I'll give an honorable mention to all of the overtime games I've seen in
tournament play, particularly that Maine-Michigan game last year.  For my
money, though, the best game I've seen in a long time was the
Minnesota-Michigan game at the 1994 College Hockey Showcase.  I believe
I've said before that it was two different games live and on TV.  In the
arena, the Gophers looked dead.  Not flat, not lacking effort, they looked
DEAD.  Playing a big, physical team, they lost a forward off of each of
their top two lines early (including Justin McHugh, who had scored every
Gopher goal in the previous game-and-a-half).  By late in the second
period, they were completely bent over at every whistle.  What I didn't
appreciate until I got to see the game on tape was the extent to which they
had outplayed the Wolverines, despite being down 3-1 at that point.  The
comeback started halfway through the third, and they just slowly bled
Michigan out of the game.  None of the three goals came in a flurry, but
over about an eight minute stretch, they went from down two to up one.  To
cap it off, after taking the lead with about two minutes left, they never
gave Turco a chance to get out of the nets.  (Maybe a bit of an
exaggeration, but it took Michigan a long time to get the puck out if its
own end.)  This was the defining moment for what was my favorite Minnesota
team in the ten years I've been in this state.
 
J. Michael Jackson
 
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