Wockey Day Two - Just Show Me Where to Puke When the Ride Finally Ends

If the first day of the tournament will be remembered for its predictable outcomes, the second was the complete opposite.  That cry you heard around 5:00 PM was the wailing of 68 Wockeyites as their champion pick, the number one overall seed Minnesota State-Mankato, fell to 16th-seeded RIT.  While there are almost always shocking upsets in the NCAA Hockey Tournament, this was the first time since the format expanded to 16 teams in 2003 that the #1 seed lost to the #16 seed.  In fact, out of the 358 brackets in the Wockey Pool, only 16 correctly predicted RIT would win, and those were either filled out by people with multiple brackets, people who are unsure what hockey is, or people who would participate in this.

If that weren’t surprising enough, another top seed, Miami, fell to Providence in a game which saw Providence go up 6-2 late in the second period only to watch Miami score three goals with their goalie pulled as they almost pulled off what might have gone down as the most remarkable comeback in the history of the tournament.

I’ve been saying it for nine years--in sports anything can happen on any given night.  But in the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament, anything does happen on any given night.  This was just another day in the incredible history of this incomparable tournament.  This is why we Wockey!

As for our silly little side pool, the results of the day’s events certainly made things interesting.  When RIT downed Mankato, all 36 remaining perfect brackets became imperfect while our lone winless bracket got their first pick right.  While many lamented the losses that knocked them out of contention, there were three at the end of the day that stood on top of the field.  Thomas Nikula, Matt Mathiasen, and Lina Fox lead the way with 31 points apiece, though the Mankato loss meant Lina’s champion pick was gone.  

Last year, the race for the Puckhead came down to a tiebreaker undetermined until the first period of the NCAA Championship game.  This season, we will have no such drama.  Matt Mathiasen, THE Matt Mathiasen who also currently sits in the lead, has claimed the 2015 Wockey Puckhead title setting up a legitimate scenario in which, for the first time in Wockey history, the Champion and Puckhead will be one and the same!  Shockingly, his only correct pick, the only one that allowed him to avoid the infamy that comes with getting completely shutout, was the RIT win.  Controversy, however, may be afoot!  While Matt submitted and paid for the bracket, his son Finley’s name was listed on the bracket.  Did Matt make the picks?  Is Finley at fault for this disaster of a bracket?  Is this a real thing?  You can be sure that the WNA (Wockey News Agency) will put it’s finest investigative minds on this case so that the true Wockey Puckhead’s identity will be smoked out before it’s all said and done.

We have one more day before Wockey Weekend Number One is complete.  Tomorrow Providence faces Denver at 4:00 CT with upstart RIT going against Nebraska-Omaha at 6:30.  Be sure to catch both games on ESPNU.  If you don’t have access to watch ESPNU, go to a bar where they have it.  If you’re not allowed at that bar due to circumstances best not shared with the general Wockey public, I suppose you could always do this.

On to day three!

Your Sleeting, Sleuthing, Soothsaying Wockey Commssioner,

Alex