No underdogs here: Notre Dame on brink of history

DENVER -- Look at it from a football angle, which is the best way to look at everything at Notre Dame.

Jeff Jackson is one game away from leading Charlie Weis, 1-0.

The Irish win despite blowing 3-0 and 4-3 leads in regulation. (Getty Images)

We're talking national championships, which is how Domers define themselves. We're also talking hockey which might be a green blip on Irish radar but on Thursday, it was the world in college hockey.

Who the hell is Jeff Jackson? Possibly the most celebrated coach on campus at this moment considering he has Notre Dame at the brink of its first national championship in hockey.

That's underdog Notre Dame, which hadn't been to the Frozen Four in its 40 years of hockey existence. The Notre Dame that became the first No. 4 seed to get to the Frozen Four is now the first such seed to the get to the championship game.

We wouldn't bother to compare the coaches except Jackson and Weis came to Notre Dame in the same year (2005). They've both had their teams in the top 10. They've both had one losing season at the school.

The difference between Jackson and Weis is that the 52-year-old silver-haired hockey genius has a better winning percentage and, oh yeah, has beaten a No. 1 team. Top-ranked Michigan went down in a heap, 5-4 in overtime in the national semifinal that thrust the Irish into the national championship for the first time.

And we do mean heap. Its dream season collapsed, keeping alive a drought that has now reached 10 years without a national championship. The Wolverines have been No. 1 in the USA Today poll every week but one since Feb. 11. They had lost only five of 42 games -- included in that was a double beating of Notre Dame back in January.

Michigan has the best player -- Kevin Porter who is expected to win hockey's Heisman, the Hobey Baker Award on Friday. Michigan arguably has the best line. Porter, Max Pacioretty and Chad Kolarik had averaged almost four points per game.

None of it mattered when Irish freshman fourth-line left wing Calle Ridderwall, the pride of Stockholm, scored the winner on a rebound after Notre Dame had blown 3-0 and 4-3 leads.

Do they have shamrocks in Sweden?

"Not really," Ridderwall said when asked if anyone knew of his new school.

Notre Dame football generates a lot of emotions on both sides. Might as well grab a pom-pom for Notre Dame hockey and get it over with. These Irish are huggable, loveable underdogs -- and they didn't lose to Navy this season.