Leo Leads The Way

-

April 5, 2002

After a disappointing overtime loss to Maine in last year’s NCAA East Regional, then-junior Minnesota defenseman Jordan Leopold had a difficult decision to make. The WCHA’s top defensive player of 2000-2001, whose NHL rights are held by the Calgary Flames, could have left school early for a pro career.

Minnesota’s Jordan Leopold, the 2002 Hobey Baker winner, brought his team back to the Frozen Four.

But the Gopher captain from Golden Valley, Minn., decided to return for his senior year. The result? Another WCHA Defensive Player of the Year award, All-American status again, a berth for his team in the national title game Saturday, and the 2002 Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

“He felt like there was a little unfinished business at the University of Minnesota,” said head coach Don Lucia. “He wanted to come back and finish his degree, and, as he’s talked about, he wanted to return the program to prominence.

“And I think he’s done a great job on all fronts.”

Leopold set the Minnesota career mark for goals by a blueliner (currently 45) and has 143 career points, including an assist in Thursday’s 3-2 win over Michigan in the semifinals.

Seven of his last 10 goals (he has 20 overall, the most ever in a single season by a Minnesota defenseman) have come in the third period or in overtime.

And he’s just as important to the team from a defensive standpoint.

“Usually, even the best defensemen are either very good offensively, or very good defensively,” said Lucia. “Jordan has the rare combination of being equally good in both areas.”

“It’s a remarkable feeling,” said Leopold seconds after winning the award. For the first time, the award committee selected a “Hobey Hat Trick,” the top three players from the original list of 10 finalists. All three (Leopold, Darren Haydar of New Hampshire, and Mark Hartigan of St. Cloud) were on hand as the winner was announced.

“We’ve had three other Hobey Baker winners at the University of Minnesota, and I’m proud to have my name added to the list,” Leopold said. He joins Neal Broten (the inaugural winner in 1981), Robb Stauber (1988) and Brian Bonin (1996) as Minnesota’s Hobey winners.

Leopold thanked his past and present coaches at Minnesota, his teammates (singling out defensive partner Matt DeMarchi) and his family, because, “They’re the ones who introduced me to hockey, the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s gotten me through some troubled times.”

Playing for Minnesota was always in the cards for Leopold, a dream since childhood.

“The dream came true four years ago when I first put on that sweater, and this is an added benefit. It’s all I’ve wanted to do,” he said.

Lucia knew it when he first coached Jordan as a teen. “I had the pleasure of coaching him on a national under-16 team before I was fortunate to come to the University of Minnesota,” he recalled.

“We sat next to each other on the plane on the way back, and he asked me ‘Aren’t you going to recruit me?’, and I said, ‘Jordan, you’ve already got that ‘M’ tattooed on you. I know where you’re going, so I’m not going to waste my time.’

“Since he wouldn’t come to me at the time, I figured I’d to come to him.”

Now, after four seasons at Minnesota, Leopold’s business is almost finished. He has one more game to play.

“One of the reasons why we’re still playing tomorrow is that when your best players are your best kids, that’s when you have a championship-type team,” said Lucia.

“Jordan is a champion. He deserves this award.”

D-I Heads Discuss State Of Game At USCHO.com Town Meeting

By Mike Volonnino

-

April 5, 2002

Before the drama of the Hobey Baker and Humanitarian awards presentations, USCHO.com sponsored its second annual Town Meeting on the state of college hockey Friday at the Touchstone Energy Center.

The commissioners from the six Division I hockey conferences answered live questions from fans in attendance on subjects ranging from the regionalization of the sport to the mechanics of expanding the championship tournament to 16 teams.

Building off the success of the inaugural Town Meeting at the Frozen Four in Albany, N.Y., this year’s event was better attended with thoughtful queries by college hockey’s faithful.

“I want to thank the staff of USCHO and the fans for taking their time in appearing today,” said CCHA commissioner Tom Anastos. “We love your passion and appreciate what you do for the game.”

The event was hosted by USCHO general manager Jayson Moy; after brief introductions, the first question dealt with where the regionals might be held in a four-tiered tournament. WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod explained that sites would be selected by trying to balance attendance and revenue requirements with the desire not to give an unfair advantage to any campus site hosting.

“In the East you have a lot of neutral buildings that serve very well,” he said. “We don’t have those facilities in the West … At Ann Arbor this year you saw what advantage that situation then gives to the home team. We had the number-one seed, Denver, play the number four seed in their building. Is that fair?”

The high point of the 35-minute session came when a question was posed about the East-West split in the game, and the fact that rarely does one half of the country see the other half play. The sextet was brutally honest with its frustration about landing a television deal to help nationalize the game.

