April 8, 2006
2006 NCAA Frozen Four Championship Game
Red State
A late goal and an even later post gives Wisconsin its sixth national title

By Jess Myers

Wisconsin 2, Boston College 1
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-BC	Pat Gannon (5)	EV
9:01	D. Bertram
Second Period
1-WI	Robbie Earl (24)	EV
1:17	A. Burish, J. Pavelski
Third Period
2-WI	Tom Gilbert (12)	PP
9:32	J. Pavelski
Goaltending
BC: Cory Schneider, 59:36, 37 saves, 2 GA
WI: Brian Elliott, 59:49, 22 saves, 1 GA
Penalties: BC 10/20; WI 6/12
Power Plays: BC 0-4; WI 1-8
Attendance: 17,758
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MILWAUKEE, Wis. – On Friday, Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott said he’d trade the Hobey Baker Award for a national championship. Saturday evening, after some intense and lengthy deliberations, the gods of college hockey approved the trade.

Elliott had 21 saves in the Badgers’ 2-1 win over Boston College, as Wisconsin claimed its sixth NCAA title, and the first since 1990. But it’s a shot that Elliott didn’t stop, and didn’t see, that will have Eagles fans talking abojut what might have been for years to come.

With 1.6 seconds left and Eagles goalie Cory Schneider on the bench for an extra attacker, Boston College came within inches of sending the game to overtime. The sellout crowd was counting down the final seconds when a shot from the point by Peter Harrold was tipped by Brian Boyle en route to the net. The puck deflected downward, hitting the right post and sailing away as the Badgers erupted in a hail of flying sticks, gloves and helmets. While Wisconsin celebrated, Eagles coach Jerry York waited on the ice for referee Matt Shegos to finish reviewing video of the play. When Shegos signaled “no goal” the crowd took it up another notch.

“Posts are your best friends, and I got a big one tonight,” Elliott said.

Afterward, York said the specifics of the play were hard to see from his vantage point.

“On the bench, it happened so fast I couldn’t see it,” York said. “I’ll have to watch Gary Thorne and see what he has to say.”

Brian Elliott stops a Boston College shot in the first period. (Photo by Larry Radloff)

The game was tied 1-1 near the midway point of the third and the Badgers were buzzing in the offensive zone, when Boston College defender Anthony Aiello hooked down Wisconsin’s Jack Skille, giving Wisconsin its sixth power play of the game. Defenseman Tom Gilbert scored the game winner on the ensuing man-advantage, taking a pass from Joe Pavelski and snapping off a low shot that beat Schneider on the stick side. It was redemption of sorts for Gilbert, who’d had two shots stopped earlier in the game.

“I was thinking to myself I wasn’t going to strike out three times,” Gilbert said. “I just buried my head and shot it and I just knew the puck was going in.”

Wisconsin, with the full-throated crowd on its side, dominated the first period offensively, but emerged from the opening 20 minutes trailing by a goal. Eagles fourth-line center Pat Gannon scored the game’s first goal, after a backhand pass by Dan Bertram on the end boards.

The puck bounced past a Wisconsin’s Davis Drewiske, who was posted at the top of the crease, and to the stick of Gannon, who was cutting across the goalmouth from right to left. Gannon flipped a rising backhander on net that caught the upper right corner of the net. It was the first goal in nearly two months for Gannon, who hadn’t scored since netting his team’s only goal in a 3-1 loss at Maine on Feb. 18.

“It was a bad bounce off their guy,” Elliott said. “I got a stick on it but it hopped my stick and went through Drewiske’s skates. Somehow he got it up on the backhand. It was a really good goal and a testament to their hard work on the play.”

The goal was in keeping with the Eagles’ game plan, which involved keeping the 17,758 in attendance as quiet as possible.

“It was clearly in their favor, and our goal was to take then out of it early and not let them jump on top,” said Schneider, who finished with 37 saves – 17 of them in the first period. “I think we did that with that first goal. We took the crowd out of it for a little while.”

Things started to turn in the Badgers’ favor late in the first. They won the last six faceoffs of the period and out-shot Boston College by a margin of nearly two-to-one in the first. The red-dominated crowd rose to greet the Badgers at the start of the second, and the home team gave its fans a show of thanks just 77 seconds into the period.

Carrying the puck across the neutral zone, Earl was hit by Eagles defender Brett Motherwell and went down hard. As the puck squirted to Joe Pavelski, Earl got up slowly and looked like he was heading to the bench for a second, before wheeling and crashing hard for the BC net.

Badger forward Ross Carlson hoists the NCAA championship trophy. (Photo by Larry Radloff)

Meanwhile, Pavelski had fed the puck ahead to Adam Burish who skated to the goal line along the far boards. Burish saw Earl heading toward the net and zipped a pass along the goal line that Earl caught and shot quickly, with the player, the puck and the goalie all ending up in the net.

“I got upended at center ice and kind of hurt my shoulder,” Earl said. “I actually was heading off to the bench, but I decided to take a chance and go to the net. Burish made a nice pass to get me the puck.”

The Badgers, and hundreds of their fans, lingered in the rink long, long after the game ended, with the band playing and the students chanting, “We’re not leaving!” Gilbert stayed to savor the moment, then talked about coach Mike Eaves’ repeated metaphor all season, that the team was climbing a mountain. When he scored the last goal to get his team to the summit, Gilbert said he enjoyed the view.

“We’re flying right now,” he said. “We got to the peak and we just jumped off, and now we’re flying.”