Sioux top CC in classic, now meet Denver
North Dakota's Evan Trupp carried the puck 100 feet on the blade of his stick before flinging it toward the Colorado College net.
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MN. — North Dakota supplied a little order to the chaos of the WCHA playoffs Friday night, but it took a semifinal game that was often-chaotic itself before Matt Frattin’s late goal gave the Sioux a 4-3 victory over Colorado College before 15,008 fans at Xcel Energy Center. It was clearly the entertainment highlight of the Final Five.
The upsets that were sprinkled through the playoffs were left behind, and the top two seeds — North Dakota (28-8-3) and Denver (24-10-5) — remain to play in Saturday night’s 7:07 p.m. WCHA Final Five championship game.
Earlier in the day, Denver had ended Bemidji State’s run of playoff upsets with a four-goal third period that sank the Beavers 6-2. The 10th place Beavers had upset No. 3 seed Nebraska-Omaha in the two-game sweep to reach the Final Five, then knocked off No.4 seed Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 in overtime in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Bemidji State made a spirited run at No. 2 seeded Denver, with an 18-shot first period and a 2-1 lead, but the Pioneers weathered being outshot 38-32, killed off a two-man power play that overlapped into the third period, then got successive goals by Nick Shore, Jason Mermis, Luke Salazar and the second goal of the game from Kyle Ostrow, into an open net.
“Having gone to Omaha, then winning against Duluth last night, we brainwashed ourselves into thinking we could win,” said Serratore. “The bottom line is, the cream rose to the top, and that’s Denver. They’re one of the best teams in the country and they deserve their high ranking.”
The second semifinal, though, was the one that left both teams, their coaches, and the fans enthralled, featuring a little bit of everything, and a few unprecedented highlights. Standouts were everywhere, including North Dakota’s Matt Frattin, who scored the game-winning goal with 5:40 remaining off a dazzling set-up by Evan Trupp, who earlier had astounded the players on both teams and the big crowd with some sleight-of-stickhandling.
CC goaltender Joe Howe shared top billing with 34 saves, many of them to snuff excellent scoring chances, while teammate Rylan Schwartz scored twice, including a momentarily fulfilling turnabout goal that created a 3-3 tie midway through the final period.
“It was a great hockey game,” said North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol. “The pace was excellent, and it was one of the better games we’ve been involved in, for entertainment value.”
Matt Frattin did some fancy stepping before scoring the winning goal for North Dakota.
Colorado College coach Scott Owens said: “I’m glad we were able to put some entertainment back into the tournament. The pace was so different than last night. They played physical, and we battled and competed. The shots were a little lopsided, but they were not symbolic of the game. They’re old, and strong, and big, and they really come at you. We wanted to be in position to win in the third period, and we were. It was great Final Five atmosphere. Tremendous. It was an unbelievable experience for our guys.”
North Dakota (29-8-3) powered its way to a 38-21 edge in shots, but the outcome wasn’t decided until Trupp’s no-look pass out from the left end boards to Frattin. “I yelled, and Trupp’s been finding me back-door all year,” said Frattin, whose goal was the 34th of a brilliant senior season that earned him WCHA player of the year honors.
Colorado College dropped to 22-18-3, but likely will still gain an NCAA tournament berth, while North Dakota and Denver are assured of making the 16-team field, and Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha are also likely participants.
The entertainment highlight came five minutes into the third period when Trupp came up with a play that would have won ESPN’s play of the day, if ESPN cared enough about college hockey to notice. Trupp, a senior from Anchorage, was near his own blue line when he flipped the puck up, flat onto his stick blade, then hoisted it to waist height, and skated off into CC’s end, carrying the puck like a pancake on a spatula. When he got to the right circle, he fired off a lacrosse-style shot on goal. Howe saved it, but everybody in the building blinked in amazement.
“It’s great that everyone got to see what Trupper can do,” said Sioux captain Chay Genoway. “We get to see it on a regular basis.”
Frattin said: “I was breaking to the net when he did that, and I didn’t know what I should do — pull up?”
