Gophers repeat as women’s champ at 41-0
By John Gilbert
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — Minnesota finished a women’s hockey season that coach Brad Frost said was surreal. Not just surreal, but “very surreal.” The Golden Gophers put down a very dangerous Boston University outfit 6-3 Sunday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 3,400 at Ridder Arena to win their second NCAA championship in a row, and to complete the first undefeated, untied season in women’s college hockey history.
So dominant was Minnesota all season that the debate has already started about whether this is the greatest women’s team ever, and that’s one that could go into the night with valid points in favor, and with some about how much more competitive the top teams in the WCHA were a decade ago when Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, and Wisconsin beat each other up. But nobody can argue with that one fact: a 41-0 record will go into the books as a record that won’t ever be broken, and is extremely unlikely to even approach being duplicated.
Minnesota's Amanda Kessel, left, set up Hannah Brandt's 33rd goal for a 2-0 lead, and the two celebrated.
“You just saw a record-breaking team play another great team,” said Boston University coach Brian Durocher, whose team finished 28-6-3. “Nobody’s ever gone 41-0 before, and I tip my cap to them for what they’ve accomplished. But I was proud of our team too. The shot count didn’t get away, and the territorial didn’t get away. I love everything about our team. They were down 2-0, 3-1, 4-1, and they never quit. They fight to the end.”
One of the reasons the Terriers were dangerous to the end was that the Gophers had actually looked beatable in their two previous games — a 3-2 triple-overtime marathon in the NCAA quarterfinals against North Dakota, a team they had shut out 2-0 in the WCHA Final Faceoff final the week before, and a quite similar 3-2 overtime victory over Boston College in Friday’s NCAA semifinals.
But the Gophers lived up to the motto Frost had presented them with for this season, and left no doubt in the title game, scoring twice in every period.
“Last year, our motto was ‘Prove it,’ and this year, it was ‘Leave no doubt,’ ” said Frost. “On Day 1, I told the team we had to focus on the process, the things we had to do to win. I told them we’re going to lose a game here and there, but let’s focus on the process. And here we are, 41 games later. It’s incredible.
Captain Megan Bozek said: “I don’t think we focused on being unbeaten. You guys in the media ask us about it all the time, so we have to think about it. But I don’t think it ever got to be something that bothered us.”
NCAA Frozen Four MVP Noora Raty stopped a breakaway by BU's Sarah Lefort.
Frost, however, said later that he thought the undefeated streak did have an effect. “I think it started to weigh on them once we got to the one-and-done playoffs,” he said. “But tonight, we played free.”
And, they left no doubt.
It took a power play to get Minnesota untracked midway through the first period for a Mira Jaluso goal, then Hannah Brandt scored her 33rd goal of an amazing freshman season, short-handed, at 18:32 for a 2-0 lead.
Amanda Kessel, Minnesota Kazmaier Award winner, put goal No. 46 into an empty BU goal.
The Gophers followed up on that formula, scoring twice in every period, with Patty Kazmaier Award winner Amanda Kessel getting her 45th goal late in the second and Milica McMillen connecting two and a half minutes later. In the third, defenseman Rachel Ramsey scored, and Kessel finished off the offense with a colorful empty-net goal in the final minute for No. 46.
Kessel, goaltender Noora Raty, and captain and defenseman Bozek shared the post-game interview podium with Frost. Those three were the three finalists in the Kazmaier competition for best women’s college hockey player in the country.
“I don’t know if you can draw up a better scenario,” Frost said. “To go 41-0, and have the three best players in the country on this team, it’s something I can’t even put into words.”
Despite the steady offense, the Gophers were never completely clear of the hustling and well-prepared Terriers. After Brandt’s short-handed goal, BU came back 16 seconds later, still on the power play, for a goal by Sarah Lefort, who pulled a rebound clear and backhanded it past tournament most outstanding player, Noora Raty, in the Minnesota goal, cutting it to 2-1.
And, trailing 4-1 after two, Boston University’s spectacular junior center Marie-Philip Poulin scored with a 40-foot one-timer blast from the slot at 1:48 of the third period to lift the Terriers within 4-2.
The Gophers skated over to their band's section to share their second straight NCAA women's championship trophy.
