver has 7 frozen fours and five titles in the same window. Thats just unfair. Michigan hitting at the same rate wouldve won 9 or 10 titles since ‘90
April 13th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
We have more Frozen Fours than anybody. But our time there has not been very productive, to say the least. This year was an outlier, but most of our failures in Frozen Fours have been in incredibly close games, often in overtime. You would have expected us to do better just by random luck alone.
Yeah youd think on just chance and puck luck we wouldve had at least 3 or 4. 2/15 hurts
April 13th, 2024 at 11:29 PM ^
This is the first time ever that Michigan has not been at least tied for the record for the most NCAA Division I Hockey Tournament championships.
From the big bang until 1948, Michigan was tied for the lead with all other primordial ooze and/or universities with 0. We then won the first, and after two more schools tied us with their own firsts, we got our second in 1950, and were not tied again until 2022 when Denver matched our 9 championships.
Our early dominance was so much that we got our 6th championship in 1956 before anyone else had 2, having won 6 of the first 9 championships.
I laughed because that Denver goalie wrecked BC
I don't get it. Just make the damn thread about the game you were watching.
Why so angry??
We walked over and watched OT of BU and Denver game. And it was like 10x more interesting than our game. Which I left 5 min early from.
We are the 1st team to 1,000 wins in football and that more than makes up for it.
When the NCAA decides to vacate 30 wins because of $4 worth of cooked ground meat on a bun and 200ft away videos on iPhones we can be the 1st & 2nd teams to get to 1,000 wins.