“As commissioners we have had two priorities: expand the tournament to 16 teams and make a national television presence,” said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna.

The six D-I hockey commissioners: (L to R) Peters, CHA; Hagwell, ECAC; Ensor, MAAC; Bertagna, Hockey East; Anastos, CCHA; McLeod, WCHA,

“We’ve all talked to the people at ESPN and FOX. They’ve offered us airtime if we move the games to midweek and in the late afternoon. We’d also be responsible for raising the revenue to produce the game up to their standards. No national sponsors will put their product on a broadcast.”

“Reality slaps us in the face,” McLeod added. “The NHL has made progress in putting teams in California, Florida, and Texas. We’re much more regionalized than they are, and [the NHL] struggles with ratings big-time. We work constantly to put something through.”

Other topics concerned the expansion of the game. One of the driving forces behind the expansion of the NCAA tournament has been the addition of over 20 Division I programs over the last few years.

This prospect had fans wondering about other schools, such as Syracuse, Penn State, and Eastern Michigan, that are mulling adding D-I programs and where they would fit in the conference structure.

“There are currently 162 club teams in the nation and we have discussed with them and have invited their athletic and academic leadership to join us,” said CHA commissioner R.H. “Bob” Peters. “The CHA is the youth conference with only six teams, and our members have discussed expansion — at a maximum we want 12 teams, and at a minimum eight.”

While the WCHA, CCHA, and Hockey East balked at increasing their membership, the MAAC, CHA, and even the 12-team ECAC would be open to new teams.

“Provided we could work out travel partner situations, a team like Syracuse with seem to fit along with our other programs like Cornell and Colgate,” said ECAC assistant commissioner Steve Hagwell.

The group concurred that while enrollment may be limited in the existing conferences, they would welcome the development of more mid-major conferences, as in basketball.

“Expanding our sport is a real priority,” Anastos said. “We’ve been very supportive of the new conferences. We want to see the grand game grow.”

The final topic of discussion was offered by a Northeastern fan, inspired in part by witnessing the 15,000-plus throng of Minnesota supporters that flocked to the Xcel Energy Center Thursday. He asked if schools entering the D-I level need the 10,000-plus supporters and the revenue they bring to compete.

Rich Ensor, the MAAC commissioner, emphatically disputed that notion:

“Our economic model is based on us not needing large crowds,” he said. “We don’t draw 10,000 for basketball, either. Our funding isn’t based on ticket revenue, but is part of our school’s general budget. We can be competitive without being extravagant.”

Hagwell and Bertagna both noted that the schools in the East do not have the new facilities that have been popping up across the Midwest. Few Eastern schools have anything like North Dakota’s new Engelstad Arena, with its marble Sioux head. But Hagwell was willing to rate the Cornell crowd at Lynah Rink with any in the nation.

Bertagna conceded that the new buildings allow teams advantages in tournaments they can host and the structure of their nonconference schedules, but he defended the Walter Brown Arenas of the East.

“We can’t forget the history of our game as coming from small, northern campuses,” he said. “Just because there are no Taj Mahals being built [in the East], it is still special on a Saturday night to see the small, older buildings filled for college hockey.”

Fans whom time precluded the opportunity to ask questions were permitted to submit them in writing to the commissioners, who promised to answer them.

Buffalo State’s Reeves Awarded Hockey Humanitarian

By Ed Trefzger

-

April 5, 2002

A bad break for Rocky Reeves was a lucky break for Buffalo, N.Y.

In his first game at Buffalo State the day before Halloween in 1998, Reeves scored on a penalty shot in the middle of the second period. But moments later, he slid hard into the boards and fractured his right leg, ending his rookie season.

Rocky Reeves accepts the 2002 Hockey Humanitarian Award from [nl]Notre Dame coach Dave Poulin. (Photos by Pedro Cancel)

Reeves saw the extra time on his hands as an opportunity, and approached coach Jim Fowler with an idea to improve the image and visibility of the Bengals’ athletic program.

The school was participating in the national “Take Back the Night” program to combat rape and sexual abuse. The campus health department contacted the athletic department looking for volunteers to attend a kickoff meeting with school and city officials.

By the next day, Reeves had enlisted more than 100 athletes for the program, and his commitment to community service on campus and in the city of Buffalo had begun.

That commitment was recognized Friday by the Hockey Humanitarian Foundation, which chose Reeves as its 2002 honoree at a ceremony in conjunction with the St. Paul Frozen Four.

“My message today is one of compassion and unlimited pursuit,” said Reeves as he accepted the award from foundation trustee and Notre Dame coach Dave Poulin.

Reeves outlined what he believes people need to do to better their own existence by helping others.

