If the point of getting a college education is to find a good job, a former defenseman at Minnesota did his alma mater proud last week.

When Todd Richards was announced as the new coach of the Minnesota Wild, he said he felt like he’d landed one of the 30 best jobs in the world. There were smiles all around as he met the media in his home state.

New Wild coach Todd Richards (at podium) scored 158 points for the Golden Gophers from 1985-89.

But there was reflection of disappointment also, as Richards recalled his final collegiate game, played 20 years ago in a rink on the same downtown St. Paul street corner where the Xcel Energy Center now resides.

Between 1986 and 1989, Richards won a pair of WCHA titles and made four trips to the Frozen Four with the Golden Gophers, the last of which culminated in a title-game clash with Harvard at the corner of Kellogg and West Seventh.

Richards’ new boss, Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher, had been one of the final cuts from that Harvard team, and was playing junior varsity hockey for the Crimson that season.

There were more than 15,000 at the St. Paul Civic Center for the title game that spring night, with roughly 14,960 of them clad in maroon and waving gold pom-poms. But the night ended badly for the de facto home team. Richards joked that he was on the bench for the overtime game-winner by the Crimson, so it wasn’t his fault, but he recounted the details of the heartbreaking moment.

“I can still picture that,” Richards said. “I remember the faceoff and the rebound, and (Minnesota goaltender) Robb Stauber’s pad just popped up and the puck just went right underneath.”

Richards admitted that even two decades later, it remains one of the great disappointments in his life, and has forever left a name etched in his memory.

“Eddie Krayer,” Richards said, recounting the Crimson forward who scored the title-winner. “I wonder where he is now.”

Among the scrum of reporters, there was speculation that with a Harvard education, Krayer probably has a pretty good job (indeed, a New York Times article from last season listed Krayer as an insurance executive). Then another reporter chimed in to Richards with an optimistic note, saying, “But he doesn’t have your job.” Amid the painful memories of the Crimson, that brought a smile to Richards’ face.