Hakstol could only smile. “I don’t know what I thought when I saw it,” he said. “Trupp does so many creative things for us, but I’ve never seen him do that. He carried the puck over 100 feet that way. It’s not like he’s doing it to get the spotlight; he’s just such a creative player he’s always coming up with something. You saw him a little later make that great pass to Frattin for the winning goal.”
The Sioux didn’t need any help in starting out as if to dominate, but they got help anyway when they charged the CC net and Tigers defenseman Gabe Guentzel was called for holding at 0:24. Colorado College killed off the penalty, but 20 seconds after it expired the aroused Sioux scored. The goal came from Danny Kristo, just returning from missing six weeks for severe frostbite to his foot for trying to take a nighttime shortcut home during the harshest cold of Grand Forks. Kristo carried up the right side, looking for a pass receiver, then snapped a wrist shot from the circle that beat Howe high to the short side at 2:44.
CC goaltender Joe Howe came up with the save to block Chay Genoway's wraparound.
For the next 10 minutes, the Sioux pretty well put on a forechecking clinic, checking the Tigers back on their heels and rarely letting them get out of their zone. North Dakota had a 9-4 edge in shots at the 12-minute mark, and had a couple of flurries after that. But Howe was brilliant, and when Corban Knight was penalized for high sticking, Colorado College got its first chance on the power play.
Setting up around the periphery, Guentzel passed from center point to the left circle, and Stephen Schultz blasted a one-timer past goaltender Aaron Dell for the 1-1 equalizer at 17:24.
Outshot 15-7 for the opening period, the Tigers had earned a standoff, and had a threat at the buzzer, but Dell stopped Joe Marciano’s try at the left edge. The quick but lighter Tigers were taking a heavy dose of contact at every confrontation with the aggressive Sioux, but they were resilient, played through it, and capitalized on their opportunities. The next opportunity came at 5:14 of the second period, when CC gained a 2-1 advantage. Dell stopped a shot by Ryan Lowery, but Rylan Schwartz scored with a follow-up shot, with the puck trickling across the line moments before Stephen Schultz hurtled over Dell in the crease.
North Dakota got the 2-2 equalizer at 14:55. Andrew MacWilliam and Joe Gleason worked hockey’s version of a reverse in the left corner. Gleason carried from the end boards up the left side and handed off to MacWilliam, coming the other way. MacWilliam continued around the end boards and fed to the slot where Brent Davidson plinked a wrist shot into the upper right corner of the net.
But the third period was worth the price of admission alone. After Trupp had performed his magic trick, the 2-2 deadlock remained up for grabs. CC’s Rylan Schwartz went off for tripping, but at 6:41, North Dakota freshman Brock Nelson was called for checking from behind, worth a 5-minute major and game disqualification. That negated the Sioux power play and left CC on a 4-minute advantage a minute later. While killing the penalty, Genoway flipped a pass to Frattin, who broke around the left of the defense for a short-handed chance. Rylan Schwartz, just a minute out of the penalty box, took Frattin down, sending him sliding into goaltender Howe, who was knocked clear of the crease to the right. A delayed penalty was signalled, and the Sioux went to the net like bees to a hive. Genoway was at the crease when Brad Malone got the puck, and Genoway jumped straight up as Malone shot under him to score into the empty net.
“I almost saved Brad’s shot,” said Genoway. “I had to jump and get out of the way. That would have been bad.”
CC's Rylan Schwartz wound up with his skates crossbar-high as he dived to score his second goal for a 3-3 tie in the third period.
That goal made it 3-2 Sioux at 8:30, and in addition to the short-handed tally, the Sioux got a power play because Rylan Schwartz still had to serve the delayed penalty. Fortunately for him, when he returned to the ice, the Tigers were still on the end of the major power play, and Schwartz came up with a colorful goal for atonement. Stationed to the right of the net, he knocked a bouncing puck out of the air and across in front, then hurtled past goalie Dell and jammed the puck in as he tumbled to the ice for a 3-3 tie.
“I knew I had to get one back for us,” said Schwartz, the sophomore half of the brother act with freshman Jaden Schwartz.
With 5:40 remaining, Sioux winger Trupp set up Frattin’s game-winner, but it wasn’t over. because Colorado College had one last power play. But the Sioux withstood it to get to the final minute, when they also fought off CC’s six-skater attack to the final buzzer.
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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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