“We need to defy mediocrity in our lives and uplift the spirit of all. We need to turn to our loved ones, and to help the poor, afflicted, and sick. We need to have a ‘hobby of the heart.'”

As with the six honorees who preceded him, Reeves’ achievements are themselves inspirational, and his selflessness heroic.

Even while in recovery and rehabilitation from the injury that caused a medical redshirt in his freshman year, Reeves participated not only in “Take Back the Night,” but also by serving and cleaning up at Buffalo’s Concerned Ecumenical Ministry soup kitchen. After that, he was active in the National Condom Week safe sex promotion in February 2000 and a cancer fundraiser the following September.

In December 2000, Reeves organized a rummage sale to benefit the homeless, and in March 2001, started Project FLIGHT, which distributes books to the needy in western New York.

Reeves has also spearheaded the Aid Buffalo food and clothing drive for the United Way, and, as president of Buffalo State’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, has steered that group’s involvement in a number of volunteer projects, including one to gather food and clothing for people affected by the aftermath of September 11th.

Even with hockey and volunteerism on his plate, Reeves earned his bachelor degree in health and wellness with a 3.30 GPA in December, and is now pursuing his master’s degree.

His athletic, academic, and humanitarian achievements are exceptional, though Reeves doesn’t necessarily think so. “It’s almost embarrassing to receive an award for things we all should be doing,” he said.

Reeves returned to the ice in the 1999-2000 season, and despite having missed the entire previous campaign, his teammates elected him captain, a position he held the two following seasons. While he would be tapped by his fellow Bengals for the “C” again in his final season of eligibility if he wanted it, Reeves wanted that honor and responsibility to pass to a teammate.

As captain, Reeves has used his leadership to encourage the team to achieve. He believes that being more well-rounded and developing character has helped the Bengals on the ice as well as off. His assessment: “If you can’t grow as a person, you can’t grow as a player.”

That growth has shown itself in steady improvement by the Bengals over Reeves’ years. This past season, Buffalo State made the SUNYAC conference playoffs for the first time.

“He holds the team accountable for being better people on and off the ice,” said Fowler. The six-year Bengal coach said that Reeves is finds it hard to turn down a request. “Anytime the school wants something, he hardly ever says no.”

However, earlier this year, Reeves did have to say no to one request. He was urged to run for student body president by the college administration, but turned down the opportunity so he could continue his volunteer activities.

While Reeves encourages the participation of his fellow students in humanitarian efforts, he doesn’t welcome those whose motives are other than altruistic.

“People have asked me how to get involved in things to help their resume. I don’t like to hear that. Don’t do it for your resume; do it from your heart.”

After finishing his master’s, Reeves said he might like to coach, so he can continue to motivate young people.

“I want to try to inspire people to do good things.”

Bright Lights, Big Game

By Todd D. Milewski

-

April 4, 2002

If the Minnesota Golden Gophers were nervous before their first appearance in the Frozen Four since 1995, they masked it well.

Well, maybe except for coach Don Lucia late in the game. After his team saw two-thirds of a 3-0 lead evaporate in the last 6 minutes, 5 seconds, the folded arms, hand on the chin and pacing behind the bench were telltale signs the Gophers’ coach had some jitters.

But for most of the game, his players didn’t. That’s one of the big reasons why the Golden Gophers are returning to the national championship game for the first time since 1989.

Lucia said in advance of this game, his players’ first in a Frozen Four setting, he expected them to be a bit nervous, but that might not be a bad thing. His experience with his players told him they play better when their backs are to the wall.

Indeed, they played something that resembled their best Thursday night before a partisan Gophers crowd at the Xcel Energy Center, but it had nothing to do with being jumpy.

The Gophers rallied around the energy they got from their fans and from what defenseman Jordan Leopold called “positive anxiety.”

“It’s a big game in a big town,” Leopold said. “We’ve got a lot of media covering us. We’re just happy to have the chance in front of our home crowd at the Frozen Four.”

You probably could have forgiven the Gophers for having some butterflies before Thursday’s nightcap at the NCAA semifinals. They have played on this ice before, in front of a crowd of the same magnitude at the WCHA Final Five.

But this was just plain different. There was a margin for error at the Final Five for the Gophers, who knew there would be another game no matter the result.

This was one and done.

“We try to tell our kids, play like you’ve been there before,” Lucia said. “But until you’ve been there, it’s hard.”

They knew the bright lights were waiting outside their locker room. They knew they’d hear the screams of their fans — more for Minnesota than even Lucia expected — when they stepped onto the ice.

The national television cameras would turn on and then it would be showtime. No time for mistakes — you never know if you’ll get the opportunity to get them back.

