Saturday, April 9, 2011

Minnesota Duluth Captures NCAA Title

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Minnesota Duluth captured the school’s first NCAA men’s hockey championship with a 3-2 overtime victory against Michigan in front of a sellout crowd of 19,222 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Saturday.

Kyle Schmidt scored the game-winning goal on a centering pass from Travis Oleksuk, setting off a jubilant celebration among the Bulldogs and their fans. The game was televised live on ESPN.

“I don’t know if I can put it into words,” head coach Scott Sandelin said. ” I am so extremely proud of these guys. I know every coach says that. But to do something that the school’s never done is – I said that a couple of days ago it would mean everything. And I think this is just for not just these players, it’s for our alumni program and city. I’m just so excited for these players to have this experience.”

Duluth had surrendered the first goal but took a 2-1 lead in the second period on goals from Oleksuk and Max Tardy – the first goal of his NCAA career. Michigan battled back to tie the score and the two teams played a scoreless third period.

Goaltenders Kenny Reiter (UMD) and Shawn Hunwick (Michigan) kept the other teams at bay until Schmidt’s strike at 3:22 of overtime.