“The key in the game was to get the lead,” said Kessel. “But it was never safe. When we were ahead 4-2 in the third period, Poulin walks in and Noora made a great save. It could have been 4-3, but instead we went down and made it 5-2.”
That was when Ramsey scored on a tap-in at the crease with 4:33 remaining. Even at 5-2, however, the persistent Terriers came back again to make it 5-3 with 2:52 left — 6 seconds after a Minnesota time out.
“I called time because our line had been out there too long, so I wanted to get fresh legs out there,” said Frost. “I called time out, they pulled their goalie and scored on the next shift.”
Within two again, which puts a team in striking distance, made the last three minutes more important, and it also made Kessel’s empty-net goal with 49 seconds remaining the first moment the Gophers themselves were assured there was, in a phrase, no doubt.
Badgers hold off CC 3-2 in final Final Five final
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MINN. — Wisconsin goaltender Joel Rumpel’s nickname is “Sunshine,” which might imply that linemates Tyler Barnes and Nic Kerdiles could be called the moon and the stars. Collectively, they sent the Badgers into NCAA tournament orbit with a 3-2 victory over Colorado College Saturday night that provided an out-of-this-world reward of the Broadmoor Cup as well.
The Badgers hoisted the last Broadmoor Trophy after rising from a 1-7-2 start to reach the NCAA.
The two teams were not only playing for the final Red Baron WCHA Final Five championship, before 18,782 fans at Xcel Energy Center — Wisconsin is heading for the Big Ten Conference next season, and CC to the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference — but the loser would fall from the scope of the 16-team national tournament field of candidates. After all that the Badgers have endured this season, all it took was some more of that patented execution, some Rumpel sunshine in goal, and another dose of what seems to be their private stock of karma.
Barnes scored the pivotal first goal of the game to stake the Badgers to a 1-0 lead in the closing seconds of the first period. Sean Little’s tip made it 2-0 to open the second, and trying to come back against the stifling defensive style that coach Mike Eaves has convinced his player of using is a lot like running in quicksand.
Outshot 33-22, including 9-4 in the third period, Colorado College did battle back, behind the amazing dynamo named Rylan Schwartz, who set up Charlie Taft for a flashy goal to cut the margin to 2-1, and scored an impressive breakaway goal to end the second period and close the gap to a workable 3-2.
The third Badger goal gave Wisconsin a 3-1 edge when Kerdiles went to the right edge of the net and smacked in the rebound of a shot by goal-crashing John Ramage. That meant that despite the presence of the ever-dangerous Schwartz, the 3-2 lead was in good with Rumpel in goal.
“We were tired, our D-corps was tired,” acknowledged CC coach Scott Owens. “And this game was a different style. Wisconsin is so dialed in to their defensive system, and they execute it so tightly, we were always a step behind. But I’m very, very proud of our guys. This was our eighth straight road game. But we had a strong will to keep it going. Rylan Schwartz was an absolute man out there, making big-time plays at big moments.”
The way the Badgers are playing now makes the beginning of the season seem distant. During that dismal 1-7-2 start, junior Tyler Barnes couldn’t seem to buy a goal, and freshman Nic Kerdiles was unable to play, ruled ineligible for allowing a pro agent to get too close to him during the NHL draft. As the season moved on, Kerdiles found a home on the Badgers first line, with Mark Zengerle centering him on the left and Barnes on the right. “Their chemistry has caught on,” said Eaves.
That chemistry has been apparent through the playoffs. The Badgers swept Minnesota-Duluth 3-1 and 4-1, with Kerdiles and Zengerle scoring goals in the first game and Barnes getting one in the second. Then came the Final Five, and Barnes scored twice and Kerdiles once in the 7-2 shocker against Minnesota State-Mankato, and Kerdiles and Barnes each scoring a goal in the 4-1 semifinal victory over St. Cloud State. With each getting a goal in Saturday’s final, it means Barnes and Kerdiles have combined for nine goals in five playoff games.
Kerdiles was voted most valuable player of the Final Five, and joined Barnes and CC star Schwartz as the all-tournament forwards. John Ramage of the Badgers and Peter Stoykewych of the Tigers were the defensemen, and Rumpel of the Badgers the goalie.
Badger goalie Joel Rumpel stays cool and calm, even amid flying pucks and bodies in the WCHA final.