“It’s hard to say relaxed, but I think we did the best we could,” said Gophers goaltender Adam Hauser, who refused to accept the compliment a teammate paid him in the locker room in saying he was the reason the Gophers won.

“I was really impressed with the way the guys handled it. We didn’t come out like gangbusters and score a good solid goal early, we got a lucky bounce to put us up 1-0. We didn’t hurt ourselves. We weren’t playing passive hockey, but I don’t think we were playing quite as aggressively as we wanted.”

Still, it worked just fine. The confidence grew and signs of nervousness shrank with each Gopher goal.

Grant Potulny, four minutes into the first period. Potulny again, four minutes into the second. And Jeff Taffe, 100 seconds into the third.

It was 3-0, it was the kind of game the Gophers wanted to play and it was theirs for the taking.

And there was Hauser, making key saves here and there to energize his team and his fans. That was one of the best signs for Minnesota this night.

“I thought Adam was really good early,” Lucia said. “He made some big saves early, and when Adam does that, you know he’s going to have a good game.”

The down notes for the Gophers were few but prominent. Playing with a 3-0 lead may have worn on them by the time Michigan started its rally to cut the score to 3-2.

The two goals Minnesota allowed in the last 6:05 — one of them shorthanded — sent them into the national championship game with a little less convincing performance than a 3-0 final would have provided.

“The last half of the third period, I thought us as a team we were losing our edge. It’s easy to do in 3-0 games. We needed to snap out of it.”

They did, just in time for a final stand to hold off the Wolverines and seal the school’s 10th spot in the national championship game.

Fate has the Gophers playing Maine, the team that ended their season last year.

“This is my last game as a Gopher, and my season was ended last year by the University of Maine,” Hauser said.

“I remember. I definitely do.”

Come Together

By Jim Connelly

-

April 4, 2002

They might call Detroit “Hockeytown,” but when the Minnesota Golden Gophers host and play in the Frozen Four, one might want to reconsider what locale most deserves that title.

So it’s no surprise the streets of St. Paul were jumping Thursday night with the 19,234 in attendance at the Xcel Energy Center after their Gophers advanced to the NCAA championship game with a 3-2 win over Michigan.

The Gophers are probably the second-most storied program in NCAA history, behind only their Thursday opponent. They hold the all-time record for consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament, making the field 13 times in a row from 1985 through 1997.

Remarkable numbers, in anyone’s book.

Don Lucia (photo: Ed Trefzger)

But what so many forget when talking about this program of programs is that, in essence, it has been in a drought. Longtime head coach Doug Woog was the expert at getting his team to the dance. What he couldn’t do, though, was get the ring on his team’s fingers when it ended. Woog took the Gophers to the title game in 1989, when Minnesota lost to Harvard.

What many outside of the hockey Mecca of Minneapolis fail to realize is that for Minnesota, Woog may be the all-time winningest, but it was the great Herb Brooks whose seven-year reign produced all of Minnesota’s NCAA hardware. Brooks led three Gopher teams to the title in 1974, 1976 and their last title in 1979.

For 23 years, believe it or not, this great hockey state has been in a state of withdrawal. Saturday, though, Don Lucia will have the chance to do what his predecessor Woog could not; more importantly, there will be 19,000-plus Gopher faithful on hand to help cheer his team on.

It hasn’t taken Lucia long to make an impact in Minnesota. In only his third year, Lucia has turned around the team that struggled at the end of the Woog era. After lasting through a just-over-.500 year in 1999-2000, Lucia guided the club to the NCAA tournament a season ago. Now he’s taken quite a step forward, finding his way to the title tilt.

So what’s the trick? What magic has Lucia added in three short years?

A quick quiz of the Minnesota team suggests that the answer is unanimous: a team mentality. Woog put together some successful groups, the existence of a team aspect in the locker room was often questioned.

“I was fortunate to inherit such a great group of kids,” said Lucia, who will coach in the national championship for the second time — his Colorado College team lost to Michigan in overtime in 1996. “But there were too many individuals and the team wasn’t near what it needed to be.

“I’ve never been in a program that has been successful if the players don’t support one another. Nobody who cares who gets the glory [on this year’s team] when you’re playing on the last day of the season.”

Jordan Leopold, who is part of a senior class of four — the only ones to play under Woog — echoed his coach’s comments.

“It’s definitely been a growing experience,” said Leopold, one of three remaining finalists for the Hobey Baker award to be awarded on Friday. “When I got here we had coach Woog, but then coming in the second year, and suddenly there’s a new coach.

“It was definitely time for a change. We didn’t have the greatest team unity.”

If anything has surprised Leopold, it’s how fast this turnaround has occurred.

