March 17, 2007
WCHA Finals
Okposo Plays Shutdown Role in Gopher Win
Defensive effort leads Minnesota in OT title game win

By Jess Myers

Minnesota 3,
North Dakota 2 OT
Team Goal Str
Time Assists
First Period

No scoring

Second Period
1-MN Erik Johnson (4) EV
8:26 T. Lucia, M. Carman
1-ND Taylor Chorney (8) PP
13:24 R. Bina, T.J. Oshie
2-MN Ben Gordon (12) EV
15:36 B. Wheeler, M. Vannelli
Third Period
2-ND Ryan Duncan (30) PP
1:54 T. Chorney, R. Bina
Overtime
3-MN Blake Wheeler (18) EV
3:25 J. Barriball
Goaltending
ND: Philippe Lamoureux, 63:25, 38 saves, 3 GA
MN: Jeff Frazee, 63:22, 23 saves, 2 GA
Penalties: ND 13/26; MN 10/20
Power Plays: ND 2-5; MN 0-8
All-Tournament Team
G: Philippe Lamoureux, North Dakota
D: Taylor Chorney, North Dakota
D: Mike Vannelli, Minnesota
F: Jake Dowell, Wisconsin
F: Jonathan Toews, North Dakota
F: Blake Wheeler, Minnesota (MVP)
Attendance: 19,463

ST. PAUL, Minn. – After some of the highlight film offense Kyle Okposo provided in the first half of his rookie year, it would’ve been quite a stretch to envision him as the shutdown guy. But that’s the game Minnesota coach Don Lucia played on Saturday, and the result was the second of three trophies the Gophers have their sights on this season.

Lucia matched Okposo’s top line (with Ryan Stoa and Evan Kaufmann on the wings) against North Dakota’s uber-talented first unit of Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie and Ryan Duncan. The Fighting Sioux tied the game 2-2 early in the third period on one of Duncan’s patented nasty over-the-shoulder snap shots, but that was one of just nine shots the line got on Saturday night.

“We won the game because of the way we defended tonight,” Lucia said. “The play of our defensemen, and more than anything the puck protection. We just didn’t turn those pucks over to give them the odd-man rushes where they’re so deadly.”

North Dakota generally plays a physical style, and the Gophers had watched their opponents beat up St. Cloud State a day earlier. On Saturday they started by matching the Sioux check for check, and the result was a penalty-filled first 40 minutes. But the match-up of Okposo on Toews worked for Minnesota, as the Sioux were held to just 25 shots (none in the overtime). Still, when North Dakota got rolling on power plays, Minnesota knew there was trouble.

“The last time we played them, that line took it to Kyle’s line pretty good, so maybe they wanted a little redemption,” Lucia said. “You see their skill on the power play, they make great plays. They had two good shots and got two goals.”

Since Christmas, as the Sioux have gone 15-3-4, they’ve left many opponents belwildered about ways to slow down the trio of Oshie, Toews and Duncan. Just before his team hoisted the Broadmoor Trophy for the third time in the past five years on Saturday, Lucia may have provided a blueprint.

Wisconsin 4,
St. Cloud State 3 OT
Team Goal Str
Time Assists
First Period
1-SC Andreas Nodl (19) EV
0:29 A. Gordon, N. Dey
1-WIS Jake Dowell (19) EV
12:39 R. Carlson, M. Davies

Second Period
2-SC Ryan Lasch (16) PP
3:18 D. Kronick, J. Swanson
3-SC John Swanson (9) PP
10:20 D. Kronick, R. Lasch
2-WI Andy Brandt (3) PP
18:38 J. Skille, B. Street
Third Period
3-WI Jack Skille (8) EV
13:00 A. Joudrey, K. Klubertanz
Overtime
4-WI Ben Street (10) EV
4:50 A. Joudrey, K. Klubertanz
Goaltending
WIS: Brian Elliott, 0:45, 2 saves, 1 GA;
Shane Connelly, 64:05, 24 saves, 2 GA
SC: Bobby Goepfert, 64:50, 29 saves, 4 GA
Penalties: WIS 5-10; SC 3-6
Power Plays: WIS 1-3; SC 2-5
Attendance: 16,118

PLAN TO HONOR ELLIOTT GOES AWRY

Mike Eaves had a grand plan to give his star goaltender one final start, then have him leave the ice with a classy sendoff. The plan went well, until a meddling rookie from St. Cloud State got in the way.

Brian Elliott badly wanted to play what was, in all likelihood, his final game in a Wisconsin sweater, but his coach had reservations about Elliot playing a third game in three days, and opted for a ceremonial “passing of the torch” to sophomore Shane Connelly.

“We wanted to start Brian and at the first whistle we wanted to have his teammates honor him by coming off the ice and giving him a salute,” Eaves said. “Unfotuntaely it didn't work out the way we hoped.”

Just 29 seconds into the game, Andreas Nodl snapped a rebound shot low past Elliott, giving the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Sticking to the agreed-upon plan to leave after the first whistle, Elliott headed for the Wisconsin bench, but Eaves told him to stay in goal for a few more seconds.

“They scored the first goal, so I said ‘we're not pulling him until the next whistle then,’” Eaves said. Indeed, at the 45-second mark, Elliott gloved a Husky shot and held on, then made his way to the bench to a round of applause from his team and many of the fans in attendance. Despite being the Badgers’ full-time goalie for just two seasons, he leaves Madison as the WCHA’s career shutouts leader with 16, and has a NCAA title to savor. Elliott left the rink in a hurry, but called from the team’s eastbound bus to talk about his last collegiate game.

