April 6, 2018
By John Heisler
Exactly what happens in the NCAA men’s hockey championship game Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is anyone’s guess.
But, since Notre Dame is involved, a one-goal game is likely to be part of the equation.
That’s because the Irish have cornered the market on winning (against only three losses) in single-goal differentials. They did it again Thursday night in their 4-3 Frozen Four semifinal victory over Michigan–giving them 14 one-goal triumphs in 2017-18.
That’s more than double the number played by title-game opponent Minnesota Duluth (six) and significantly more than the other Frozen Four entrants (both Michigan and Ohio State finished with eight after Thursday action).
But for Irish coach Jeff Jackson’s squad, there’s been far more to it than simply holding a one-goal lead when the final horn blares.
Notre Dame has played fast and loose with the heartstrings of its own fans, college hockey fans in general since the 2018 NCAA Championship began–and even its own head coach.
The press conference moderator in the bowels of the Xcel Energy Center, who has a folksy, conversational way of performing his duties, asked the Irish players with the clock ticking after midnight Thursday if they had considered what the last few weeks had done to their coach’s heart and if they had considered apologizing.
Junior forward Andrew Oglevie’s deadpanned retort? “He told us again tonight that he’s getting scar tissue or something on his heart. But, no, I’m not going to apologize.”
Added team captain Jake Evans, the most recent Notre Dame hero, “We keep winning. He can’t complain.”
Here’s how the latest series of dramatic finishes has unfolded (in five consecutive games):
–March 10: In the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, Jack Jenkins’ goal with 31 seconds left gave the Irish a 3-2 victory over Penn State.
–March 17: In the Big Ten Tournament title game, Cam Morrison’s goal 9:23 into overtime provided a 3-2 Notre Dame victory against Ohio State–giving the Irish the Big Ten Tournament trophy to match their regular-season version.
–March 23: In an NCAA East Regional semifinal in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Jordan Gross scored 16:24 into overtime to enable the top-seeded Irish to defeat fourth-seeded Michigan Tech 4-3. That’s after Tech tied it with a goal with 1:06 remaining in regulation.
–March 24: In the NCAA East Regional title game versus Providence, Dylan Malmquist’s tally with 27 seconds to go in the third period won it 2-1 for Notre Dame and sent the Irish to the Frozen Four for the second straight year.
–April 5: Evans’ goal with less than six seconds remaining in the third period handed Michigan a 4-3 loss.
“It was pretty amazing,” Irish senior forward Bo Brauer said Friday about the Thursday finish. “I was right in the middle of the bench, and I saw Jake move it over to Cam and stream it up the left side. I thought right back to the Ohio State moment in the Big Ten championship when Cam ripped that one.
“And then Cam made that awesome play to Jake. I didn’t see it go in–I just saw the whole bench topple over me just going crazy. I spun around, I was looking at (Irish assistant) coach (Andy) Slaggert–and we were just in shock.
“We were stunned, and we were going nuts. It was a really, really cool moment.”
All that has come in just the most recent weeks.
Don’t forget a few earlier late endings:
–Nov. 18: Morrison’s goal 13 seconds into overtime won a 1-0 game at Rensselaer.
–Dec. 8: Malmquist’s tally 3:51 before the final horn made it 3-2 for the Irish at 12th-ranked Wisconsin.
And there have been plenty of other nail-biting Irish finishes when the winning goal didn’t happen quite so late.
It’s all par for the course, according to the Irish:
–Said Brauer, “Everyone has their nerves because it’s like, `Holy cow, here we go again.’ But everyone looks at each other and says, `We can do this.’
“We’ve been here before. We’ve been in these situations where if we go into overtime we’re still going to be battling as hard as we can.
“I don’t think we have to worry about calming anyone down as much as we just keep everyone positive. Everyone staying composed has been a big part of our team.”
–Irish junior defenseman Dennis Gilbert added, “The only people that might get nervous are the coaches. They call us the Cardiac Kids because we have a knack for making it interesting at the end of games. We jump around and say it’s all about a significant fan experience.
“It’s been a lot of fun. There’s a lot of confidence in our room. We know with our style of play, building from the back end out with our goaltending and defense, we’re not going to allow very many goals.”
–Chimed in Jackson Friday, “You can never predict what’s going to happen. In these situations there’s been some luck to it as well. I think back to the Michigan Tech game where the puck almost rolled into our net right before we scored the game-winner in overtime. It’s almost like it’s meant to be. But you can’t rely on that.
“We can’t go into the game thinking we’re going to score the goal at the last minute. I’d rather have won that game with a one-goal lead in the third and not have to go through that. But these kids have found a way to get it done. And I’m not going to argue with that. They find a way.
“When we give up a lead or when we get behind, they’re just very calm in how they handle it. In the locker room, on the bench, I hear them: `We got this. We got this. We’re all right. We’re all right.’ And their calmness has probably impacted me into being more calm.
“A lot of it has to do with their attitude and their maturity, having been through so many different scenarios since they’ve been here.”
Thursday night’s late Irish goal fit perfectly with the way the Notre Dame women’s basketball team won an NCAA title last weekend on a pair of last-second game-winning plays by Arike Ogunbowale.
Said Malmquist, “Yeah, we’re giving them a run for their money right now.”
The Irish haven’t been the only ones doing business in this manner. Eight of the 14 NCAA games to date in 2018 have been one-goal affairs.
And Notre Dame’s Saturday night opponent, Minnesota Duluth, absolutely fits the profile with 10 straight one-goal NCAA games of its own–beginning with a 2015 Bulldog quarterfinal loss to Boston University.
Said Duluth head coach Scott Sandelin: “Notre Dame is an older team that’s probably a little bit on a mission. I think they learned something last year in the semifinal game (a 6-1 loss to Denver). But it’s a team that just really stays with the game.
“They’ve been in a ton of one-goal games as well. They find ways to win them. They don’t panic. They just keep playing their game.
“It’s a team with a real good demeanor. When you’re in those games and you start winning those games that belief becomes even stronger. But they just play very well within their systems and obviously they can score goals and defend well.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s another 2-1 hockey game. We can all surprise you and have a 5-4 game. But I’m just again expecting it to be a real tight, lower-scoring game.”
Jackson (who won a pair of NCAA crowns as head coach at Lake Superior State) Saturday night will try to become the fourth coach to win NCAA hockey titles at multiple schools–joining Rick Comley (Northern Michigan and Michigan State), Jerry York (Boston College and Bowling Green) and Ned Harkness (RPI and Cornell).
Duluth’s appearance in consecutive title games marks the first time that has happened since Boston College did it three years in a row in 2006-07-08.
Saturday night’s matchup figures to be particularly personal for the five Minnesota products on the Irish roster who know many of the Duluth players dating back to high school battles on the ice.
And, ironically, Notre Dame’s Big Ten Tournament title game win over Ohio State cemented the final NCAA at-large berth for Duluth, a semifinal loser to Denver in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff and also a loser to North Dakota in the league tourney consolation game.
Duluth sophomore defenseman Nick Wolff kidded that he texted Irish junior and fellow Minnesotan Malmquist to thank him (“You saved us” was the gist of the conversation according to Wolff) for giving the Bulldogs a slot.
But, added Wolff, “He’s still a buddy, but when Saturday comes around he’s not going to be.”
These same two teams will meet twice in late October in South Bend.
In the meantime, a win Saturday night by a single goal–or any other margin, for that matter–will translate into an NCAA title.
The Irish might want a cardiologist on speed dial, just in case.
Senior associate athletics director John Heisler has been following the Irish sports scene since 1978.