Well, they saved the best game for last, no question.
 
Game 1
  I stand by everything I said about New Hampshire yesterday, but the
emphasis needs to be reversed tonight.  This team can put the puck in the
net, no question about it.  Mark Mowers is as good as people have
described; he belonged on the all-tournament team, but I'll get to that
later.  In the second period, Harvard seemed to give up.  After the
Wildcats first goal of the period, I turned to Pam Sweeney and said that it
really seemed like a much more even game than the 4-1 score (it may have
been the second goal of the period, it's been a long week).  Harvard
obviously heard me; unfortunately, their response was to make it clear that
this wasn't such an even game.  Neither team covered anyone in front of the
net or was able to stop rushes.  The difference was that New Hampshire
generated far more opportunities to take advantage of the Crimson's
deficiencies than the other way around.  Based on this game, UNH isn't a
threat to beat another very good team anytime soon.  I can see the talent
there that could have enabled them to beat BU a couple of months ago, but
the effort and discipline (perhaps more the latter) isn't there to do it
again.  In all, it was a game that I was glad to see end; the only
highlight of the third period was Harvard's #19 putting an unbelievable
move on a Wildcat defenseman to produce a short-handed goal.
  Kirk Nielsen reminds me a lot of his older brother, an ex-Gopher.  Not as
much scoring ability, but every bit the same willingness to take dumb
penalties.  One of my hockey-l companions at the game suggested that Mama
Nielsen showed them how to run over goalies as toddlers.
 
Game 2
  Minnesota was very, very fortunate to win this game.  If it were measured
by heart and effort, the outcome would have been different.  When you have
a game that is a 2-2 tie after two periods and one team outshoots the other
11-2 in the third, you would expect that team to win.  Well, it didn't
happen that way.  Dan Trebil put a blast between Mike Savard's legs with
about 8 minutes to play, and Steve DeBus made it stand up.
  To open, the two teams traded periods.  BGSU controlled the first, by a
margin that exceeds the 14-8 shot disparity.  The Gophers, in parcticular
the third line of Bobby Dustin, Dan Hendrickson and, well, I won't name the
third since he wasn't actually guilty, took dumb penalties.  I thought we
were very lucky to be tied 1-1.
  then it turned around, and the Gophers outshot the Falcons in the second
by the same 14-8 tally, and the play was just as lopsided.  (Maybe the rink
was tilted; that was the same end UNH scored seventeen bazillion goals in
the second period of the consolation game.)  This was the Minnesota team I
keep hoping to see.  Bad breaks, scrappy last-ditch play by Bowling Green
and good net-minding by Savard produced a 2-2 tie at the horn.
  In the third, I didn't realize until late (and with an assist from Erik
Biever) how lopsided the shots were.  I don't think that the play was quite
that uneven, but we certainly didn't have the best of it.  Ryan Kraft for
the Gophs couldn't have hit the net with a club and was more of a danger to
the fans in Section 12 than to BGSU's chances.  Without question,
Minnesota's hero was Steve DeBus in goal, with a very strong second place
to Greg Zwakman for being in the right place at the right time to help him
out on 'D'.  In close, Minnesota defensemen played well for most of the
game, and it was a good thing given the number of chances given up.
  With about three minutes to play, I said that DeBus was going to have to
come up big one more time.  Sure enough, he stoned BGSU (I think it was
#10, but I'm not sure) on a breakaway not 45 seconds later.  What I didn't
realize is that he was going to have to make two more great saves in the
last minute.
  It was a great game to watch, even if it wasn't played at the highest of
levels at all times.  I tip my hat to the Falcons; in yesterday's post I
said that I wasn't sure if they were a very good team.  If they continue to
play like they did tonight, they're going to beat some good teams, and I'm
just glad we weren't one of them.
  Now, three hours after the final horn, I will accuse Bowling Green of
sabotaging our National Championship hopes by not scoring down the stretch
so that we could win 4-3 in overtime.  Come the end of March, if we don't
win it all, I'll blame you.
 
All-Tournament Team
  G - Steve DeBus - Minnesota
       No argument here.  He only played in one game, but he was absolutely
the difference tonight.
  D - Todd Hall - New Hampshire
       Quite frankly, the two games UNH played didn't hold my interest well
enough, considering how little sleep I've had over the last three days, to
really feel confident in an opinion either way.  i seem to remember his
name being called on a number of goals, so I'll accept this choice happily.
  D - Mike Crowley - Minnesota
       He played very well at both ends all weekend.  Good choice.
  F - ?
       I got distracted momentarily and missed a name.  I think it was from
New Hampshire, but it wasn't Mowers.  It might have been BGSU.
  F - Brad Holzinger - Bowling Green
       Good hockey runs in the family.  If I were in the CCHA, the prospect
of this guy being around for two more years would frighten me.
  F - Brian Bonin - Minnesota
       This is the selection I disagree with.  I really think the Bonin got
the honor on his reputation.  He had two points last night, and really
wasn't a factor tonight.  He played well, but I could come up with several
forwards more impressive.  Most obviously Mark Mowers, who was instrumental
in blow-torching Harvard in the second period this afternoon.  Was there
possibly a home town bias in the selection?
 
Tournament MVP
  Steve DeBus - Minnesota
       He played extremely well, no question.  Still, I would have picked
Holzinger.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.