University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Hockey Wins Second Consecutive NCAA Championship
4/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The University of Minnesota men's hockey team became the first team to earn back-to-back NCAA titles in 31 years with a 5-1 victory over the University of New Hampshire on Saturday night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, N.Y. The Golden Gophers broke open a 1-1 tie in the third with four unanswered goals to win their fifth national championship title in school history. The last team to win two consecutive NCAA titles was Boston University in 1971-72. Minnesota completes its 2002-03 season with a record of 28-8-9.
The scoring began with a Matt DeMarchi shot at 10:58 in the first period. DeMarchi one-timed the puck from the top of the circle to put the Golden Gophers on the board with an early 1-0 lead. Sophomore Garrett Smaagaard picked up his seventh assist of the year on the goal.
With only 18.9 second to go in the first, New Hampshire tied the score 1-1 while on the power play. The wrist shot from Sean Collins would prove to be Wildcats? only goal in the contest. Overall Minnesota dominated the first period, out-shooting New Hampshire 16 to 7.
The second period would see a more even game on both sides of the ice. Both teams had several scoring chances, keeping the goaltenders on their toes on each end of the ice. Even with the scoring opportunities, the game remained tied at 1-1 after two with Minnesota holding a 30-16 lead in shots on goal.
It looked like yet another overtime NCAA Championship game until freshman Thomas Vanek notched his 31st goal of the season at 9:14 in the third period. On a pass from junior Matt Koalska, Vanek dragged the puck around the net, pulling out goalie Mike Ayers, and then slid the puck into the empty net to move the score to 2-1. The goal marked the 17th time that Vanek had scored in the third period or overtime and broke open the game for the Gophers.
Vanek would notch his second point of the game 2:11 later when he assisted junior Jon Waibel on his ninth goal of the year. Vanek took a shot on goal, got the rebound and fed it to Waibel, who shot it high over the Ayer's left shoulder to put Minnesota up 3-1.
Sophomore Barry Tallackson would put the last two nails in the coffin with his eighth and ninth goals of the season. Freshman Gino Guyer slid the puck through the slot to Tallackson waiting right at the net's door. Tallackson tapped it in to increase the Minnesota lead to 4-1. Guyer and fellow freshman Chris Harrington were credited with the assists, marking Guyer's sixth assist of the NCAA Tournament.
Tallackson scored his second goal of the night on an empty netter at 18:31. The Wildcats had pulled their goaltender Ayers with 2:01 remaining in the game to try and get their offense going with a 6-on-5 situation. Instead, junior Grant Potulny and Tallackson took advantage of the easy scoring opportunity with a 2-on-1 breakaway. Potulny fed the puck to Tallackson who flipped it into the net to put the score at 5-1 where it would become final.
Starting goaltender Travis Weber saved 26 of 27 shots and improved his NCAA Tournament record to 3-0. Vanek only continued his amazing freshman season by setting two NCAA records for goals (5) and points (8) in the tournament.
Postgame Quotes
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia
General comments on the game and winning title ...
"It feels pretty good. First off, I'd like to congratulate New Hampshire on a great season. They're a class program. Dick Umile and his staff did a fantastic job. Unfortunately, they lost their leading scorer a week ago and I'm sure it affected their team ... I'm really proud of this team because I know how far we've come from the beginning of the year to now."
On the possibility of a dynasty ...
"From year to year, there are no guarantees ... When next year begins in two weeks, it begins again. Just because the puzzle is complete at the end of the year doesn't mean that it starts there the following year."
On preparing for the title game ...
"We got on them. We talked about how UNH wanted this with every fiber in their body. We had to have the same desire, the same want."
"We said that two things are going to happen at the end of the game. Either someone is going to come in and tell you that you played hard, that you had a great year. Or, you're going to be national champion. Talk about an extreme of emotions."
On tournament MOP Thomas Vanek ...
"He's a difference maker. That's why you work hard to recruit players like that. If Thomas is at Michigan, maybe they're sitting here right now."
On any changes made in the third period ...
"We talked about trying to get traffic in front of the goaltender. We did change our forecheck a little bit, tweak it a bit."
On being a good team or a great team ...
"I thought that we played a great game tonight. Guys like (Matt) DeMarchi were outstanding all weekend long. I thought that he was into it, he was vocal. I thought that the guys fed off him."
Differences in his past two teams ...
"We did it a different way (this year). We didn't do it with superstars ... We had a team that grew, a young team. That was key, how this team grew."
