Inside College Hockey | 2003 Frozen Four: The Textbook 20

April 10, 2003
NCAA Frozen Four
The Textbook Twenty

By Mike Eidelbes and Joe Gladziszewski

NCAA Tournament Coverage

BUFFALO – Making the loss even more difficut for the Wolverines to swallow was the fact that Michigan game plan for the game's first 20 minutes completely threw the Gophers off their game and was clinical in its precision and execution. Their commitment playing the body and a strong team defensive effort that including fierce back-checking by the forwards had Minnesota's high-octane attack making inaccurate passes and frequently icing the puck.

"That was definitely one of our goals," defenseman Nick Martens said. "We wanted to come out strong and establish the physical style of play against a free-wheeling type of team. We stuck to our guns the first period...and things were going our way. We played exactly how we wanted to play"

Minnesota coach Don Lucia, who said his players were guilty of standing around during the first period, wasn't pleased with his team's showing early on, but chose to appeal to their emotions as opposed to tinkering with their system.

"After the first period, I didn't like our chances," Lucia said. "I think we have the heart of a champion. It's something I told the team after the first period.

Lucia's charges responded by matching the Wolverines' style as the game wore on, with the defensemen throwing their bodies around and fowards crashing the net. Eventually, the Gophers broke through on an anything-but-flashy goal by Troy Riddle just prior to the second intermission. Still, the Wolverines were encouraged with their effort after 40 minutes of play.

"Everyone says the two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey," Martens said. "You give up that one goal and the momentum totally changes. But in these types of games you're not going to get the pretty goals. That's just the way it goes."

COLERAINE CONNECTION

Gino Guyer and Andy Sertich, freshmen in the Gopher lineup and high school teammates at Greenway High School, are playing on a big stage from small-town roots.

They come from Coleraine, a town of slightly more than 1,200 people where the struggling iron mining industry is the economic lifeblood of the community. Assistant coach Mike Guentzel grew up in the area and was best friends with Gino's father, Pat, who is the head coach of the Greenway High School icers. He sees some of the things that made Pat a good player reflected in Gino.

"Gino's very similar. He's a centerman. He distributes the puck. He can shoot the puck, he makes other players better," Guentzel said.

INCH's Three Stars

3. Thomas Vanek, Minnesota
The freshman was a non-factor for 68 minutes of Thursday's game, but the Gophers advance to Saturday's championship on the strength of his nifty move down low that led to the overtime winner. We imagine fellow Graz, Austria, native Arnold Schwarzenegger beamed with pride following the Minnesota victory.

2. Jed Ortmeyer, Michigan
The senior captain set the tone early with a thunderous hit on a Gopher in the first period, and he set up his own goal in the second period, forcing Minnesota's Chris Harrington to turn the puck over in his own end by crushing him in the far corner.

1. Travis Weber, Minnesota
If it wasn't for his efforts Thursday night, especially his 14-save performance in the first period, there would have been a long line of Minnesota fans at the Northwest Airlines counter at Buffalo International Airport minutes after the game's conclusion looking to fly stand-by to Minneapolis.

SEEN AND HEARD AT HSBC ARENA

• Minnesota hockey purists who think the team should be comprised of solely Gopher State products take note: your last two overtime goal-scorers in the NCAA Tournament are a North Dakotan (Grant Potulny) and an Austrian (Thomas Vanek). Gopher fans might want to lobby Don Lucia to insert freshman defenseman Peter Kennedy, the pride of Brookfield, Nova Scotia, into the lineup Saturday night.

• For all the talk prior to the Frozen Four about whether the Gophers would struggle to adapt to the NHL-sized ice sheet at HSBC Arena after playing on the Olympic-sized rink at Mariucci Arena in the West Regional two weeks ago, coach Don Lucia was quick to point out that both teams in Saturday's championship match play their home games on the larger ice surface.

• Representatives from Detroit were in Buffalo lobbying to serve as the host of future Frozen Fours. The Joe Louis Arena is trying to secure the event for either 2007 or 2008, with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association action as host in conjunction with the Detroit Red Wings. Joe Louis Arena is the site of the CCHA Super Six playoff championship every March. Another Detroit-area venue, the Palace in suburban Auburn Hills, is also rumored to be interested in hosting. A third city in the running is St. Louis, which was the previous site of the Frozen Four in the mid-1970s.

• There's a history of disputed playoff goals at the east end of HSBC Arena. The Michigan goal that was waved off in the third period happened at the same end where Brett Hull scored the winner in the second overtime Game Six of the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals, giving Dallas to its first Cup title with a series win over Buffalo. Replays showed Hull had a skate in the crease - illegally - when he batted the the puck past a sprawling Dominik Hasek.

• Minnesota's Travis Weber got a big laugh in the post-game press conference. When asked how much defenseman Paul Martin's diving effort to thwart a Michigan scoring attempt late in the third period meant to his team, the goalie responded, "It meant a lot, actually." Thankfully, Vanek was not asked about the importance of his overtime goal.

• The Gophers were short one cheerleader Thursday after an incident at the Chippewa Street watering hole the previous night. A few of the cheerleaders thought it would entertaining to the bar's patrons if they climbed atop the bar and put on a Coyote Ugly-esque show while Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" blared from the club's sound system. Unfortunately, the routine came to a grinding halt when one of the cheerleaders tumbled from the bar and hit her head on the floor. She left the establishment a little woozy, but under her own power.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

To Minnesota's Grant Potulny, for exhibiting gamemanship at its highest level by goading Michigan's Mark Mink into taking a thoughtless penalty in the first period. The Gopher captain and the Wolverine senior were locked in a tete-a-tete prior to a faceoff in the neutral zone. Whatever Potulny said stuck in Mink's craw, because he was whistled for high sticking seconds after the linesman dropped the puck.

To coaches Red Berenson and Don Lucia, for granting interviews to ESPN's Adrian Karsten during the overtime intermission Thursday. Can you imagine Roy Williams or Bob Knight doing the same during the NCAA men's basketball tournament?

To the HSBC Arena public address announcer, for his consistent mispronunciations of players' names – for example, he called Minnesota's Barry Tallackson tuh-LACK-son. You can find a pronounciation guide in any one of the two million postseason media guides stacked on a table in the press work room.

To the NCAA for its stance toward alcohol. We're not promoting Mardi Gras-like partying in HSBC Arena, but why can the NCAA forbid liquor sales at its tournament venues but allow its television partners to run ads from beer companies during their broadcasts of the same events?

WHAT'S NEXT

After beating Ohio State in its season opener, Minnesota traveled to Durham, N.H., for a pair of games at the Whittemore Center. New Hampshire had the upper hand in that series, winning the Saturday game 3-1 after the team's skated to an entertaining 5-5 tie the previous night.

Now, the teams meet almost six months later for a bigger prize. Gopher coach Don Lucia said both teams have changed and anticipates a fan-friendly style of play.

"That's a long time ago. We're a different team, they're a different team. I know it'll be a great matchup," he said. "I think we both play the game the way it's supposed to be played. Try to play up tempo and make plays."