I thought someone might want to read this...
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   By Allen Lessels
   Boston Globe
   EAST LANSING, Mich. _ Minnesota right wing Jeff Nielsen,
choosing to keep the puck on a two-on-one, blasted a shot past
UMass-Lowell's Dwayne Roloson for a 2-1 win to end the
second-longest NCAA playoff game ever Sunday night at Michigan
State's Munn Arena.
   Roloson, who had 45 saves, flipped his stick in the air, and
that was the end of UMass-Lowell's finest Division 1 season ever.
   Nielsen's goal came with 10:31 left in the second overtime and
put the Golden Gophers in a semifinal game against Boston
University Thursday in St. Paul.
   ``The bottom line is our guys ended up playing on stuff they
just don't make,'' said Chiefs coach Bruce Crowder. ``They don't
make it at Exxon or Texaco. We played four and a half periods after
playing a game the night before. They played with heart and
desire.''
   Nielsen's shot beat Roloson cleanly.
   ``You don't know what he's going to do at that point,'' Roloson
said. ``I was on my way down, and he put it over my shoulder. It
was a great shot.''
   Lowell, which beat Michigan State, 4-3, Saturday night to
advance in the West Regional, finished 25-10-5.
   Minnesota, after starting the season 0-5-2, is 25-12-4.
   ``That's the kind of year it's been,'' Minnesota coach Doug Woog
said. ``We find a way to win the hockey game. That was an
unbelievable shot. That's a heckuva lot better than something going
off his shin pads, I guess.''
   Down, 1-0, and thanks to goalie Jeff Callinan having survived
several Lowell bids for 2-0, Minnesota took it to the Chiefs in the
third period and finally tied the score with 5:33 left.
   Nick Checco got the goal, beating Roloson with a tough-angle
shot low to the glove side.
   At that point, the Gophers had outshot Lowell, 12-1, in the
period.
   ``We ran out of steam, basically,'' Crowder said. ``The biggest
thing was trying to keep everyone fresh. We tried to keep our lines
short. They kept us penned in and kept getting faceoffs.''
   Roloson started the third period with saves on Tony Bianchi and
Dave Larson and kept making stop after stop.
   Midway through, he stopped Brian Bonin off a faceoff and twice
denied Charlie Wasley.
   With 9:34 to go, Chris McAlpine hit the post, the puck bounced
off Roloson's back, and the goalie fell backwards on it just before
reaching the goal line.
   ``We kept pumping the shots,'' Callinan said. ``It wasn't a
question of if we were going to get it, just when.''
   Roloson had 10 more saves in the first overtime, including three
nice ones on Bonin.
   UMass-Lowell had golden opportunities late in the first
overtime. Callinan stopped Jeff Daw in close and then kicked out a
Shane Henry shot from the corner with 20 seconds left.
   Minnesota again threatened early in the second OT, this time
just missing with a couple of wide shots.
   UMass-Lowell led for most of regulation, thanks to a
first-period goal by sophomore defenseman David Mayes. Lowell had
just gotten off the power play, and Greg Bullock controlled the
puck deep in the Gopher end. Bullock took a shot, collected his own
rebound and swung behind the net. He slipped a pass out front to
Mayes, who put a nice wrist shot past Callinan. It was Mayes'
second goal of the season.
   The Chiefs had some great chances _ Jon Mahoney's, Christian
Sbrocca's and Ed Campbell's among them _ at the end of the second
period, but Callinan stopped them all.
   ``If we could have gotten that second one, it would have made it
a little easier,'' said Crowder. ``But we had a tough time getting
the one that was going to put us over the hump.''
   As a result, the Chiefs lost the longest game in their history _
and second-longest NCAA game to Bowling Green's 1984 win over
Minnesota-Duluth that took 97 minutes 11 seconds.
   This one took a mere 89:29.
   ``The only thing I asked my guys is that they walk out of the
locker room with their heads high and proud,'' Crowder said. ``They
deserve it. It just wasn't meant to be.''
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-Jeff
Cornell '90
 
Congrats to all Final 4 schools, and special congrats
to Union, UMass-Lowell, and CC for great seasons!