“It’s probably surprising that we’ve turned things around so quickly,” said Leopold. “But when you put a team together with a good attitude and a frame of mind, that can happen.”

Don Lucia (l.) and John Pohl at the postgame press conference (photo: Ed Trefzger)

Now the Gophers will face Maine, a 7-2 winner over New Hampshire earlier on Thursday, in Saturday’s championship. This is the same team that ended Minnesota’s season a year ago with a heartbreaking, final-second goal to send the first-round regional game into overtime, where Maine eventually won.

The pain of that loss is fresh in the Gopher players’ minds, no doubt. But that may be the reason they’re where they are now.

“Coach thought that [last year’s loss to Maine] was a turning point for our team,” said Minnesota’s John Pohl. “We came together as a team in that game because we finally played 60 great minutes of hockey.

“[Maine] may have won the game but we grew a lot as a team.”

And, guaranteed, revenge will certainly be on the minds of the Gophers as they play in front of their home crowd Saturday evening.

“If we played them in December, it would have been a big game,” said Pohl. “To play them for the national championship — that’s just amazing.”

Home And Away

By Chris Lerch

-

April 4, 2002

On Wednesday, Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said that he didn’t consider the Gophers to be a favorite based on the Frozen Four being held at St. Paul’s Xcel Center, just a few miles from his team’s campus.

“Even though people talk about this being a home game for us, we’ve only played two games here [this season],” he said.

Indeed, the Gophers were just 3-2 over two seasons at the Minnesota Wild’s arena going into Thursday’s semifinal against Michigan.

Michigan was defeated, 3-2, by Minnesota in Thursday’s NCAA semifinal (photo: Pedro Cancel)

But shortly after the buzzer sounded on his team’s 3-2 win, the Minnesota coach had changed his mind.

“Frankly, I was very surprised at the number of Minnesota people here tonight,” Lucia said. “When we scored the first goal, it was electric.”

“Coming in we assumed it would be a Minnesota crowd,” said Michigan junior forward Mike Cammalleri. “After all, we’re in Minnesota.

“We were ready for that, but obviously it was a big boost from them.”

“We knew it would be a huge home advantage, and a big challenge for us,” said Michigan head coach Red Berenson.

Berenson knows of what he speaks. Even though Michigan came into the NCAA tournament seeded fourth in the West, the Wolverines defeated St. Cloud State and then top-seeded Denver in the friendly confines of Yost Arena, site of the 2002 (and 2003) West Regional.

“There’s no question [it] was a great crowd,” he said of the Wolverine-dominated audience. “Even when we were on our heels, the crowd was into it. It’s got to be tough playing against a Michigan team when the crowd’s like that.”

In fact, Michigan is 7-1 on home ice in NCAA tournament play, with the only loss coming in overtime against Cornell in the first game of a three-game series in 1991. The Wolverines went on to win the series, so Michigan has never failed to advance to a Frozen Four when hosting a first-round series.

This season was no different.

“It might be an advantage in playing in this regional,” said Berenson after his team dispatched St. Cloud and Denver at Yost.

And it might have been an advantage for the Gophers Thursday. This was Mariucci East, complete with skating cheerleaders and the vast majority of the Frozen Four-record crowd of 19,234 chanting M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A throughout the game, easily drowning out the Michigan fight song.

The highly partisan crowd exploded after each Gopher goal, and then helped rally the team after Michigan crawled back within a goal late in the third.

Even with most of the building against them, the Wolverines almost staged an amazing comeback. After all, they were a very good road team this season.

Michigan was 14-4-4 on the road, and hadn’t lost a true road game since a setback at Western Michigan on Oct. 19. The only other losses away from Yost were against North Dakota in the Great Lakes Invitational, and to Michigan State at Joe Louis Arena on Feb. 16.

“We pride ourselves on playing good road hockey,” said Cammalleri. “We played in front of 75,000 Spartan fans to start the season [with a 3-3 tie at Spartan Stadium].”

In NCAA tournament history, Michigan was 5-1 when playing a true road game, the last time coming in 1995 in Madison against Wisconsin.

But not Thursday. Both coaches agreed that Minnesota’s “home ice” was a factor, just as it was for Michigan at the regional.

Lucia is hoping for more magic against Maine.

“I hope we can get that same kind of support on Saturday,” he said.

The Border Barrier

By Adam Wodon

-

April 4, 2002

In the pantheon of sports-led societal advances, it’s not quite in the class of Jackie Robinson signing with the Dodgers.

But, to many a Gopher fan, the recruitment of North Dakota native Grant Potulny to play at the University of Minnesota required accepting a major change that many fought.