“Joel’s nickname is Sunshine,” said Eaves. “He’s got the perfect goaltender attitude because he remains calm when people are flying all around him. He makes things look easier than they are because of his demeanor.”
The Badgers are in the midst of a surge from a faltering 1-7-2 start to a 22-12-7 record, and a certain spot in the 16-team NCAA tournament field that will be announced Sunday. Colorado College, which showed such great tenacity in stringing together four consecutive upset victories, finishes 18-19-5, knowing that only a championship and its automatic berth could push the Tigers to the NCAA field.
The fresher Badgers gained a touigh 1-0 lead in the final minute of the first period, and made it 2-0 early in the second, staying ahead at 3-1. But Rylan Schwartz, CC’s version of Superman to the Tigers offense, set up one goal and scored the other to close the gap by the end of the second period. His presence meant that CC was a threat to tie the game until the closing seconds.
The safest assumption was that the title match would be a goaltending duel between Rumpel and CC’s Joe Howe. Rumpel had allowed three goals in his victories over MSU-Mankato and St. Cloud State, while making 68 saves, a save percentage of .957; Colorado College’s Howe had allowed three goals in beating North Dakota in overtime and blanking Minnesota, and made 64 saves, a percentage of .955.
The first period was just such a duel, as both goalies were solid. The Badgers outshot CC 13-9, and it was the 13th shot that gave the Badgers a 1-0 lead. Frankie Simonelli shot from the left point, and Kerdiles deflected it on net. Howe blocked it, but the rebound landed in the left side of the crease, and Tyler Barnes smacked it in, with 17 seconds remaining in the first period.
“It could have been a different game if we didn’t score first,” said Eaves. “Congratulations to CC. They had a lot of heart and soul, and they put all of it out there.”
Both teams had plenty of reason to plead exhaustion, with the title game being their third in three days. For Colorado College it was worse, because they had to go all three games to upset Denver the previous weekend, which meant Saturday’s final was the Tigers sixth game in nine days. And the Tigers did seem to sputter a bit in the second period.
The Badgers had something to do with that, of course, deflating the CC hopes when Jake McCabe’s point shot was deflected by Sean Little past Howe for a 2-0 lead at 3:28.
Rylan Schwartz (16) set up Charlie Taft (17) for CC's first goal after Wisconsin took a 2-0 lead.
Colorado College gained a little spark at 7:19, when Schwartz rushed up the left side to create a 2-on-1, and sent a perfect goal-mouth pass to Charlie Taft, who banked it in at the right edge to cut the Wisconsin lead to 2-1.
The Tigers dodged a bullet when a Wisconsin power-play goal was disallowed midway through the period, because the rebound of Ryan Little’s wide-angle shotpopped up off the goalie’s mask and, video reviews proved, brother Sean Little batted it in with his gloved left hand at about waist height.
But at 16:15, Wisconsin scored a legitimate third goal. John Ramage rushed up the right boards from the point, curled deep and veered out in front. Howe blocked his backhander, but Nic Kerdiles rapped in the rebound at the right post for a 3-1 lead.
That appeared to settle Colorado College’s hopes of going all the way to the Final Five title — the Tigers only hope of reaching the NCAA tournament’s 16 selections. The Tigers passes lacked crispness, and accuracy, and the second period was wearing down into its final minute.
But then, Schwartz to the rescue again. Alexander Krushelnyski picked the puck off the left boards in his own end and spotted Schwartz trying to break past defenseman McCabe. Krushelnyski quickly zipped a pass up the middle, and Schwartz broke in, fighting off repeated hooking attempts by McCabe, then making a great deke before firing a shot past Rumpel with 27 seconds left in the middle period.
Exhaustion seemed to be a secondary foe for the Tigers in the third period, but as the final period wore on, exhaustion seemed to be getting the upper hand.
Owens pulled Howe for an extra attacker with 1:10 remaining, and as the Tigers rallied furiously, CC’s William Rapuzzi was called for tripping with 9.4 seconds remaining, and the last gasp was extinguished.
Howe, upstart CC shock Gophers with 2-0 shutout
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MINN. — Joe Howe says he never looks back, even while his goaltending has turned sizzling hot while taking down one favored foe after another. Friday night, before 18,949 fans at Xcel Energy Center, Howe stopped all 35 shots he faced and led Colorado College to a 2-0 shutout that seemed to baffle No. 1 ranked Minnesota.
