And then there were two.
Minnesota-Duluth 4
Notre Dame 3
FINAL
After an exciting evening of hockey, Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan will face off Saturday evening for the NCAA Hockey Championship. In the first game, the Bulldogs were able to dispatch the Fighting Irish 4-3 behind three powerplay goals by J.T. Brown, Mike Connolly and Jack Connolly. Notre Dame was able to come back in the third period with an early shorthanded goal by Calle Ridderwall but Minnesota-Duluth withheld a 15-2 shot advantage by the Irish and advanced to their second-ever Frozen Four. The first was twenty-seven years ago against Bowling Green where the Falcons won 5-4 in four overtimes.
Michigan 2
North Dakota 0
FINAL
The second game was in every way the opposite of the early game as defense and goaltending ruled the night. Michigan senior goalie Sean Hunwick stopped all forty shots he faced and the Wolverines were able to outlast North Dakota 2-0. After killing two early penalties, Michigan senior Ben Winnett had the first goal 13:26 in the first while Scooter Vaughan added an empty netter and send the green-and-white partisan crowd home dejected. North Dakota also had to play most of the game without freshman Brock Nelson as he was taken off the ice in a stretcher.
I’ll have more about both games, including quotes from the coaches and teams, tomorrow along with a couple other Frozen Four pieces.