On March 23, 2006, the College of the Holy Cross’ men’s ice hockey team made history with their defeat of No. 1 seed Minnesota. Only 53 seconds into overtime, Tyler McGregor ’06, now a fourth-year orthopedic surgery resident in Michigan, scored the final goal that would bring the Crusaders a 4-3 victory and change the college hockey world forever.
Holy Cross was the first No. 4 seed ever to upset a No. 1 seed. Their victory “opened the door to a new era of college hockey and parity in the NCAA tournament,” a Grand Forks Herald article that ran on the NCAA official website reported. Prior to the upset, No. 1 seeds typically had no trouble advancing through the tournament. But after Holy Cross’ victory, not a year has gone by without a fourth-seeded team beating a top-seeded team, the article said.
In fact, the past decade has seen more No. 4 seeds reach the NCAA Frozen Four than No. 2 or No. 3 seeds. “It’s good to see all of the parity now,” McGregor said. “It’s nice to see the smaller schools compete and have a pretty respectable record against the bigger schools. Everyone always roots for the underdog. It’s nice to say that we were the first to be able to do it.”
Read the full article on the NCAA website.
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This “Holy Cross in the News” item is by Emma Collins ’16.
