Four games, four upsets as the higher seeds all lost on a crazy Saturday night. The visiting team won all four single-elimination first round games, setting up quarterfinal best-of-three series that look like this:
No. 12 American International at No. 1 Rochester Institute of Technology
No. 11 Sacred Heart at No. 2 Air Force
No. 8 Canisius at No. 3 Holy Cross
No. 7 Mercyhusrt at No. 6 Connecticut
The upsets started at Army, where AIC put a 6-3 win into the books with three goals in the final 10 minutes. Ben Meisner made 36 saves, 12 in each period, for the win.
Niagara dominated Canisius in terms of shots on goal, 51-28, but the scoreboard told a different story. The Golden Griffins scored four times in a ten minute span in the second period en route to a 6-3 win.
Mercyhurst jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two periods and coasted to a 5-1 win over Robert Morris. Scott Pitt had two goals and Ryan Zapolski stopped 30 of 31 shots.
And finally, Sacred Heart scored five third period goals to erase a 3-1 deficit and defeat Bentley 6-3. Matt Gingera had a hat-trick and Olivier St. Onge made 43 saves.
How’d I do?
I went with the favorites in three of the four games and paid the price, going 1-3. I’m now 103-69-25 (.586).
