Sioux sweep UMD, Denver, St. Cloud to win Final Five
SAINT PAUL, MN. — A year ago, it seemed impossible for any team to survive three games in three days to win the WCHA Final Five championship. As of Saturday night, it seems to be a new trend, as North Dakota toppled St. Cloud State 5-3 before 16,414 fans at Xcel Energy Center to become the second team in a row to capture the league playoff trophy with three victories.
North Dakota beat Minnesota-Duluth 2-0 on Thursday, then knocked off No. 1 ranked Denver 4-3 Friday, but had to rally from behind after spotting St. Cloud State a pair of goals in the first minute of the title game. The Fighting Sioux never lost their focus, and simply turned up their pace and responded with four unanswered goals to take command of the game. The Huskies rallied and threatened until the finish, but were finally outdistanced by an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Last year, Minnesota-Duluth became the first team to ever rise from the Thursday night “play-in” game to win the tournament.
“Minnesota-Duluth proved it could be done last year with a great run,” said Fighting Sioux coach Dave Hakstol. “Three games in a row is tough, but we’ve come to the Final Five many years and it’s always tough. The gas level was not going to be an issue tonight. I didn’t think we had any trouble with energy until late in the third period, and maybe in the third. But we had an extra man on the ice all weekend with the Fighting Sioux fans.”
The Sioux fans seemed to have the building surrounded, outshouting the other four teams’ followers. With the victory, North Dakota overran their own No. 4 tournament seeding by extending their hot streak to 12 victories in their last 13 games, rising. Now 25-12-5, North Dakota and St. Cllud State (23-13-5) were both already assured of joining Denver and Wisconsin to give the WCHA four teams in the NCAA tournament.
The Huskies couldn’t have had a better start, jumping ahead 2-0 in the first minute. Goaltender Brad Eidsness, a strong point for North Dakota all season, was victimized at 0:40 by Garrett Raboin, who scored after Ryan Lasch circled out from behind the net and got the puck to the slot. The assist gave Lasch his 184th career point for the Huskies, breaking Jeff Saterdalen’s all-time school record. The Huskies fans were still cheering for the 1-0 lead when, at 0:55, David Eddy scored jhis first of two goals from the right side after Drew LeBlanc’s pass across the slot.
“We came out quick, but they fought back and controlled play there for a lot of the game,” said Raboin. “For them to play three straight days again, the way we both did last weekend, says a lot about their team.”
Eddy said, “We knew we had to get a good start.” The two early goals came before Fighting Sioux fans could even wonder how exhausted their team might be, and probably reinforced the concerns. But there were no such thoughts in the Sioux camp, and they started responding almost immediately.
Sioux junior Evan Trupp, whose scoring touch has flared to life for North Dakota at the Final Five, set up Corban Knight for a North Dakota power-play goal at 5:59, when he came out from the left for a shot and quickly followed up to score on his second chance. That goal seemed to assure the Sioux they could skate with the Huskies, third-day or not, and they proceded to outshoot St. Cloud State 17-7 for the period. Brad Malone got the 2-2 equalizer at 17:06 on another assist from Trupp — his fifth point of the tournament. After failing to score in his previous 20 games, Trupp registered three goals and two assists for five points out of 11 goals his team scored in St. Paul.
“I love it here,” laughed Trupp. “I love this building — apparently. But it wasn’t just me. This was a character win, coming back the way we did.”
The Fighting Sioux kept on attacking in the second period, aided when Sam Zabkowicz and Oliver Lauridsen took successive penalties to present North Dakota with a two-man advantage for a 1:15 span. WCHA freshman of the year Danny Kristo boosted the Sioux ahead 3-2 with a blast from the left point that hit goaltender Mike Lee and squibbed through to cross the line at 5:22.
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Still one man up, the Sioux struck again when Chris VandeVelde curled out to the right circle and shot through a screen into the upper right corner at 6:05. St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko pulled goaltender Mike Lee, who had shut out Wisconsin 2-0 in Friday’s semifinals, and brought in Dan Dunn.
“Dunn brought us a spark,” said Motzko. “Our two goaltenders have both given us that all year. I’ve got to congratulate North Dakota. They’ve had a tremendous run of six games in two weeks. We got off to a great start, but they got a couple of power-play goals that got them going. Once they got going, it was hard to fight through, but we battled back and just fell one goal short of making it a fun ending.”
With North Dakota going on to outshoot the Huskies 16-10 in the middle period, it looked like the 4-2 lead might be secure. But Eddy scored his second of the game, and 12th of the year, at 16:46 for the Huskies, and they entered the third period down only 4-3.
North Dakota, possibly wearying, withstood 15 Huskies shots in the third period, cautiously but efficiently clearing their zone and holding off the explosive St. Cloud attack. Eidsness had time to glance up at the scoreboard and do a little goalie logic.
“I looked up at about the eight or nine minute mark and I had the feeling I probably shouldn’t let in another goal, or the boys wouldn’t be too happy with me, after the third game in three nights,” said Eidsness.
And when Huskies Motzko pulled goaltender Dunn for a sixth attacker, he had barely gotten to the bench when the puck popped loose, sliding toward the St. Cloud goal, and Matt Frattin chased it down and deposited it into the empty net with 41 seconds remaining.
Eidsness was named all-tournament goaltender, and was joined by teammates VandeVelde and Blood. Raboin joined Blood on the all-tournament defense, and his teammate, Mosey, was named with VandeVelde and Wisconsin’s Blake Geoffrion. Just about the time everybody wondered why Trupp wasn’t named, he was announced as the tournament most valuable player.
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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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