Inside College Hockey | 2005 NCAA West Regional Final

March 27, 2005
NCAA West Regional Final
(Second) Chances Are
Minnesota gets another crack at WCHA foes in Columbus

By Jess Myers

Minnesota 2, Cornell 1 (ot)
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
No scoring
Second Period
1-COR	Mitch Carefoot (4)	SH
13:02	D. Pegoraro
1-MN	Andy Sertich (6)	EV
14:45	G. Smaagaard
Third Period
No scoring
Overtime
2-MN	Barry Tallackson (11)	EV
4:31	M. Howe
Goaltending
COR: Dave McKee, 64:31, 37 saves, 2 GA
MN: Kellen Briggs, 64:31, 17 saves, 1 GA
Penalties: COR 7/14; MN 4/8
Power Plays: COR 0-3; MN 0-6
Attendance: 9,054
All-West Regional Team
F: Evan Kaufmann, Minnesota F: Matt Moulson, Cornell F: Garrett Smaagaard, Minnesota D: Doug Krantz, Cornell D: Mike Vannelli, Minnesota G: Kellen Briggs, Minnesota (MVP)

MINNEAPOLIS – It almost sounds like the plot of one of those cheesy Sunday evening made-for-TV movies: a coach tries, and fails on a big stage, when anything and everything goes wrong. But through some fluke of the space-time continuum, the coach gets a second chance to do it all over again.

A version of this improbable scenario is playing itself out on ice rinks right now, although the main action took place on a Sunday afternoon, not Sunday night. His team faced the WCHA’s best and lost twice in the Final Five a week ago, but with WCHA teams going 8-1 in the NCAA playoffs, Minnesota coach Don Lucia has suddenly been handed a second chance to prove his team’s mettle against the likes of North Dakota, Denver and Colorado College.

“We feel very fortunate to be moving on, and we’re looking forward to playing the Final Five again,” Lucia joked after his team’s 2-1 overtime win versus Cornell put the Gophers in the Frozen Four for the third time in the past four years. “We talked at the Final Five that the tournament is so great, it’s almost like the Frozen Four. Well, now it is the Frozen Four.”

Such is the talk in WCHA circles after – for the first time in college hockey history – four teams from the same conference will battle on the national stage to take home the title. Shortly before Minnesota’s game with Cornell, league commissioner Bruce McLeod watched Denver dispatch New Hampshire on a TV inside Mariucci Arena, giving the league three Frozen Four teams. McLeod took a call from the WCHA’s Jeff Sauer, and The Dean instructed McLeod to, “tell Donny he’d better not screw this up.” While McLeod didn’t relay the message to Lucia until after Minnesota’s win, Lucia joked afterwards that the fact that three WCHA teams were already in made it even more nerve wracking for the Gophers.

“We had tremendous pressure on us after three WCHA teams had already made it to the Frozen Four,” Lucia said. “Bruce came down and told us that we couldn’t let the league down.”

McLeod said afterwards that he’s heading to Columbus prepared to face critics who will say that the Frozen Four serving as “Final Five, the Sequel” is bad for college hockey’s growth outside of Colorado, North Dakota and Minnesota.

“Hopefully, people will look at the broad picture too, and realize that the four best teams are probably headed there,” he said. “It’s not going to take anything away from college hockey or from showcasing our sport. We don’t want to come across as gloating, but certainly we feel that this is the way it should’ve worked out.”

And while North Dakota and Denver got there by beating eastern teams in the East, and Colorado College got there by beating Michigan in Michigan, Lucia acknowledged that his young, out-manned team caught a break via the venue of the West Regional.

“One thing in our favor was playing at home,” Lucia said. “I think it was to our benefit playing on an Olympic (size) rink against Cornell.”

Lucia’s team will get no such breaks in central Ohio, where they’ll face a red-hot North Dakota team on a NHL-size ice sheet. But for now there’s celebrating to be done in the Twin Cities, and a chance for the Gophers to turn back the college hockey clock for a shot at redemption.

(ALMOST) WINNING THE CORNELL WAY

Heading to overtime having been badly out-shot, in another team’s building, with a huge hostile crowd on hand just waiting for you to fail, the Cornell Big Red felt like they were right where they wanted to be. Mike Schafer’s team had weathered the storms of the first and second periods, when they were out-shot by a margin of 4-to-1 or worse, and had survived a stretch when it seemed like there was a player wearing red in the penalty box constantly.

With the extra session ready to begin, and the Big Red having matched the Gophers at eight shots each in the third period, it looked as if the tide was turning to favor the road team, with a trip to Columbus on the line.

“We felt good at the end of the third period,” said Cornell sophomore wing Mitch Carefoot, who scored his team’s lone goal. “We were starting to play our type of game, and things were going the way we wanted them to down in their zone.”

Indeed, after the flurries David McKee had turned aside in the first 40 minutes, the Cornell defensive game was taking over as Minnesota grew more tired and more frustrated at its inability to blow open a game that the Gophers had dominated from the opening faceoff.

“They have great skill, but I thought we were able to take away the middle of the ice as the game wore on,” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “We wanted to keep the shots out at the perimeter and not give them any second chances. I thought we did a solid job of that.”

That game plan had been unavailable in the first two periods, as Cornell was uncharacteristically whistled for seven penalties and had to kill six Minnesota power plays. Getting your game plan on track is someone else’s building is tough enough. Getting it on track with four skaters instead of five is close to impossible.