Of course, a few more two-goal games in the NCAA tournament, such as Potulny had Thursday against Michigan, will go a long way toward putting to rest any such controversies … if they hadn’t been put to rest long ago.

Grant Potulny is Minnesota’s first out-of-state player in over a decade (photo: Pedro Cancel)

“He’s not the flashiest player, but he’s good around the net,” says Minnesota coach Don Lucia, who, among other philosophical changes, made the decision when he was hired three years ago to drop the unwritten all-Minnesota recruiting policy. “Not too many people are concerned [whether he’s] from the state of Minnesota right now. I always felt that way.”

Though it all seems so silly now, it was a genuine issue when Potulny made the decision to come. He says he discussed it in detail with junior coach Steve Johnson.

“He said, ‘There’s gonna be a lot about this, not just hockey,'” says Potulny. “‘It’ll be media, people around the city. You gonna be ready for it?’

“I figured, at first it will be hard, but once the hockey starts, everyone would forget about it.”

Lucia made changes at Minnesota, mending a lot of rifts that formed between upper- and lowerclassmen, between stars and third-liners. But this was a not-so-subtle philosophical change at “The U,” and it had the potential to redivide the locker room. Many players were born and raised on the “Pride on Ice” philosophy.

But partly because of Lucia’s leadership, partly because of Potulny’s character, and partly because the existing players knew it was time to move forward, there was never any issue with Potulny joining the team.

“He’s from right across the border, so he’s not from too far away,” says senior captain Jordan Leopold, with some veteran rationalization.

“He’s handled it well and we’re glad to have him.”

Which doesn’t stop the teasing.

“We’ll have scrimmages where it’s outstate guys versus metro [Twin Cities] guys, and I always say he should be on the out-out-state team.”

Any trepidation Potulny had was erased as he got know Lucia better, and as he met his new teammates.

“[Lucia] just made me really comfortable. I loved the campus and the guys were great,” says Potulny.

“[The guys] welcomed me with open hearts. I love Minnesota and I’m a Gopher now.”

By the same token, Potulny was deserting his native land for the “enemy.”

“I’ve got a lot of friends that play for UND,” Potulny says. “I skate with them at Christmas. Coach [Dean Blais] is a great guy; he lets me use the weight room. It’s not big deal.

“The guys [here] are my 20 best friends. It’s a relationship that you couldn’t ask for more, the chemistry on this team.”

The chemistry Lucia helped build in the revitalized Gophers owes a lot to players like Potulny, who accept their role and revel in it.

Potulny had a goal in last year’s heartbreaking first-round NCAA loss to Maine, and here, on the NHL-sized ice, against a Michigan team that loves to bang, he was in his element again.

“I love games where you’re banging people and it’s just a battle,” Potulny says. “I’m not gonna go up and down the rink and make three saucer passes and lift one top shelf. My job is to bang and create space for the skill guys like Jeff [Taffe].

“We played them early in the season and they banged us. They have ‘D’ that are big and strong. That’s what I like, so it’s perfect.”

Says Lucia, “He’s a mucker and grinder. He’s not pretty, but he has great character and always seems to come up big in a game like that.”

Despite the smooth transition to the recruitment of Potulny, the issue of Gopher players’ place of residency is likely to continue to be a topic. Next season, a Canadian and an Austrian will don the maroon and gold.

But Leopold understands the situation, and embraces the new reality.

“You have to [recruit out of state],” he says. “You’ve got eight or nine Minnesota teams now. Recruiting becomes tough when you’ve got so many scholarships out there.

“Once you get a bunch of guys together, mature together, grow together, you’re still one. You’re part of our family.”

Not Easy To Swallow

By David H. Hendrickson

-

April 4, 2002

This year was supposed to be different. The New Hampshire Wildcats had not only taken every statistical category in Hockey East, they had even more importantly won the big games.

They demolished the West Regional’s eventual No. 1 seed, Denver, back in November. They took five of six points from Boston University. They had broken an oh-for-all-time record against Maine in the postseason while also capturing their first Hockey East crown.

Dick Umile’s Wildcats fell short of an NCAA title Thursday (photo: Ed Trefzger)

As the Frozen Four’s top seed, they were supposed to reprise their Hockey East title contest’s performance against Maine to reach the NCAA championship game. Then they’d roll the dice and just watch out for the snake-eyes.

One UNH fan even tempted the hockey gods by speculating that the Wildcats would be returning so much talent next year that they posed a significant challenge to Boston University’s record dating back to 1972 of being the last team to win NCAA titles back-to-back.

Instead, New Hampshire played acceptably well during an oft-bizarre first period only to falter in the second and go down in flames in the third. Darren Haydar and Colin Hemingway, who had combined for 142 points this year, were held to a combined total of three shots. Goaltender Michael Ayers, who set a Hockey East record with a .938 save percentage in league games, allowed seven goals, some of them head-shakers.

