New names dot NCAA’s Frozen Four

WASHINGTON (AP) — Good thing Bemidji State University decided not to change its name a few years back. Imagine the collective yawn from those outside hockey if some place called “University of Northern Minnesota” had made the Frozen Four.

But Bemidji State? That’s George Mason in the Final Four — only a lot harder to spell.

“The best thing about it is most people stumble over it at first,” said Bemidji resident Alan Korpi, sitting with his wife on Row 7 of the Verizon Center on Wednesday watching his beloved Beavers practice. “And that’s funny. ‘Bemini, buh-buh,’ you know.”

“I actually have a license plate that has ‘BRMIDJI,’ ” chimed in fellow Bemidjian Scott Robbins, sitting two seats over in his green-and-black BSU hat and sweat pants, “because our temperature is quite often 20 degrees below zero, so that’s a more accurate name for the town.”

For the record, it’s pronounced beh-MIDGE-ee, although a sports nation that loves its out-of-nowhere stories has spent the last week or so calling it other names. The place that’s suddenly on the map — the team that rose from the absolute bottom seed of the 16-team tournament to advance to tonight’s national semifinal against Miami (Ohio) — is the underdog that was missing from the NCAA basketball tournament.

“I’ve heard Cinderella, David vs. Goliath, Miracle, things like that, so I’m definitely up on my fairy tales,” Beavers coach Tom Serratore said. “I think a lot of people and a lot of different areas of the country have adopted Bemidji State, and we are a feel-good story. That’s gratifying, and hopefully we won’t let them down.”

One word no one is using this week is “dynasty.” The Bemidji State-Miami game features two teams in the Frozen Four for the first time, and each was the lowest seed in its regional. The other semifinal — Vermont vs. No. 1 overall seed Boston University — pits schools who haven’t been this far since the 1990s.

“It’s great for college hockey — you can see the parity,” Miami coach Enrico Blasi said. “You can see the enthusiasm. It wouldn’t surprise me from here on in if you see different Frozen Four teams the rest of the way.”