April 8, 2006
NCAA Frozen Four Notebook
Frantic Final Moments
A wild finish preserves Wisconsin's win

By Mike Eidelbes and Jeff Howe

Badger fans had plenty to celebrate, and reasons for sighs of relief. (Photo by Larry Radloff)

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – For a group that was moments from winning a national championship, the Wisconsin players on the ice for Boston College’s final, furious attempt to score the tying goal don’t have a good handle on the specifics of game’s waning moments. The Eagles, on the other hand, recounted every excruciating detail.

BC’s Peter Harrold fired a desperation shot toward the goalmouth, an attempt that was tipped by teammate Brian Boyle and clanked off the post to goaltender Brian Elliott’s left with 1.7 seconds left in regulation. While the Badgers celebrated after the final horn sounded, referee Matt Shegos was in official scorer’s box, checking with the video replay officials to make sure the puck didn’t go in.

“I got a feed from Stephen Gionta in the corner, and I looked up and saw that I had a little lane to the net,” Harrold said. “I just threw it up there and hoped for a little luck. Boyle is pretty strong so he set a good screen. A quarter-inch the other way and we tie the game.”

“Peter came down and took a shot,” Boyle said. “I deflected it down, and I thought it was in the net. I thought we tied it up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the bounce, and that’s how it goes.”

“It looked like we were in some disarray,” said Boston College goaltender Cory Schneider, who was on the Eagle bench in favor of an extra attacker. “Guys were just trying to force it to the net and it was getting blocked. Then it hit the post, and I thought it was going to go in. I thought we were going into overtime.”

Listening to different Badger players discuss the sequence of events, one wonders if they were watching the same game, let alone the same play. Forward Joe Pavelski, for example didn’t even know Boyle’s tip hit the post.

“All I did was go back toward the post with my pad and my stick,” Elliott recalled. “I think I would have had it if it would have been on the net. For a last-second shot, that’s always good to get all those bodies in front.”

“The guy [Harrold] let go of the shot and you saw the ref wave it off…I didn’t know what was going on,” Wisconsin forward Adam Burish said. “I was grabbing the [BC] guy next to me as tight as I could…he’s probably got a bruise I was grabbing him so tight.”

“I saw this one guy [Boyle] come out from the corner and put his stick up,” said defenseman Tom Gilbert, who seemed to have the best description of the play. “I knew it would hit his stick. I tried to get out there…I was hoping he would take it wide. Thank God for the post.”

Pat Gannon celebrates scoring BC's goal against Brian Elliott. (Photo by Larry Radloff)

PENALTY KILLED

One of the biggest reasons Boston College even found itself in the national title game was the recent play of its penalty kill. The unit had actually outscored its opponents’ power play by a 3-2 margin in the team’s last five games heading into Saturday. But great puck work out of the Badger power play in the third period broke down the Eagle defense and ultimately crowned Wisconsin as the national champions.

Adam Burish worked the puck down to Joe Pavelski along the left boards in the BC zone, and Pavelski hit an open Tom Gilbert in the high slot. Gilbert walked in and took a tough wrister that crossed up Cory Schneider and gave the Badgers a 2-1 lead with 10:28 left in regulation. It was Wisconsin’s lone extra-man score in eight chances.

“One power-play goal was the difference in the game,” BC coach Jerry York said. “We couldn’t score a power-play goal, and we had four chances. We gave them eight [power plays]. We had to defend a little bit more than I would have liked to tonight. We did a great job on the [penalty kill]. Most games I would take one out of eight.”

Defenseman Peter Harrold credited Wisconsin’s passing ability on the play.

“We’re a very aggressive [penalty kill],” Harrold said. “We go after teams, and that has been our philosophy all year long. We dare them to make three or four really good passes because we’ve got good players who can get to different spots and cut passes off, but sometimes you get burned when you do it. That is a very good power play that they have. Tic-tac-toe and it’s in the net. There’s not much you can do about it.”

Pavelski said the Badgers countered BC’s attacking strategy on the PK to earn the game’s deciding goal.

“In the second period, we threw up an interchange at them, and they didn’t know what to do,” he said. “They started running at us so we’re like, ‘Let’s go down low and throw it right back at them.’ They came out, and they were fading. I kind of gave a look to Earl, they both collapsed, and Tom was just sitting there. I just zipped the pass to him, and he had plenty of time. He picked his spot and just hit it.”

INCH's Three Stars of the Game

3. Robbie Earl, Wisconsin Earl and his running mate, Joe Pavelski, were the Badgers' biggest offensive threats, as they have been all season. Earl broke through on their first shift of the second period. 2. Cory Schneider, Boston College Without the efforts of the acrobatic Schneider, the Badgers could have blown things open. He not only made 37 saves, but was adept at intercepting feeds to the crease with his stick or glove. 1. Tom Gilbert, Wisconsin Had he not scored the game-winner, Gilbert may have still been here for his work on BC's Chris Collins, who rarely had any room to operate. Gilbert's gorgeous winner made his performance all the more special.