“We’re disappointed in the way we played today,” said coach Dick Umile. “Obviously, it wasn’t one of our better hockey games, but you’ve got to give credit to Maine.

“I told the team it took nothing away from what they accomplished this year. They’ve been a great team to coach, a special group led by a special player, Darren Haydar.”

It was a sentiment that was echoed by Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead.

“UNH has had a tremendous season,” he said. “Nothing can take that away from them. When you get to this point in the season, anything can happen. I have tremendous respect for how they play and how they’re coached. They’ve had a wonderful season. It’s a shame that somebody has to lose in these situations.”

A shame indeed. But what hurts the most is that the Wildcats played so poorly just two wins away from a national championship. Large dollops of credit is due an underrated Maine team that played very, very well. But some UNH wounds were self-inflicted.

The Wildcats jumped out to the lead just 21 seconds into the game. Three seconds later, they went on the power play. When given the man advantage, they had capitalized at a rate second to only one team in the country this year.

Given opportunities like this, New Hampshire had frequently blown teams out early. In what would be an omen of things to come, however, Maine held the UNH power play off the scoreboard, a trend they continued through the rest of the contest.

“One of the things we’ve done all season is jump out early and try to get a head start and get a team on its heels,” said Haydar. “But on the power play, we didn’t generate too much.”

In fact, just 13 seconds after the failed man advantage ended, Maine got the equalizer. That tally appeared to be another ominous sign for UNH because unless a Maine player went uncredited with a deflection off his body, Robert Liscak put a very soft backhander from along the boards past Ayers.

A shorthanded goal later in the period, however, gave New Hampshire a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Arguably, the Wildcats were in perfect position. With less NCAA tournament experience and less Frozen Four experience than Maine, they had simply needed to survive the first period to then let their superior overall talent, especially on offense, take charge.

Instead, UNH would never score again. And Maine would score plenty. Ayers did not look sharp on an early second-period goal by Peter Metcalf from the point. Little more than two minutes later, the defenseman scored a near exact duplicate.

“When I scored my first goal, he did look a little shaky,” said Metcalf. “We try to take advantage of that. As soon as a goalie looks shaky, we throw it right at him.

“We did that the next play. I probably couldn’t have broken a pane of glass with the shot, but just got it on net and then good things happen.”

Which is not to cast Ayers as the second-period scapegoat. The entire team played poorly. Maine outattempted the Wildcats, 26-11, and outshot them 18-8. In fact, Ayers appeared to be regaining his form midway through the period.

Trailing only 3-2 going into the third, New Hampshire was still very much in striking range. The Wildcats had owned the final 20 minutes this season, outscoring teams, 70-28.

Umile told the team, “Hey, it’s going to come down to the third period and we’ve been a pretty good third period team.”

Which was true on paper. However, after another Liscak goal at 8:16 made it 4-2, the season slipped away quickly as Maine followed with another three goals in just over eight minutes.

“You couldn’t ever expect to be up by two goals [against] probably the best offensive team in the nation,” said Metcalf. “They were definitely frustrated. They weren’t getting the bounces.

“As soon as a team gets frustrated, they seem to decline. I told the team, ‘Let’s take advantage of this!’ and we did.”

As losses go, it was about as bitter as one could imagine.

“I’ve got to give credit to Maine,” said Umile, who has always been one to give a victor its due. “They did a good job.

“We didn’t handle the puck. We didn’t make good plays. A couple goals that went in were tough goals…. That put us back on our heels.”

For Ayers, it was easily his worst performance of the season since a rocky debut against Rensselaer at the beginning of the year.

“Unfortunately, toward the end it got frustrating,” he said. “When things aren’t bouncing your way, you can’t get frustrated. Looking at it now… it’s not easy to swallow.”

Haydar spoke for the five skaters, who fared no better than Ayers.

“They outworked us and were maybe a little bit smarter,” said Haydar. “We made some poor decisions and they came back to bite us.

“We’re disappointed in our showing. We thought we could have had a better game today.”

The loss was particularly galling because Haydar had sought redemption for UNH’s overtime loss to Maine in the 1999 national championship contest.

“It’s not a great feeling whoever you lose to,” he said. “You don’t like losing.

“[But] it’s something I’ll have to live with now, losing to Maine twice in two big, big games. That gives a lot of credit to Maine and shows what kind of a team they are in the postseason.”

For Umile, though, the loss in 1999 pales in comparison to this one.