But now that game is in the past, so Howe and the upstart Tigers — who hit the .500 mark for the season at 18-18-5 — must refocus on Saturday’s 7 p.m. championship game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five tournament against Wisconsin. Usually, if one team has to win three games in three days to win the Final Five, it is near impossible to beat an opponent playing only its second game, but in this case both CC and Wisconsin have won their way to the final with two victories, so the fatigue factor is a wash.
Minnesota's A.J. Michaelson tried in vain to smack a rebound past CC goalie Joe Howe in Tigers 2-0 semifinal shocker.
If there was a tournament darling, it would be Colorado College. And if ESPN covered college hockey, the goals by Rylan Schwartz to open the second period, and by Charlie Taft less than four minutes later, would be highlight video material, although they didn’t seem insurmountable to the explosive Golden Gophers, one of the highest scoring teams in the country. It seemed almost a matter of time before the Gophers would break through.
But Howe was cat-quick in goal against the best Minnesota chances, and the CC defense was superb, blocking shots, deflecting pass attempts, and quite calmly clearing the zone with sometimes soft but accurate passes, to forwards who swept down the ice making short, effective passes along the way.
While Howe praised his teammates, he said he doesn’t think about how hot he’s been recently. “I never think about what’s already happened. I only think about what’s next,” Howe said.
“Rylan put a note up that said we don’t have to win three games, we have to win one game three times,” Howe added. “It felt good. We know we’ve got to win it to move on, and we had a good team effort tonight, and our penalty killing was unbelievable.”
The Gophers, who had a bye into the semifinals as WCHA co-champion and No. 2 seed, had a bit of an edge in the first period, but Colorado College was in the midst of its seemingly impossible mission — to rise from eighth place and then conquer all those higher seeds in the Tigers path. First it was Denver, which won the first of a best of three, only to lose the next two to CC. Then it was the Final Five quarterfinals, and a scintillating 4-3 overtime upset of North Dakota, the three-time defending Final Five playoff champs.
But Minnesota, playing in its “second home,” 8 miles from Mariucci Arena, seemed too big a challenge even for a team desperate enough to throw caution to the winds. Minnesota, repositioned as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation this week, is secure as a top seed in, probably, the Grand Rapids, Mich., NCAA regional; Colorado College knows that when it loses, its season is over, and only a victory in the Final Five title game will give the Tigers a chance to enter the NCAA’s 16-team field, as the WCHA’s automatic qualifier.
Travis Boyd fired point-blank, but Joe Howe blocked it for Colorado College.
“Credit CC,” said Lucia. “They came in here having won two at Denver, then they beat North Dakota and now us in here. Joe Howe gave them the kind of goaltending you need at a time like this. Usually, when you give up two goals, you should be in a good position to win the game. But Howe was very good. When we played them earlier, he didn’t play either game.”
Colorado College coach Scott Owens explained that. “We had goaltending issues till early January,” he said. “Then we decided to give him the ball, and slowly, he’s gotten better and better. He used to make three or four great saves, then let in a soft one. He’s not doing that any more.”
No soft ones, and no hard ones, either, such as when the Golden Gophers outshot CC 12-6 in the first period, but Howe and Minnesota’s Adam Wilcox kept it 0-0. It was the opening shift of the second period, when Schwartz changed the game.
Schwartz carried across the Gopher blueline, with defenseman Jake Parenteau dropping back. Schwartz pulled the puck slightly, then let fly with a rising shot that skimmed between Parenteau’s stick and leg and snared the upper left corner of the net, past the screened Wilcox, at 0:59.
“I was thinking about cutting to the middle, and I was hoping the goalie wouldn’t see me,” said Schwartz, whose goal was his 19th this season.
The Tigers, rushing with a constant sequence of soft, short passes, attacked again three minutes later. This time Wilcox repelled the attack, but as the Gophers impatiently hurried on their breakout, Alexander Krushelnyski, who had dropped back to the offensive blueline, lunged forward and poke-checked the puck away, back into the slot. Charlie Taft was there, and he darted to his right and as Wilcox dropped in anticipation, Taft fired back between his pads, and it was 2-0.
