Minnesota Defends Title, Champions again

The University of Minnesota Gophers answered their critics and their supporters by winning a second straight NCAA national title. Minnesota defeated the University of New Hampshire, 5-1 in becoming the first team in 31 years to repeat as national champions.

“Without question we were playing the best hockey over the final months of the season,” said Lucia, who writes a new page in the Minnesota history books as the only coach to have accomplished such a feat. “This is truly something special.”

The final was a classic contest until the third period when Minnesota broke it open with three unanswered goals in a five-minute span. Led once again by Thomas Vanek, Minnesota turned it on when they needed in the final frame, and sealed the victory. Like he did in the semifinals, Vanek found his game and powered the Gopher attack and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Lucia believed the most remarkable of Vanek’s attributes was the ability to score late in games, which was evident in this tournament as he notched both game-winners.

“We talked about his ability to score in the third period this season,” said Lucia. “His goal was a gamebreaker. Great players are the ones who step up when the game is on the line, and Thomas did,” said Lucia.

Both teams traded scoring chances early. In the opening minute, Grant Potulny took a pass from Troy Riddle but was stopped by Mike Ayers. At 8:57 Colin Hemingway was called off for charging. Minnesota got two early shots through on Ayers before Matt DeMarchi scored with a wrist shot that went through traffic. The goal, DeMarchi’s eighth of the season, came as time expired on the power play, giving the Gophers the lead.

Minnesota put a lot of pressure in the UNH zone and created traffic in front of the Ayers. Minnesota outshot UNH 16-7 in the period with Vanek and Riddle leading the way with three apiece. Ayers stood on his head and kept his team in it for as long as possible. He saw plenty of rubber as Minnesota poured 45 shots on goal in the game. Despite being outshot early on, New Hampshire was still in the contest.

The game took on a different complexion late in the first period. At 18:01 Minnesota’s Garrett Smaagaard was called off for hitting after the whistle. UNH responded as Sean Collins scored with less than a minute to play. A touch pass across the net, in front, from Nathan Martz, named to the All-Tournament Team, found a wide-open Collins who drilled it past Weber on the glove side to tie it.

“It was a great time to score a goal,” said Patrick Foley. “We built our whole second period on it. It was a goal that we thought, at the time, was a momentum changer.”

For two periods it was anyone’s game as the score stood at one. Things seemed to settle down in the second as both schools traded scoring chances. UNH turned it on in the middle of the period and missed on a glorious chance in front as Joshua Prudden redirected a Kevin Truelson shot that Weber saved on the doorstep.

Ayers was equally impressive with a quick glove, nabbing a Koalska tip and a Jon Waibel chance moments later. Minnesota would get a final chance in the second as Barry Tallackson drove alone towards the net and let go of a wrister that caught the far post to Ayers glove side with seconds left on the clock. It seemed that the crowd of 18,759 were in for a long night, maybe overtime.

“We were definitely confident heading in the third and felt we could win,” said a disappointed Nathan Martz. “They took it to us over the first period but it was pretty even going into the third period.”

As only he can seem to do, Vanek scored in the third period to give Minnesota the lead. Vanek brought the puck in the zone, deked Mick Mounsey and held on to the puck until Ayers went down prematurely leaving Vanek with a wide-open net. It was Vanek’s 31st of the season at 8:14 with Matt Koalska getting the assist.

“Ayers is so tough to beat on just a point blank shot because he comes out and plays the angle well,” said Vanek. “We talked about lateral movement, so I was just patient and tried to fake the shot a few times and go around him.”

At that point things quickly unraveled for the Wildcats as Minnesota scored twice more. Vanek split the UNH defense and got a shot off on Ayers. Waibel grabbed the rebound and chipped it behind the net to Vanek who quickly returned it to Waibel who put it past Ayers at 11:25.

“First I came down the right side. I think Jonny got it in the left corner and bumped it back down to me,” Vanek recalled. “And he was going hard to the net so I (passed) it back to him, and he made a great shot.”

A little over two minutes later, Barry Tallackson jammed a Gino Guyer pass through the slot past Ayers to make it 4-1.

New Hampshire coach Dick Umile called a time out to settle his team down but they were clearly overwhelmed at that point. During the timeout, a clearly frustrated Mike Ayers threw down his water bottle and began screaming at the bench.

“I didn’t want us to give up,” said Ayers of his tirade. “I thought we were timid after Vanek’s goal. We were down by three with 6:30 left in the game and I said to the guys that we shouldn’t give up. This team has heart and it would have been a shame to go out like that.”

Tallackson added an empty netter to close the contest. Minnesota is the first team since Boston University to repeat and certainly it must be considered among the greatest feats in college hockey history.

“(Lucia) has done a terrific job with the program,” said losing coach Dick Umile. “Everyone better look out next year because it hasn’t happened often that a team has won back-to-back titles.”