From an article in the Star Tribune this morning by John Gilbert.
 
 The Gophers will play at 7pm Friday, taking on Colorado College, which will be
 making its first trip to the WCHA final four. Getting here was more than half
 the fun for the Tigers, who had to overcome Minnesota-Duluth 5-4 in a
 three-overtime deciding game on Sunday. The teams played three games that
 consumed a total of seven overtime periods.
 
 Friday's first semi-final, at 2pm matches Wisconsin, which also had to survive
 overtime to get past St Cloud State on Sunday, and defending NCAA, WCHA and
 WCHA Playoff champ Northern Michigan, which whipped Michigan Tech in the only
 two-game opening series.
 
 There is speculation that the Gophers, by winning the league title by a
 12-point margin, are already guaranteed a spot in the NCAA field, and that is
 probably true, after rebounding from a 5-3 loss in the opener to beat North
 Dakota 9-2 and 3-1.
 
 The Gophers got superb leadership from captain Larry Olimb, who had three
 goals and five assists in the three games, meaning he was involved in more
 than half of the Gophers' 15 goals. For the season, Olimb leads the nation
 with 53 assists in his quest for possible All-America and Hobey Baker
 consideration. He is fourth in overall college scoring at 24-53--77, one point
 behind Northern Michigan teammates Jim Hiller and Dallas Drake. Michigan's
 Denny Felsner leads with 86 points.
 
 Being forced to a deciding game was nothing for Colorado College. The Tigers
 overcame a 5-1 deficit against UMD and won the series opener 7-6 on a goal by
 Jody Jarszewski at 1:11 of the third overtime. UMD came back in the second
 game to get the tying goal by Doug Torrel and Derek Plante's second goal of
 the night won 4-3 for the Bulldogs at 7:29 of overtime. But that was only a
 SINGLE overtime.
 
 Sunday night the teams battled into a third overtime for the second time in
 three nights. It finally ended at 3:57 when Grant Block deflected Alan
 Schuler's blue line shot into the UMD net for a 5-4 CC victory.
 
 Wisconsin's victory over St Cloud State wasn't as exhausting, but was just as
 close. The Badgers won 6-5 in overtime in the first game, lost 5-3 the next
 night, then got a goal from Chris Nelson in the final minute to tie the
 Sunday's game. Brian Rafalski gave the Badgers a 4-3 victory 21 seconds into
 overtime.
 
 Naturally, any team winning the WCHA playoffs advances, but if the Gophers are
 set for the NCAA field, it would appear that Wisconsin and Northern Michigan
 would have to win at least one game this weekend to qualify. For CC, which
 rose to fourth by going 7-1-1 since losing twice to the Gophers, the project
 is clear: The Tigers must win the playoff title to advance.
 
 Carol
 U of M
 GO Gophers!!!
 1992 WCHA Champions!!!