They played overtime. And another one. And another one. And another one. And another one. The game that started on Saturday ended on Sunday. It was 142: 13, more than any game in the 74-year history of the NCAA men’s hockey tournament.
That’s what made the ending excruciating for a UND team that took first place in the country for most of the season.
At 12:42 am on Sunday morning, after 6 hours and 12 minutes of playing time, Minnesota Duluth striker Luke Mylmok landed a shot in a race that beat UND goalkeeper Adam Scheel by five holes at the start of the fifth overtime for give Bulldogs a 3-2 win in the Fargo Regional final at Scheels Arena.
The goal came moments after UND defender Jake Sanderson hit a shot from the post, the third time UND took advantage in the extra five sessions.
“It will probably be one of the most memorable games, although we lost the game in overtime,” said UND coach Brad Berry. “This is what sport is. I said to the guys after the game: ‘This is life. This is what life is. Is not fair.’ At the end of the day, we could have argued all day who should have won the game … we felt that we had a very good opportunity. We had a ton of opportunities to win the game. We felt it was not fair we didn’t win the game. But, I repeat, this is sport, this is life. Keep moving forward. “
The Bulldogs invaded the ice to celebrate the fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Frozen Four, the first team to accomplish this feat since UND 2005-08. They will go to Pittsburgh in two weeks, two wins before becoming the first college hockey team to win three consecutive titles since Michigan in the 1950s.
UND (22-6-1) remained on the ice for several minutes trying to digest the end of his season, which featured a Penrose Cup as champions of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference and the program’s first NCHC Frozen Faceoff title, but it will not end the ninth national school NCAA championship.
“We had a very good team together this year,” said Berry. “I’ve been here for a long time as a player, as an assistant coach and as a head coach, and I don’t know if we had a more closed group or that cared more about each other than this one. We always talk about controlling the things that you can control. There are three things we always talk about: your work ethic, your attitude and your choices that you make every day. These guys did it to a T, to an elite level. “
Captain Jordan Kawaguchi, who tied the game with an extra attacking goal in the final minutes, embraced all UND players when they left the ice.
“These are my brothers,” said Kawaguchi. “This is my family.”
The Bulldogs, who won the last two NCAA national titles, continued their overtime magic.
Minnesota Duluth won NCAA overtime games in 2016 (Providence), two in 2017 (Ohio State, Boston University), another in 2018 (Minnesota State-Mankato), another in 2019 (Bowling Green) and another Saturday / Sunday. Three of those wins in overtime took place at Fargo’s Scheels Arena.
Meanwhile, UND lost another heartbreaker in multiple extensions to the NCAA tournament.
In 2017, in the same building, UND lost a game in the double overtime to Boston University. Fighting Hawks went 25 minutes without allowing a shot on goal – including the entire first overtime – but was unable to finish it.
Saturday’s game was not so uneven – the final moves were 65-54 UND – but the chances of winning it were abundant.
Gavin Hain hit the crossbar in the first overtime. Shane Pinto hit the crossbar in the third overtime. As soon as the third overtime ended, Jasper Weatherby hurried into the zone, hit a puck that hit Minnesota goalkeeper Duluth Zach Stejskal, floated in the air behind him and landed on top of the net. Sanderson hit the post again in the fifth overtime.
“When you look at the (puck) at the top of the net … You look at Jake Sanderson – I think it hit two posts, it was a double post and it came out – you have to ask yourself a little bit that the Hockey Gods are not shining about you, “said Berry. “Again, this is here and there. It’s one of those things where we needed one more jump, we needed one more move to score, and we didn’t.
“I can’t blame any of our players for tonight’s defeat. They gave it their all. That’s all we asked of them all year round. They did it again tonight.”
After having the NCAA tournament eliminated a year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic, UND and Minnesota Duluth did their best to make up for it, playing an all-time game that surpassed the previous record of the 123: 53 NCAA tournament set by St Lawrence and Boston University in 2000. Santos won in the fourth overtime.
Not only did UND play the longest game in the program’s history – the previous record was December 21, 1968, when UND beat Minnesota 5-4 in a game that lasted 102: 09 – it also beat a player. Senior UND striker Grant Mismash, who averaged one point per game this season, suffered a leg injury in the second period. He tried to play a change in the third, but failed.
In the second overtime, UND players spent so much energy that Berry started playing as extra striker Carson Albrecht, trying to spread out minutes and get energy from guys who hadn’t played as much.
“In the last break, some of us had IVs running,” said Kawaguchi. “We were drinking Coca-Cola just to put sugar in our system, to give us a little energy … pretty much everything that makes you feel so much better, we were doing it.”
UND, who had 19-0 when they scored the first goal of the game this season, had to play behind in the regional final.
Minnesota Duluth scored consecutive goals at the 1:20 interval at the start of the third period to jump to a 2-0 lead.
At 3:21, Bulldog defender Hunter Lellig launched a kick from the spot that hit Bulldog striker Jackson Cates, jumped in the air and landed behind Scheel. Just a few turns later, UND defender Ethan Frisch tried a one-timer from the point, but his club broke and Cole Koepke broke in a clean escape, hitting Scheel on the side of the club.
UND had an impressive rally at the end of the third, however.
Striker Collin Adams scored a goal from Stejskal behind the finish line with 1:41 to cut the Bulldog’s lead to one. Then, after the Bulldogs missed the chance of an empty net, UND equalized. Pinto tried a shot from the left circle, but deflected it to the right circle, where Kawaguchi buried him 57 seconds from the end.
“I thought we played well,” said Kawaguchi. “They are a good team. We are a good team. They are two great teams fighting. Obviously, the scoreboard reflected that, the whole game reflected that. Either team could have won tonight. It happened that they won.”
The winning goal came from Mylmok, a freshman with just one goal this season.
Scheel ended the game with 51 saves, the largest by an UND goalkeeper since 1994.
A veteran Kawaguchi led the UND score for the third year in a row, becoming the first player to do so since Greg Johnson (1990-93). Although the NCAA has decided that this season does not count against a player’s eligibility, which means that all seniors can return, some may decide to move on.
“Emotions are everywhere,” said Kawaguchi. “It is difficult to put much into words now.”