“I was a little lucky on that one,” said Taft, a sophomore from Edina. “I wasn’t trying for the 5-hole, I was just trying to get it on net.”
After that, it was back to a game of the Gophers attacking, and the Tigers turning them back and countering attacking whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Colorado College goalie Joe Howe deflected a backhander by Gopher captain Seth up and over the net.
“We got outshot in the first period, but mostly because of their power play,” said Owens. “I thought it was an excellent game, even in the first period. We wanted to make it a 40-minute game. Then when we scored — not just a goal, but a great goal — you could hear the buzz in the building. Our defensive sticks were as good as I’ve seen, and Joe was solid, not only stopping pucks, but he looked very, very good stopping them.”
For most of the game, Minnesota freshman goaltender Wilcox matched CC senior Howe, although with the Gophers outshooting the Tigers all three periods, Howe had by far more threats to dispel. But the story of the game can best be told by examining the scoreless third period.
First CC’s Joe Marciano was given a 5-minute cross-checking penalty and tossed from the game for pushing Tom Serratore down from behind at 4:50, and the Tigers never lost their poise or got caught scrambling out of position at the Gopher puck-movement. Colorado College cleared the zone and fired the puck the length of the ice so many times that Gopher fans in the big arena began booing the Gopher power play’s ineffectiveness.
Then, with 3:12 remaining, Minnesota coach Don Lucia pulled Wilcox for a sixth attacker, needing to make up two goals. The shots were 34-20 at the time. When the game ended, they were 35-20. Minnesota mustered only one shot on the entire three-minute, six-man attack. More significantly, the Tigers were so poised they never once tried to shoot at the inviting open net, preferring to shoot the puck diagonally out of the zone or chip is softly ahead, to kill time instead of risking an icing call.
Rumpel, Badgers top top-seeded Huskies
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MINN. — Wisconsin hockey coach Mike Eaves wasn’t ready to say that his Badgers are riding a wave of good karma after they knocked off top-seeded St. Cloud State 4-1 in Friday in the first semifinal of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five tournament.
But it’s as good an explanation as any. The Badgers (21-12-7) had sidetracked Minnesota State-Mankato in a 7-2 shocker in Thursday’s quarterfinals, while St. Cloud State, as league champion, had a bye into the semifinals. The Huskies outshot Wisconsin 31-21, but goaltender Joel Rumpel was more than just solid, with 30 saves in a performance that defused the Huskies offense. The Badgers now face upstart Colorado College, which upset No. 2 seed Minnesota in Friday’s second semifinal.
Wisconsin goalile Joel Rumpel blocked a shot by St Cloud's Drew LeBlanc.
“I don’t know how you feel about karma,” said Eaves, “but all I know is at the start of the season, we didn’t have much of it.”
St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko was more pragmatic in his assessment of the Badgers. “They’re pretty banged up, with some of their top players hurting, but as the game went on, they got stronger,” said Motzko. “They’re just dialed in right now. I don’t think we played poorly; they were wearing down in the second period, I felt, but in a game like that, a couple little mistakes can hurt you.”
The Badgers started the season 1-7-3, have gone 19-5-4 since then, on a defensively focused roll that has created more offensive possessions, and carries them into Saturday’s 7 p.m. playoff championship game against the winner of Friday night’s Minnesota-Colorado College game. But the Badgers now are playing with confidence at the offensive end of the rink, too.
But at Xcel Energy Center, there also have been a momentum-generating run of good luck. Against Mankato, the Badgers got a major penalty and scored short-handed, and when Mankato got a major penalty, the Badgers scored on the power play. That sort of thing continued Friday, as a controversial call that could have given St. Cloud State a 2-1 lead instead went Wisconsin’s way. From that point on, the Badgers broke the 1-1 tie on John Ramage’s power-play blast in the second period, and prevented any ideas of a Huskies comeback when Nic Kerdiles and Tyler Barnes added third-period goals — Kerdiles on a power play and Barnes into an empty net at the end.
Badger goaltender Joel Rumpel blocked Drew LeBlanc's attempt in the 4-1 victory over No. 1 seeded St. Cloud State.