“I really wanted to play, and I think everyone knew that, but it didn’t work out the way we wanted,” he said, admitting he was rattled after Nodl’s goal. “Right away I was pretty upset, but I have to put it in perspective. I’ve had a great career.”

Elliott said he dealt with most of the “final game” emotions before heading out for warm-ups, but admitted that even with a win, taking the pads off was a gut check.

“The emotions kicked in after the game, sitting in the locker room and seeing guys that have been my friends for the last four years, and knowing that you probably won’t be together again,” Elliott said.

The goalie’s teammates said that a gritty come-from-behind win was a perfect way to finish an otherwise underachieving year.

“If that is the end of the season, that’s a pretty good way to go out,” said Ben Street, who scored the overtime winner. “It’s always nice to be able to win your last game. Not many teams get a chance to do that. And it was a typical Wisconsin win too.”

INCH's Three Stars
of the Night

3. Andrew Joudrey, Wisconsin
The Badgers’ top-line center finished his collegiate career playing a puck-control game that helped the red team finish with a win. The fact that his rising backhander brushed the sweater of a teammate was the only thing that kept him from scoring in his final game for Wisconsin.

2. Taylor Chorney, North Dakota
We knew the kid’s defensive game was sound, but his all-out effort on the first Sioux goal was amazing. After diving to keep the puck in the zone, he popped up and fired a floater that was next seen hitting the back of the net.

1. Blake Wheeler, Minnesota
The future Coyote picked the biggest stage of the season (so far) for his biggest collegiate goal. If that’s his final goal in a WCHA game, what a way to go out.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE X

• Husky fans were left breathless for a minute or two in the third period on Saturday, wondering if their NCAA Tournament hopes had just come to a halt. Goalie Bobby Goepfert got in front of a rising shot by Ross Carlson with 13 minutes to play in the third. The puck caught Goepfert up around the neck, and the goalie dropped his stick and glove in obvious, immediate pain. At the next whistle, he fell face-first to the ice and lay motionless for more than a minute while a trainer talked to him, and backup Jase Weslosky got his helmet on. While there was pressbox talk of a broken collarbone, Goepfert slowly got to his feet, and after a rest, finished the game.

“He was fine. I had to talk to the trainer, and he’s fine right now, but he might be a little sore tomorrow,” said Huskies coach Bob Motzko. The bigger concern, Motzko said, was second-line center Nate Raduns, who left the game with an undisclosed injury and may not be ready to go next week.

• During the classic matchup between Minnesota and North Dakota in the title game, a scan of the crowd produced two great sweaters honoring this rivalry’s history. The gentleman in the section 114 with the gold Gopher jersey with “BROTEN – 7” on the back was nice, although fans always seem to forget than Broten wore 14 for a year, too. A few rows closer to the ice was a sweet white Sioux sweater with “HOOGSTEEN – 18” on the back. Thanks for dressing up.

• With his team and two others assured of NCAA invites, Motzko made a pitch for the defending NCAA champs getting a shot to make the 16-team field.

“They had that little streak there in the middle part and the beginning part where it didn’t go well,” Motzko said of the Badgers. “Denver had theirs at the end and we fought it. I think there are a lot of #1 seeds really happy right now if they’re not in.

“If they’d have been a #4 seed and you’re a #1, to have to play a WCHA team in the first round, with Brian Elliott, there’s a sigh of relief there.”

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

While it’s up for debate whether or not there should be a third-place game, the league made a good move by decreeing that if the Wisconsin-St. Cloud State game was still tied after a five-minute overtime, it would end as a tie. No sense in playing multiple extra sessions to determine, essentially, nothing.

Our annual shout-out to the ticket-buyers around the WCHA is in order, after Saturday night’s paid attendance (and there were very few empty seats) of 19,463 was the largest crowd in the 55-year history of the WCHA. That number surpasses the Xcel Energy Center’s previous high for a college game which was 19,342 when Minnesota beat Maine there in the 2002 Frozen Four title game.

Before the title game, in-arena video host Rusty Kath was interviewing kids and asking who they were cheering for. One youngster from Hibbing, Minn., said he was a North Dakota fan because his parents met in college there, and showed off his Fighting Sioux sweater. When a chorus of jeers erupted from Gopher fans, Kath reminded them that they were booing a nine-year-old. Classy, folks.

The city of St. Paul, and the Xcel Energy Center, were awarded the 2008 Republican National Convention, meaning that a few hundred thousand media, delegates and other assorted fat cats will be coming to town. If the traffic control (or lack thereof) on Saturday afternoon is any indication, there’s some work to be done in the next 17 months. It’s about a two-block drive between the arena and the adjacent parking ramp. On Saturday afternoon, with the St. Cloud State-Wisconsin game starting just as the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade was ending, that drive took 35 minutes.

WHAT'S NEXT

Ryan Duncan made it sound like if the Gophers wanted to skate at 10 on Sunday morning at Wakota Arena in South St. Paul, they’d be there, hoping for a rematch sooner rather than later. According to some, they may meet again in a week, as the Gophers and Sioux might both be headed to Denver.

As for the destination of St. Cloud State, their coach doesn’t know, and can’t figure out how anyone knows.

“I was trying to ask questions up there with those computer guys, and they’re over my head, you have to know that,” Motzko said to roars of laughter in the Xcel press room. “They said the same band is going to go to the same place whether you’re a one- or two-seed, and I thought that sounded good.”

Denver, Michigan Tech and Wisconsin can likely take solace in knowing that they were really close, but three teams is all the WCHA will get this year. Among the rest of the country, which is frankly sick of this league and its five consecutive NCAA titles, there won’t be many tears shed if that happens.