April 7, 2018
By John Heisler
“It’s either sadness or euphoria”
–Billy Joel in his 1976 song “Summer, Highland Falls”
Endings in national title games produce unavoidable extremes of emotion.
On this occasion Saturday night the University of Notre Dame hockey team finished on the short end of that equation despite its best efforts to make it three NCAA championships in three weekends for Irish programs.
Minnesota Duluth made two first-period goals stand up (exactly as it had two nights before against Ohio State in the semifinals) in defeating Notre Dame 2-1 in the 2018 NCAA Hockey Championship title matchup in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The Bulldogs earned the confetti with a kiddie corps defensive unit that limited the Irish to 20 shots on goal — 15 fewer than Duluth managed.
“It was just hard to get pucks through,” said Irish coach Jeff Jackson after the game. “We needed to put more pucks in behind their defense, but we didn’t get that done.”
The uncharacteristically youthful Duluth defense featured five freshmen and a sophomore on its top three pairings–to go with a sophomore goaltender who hadn’t played until this season.
In a rematch of a 2011 Frozen Four semifinal on the same Xcel Energy Center ice, the title game was played in front of a partisan crowd of 18,303 fans that clearly favored the in-state Bulldogs whose six starters all came from Minnesota.
Added Jackson, “Once they got into the tournament they became that team of destiny you’re hoping to be at the end of the year.”
The top-ranked Irish were playing in their second Frozen Four championship game (also in 2008) and third-ranked Duluth in its fourth (also 1984, 2011 and 2017).
The Irish came looking for their 31st national title — and their third in as many weekends (following 2018 NCAA crowns in fencing and women’s basketball).
The defeat ended the 50th season of Notre Dame hockey from the time the Irish started varsity competition when the Athletic and Convocation Center opened in 1968-69.
###########
In a touching pregame gesture in this hockey-mad state, two gigantic Humboldt Broncos logos were projected on the ice during a pregame moment of silence in memory of the 15 lives lost in that junior hockey team’s bus crash Friday in Saskatchewan.
Then, for the sixth time in their last seven NCAA games, the Irish allowed the first goal. After a Notre Dame turnover in the neutral zone, Duluth senior left winger and captain Karson Kuhlman shot one past Irish sophomore defenseman Tory Dello and sophomore net-minder Cale Morris with 10:54 left in the opening period.
“If you’re not chipping pucks by them and you’re turning the pucks over, bad things are going to happen as a result of one goal,” said Irish captain Jake Evans after it was over.
Next senior center Jared Thomas knocked in a left-handed, tight-angle attempt that bounced off the Notre Dame goaltender from the left goal-line extended with 1:20 remaining.
The 2-0 Duluth advantage after 20 minutes fit the Bulldogs’ profile — it made Duluth plus-21 (best in the nation) this season in first-period scoring. It also matched the early 2-0 deficit the Irish faced Thursday night against Michigan.
###########
The Irish trailed 19-7 in shots on goal five minutes into the second period.
But Notre Dame got one back at 12:20 of that period on a power play–with sophomore left winger Cam Morrison passing the puck to junior center Andrew Oglevie, who pushed it under Duluth goalie Hunter Shepard’s legs for his team-leading ninth man-up tally of 2017-18.
Duluth held onto the 2-1 advantage through the second period — and that boded well for the Bulldogs who stood 55-0-3 dating back to 2015 in games they led after two.
Morris, named the Mike Richter Award winner Friday night as the best goalie in the nation, made 18 second-period saves, four more than Shepard had in the first two periods combined. The Irish killed off a trio of second-period penalties.
“We played a much better period in the second, but we needed to tie the game in the second,” said Jackson. “We had some juice when we got that goal. But when they get to the third they’re a shutdown team. They didn’t give us much.”
Try as they might in the final 20 minutes (even with Morris out of the net for the final 1:28), the Irish could put only five more shots on goal — as that young Duluth defense blocked 21 shot attempts overall.
“We were just doing anything we could to hang on,” said freshman Duluth defenseman Mikey Anderson.
Evans, who had two goals Thursday versus Michigan, finished with only a single shot on goal Saturday. Morrison, one of his starting linemates, had none.
“Going into that third period, I think everyone believed in one another that we were going to be able to pull it off,” said Morris, who finished with 33 saves.
But that late-game magic the Irish kept handy in their hip pockets in recent games wasn’t to be found this time.
A Duluth team that lost two consecutive games on the same Xcel Energy Center surface three weeks ago in its conference tournament found a way to come back for four consecutive NCAA wins.
“It’s kind of almost like a miracle,” said Duluth freshman and All-America defenseman Scott Perunovich. “We barely got in (to the NCAA Championship), we snuck in by whatever the points were, but we knew we got lucky and were going to need to capitalize on it, and I think we did.”
Turned out it was worth hats, shirts and a trophy.
###########
It ended for the Irish with Jackson and his coaching staff, along with Notre Dame vice president and athletics director Jack Swarbrick and University president Rev. John I. Jenkins. C.S.C., circling the locker room and sharing handshakes and hugs with every member of the team.
“You guys had one heck of a season. You did some incredible things,” Jackson told his squad in the understandable quiet.
“We ran into a better team tonight — we have to respect that,” he said moments later to the media.
“I feel awful for our seniors. They were relentless and resilient.
“But we walked away with two (Big Ten) trophies and played in the national championship game.
“Right now I just want to embrace these kids and what they accomplished.”
Sadness and euphoria — in two nights at the Frozen Four Jackson and his Irish earned distinct views of each end of the spectrum.
Senior associate athletics director John Heisler has been following the Notre Dame sports scene since 1978.