Being rested and ready is no guarantee at Final Five time, and the Badgers continued riding the positive vibes against St. Cloud State. After killing an early penalty, the Badgers took a 1-0 lead on a startling play when Joseph LaBate carried across the Huskies blue line and surprised goaltender Ryan Faragher with a 50-foot missile just past a screening defenseman. The shot caught the lower right and Wisconsin led 1-0 at 10:46.
The goal seemed to awaken the Huskies, who responded with a power play goal four minutes later. Nic Dowd, who seemed to be involved in almost all the big plays all game, rushed up the left and passed to the slot. His pass skimmed just past Jonny Brodzinski, which may have decoyed goalie Joel Rumpel, because it got through to Ben Hanowksi, whose quick, low blast went right in.
That set the stage for the biggest controversy of the tournament. St. Cloud State appeared to be on the verge of taking a 2-1 lead when Jimmy Murray carried up the right side of a 2-on-1 and shot. Rumpel made the save, but the the rebounding puck in the slot. Dowd, one of the Huskies top guns, pounced on the loose puck and shot from 10 feet, toward the middle of the open net. Rumpel, scrambling to cover, pivoted to his right but had no chance to get in the way, so he let his big goal stick slip from his grasp, diagonally back toward the far post.
By a remarkable bit of “puck luck,” Dowd’s shot hit the handle of the perfect trajectory of the sliding stick — just enough to deflect the puck wide to the left by about a half inch. Dowd, who started to raise his arms to celebrate the obvious goal, instead grasped his helmet in disbelief.
Huskies coach Bob Motzko, seeing the replay on the big video screen, had a long discussion with the officials, who finally agreed to consult with the video review staff upstairs. The rule book says when any defensive player throws their stick to deflect a puck that is obviously going into the net, it shall be ruled a goal. In this case, incredibly, the decision was “no goal,” with the explanation that a St. Cloud State player had knocked Rumpel’s stick from his grasp. Repeated video views indicated that the goaltender was not touched as he pivoted to his right, coincidentally holding his stick firmly until the perfect time to slide it into the path of the rebound shot.
In the post-game press conference, Rumpel put it in perfect perspective. “It was a weird play,” he said. “I made the first save, then I kind of dove, and knocked it out. The puck hit the knob of my stick.”
Are you saying a St. Cloud player knocked the stick out of your hand?
“No, no player hit my stick,” Rumpel said. “The puck hit my stick and went wide.”
At that point, a 2-1 St. Cloud State lead would have been an enormous lift for the Huskies, and an enormous hit on the Badgers karma. But disallowing it reversed both those possibilities.
“It could have been the turning point in the game, no question about it,” said Eaves.
The teams traded later power plays in the first period, but it stayed 1-1 until the second. Taylor Johnson went off for hooking, and Ramage bombed a pass from Nic Kerdiles in for his power-play goal at 2:08 for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
“I saw Nic going down the wall so I moved in,” said Ramage, Wisconsin’s only senior defenseman. “Nic made an unbelievable pass to me and I don’t know if my shot hit something or not.”
It did appear to glance off something on the way, but for sure it hit the net.
St. Cloud State increased its shot frequency with a 15-5 edge in the second period, but Rumpel was outstanding. “St. Cloud State had the tempo and pace early,” said Eaves, “but Joel stopped some good scoring opportunities and gaves us a chance to get our legs underneath us.”
Kerdiles and Ramage swapped roles in the third period, after Tim Daly was given a 5-minute checking from behind penalty and game misconduct, just when it appeared the Huskies momentum might find the equalizer. Instead, at 10:29, just 13 seconds into the major penalty, Ramage cut loose from center point and Kerdiles deflected it past goaltender Ryan Faragher for a 3-1 cushion.
“We thought we were in good position,” said Hanowski. “It was 2-1, then we got that major, and they came out and scored right away to make it 3-1. That was pretty deflating.”
Motzko pulled Faragher with a minute and a half to go, but Barnes hit the empty net with 1:11 left for the 4-1 cushion. The game was essentially over, but not the karma. Ryan Little of the Badgers was penalized 5 minutes for checking from behind and a game misconduct. When the Huskies got a major, the Badger power play put the game away; when the Badgers got a major, only 50 seconds remained and it was anti-climactic.
Talk about dialed in.
