Uh . . . would you believe Northern Michigan 6, Minnesota-Duluth 2?!
The Wildcats roared into the finals of the WCHA playoffs with what many
regarded as a shocking four-goal win over regular season champions
Minnesota-Duluth. Greg Hadden scored twice for NMU while Joe Frederick,
Scott Smith, Kory Korlander and Jason Hehr each had one. It was
Northern Michigan's 10th win in 12 appearances in the St. Paul Civic
Center, and its eight straight victory in "Lakeview West." NMU will
face the Minnesota Golden Gophers tomorrow night in the championship
game, the third straight year the Broadmoor Cup has come down to a
Gopher-Wildcat clash.
I personally found tonight's outcome particularly satisfying because one
of the Minnesota television broadcasters commented following the first
semifinal game earlier in the evening (a 4-3 overtime win for Minnesota
over Wisconsin) that "Northern Michigan will have to play a whole lot
better than they did last night to have a chance against
Minnesota-Duluth tonight." I think this displayed a lot of ignorance
concerning the second-half performance of the Michigan Tech Huskies--not
to mention NMU's second-half performance (including taking 3 of 4 points
from Duluth in the last weekend of the regular season). Beating Tech
last night was an excellent accomplishment, and all Huskie and Wildcat
fans realize this. That's not to say NMU didn't play even better in
this game.
The UMD 'Dogs opened the game with a tremendous rush and stormed the NMU
net and goalie Corwin Saurdiff during the first five minutes. There was
no score until about halfway through the period, however, when Rusty
Fitzgerald broke through after taking a beautiful pass from Derek Plante
and scoring from the right side of the crease. The Wildcats then
scored two straight. Hehr got his first, with a hard shot from the net
side of the left wing faceoff circle past goalie Jerome Butler. Then a
few minutes later on a Duluth power play Hadden picked up a puck and
broke in on Butler quickly, putting a wrist shot past him for a
shorthanded goal and a 2-1 lead. Later in the first period the 'Dogs
evened it again on a power play, when the 'Cats failed to displace a UMD
winger parked just five feet from the front of the goal, and he flicked
in a very nice pass sent him from behind the net. The shots on goal in
the period were 15-5 in favor of the Bulldogs, which in large part
reflected four power plays. Saurdiff was very good in the period, and
the shots on goal would have been even more lopsided without some good
defensive help he received. 2-2 after one period.
The tide completely turned in the second period. NMU was in charge
nearly the entire remaining forty minutes. The 'Cats took the lead for
good on a goal by Scott Smith, and got their fourth score on a shot by
leading goal scorer Joe Frederick (but not a shorthander, this time).
Smith's goal was the direct result of a sensational effort by Bryan Ganz
, who fought off a hard check as he carried the puck up the left side
over the Bulldog blue line, regained control and passed off to the
streaking Smith who fired a shot past Butler's left arm into the middle
of the net's left side. Later, the Wildcats had a two-man advantage
which Frederick punctuated with a kind of shovel shot through a small
crowd near the front of the goal.
So, 4-2 Northern Michigan at the end of two.
Relatively early in the third period Wildcat Kory Karlander took a pass
on a great effort by a diving teammate and cut in the afterburner to
break in on Butler, fake to his left, then cut to the right and tuck the
puck behind Butler. From that point on NMU went into a cautious
approach with just one forechecker. Despite this, they realized several
more excellent scoring chances, while denying the Bulldogs nearly any
offensive opportunities at all. Hadden finished the scoring with his
second goal of the night during one of those occasions.
The only thing missing from the contest from a Wildcat perspective was a
goal by Brent Riplinger, whose second-best-in-league-history fifteen
game goal scoring streak came to an end. Somehow I doubt Brent is that
upset tonight!
By game's end NMU had outshot Duluth 37-30, and Saurdiff was looking
like the goaltender who was named MVP of last year's WCHA tournament.
For tomorrow evening's championship contest with the Minnesota Gophers,
the Wildcats figure to be tired, but pumped. The TV broadcaster managed
to irritate me again during the wrapup, when he virtually said that the
Bulldogs didn't really have a reason to play hard tonight, since they
know they're a cinch for the NC$$ tournament, but that since the Gophers
are probably "on the bubble" they WILL be giving NMU an all-out effort.
The Wildcats have now notched 20 wins that count--i.e., in addition to
the one they recorded over the Czech Selects--and are 20-16-4 overall.
More significantly, they are something like 13-4-1 since the New Year.
Greg Hadden's big night against Duluth kept his consecutive game
point-scoring streak going and extended it to 19.
We've been having fun up here!! :-)
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* Steve Christopher, NMU [log in to unmask] * * * * *
* NCAA Division I Hockey National Champions 1990-91 * GO * *
* NCAA Division I Hockey Final Eight 1991-92 * *
* WCHA League Champions 1990-91 * 'CATS! * *
* WCHA Playoff Champions 1988-89/1990-91/1991-92 . . . * * * * *
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