“I was told coming in here that there were 10,000 officials in the crowd,” Schafer said. “It just seemed like every time I turned around we were in the penalty box. We’re the 48th least penalized team in the country.”

Schafer said that as long as his team could continue to take away Minnesota’s second chances, they would be in control in overtime. Indeed, when the end finally came for the Big Red, it came when McKee uncharacteristically gave up a rebound, and Barry Tallackson shot it all the way to Columbus.

“It happened pretty fast,” said McKee. “They had a guy in the corner who hit a guy in the open slot. He made a good pass and got the first shot off, and I got a piece of it. But it went right back to his stick, and he lifted it over me. It was a good goal.”

Good enough to send the Big Red home, even when it looked like the game was turning their way.

INCH's Three Stars of the West Regional

3. David McKee, Cornell
The Big Red could’ve gotten blown out in the first period of both of their games. Instead, the long, tall Texan kept the opponents from pulling away, and kept Cornell within one OT bounce of the Frozen Four.

2. Garrett Smaagaard, Minnesota
Seniors never want their final season to end. This upperclassman made enough plays this weekend, assisting on two of the Gophers’ three goals, to make his final year last at least 11 days longer.

1. Kellen Briggs, Minnesota
We’d be hard pressed to name his most spectacular save of the weekend, but when you allow just one goal, win the MOP, and get your team to the Frozen, that’s about all one can ask of a goaltender.

SEEN AND HEARD AT MARIUCCI

• One of the biggest ovations of the day came during the first intermission when Minnesota’s mascot, Goldy Gopher, held up a sign at center ice that read “We (heart) #23.” With the Gophers struggling to score all weekend, Tyler Hirsch was missed for more than one reason.

• Cornell coach Mike Schafer was seeking career win no. 200 on Sunday, but fell one goal short, leaving him at 199-103-34 in 10 seasons as a head coach. His next crack at the big 2-0-0 will have to wait about seven months.

• Sunday’s game was the only time this season that the Big Red lost when scoring the first goal of the game, and the first loss of any kind since Jan. 8. “When you haven’t lost a game in two-and-a-half months, this was a tough way to get a loss,” said Schafer.

• With the change of one word, Mariucci Arena p.a. announcer Jamie Verbrugge made it clear that the home of Minnesota’s Pride on Ice was technically a neutral venue this weekend. Normally, when Minnesota comes out for warm-ups, Verbrugge announces, “Please welcome YOUR Minnesota Golden Gophers!” On Saturday and Sunday, Verbrugge’s opening line was, “Please welcome the Minnesota Golden Gophers.”

• Congratulations to Tom and Susie Briggs, parents of Gopher goaltender Kellen, on winning the Doug Flutie Award for most television shots of one person or one couple in the crowd. The Briggs’ were among a lot of interesting folks on view at the rink on Saturday and Sunday, but the cameras just couldn’t get enough of Colorado Springs’ biggest Gopher fans.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

USA Hockey Media Relations director Dave Fischer will get to see the WCHA’s best in action after all. During his 18 seasons at Michigan Tech, Fischer never missed a WCHA post-season tournament (although he his team rarely joined him). This March, duty-bound to the new job in Colorado, Fischer lamented missing the WCHA Final Five for the first time. Lo and behold, he’ll get to see four league teams when he gets to Columbus in a few days.

A shout-out to the Cornell band is well deserved for being entertaining throughout the weekend, and for adding “On Wisconsin” to their playlist for the Sunday game. Birds of a red feather apparently stick together. We’ll also tip the cap for their playing of “Deep In the Heart of Texas” after big saves by McKee (the finest collegiate goalie ever to come out of the greater Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex).

To the fans who couldn’t wait until the pre-game moment of silence was finished to yell support for their team. The p.a. announcer requested a pause in memory and support of those killed in last week’s school shooting in Red Lake, Minn. Apparently the moment was just too long for some yahoos who had to yell a cheer before the moment was concluded. Classy work there, fellas.

Sunday’s announced crowd of 9,054 was Minnesota’s smallest home audience of the season. The game to decide the final entrant in the Frozen Four drew worse than exhibition games versus the U.S. National Under-18 Team and the University of Calgary. Hey, we know it’s a sunny Easter Sunday and all, but what in the name of Herb Brooks is going on in the State of Hockey?

WHAT'S NEXT

Don Lucia was in college at Notre Dame in 1979 when Minnesota and North Dakota met in Detroit for the national championship. He remembers little about that game, but fondly recalled that the Irish beat the eventual national champ Gophers (both were in the WCHA at the time) in three of their four meetings that year.

On Thursday, April 7, in prime time, the Gophers and Sioux will battle to see which bank of the Red River of the North is superior, and the stakes could hardly be higher. The teams split their only regular season series (in Grand Forks in October) and the Sioux won the playoff meeting 4-2 in the WCHA Final Five third place game.

Lucia’s team is hoping to get a little healthier in the ensuing 11 days before the rematch with the Sioux. He said that league pride and friendships among WCHA coaches are a factor in the opening two rounds of the NCAA tournament, but they won’t be factors in Columbus.

“I made a phone call to all of the other WCHA coaches playing before the NCAA tournament started, and wished them all good luck,” Lucia said. “In Columbus, I think we’ll have a few good laughs about it, but nobody’s wishing anyone good luck this time around.”