Checked out the archives of the Minnesota Daily for the article on the Harvard
3-2 victory over Minnesota in the 89 championship game. Here's what I found.
Pretty sad.
 
 
Date: 04/03/1989
Headline: Harvard upends Gophers for NCAA title
Author: Lien, Dan
 
Harvard upends Gophers for NCAA title
Dan LienStaff Reporter
The Gophers' second place trophy sat by itself on the
blueline, where co captain Dave Snuggerud had set it almost 20
minutes earlier.
    For the 20 Minnesota players, who sat in numbed disbelief on the
ice and in the bench, it was small consolation. So small, in fact,
that the trophy was nearly left on the ice.
    This one hurt.
    For 64 minutes and 16 seconds the Harvard and Minnesota hockey
teams poured their hearts into what many felt was the finest college
championship game in NCAA history. Ed Krayer's rebound goal 4:16 into
overtime gave Harvard a 4 3 win.
    After the game, players wept openly, each player's face telling
the story. It was a familiar story. A story with a sad ending.
    The game started out strong for Minnesota when Jon Anderson gave
the Gophers a 1 0 lead 6:24 into the first period. Linemate Ben
Hankinson skated across the Harvard blueline with the puck, drawing a
Crimson defenseman with him. Just then, Hankinson spotted Anderson
closing in behind him and dropped him the puck. Anderson took two
strides and shot the puck past Crimson goalie Chuckie Hughes.
    The first period ended 1 0 Minnesota, with both teams mustering
10 shots on goal. Harvard, however, killed off three consecutive
penalties late in the period and was able to swing the momentum early
in the second.
    "The turning point of the game?" Harvard coach Bill Cleary said.
"Our ability to kill penalties."
    In the second, the CrimsonHockey17Hockey1tied the game at 1 1
when Ted Donato, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, blasted a
slapshot over Robb Stauber's shoulder from the blueline. Four minutes
later, Hobey Baker winner Lane MacDonald dazzled the crowd with his
second goal of the tournament, giving Harvard a 2 1 lead.
    Three minutes later, Jason Miller gobbled up a Lance Pitlick
rebound and slammed the puck past Hughes for a 2 2 tie.
    The game was tied for the next 25 minutes, until Donato struck
again in the third for a 3 2 Harvard lead.
    "The rebound kind of handcuffed me," Donato said. "I was lucky
enough to get it in. I wasn't even sure where it went. All I said was
'This one's still not over. Minnesota was too good a team to give
up.'"    And the Gophers didn't give up.
    Four minutes after Donato's goal, Pete Hankinson converted Tom
Pederson's pass at the goal mouth and the game was tied.
    "It was like a golf shot," said Hughes. "I think if I'd ducked,
it might have missed the net. But it hit me and went in off my
shoulder."
    Harvard had a great scoring opportunity with just over two
minutes remaining when Duluth native Mike Vukonich, a high school
teammate of Stauber, broke in and fired, only to have his former
classmate thwart his efforts once again.
    "In high school, I could never score on him either," Vukonich
said.
    In the overtime, Minnesota's Randy Skarda hit the post 2:30 into
the extra session, setting the pace for the next two minutes. Both
teams battled. Harvard came out on top.
    In the locker room, where words did little, only the pain and
tears of a missed opportunity remained.
    Snuggerud wept openly, struggling to get dressed.
    Todd Richards walked briskly out of the locker room. His eyes
were red. His dream was over. Four years, four heartbreaks.
    "It's a pretty sad group. This one hurts right in the gut. The
pain leaves you, thank God," said Gopher coach Doug Woog, fighting
back tears of his own.
    This one hurt, players said, not because this was the year they
were supposed to win it. This one hurt because this was the year
where the Gophers grew closer than any team they had played on
previously.
    The tears were for each other.
    "I think I'll remember the guys the most," Jon Anderson said.
"The friendships, the family. We all suffer together."
    Stauber said, "It's really sad. We've worked so hard and we came
inches away. It's not easy to handle. Losing never is."
    Next door in the Harvard locker room, there was the typical
hugging, high fiving and handshakes that go with an NCAA
Championship, but there was also modesty. The kind of modesty you'd
expect from an Ivy League school.
    "It was a tribute to play Minnesota," Cleary said. "And I told
them so after the game. They play hockey the way it was meant to be
played. It was too bad someone had to lose this game. There really
wasn't a loser tonight. The big winners were the fans. To me, that's
a tribute to how the game of hockey should be played."
    The Gophers were in the early stages of acceptance and they found
it difficult. As they walked out to waiting friends and parents in an
outer corridor, their heads were down, their hearts were broken.
    As Snuggerud emerged from the locker room, he spotted assistant
coach Dean Talafous, who brought Snuggerud from high school to the
Minneapolis Junior Stars to the Gophers.
    Again, he began to cry.
    "Snuggy, when I was young and lost a game like this I'd almost
want to kill myself," Talafous said. "When you've played your guts
out and given it your all, you walk away. That's all you can do.
You'll have other chances."
    "I know," Snuggerud said, "But..."
    Nothing else needed to be said.
     NCAA ChampionshipSaturday, April 1,
1989MINNESOTA11103Harvard02114First periodMINN  Anderson 20 (B.
Hankinson, Olimb) 6:34Penalties: Krayer, Har. (cross checking) 13:21;
Carone, Har. (high sticking) 15:33; Melrose, Har. (holding) 17:39.
Second periodHar.  Donato 13 (Bourbeau, MacDonald) (pp) 6:30;Har.
MacDonald 31 (Young) 10:29MINN  Miller 16 (Pitlick, Chorske) (pp)
13:01Penalties: Pitlick, MINN (elbowing) 0:56; Richards, MINN
(holding) 5:57; Chorske, MINN (hooking) 7:22; Snedden, Har. (hooking)
11:08; Chorske, MINN (interference) 17:09; Caplan, Har. (elbowing)
18:44.
Third periodHar.  Donato 14 (Snedden, Vukonich) 12:53MINN  P.
Hankinson 16 (Pederson, Skarda) (pp) 16:34Penalties: Pederson, MINN
(roughing) 0:46; Carone, Har. (holding) 7:29; Bourbeau, Har. (high
sticking) 9:59; Weisbroad, Har. (cross checking) 14:46.
OvertimeHar.   Krayer 12 (McCormack) 4:16SavesStauber, MINN10851
24Hughes, Har108132 33Power plays: MINNESOTA 2 8, Harvard 1
5Penalties: MINNESOTA 5 10, Harvard 8 16Referee: Steve Piotrowski
(CCHA)Attendance: 15,861 (sellout)Tournament attendance: 63,423 (NCAA
record)
 
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