Four top teams remain. Three are considered Cinderellas in this season's fairytale finish. Two days are left until the Frozen Four semifinal play commences. One team will be crowned the national champion when all is said and done.

At first glance, it seems easy enough to break the postseason down by the numbers, but this year's NCAA hockey tournament has been anything but predictable. For the first time since 1968, Boston College, Colorado College, Michigan State, Minnesota and Wisconsin were all denied spots on the national stage. Then, three top-notch No.1 seeds saw their tournament bids end abruptly in the first round, as did three of the No. 2 seeds. Two of the nation's top defensive teams surrendered a combined nine goals in two games to the tournament's No. 16 seed, Vermont's Dan Lawson actually blasted a puck straight through Air Force's net in a game-winning play that nearly went unrealized and the final frame proved to be a make-or-break for many final four hopefuls.

Bracket: busted, and David is surely reloading for another shot at Goliath in the fabled Frozen Four.

From a national standpoint, barriers were broken and history was made over and over in the regional brackets March 27-29. Amidst all of the action, some of that "first time" success trickled down to contribute to the standalone achievements of individual programs as well. Miami University (22-12-5) was one such program, earning back-to-back victories over No. 1 Denver University and No. 2 Minnesota Duluth in the West Regional to gain the first Frozen Four bid in school history.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," Miami senior Justin Mercier said. "At the beginning of the year this is what you have dreams for-getting to Washington D.C., getting to the Frozen Four-so to have that opportunity to be with what I guess you could consider to be the top teams in the country is pretty special."

After being denied a bid to the Frozen Four by Boston College for three straight seasons, the Red and White craved an opportunity to advance in the tournament. However, going into 2008-09 with four freshman defensemen and two freshman goaltenders, skeptics abounded and to outsiders it seemed as if the team's dream of qualifying for the top tier of the national tournament might be put on hold for a few seasons while the program rebuilt. Despite outside speculation, Blasi's boys never surrendered the dream, and through hard work, perseverance and heart, the brotherhood gave the Goggin faithful something to believe in.

"I think there was always a belief that we could do it because we've been there before," Mercier said. "My senior class has made it to the NCAA tournament now four years in a row, we've made it to two regional championship games, so we knew what it took … I give credit to all our freshmen, the two goalies as well. Everyone kind of believed in it. It's like coach says-we think we can do it, and we just believe in ourselves."

Now the accomplishment has had some time to sink in, it's back to business as the team prepares to take on Bemidji State in the first of two national semifinal games April 9.

Bemidji State is another Cinderella story in its own right, as the Beavers are the lowest seed ever to advance to the Frozen Four. The Green and White-20-15-1 overall this season-are no strangers to championships. Born and bred in "hockey country," the program has won seven NAIA national championships, five Division II championships and one NCAA Division III championship.

The team won the CHA tournament this year and secured the league's automatic bid to the big dance despite not even being listed in the PairWise Ranking. The Green and White then went on to upset the favored Fighting Irish 5-1 in round one and then carried that momentum into the regional final to finish off Cornell 4-1, shocking the nation. Then again, the Beavers have something more to play for than just a national title.

The CHA is falling apart and the league's automatic bid is in jeopardy, prompting Bemidji State to apply for membership in the WCHA. If the school's application is denied, the Beavers face the prospect of having no league to play in, a predicament that would seriously jeopardize the mere existence of any school's hockey program. Anyone who saw Bemidji dominate the Midwest Regional could attest to the fact the Beavers pack a ton of talent and are ready to upgrade to one of the "Big Four" conferences. Then again, playing for a national title couldn't hurt their case either.

So which Cinderella team will dance its way into the finals? Will it be icers from Minnesota whose program's very existence is at stake or the youngsters from Oxford who finally got over the regional hump after years of unsuccessful attempts by much more veteran squads? Either way, it's bound to be a heck of a game.

"The most important thing is that we're going to prepare to play our best and we have to have the right mindset, physical and mental discipline going into Thursday," said Miami head coach and Spencer Penrose award nominee Enrico Blasi.

Miami's greatest asset is its depth. Any one of the RedHawks' lines can score on any given night-an aspect beautifully demonstrated in the brotherhood's 4-2 triumph over Denver University when each goal was contributed by a different line. Combined with a top-notch penalty kill unit that boasts 89.1 percent efficiency and two extraordinary rookie net minders, Blasi's boys look solid from front to back.

