Tomorrow the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs will take on the University of Michigan Wolverines for the NCAA DI Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Should be a killer of a game with Michigan’s strong defense matched up against Minnesota-Duluth’s very special team play in power play opportunities.

Minnesota-Duluth Fights Back Twice, Holds On To Beat Notre Dame 4-3

Notre Dame scored first, only about a minute into the opening period, of this great game.  But Minnesota-Duluth came back about three minutes later with a power play goal by J. T. Brown.  Notre Dame struck again about midway through the first to regain the lead at 2-1, but UMD was not to be denied.  The Bulldogs’ Kyle Schmidt struck about a minute later to tie it at 2-2, and then three minutes later Mike Connolly struck on another UMD power play goal.  The first ended with UMD up 3-2.

In the second, Jack Connolly scored on yet another power play, putting UMD up 4-2, six minutes into the period.  The remainder of the period saw UMD pretty much in charge, with some great scoring opportunities, but Notre Dame held on to end the period down 4-2. Notre Dame came out determined in the third, and scored on a short-hander two minutes into the period.  Notre Dame kept up the attack, outshooting UMD 15-2 in the period, but UMD held Notre Dame out for the 4-2 win. 

In the end it came down to UMD’s killer instinct on the power play, scoring on three of six opportunities. Meanwhile Notre Dame could not score on any of their five opportunities – yet they scored one shorthanded!  Minnesota-Duluth also had a great game from goalie Kenny Reiter, who denied Notre Dame on 14 of their 15 third period attempts.

Strong Michigan Defensive Play Shuts Out North Dakota 2-0  

In the second game yesterday, North Dakota did a lot of things they normally do, but because of the stellar play of Michigan goalie Shawn Hunwick, they did not score.  Michigan scored thirteen minutes into the first after a long shot from the blue line richocheted to the front of the crease.  It landed in a sort of a scrum, and a Michigan player kicked the puck out to Ben Winnett, who turned and fired from the circle to put Michigan up 1-0.  And there it would stay as the two teams battled it out.

North Dakota flew up and down the ice and fired often as the scoring opportunities were set up.  But Michigan would not crack, and as the game wound down with only a minute to go, North Dakota pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, and shortly after that, Michigan’s Scooter Vaughan put in an empty-netter to seal the deal at 2-0.  North Dakota badly outshot Michigan 40-20, but Hunwick controlled the game, even during North Dakota’s four power play opportunities.

Tomorrow will be only the second time that Minnesota-Duluth has played in the championship game, and they face Michigan, a program that has been in the game a seemingly countless number of times.  Don’t miss this one — 4pm Pacific Time on ESPN.

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned, and go Terriers!