“Tonight is definitely more frustrating,” he said. “If you’re going to lose, you want to go out there playing well. In ’99, it was a terrific college hockey game and it was a bounce of the puck [that decided the game]. We had our chances to win it. Tonight, we never had a chance to win it. So that’s very frustrating.

“Getting here is very difficult. There are a lot of teams that would like to be in this position. You want to be able to go out there and play one of your best games, but I feel that we did not play one of our best games. That includes our players and coaches.”

There’s always next year and as the optimistic fan who speculated about back-to-back titles noted, there’ll be a lot of talent coming back. But all that feels far in the distance right now as the Wildcats cope with one very tough loss to swallow.

Hauser, Gophers Advance To Title Game

By Paula C. Weston and Scott Brown

-

April 4, 2002

The fans came to see their hometown heroes, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers didn’t disappoint.

Grant Potulny netted two goals to give Minnesota an early lead, Adam Hauser stopped 27 shots, and the Gophers held off a furious Michigan rally to take the second semifinal, 3-2, at the Xcel Energy Center Thursday.

Jeff Taffe gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead early in the third period off a partial breakaway, but Michigan made it close at the end with two goals in the final seven minutes.

J.J. Swistak got Michigan on the board with a shorthander at 13:55 of the third period, joining a three-on-two rush and cutting across the slot before going five-hole to make it 3-1.

Then, with 1:34 left Jed Ortmeyer scored six-on-five — on a shot that appeared to bang off both Minnesota captain Jordan Leopold and Hauser before going in — and the Wolverines were suddenly very much alive.

That was it for the scoring, though, as Minnesota was able to keep the puck along the boards or out of the offensive zone for the last few seconds to seal the victory.

In the first period, Potulny gave Minnesota the lead when Wolverine Eric Werner tried to pass out of the Michigan zone from behind the net. Instead of clearing, Werner hit the skate of Taffe, forcing Michigan netminder Josh Blackburn to react quickly to stop the puck, which ricocheted back toward the Wolverine cage.

With Blackburn sprawled and the net empty, Potulny had an easy shot for the 1-0 lead at 4:20.

Early in the second, the Wolverines paid dearly for a too-many-men penalty, when Potulny notched his second of the evening, redirecting Jordan Leopold’s shot from the slot through Blackburn’s five-hole at 4:33, just 10 seconds after Jason Ryznar went to the box to sit for the infraction.

The rest of the middle stanza was a mix of bad blood and a goaltending duel, with both Blackburn and Hauser exchanging highlight-reel stops. At the end of the period, Michigan’s Eric Nystrom and Minnesota’s Matt Koalska were each assessed two minutes for hitting after the whistle when time expired.

Meet The Frauds II: Finals

USCHO Staff Report

-

April 4, 2002

A strong showing for USCHO.com’s Division I conference correspondents meant the bar was high for advancement to the finals in our second annual picks competition.

Indeed, the staff turned in an impressive 30-10 record in picking the West and East Regional results, including a majority correctly picking Maine to reach the Frozen Four via an upset win over Boston University. The standings:

Jim Connelly (MAAC): 8-0
Dave Hendrickson (HEA): 7-1
Paula C. Weston (CCHA): 6-2
Todd D. Milewski (WCHA): 5-3
Jayson Moy/Becky Blaeser (ECAC): 4-4

That means that Connelly, with a perfect record, and Hendrickson, whose only miss was in failing to pick Michigan over Denver in the quarterfinals, move into the championship. One of these two will be crowned USCHO’s picks champion, succeeding Milewski, the 2001 titlist.

The rules, as before: pick a winner for each of the three games at the Frozen Four, straight up. One point is awarded per game picked correctly, with total goals scored in all games as the tiebreaker. (For the championship game, to earn the point you only have to have the winner right, not both teams.)

Jim Connelly

New Hampshire vs. Maine: Just as in 1999, the Black Bears will avenge their loss to UNH. The Bears are on to the final. Maine, 3-2.

Minnesota vs. Michigan: Regardless of what people say, there are going to be tons of Gopher fans in the stands to help win this one. Minnesota, 4-2.

Minnesota vs. Maine: The Black Bears’ impressive run ends in Gopher territory. Minnesota, 4-3.

Dave Hendrickson

New Hampshire vs. Maine: Maine has more Frozen Four experience, but UNH simply has too much talent. Jim Abbott on the fourth line? Gimme a break! New Hampshire, 3-2

Minnesota vs. Michigan: The Wolverines’ youth finally catches up with them away from Yost Arena. The Golden Gopher faithful go home happy, a least until Saturday. Minnesota, 4-1

New Hampshire vs. Minnesota: The Wildcats take their first ever national championship. UNH coach Dick Umile is elected Granite State Governor For Life. New Hampshire, 3-2