{"id":624,"date":"2009-04-03T10:14:54","date_gmt":"2009-04-03T15:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/blogs\/college-hockey\/paula\/20090403\/bemidji-hockey-it%e2%80%99s-the-american-way.html"},"modified":"2009-04-03T10:14:54","modified_gmt":"2009-04-03T15:14:54","slug":"bemidji-hockey-its-the-american-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2009\/04\/03\/bemidji-hockey-its-the-american-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Hockey: It\u2019s the American Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Bemidji State upset Notre Dame and then Cornell in Grand Rapids, many among the Midwest Regional press corps groused about the way the Beavers\u2019 wins would affect the television audiences for the Frozen Four. I have to admit that I expressed some of the same concerns after the Irish lost Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Given the economy and the seeming lack of interest in our favorite collegiate sport, went the argument, college hockey needed big names in the FF to attract a television audience and earn publicity for the sport, especially in these hard economic times when too many potential viewers are distracted by other things.<\/p>\n

But \u2013 to echo the words of Tom Serratore \u2013 you know what? There\u2019s nothing bigger than Paul Bunyan, and there\u2019s certainly nothing bigger than the American Way.<\/p>\n

The last question posed to Serratore, the BSU head coach, in the post-game press conference was about the meaning of the win over Cornell for Beaver hockey. What follows is Serratore\u2019s response. I wish you could have been there to hear his fervent reply, so heart-felt, so genuine \u2013 so completely right \u2013 that I nearly had tears in my eyes, and not because of this win\u2019s meaning for Beaver hockey.<\/p>\n

“I think this win is great for college hockey,” said Serratore. “This is what college hockey is about; this is what sports is about. We\u2019re not a BSC school. You take a look at college hockey, college hockey is predominately a bunch of mid-major institutions. The beauty of college hockey is that there\u2019s a small margin of error and there\u2019s a lot of parity. You know what? It was proven this weekend. It was proven last year. That\u2019s the beauty of it.<\/p>\n

“This is good. Holy Cross beating Minnesota is healthy; it\u2019s good for hockey, it\u2019s good for sports. George Mason going in college basketball is good for sports. It piques interest. It\u2019s great for the media. It\u2019s fan interest. Kids believe you\u2019re giving opportunities.<\/p>\n

“You know what? I don\u2019t want to sit there and recite Rocky Balboa 1976, we\u2019re the land of opportunity, but you know what? This is America and that\u2019s what\u2019s kind of great about it. And it\u2019s sports. It\u2019s special. Franco this year, my brother\u2026being an eyelash away from going to the Frozen Four. To me, that\u2019s just outstanding and that\u2019s what sports need. In hockey in general we need that, and it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

“So what does that mean to our program? I don\u2019t know what that means for our program because our program\u2019s had a lot of success but I think it\u2019s just great for the game and it gives everybody out there \u2013 you know what? It gives them good feel\u2026that it can be their day \u2013 if it\u2019s not next year then in two years of three years.<\/p>\n

“I think we have to look at the big picture, you know, not the small picture there.”<\/p>\n

And after a fantastic, all-American, upset-by-the-little-guy weekend that Bemidji was good enough to give to us, we especially don\u2019t need to be thinking about the small screen.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, it is good for hockey. It is good for sports. Don\u2019t believe me? Okay. Read what The New York Times<\/a><\/em> and The Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/em> have to say about it. The Sporting News<\/a><\/em> writes, “Suddenly, everyone wants to know about Bemidji State.” Even snarky sports writers that have written to deride the Beavers\u2019 accomplishment \u2013 by way of belittling college hockey \u2013 have, at least, mentioned both the Beavers and college hockey.<\/p>\n

It is good for hockey. It is good for sports.<\/p>\n

Who knew that a little school 250 miles north of the Twin Cities could melt even the most jaded of sporting hearts and remind us all of the real role that sport plays in the real American landscape?<\/p>\n

Well, Tom Serratore and the Beavers knew.<\/p>\n

And now the rest of us do, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Bemidji State upset Notre Dame and then Cornell in Grand Rapids, many among the Midwest Regional press corps groused about the way the Beavers\u2019 wins would affect the television audiences for the Frozen Four. I have to admit that I expressed some of the same concerns after the Irish lost Saturday night. Given the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[1443],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBemidji Hockey: It\u2019s the American Way - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Bemidji State upset Notre Dame and then Cornell in Grand Rapids, many among the Midwest Regional press corps groused about the way the Beavers\u2019 wins\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bemidji Hockey: It\u2019s the American Way - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Bemidji State upset Notre Dame and then Cornell in Grand Rapids, many among the Midwest Regional press corps groused about the way the Beavers\u2019 wins\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-03T15:14:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/uscho_featured-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paula C. 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