Upstart CC stuns North Dakota 4-3 in OT
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MINN. — Peter Stoykewych fired a screened shot from the right point at 4:52 of sudden-death overtime to give Colorado College a stunning 4-3 victory over North Dakota in the second quarterfinal game of the Red Baron WCHA Final Five, sending the tenacious Tigers into Friday’s second semifinal against Minnesota.
Stoykewych got the puck when Jeff Collett won a right-corner faceoff and passed back. Because he’s a left-handed defenseman playing the right point, Stoykewych had to shift for a shooting angle, creating a screen of bodies at the net. His shot appeared to glance off a defenseman to elude goaltender Clarke Saunders.
Alex Krushelnyski's short-handed breakaway goal puffed the netting behind North Dakota goalie Clarke Saunders to lift CC to a 2-2 tie.
The Tigers, who lost the first playoff game at Denver before rallying to win the next two and gain the Final Five after an eighth-place finish in the WCHA, have now clawed their way to within one game of the .500 mark at 17-18-5. The loss ended North Dakota’s bid to win its fourth consecutive Final Five, assuring a new champion in the final Final Five under the WCHA’s current structure.
To survive, CC used Joe Howe’s often spectacular goaltending through the first two periods, when they were dominated by North Dakota (21-12-7). But Colorado College’s outright tenacity was equally important. Outshot 11-4 in the first period despite having three power plays, CC got the first goal of the game from senior center Rylan Schwartz. But the Tigers had to rally from a 2-1 deficit in the second period, with Schwartz setting up a breakaway goal by Alex Krushelnyski, before gaining a 3-2 lead on a Hunter Fejes goal to open the third.
Drake Caggiula’s second goal of the game gained the 3-3 deadlock for North Dakota at 12:45 of the final period, but by then, the Tigers had caught up to North Dakota’s rapid tempo and was battling UND on even terms.
North Dakota came storming out at a near-frantic pace to open the game, but the exuberance came at a price, when Caggiula was called for an over-aggressive charge that flattened a Tiger skater at 2:17.
Colorado College capitalized at 3:06, when Cody Bradley got loose in front, carried across the slot right to left, and attempted to make a blind pass backwards to Schwartz. The pass hit a sliding North Dakota defenseman and the ricochet went toward the crease, behind goaltender Saunders, and Schwartz had an easy tap in.
Caggiula’s spirits took a distinct turn upward later in the first period, though, when Carter Rowney forechecked the puck free and fed Rocco Grimaldi, who headed toward the net from the right circle, then passed across the slot to Caggiula, whose quick shot beat Joe Howe in goal for a 1-1 tie.
The team formerly called Fighting Sioux but now nicknameless ended the first period strong. After killing off successive penalties that overlapped for a 57-second two-man CC power play, North Dakota struck fort what appeared to be a pivotal goal when Danny Kristo curled out to the left faceoff circle and fired a bull’s-eye past Howe with 9.1 seconds showing, for a 2-1 lead.
CC was penalized for too many men on the ice at 7:42 of the second, but turned the game around with Krushelnyski’s huge goal at 7:54. Schwartz made the penalty-kill sing when he sent a perfect breakaway pass to Krushelnyski, who sailed in all alone and snapped his shot into the right edge to tie the game 2-2.
Jared Hanson (24) and Jeff Collett (21) celebrated when Peter Stoykewych's shot from the right point foiund its way into the North Dakota goal in overtime.
It stayed that way until the third period, and then the opportunistic Tigers claimed a 3-2 lead at 3:42, when Hunter Fejes carried up the right side, crossed the blue line and pulled the puck abruptly to his left, firing past a screening defenseman to beat Saunders from 50 feet.
North Dakota, racking up a lot of shots, found Howe basically impenetrable through the second period and much of the third, but with 7:15 remaining and the hopes of the green-clad fans dominating the cavernous seating section fading with each minute, Caggiula rushed across the blue line and dropped a pass off to his right to Colten St. Clair, then broke up the middle to convert St. Clair’s deft return pass, with Howe having no chance of covering.
That sent the game speeding into its final minutes, with overtime looming as a distinct possibility. Both teams exchanged spirited rushes, with CC doubling its shot tally for the game in the third period, but Howe and Saunders continued to come up with the right answers.
In the overtime, CC got three shots while North Dakota failed to register any, leaving UND with a 32-23 edge, but one goal short.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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