Related Coverage

Game Story: Red State A late goal and later post delivered Wisconsin's sixth national title and first since 1990. State Champions No one appreciated the Badgers' win more than the team's 13 Wisconsin natives. All-Tournament Team Complete with former Badger coach Jeff Sauer's commentary.

SEEN AND HEARD AT THE BRADLEY CENTER

• Despite everything that has been made of the Wisconsin fans and how much of an advantage the Badgers had playing just a short drive from their campus, everyone in the Boston College locker room welcomed the hostility.

“It was a lot of fun actually,” Cory Schneider said. “You want to play in front of a huge crowd, and it definitely made it that much more exciting. After awhile, you don’t even care who they’re cheering for. You feed off the electricity anyways. They were great. I would rather play here in a hostile environment than a quiet arena. It was a great atmosphere.”

“They have been tremendous,” Peter Harrold said. “The Wisconsin fans are unbelievable, and we can even feed off that, too.”

“They have a long tradition at Wisconsin, dating back to the Dane County Coliseum,” Jerry York said. “They just forced through us and were very supportive of the home team. Our kids didn’t mind it at all.”

• He is probably being a little hard on himself in the immediate aftermath of a tough loss, but Brian Boyle is holding himself responsible for the events that led up to Robbie Earl’s game-tying goal in the second period. Boyle attempted to clear the puck out of his zone, but Adam Burish swatted it out of the air and started the charge that was capped off by the Frozen Four’s Most Outstanding Player.

“I tried to fire it hard up the boards and make the safe play,” Boyle said. “I didn’t want to turn the puck over in the middle of the zone. [Burish] made a great play knocking it out of the air, and they came down and scored. It’s my fault. I should have gotten it out of the zone. I’m disappointed.”

• Breaks come in many different forms, and Wisconsin got one just prior to the start of the power play during which Gilbert scored the eventual game-winning goal. The majority of the Badgers’ top power-play unit – Gilbert, Burish and Pavelski – were on the ice when BC’s Anthony Aiello was whistled for a hooking minor with 11:26 left in regulation.

Before the man advantage started, however, both teams got a short break courtesy of a TV timeout, allowing coach Mike Eaves to put his first group back on the ice. Burish said Eaves thought the stoppage should’ve come at the whistle before the penalty.

“We were looking for that timeout because we were a little winded,” Burish said. “We got a chance to regroup, put a kind of play together. We got in there, set it up and ran it just like we diagrammed it.”

“That TV timeout gave us a rest,” Gilbert said. “We were refreshed.”

• Maybe Gilbert scored the game-winning goal because he had a little something extra in his legs after sitting in the penalty box for more than four minutes during the first period. Shegos sent Gilbert and BC’s Dan Bertram off for matching minors with 6:24 to go. Though the infractions were of the two-minute variety, neither player could leave the penalty box until a whistle stopped play. That break didn’t come until there was just over two minutes left in the period. At one point, an assistant referee waved off an apparent icing, causing Gilbert to throw up his hands in disgust while standing at the penalty box door.

• Wisconsin assistant coach Kevin Patrick, who was hit in the head by a puck that sailed into the Badger bench following an errant clearing attempt in the third period, apparently managed to shake off any lingering effects of the el kabong.

“How’s your head?” a bystander asked Patrick as he walked past the Badger locker room.

“It’s awesome!” a grinning Patrick replied.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

One of the best signs at the Bradley Center on Saturday night said “Rooney for Hobey” which was a Boston College fan’s cry for the national recognizance for Joe Rooney, a BC junior forward. ESPN picked up on the sign during a stoppage of play, and about five seconds after it reached the national television audience, Rooney found himself flying down the left side of the ice. His shot, like 22 of the Eagles’ other shots, was stopped by Brian Elliott.

Pavelski topped the unofficial Inside College Hockey record for post-championship, cell phone voice mail. He reported 20 messages and two text responses, which is two more than Denver’s Adrian Veideman had on his mobile in Boston in 2003.

Speaking of great locker room moments, credit Adam Burish with this gem as the media first entered the Badger locker room: "Where's Erin Andrews? I want to talk to Erin Andrews!"

The Bradley Center ran an amazing event this week in every way, but the higher-ups dropped the puck during Boston College’s post-game press conference. A flat screen television hanging on the wall five feet from the podium was left on, and it was showing the footage of Wisconsin’s entire on-ice celebration, no doubt adding salt to the wounds of Cory Schneider, Peter Harrold and Jerry York, who couldn’t take their eyes off it.

At one point in the third period, it appeared BC's Peter Harrold might be ejected from the game after checking a Badger forward from behind with 3:28 left in regulation. Though Harrold’s hit appeared to be a textbook example of a five-minute checking from behind major at full speed and on replay, Shegos cited the Boston College defenseman for a boarding minor.