On the other side, the Beavers have exploded into this tournament and played with great tenacity and speed for all 60 minutes, making it difficult for opponents to even keep up with them, much less match them.

"The part of the game that we emphasize is our puck pressure," Bemidji head coach Tom Serratore said. "We have to have good puck pursuit, good puck pressure and get into people's faces. The whole goal is to take time and space away from your opponent."

Miami's versatile offense-led by sophomore Carter Camper's 40 points-boasts nine players with 20-plus points and six players with 10 or more goals apiece. In tournament play, Mercier has been a standout, posting three total tallies, two of which came as Miami's lone goals against Minnesota Duluth in the regional final. The effort earned the forward from Erie, Pa., MVP accolades at the West Regional.

The Beavers' top line consists of sophomore Matt Read, senior Tyler Scofield and freshman Brad Hunt, all of whom have 30-plus points and two of whom are 10-plus in goals. Beyond the front line, however, scoring potential takes a steep dive-no other Bemidji icers have broken the 10-goal barrier. In keeping with the RedHawks, the Green and White's Scofield also captured the Regional MVP award, this time in the Midwest bracket. The forward from British Columbia posted four goals and two assists in regional play-two tallies and one helper in each of the Beavers' victories.

"I think they do a lot of good things," Blasi said. "They have very good speed, very good goaltending, their D-corps plays extremely well, they're well coached so we know they're going to be prepared and we know they work extremely hard."

One point the RedHawks will have to watch out for is Bemidji's ability to adapt at the outset of games. The Beavers managed to dominate both Notre Dame and Cornell in different fashions. In the regional semifinal, they lit the lamp first and never looked back, skating all the way to a strong finish over the Irish. The following night, it was Cornell who took the early lead, forcing the Beavers to battle back and regain momentum. The Red and White has a nearly bulletproof ledger of 20-1-2 this season when scoring first but typically struggles with recovering after going down a goal at the outset.

The Green and White have also found a great amount of success in the third period, outscoring opponents with smart shots that don't necessitate constantly peppering the goaltender with pucks.

"What you do in the third period, how much gas you have in the tank, how much persistence you're going to have that period is going to dictate, obviously, a lot of wins," Serratore said. "I don't think there's a special recipe for that-everybody knows that … One of our objectives (every game) is winning the third period … We've been very fortunate this year to be quite a good third period team."

The contest promises to be an exciting battle between two No. 4 seeded squads, and by midnight Friday the nation will know which two teams will face off against each other for the national championship Saturday.

The victor of Miami vs. Bemidji State will play either No. 3 seeded Vermont or the tournament's overall No. 1 seed, Boston University. Vermont (22-11-5) is making its second all-time Frozen Four appearance and advanced from the East Regional with a 4-1 victory over Yale, followed by a thrilling double overtime win over Air Force. Boston University (33-6-4) will be making its 21st appearance in the national semifinals, but it will be the school's first in 12 years. The Terrier's have won four national titles with the last one coming in 1995.

Despite BU's solid representation this season, the notable gap between Frozen Four appearances should even the playing field a bit in a tournament whose "playing field" has already been quite topsy-turvy and full of surprises.

"I've seen it all but I'm not playing and none of my other players have seen it all, and there's not a player in this tournament that has been to the Frozen Four before," BU head coach Jack Parker said. "There's no advantage there. The fact that we were there a lot of times and that I've been here a lot of times-that has no effect whatsoever on whether we have an advantage or a disadvantage in this tournament … We're not set apart from these other three schools because we used to be around here more often."

Mercier echoed the same sentiment, reflecting on the apparent disorder of this year's bracket.

"At this point I firmly believe that the seeds don't matter," Mercier said. "At this point there are no underdogs, there are no favorites because every team that gets to the Frozen Four is hot. Every team is a good team … Any one of those four teams has a great opportunity to win it."

Both semifinal games will take place April 9 at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. The puck is slated to drop at 5 p.m. for Miami vs. Bemidji State and at 8:30 p.m. for Boston University vs. Vermont.

Both games will be covered by ESPN2, and RedHawk fans can also tune into www.redhawkradio.com for WMSR's live broadcast.