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Gophers win title in OT
Koalska's goal in the final minute ties game and propels Minnesota to first hockey National Championship since 1979
 Media Credit: Sherry Larose/KRT Minnesota�s Matt Koalska, left, reaches for the puck as Maine defenseman Peter Metcalf, center, and goalie Matt Yeats defend during Saturday�s championship game.
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ST. PAUL � Who would have thought that the one man on Minnesota's roster not from the State of Hockey would bring the Gophers their first national championship since 1979?
And who would have thought that, in doing so, the Gopher hockey team could beat a ghost?
But they did, and so did he.
When Grant Potulny pushed a puck under Matt Yeats after 76 minutes and 58 seconds of hockey Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center, the 19,324 people in attendance believed, and they had plenty of reason to. With a pile of Gophers in front of the Maine net and a coaching staff who took them in three years where they couldn't go in 23, piled up on the bench, there was only one question left unanswered. Would the foundation of the Xcel Energy Center hold up?
The largest crowd to ever witness an event in the building nearly took her down twice. But before Matt Koalska caused the first earthquake with less than a minute to play in regulation, there was plenty of silence.
Maine's Robert Liscak scored with 4:33 to play in the third period to give the Black Bears a 3-2 lead and put what looked to be a close on the final chapter of their storybook season.
"We were 55 seconds away from winning it," said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead, who coached the team this season after former coach Shawn Walsh passed away just before the start of the year. "But as we have learned many times this year, life doesn't always end up how you would like it to."
Nonetheless, they were oh, so close. But the weekend belonged to Minnesota. Playing on home ice, in front of an entire state, the Gophers did what they couldn't do the last time they were in this position.
It's been 14 years since Harvard beat Minnesota in overtime of the title game on the site of where the Xcel now sits. And as the game headed into the extra session, that thought was lingering in the minds of Minnesotans in every corner of the building. But when Jordan Leopold's shot from the blueline bounced off Francis Nault and waited for Potulny to slide it in, those thoughts were replaced with a memory that will forever outlast the agony of watching Randy Skarda's apparent game winner in 1989 ring off the crossbar.
"It was our time," said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. "After watching Boston College win it last year, I knew it was our turn. You can't win this thing without leadership and our guys showed that they wanted it. They found out today how hard it is to win one and they are going to remember this day for the rest of their lives."
Their dismissal of the past started on a good note. After Cliff Loya went off for holding 5:40 into the game the Gophers took advantage. Keith Ballard fed Troy Riddle in the corner from his point position, cut into the slot and took a return pass to beat Yeats clean through the goaltender's legs.
The 1-0 lead would hold up until the 4:47 point of the second when Michael Schutte scored into a wide open net to knot the game up at one. Schutte's goal silenced the crowd for the moment, but Johnny Pohl's wrister from the top of the left circle beat Yeats over his glove less than a minute later to put the Gophers back up by a goal.
Schutte scored again on a soft shot from the point 1:17 into the third to tie the game at two.
Liscak's goal came from a weak angle late in the period, but Koalska's shot from the slot found its way through a maze of legs and through Yeats' pads to send the game to overtime.
"When we did score to tie it, we still had this feeling that our job wasn't done," said Gopher netminder Adam Hauser, who watched from the bench during that final minute. "I had this feeling that it was going to be a long time before this thing was over so (Koalska's goal) was a tough thing to handle. You didn't see me doing cartwheels or anything like that."
Koalska, on the other hand, did celebrate as if his goal had won the title. He darted towards the bench and leaped into the pile that had formed in front of Lucia.
Both sides calmed down, though, as the game headed into overtime. Minnesota had the better of things in the extra session and almost won it on a Troy Riddle backhand 4:30 into overtime.
But it took a Black Bear penalty to give Minnesota the opportunity it needed. Koalska carried the puck through the neutral zone and was tripped up by the leg of Schutte.
"I was one of the guys on the bench yelling 'heads up' to Matt Koalska because he really could have gotten damaged there," said defenseman Jordan Leopold. "It was kind of a reaction play by (Schutte) if anything. You don't want to get beat, especially in overtime. I probably would have done the exact same thing in that situation."
The Gophers took advantage and ended it on Potulny's goal, winning their first national championship in 23 years.
Around the Frozen Four
- Maine got to the title game by beating New Hampshire 7-2 in Thursday's first semifinal. Minnesota topped Michigan 3-2 later that night to advance to Saturday's championship game.
- The three-day event in St. Paul set all kinds of attendance records for the Frozen Four. The 19,324 in the building Saturday night set records for an event at the Xcel Energy Center, single game Frozen Four and college hockey game in the state of Minnesota.
- The all- tournament team goes as follows: Forwards Grant Potulny and John Pohl of Minnesota and Robert Liscak of Maine. The Defenders were Peter Metcalf and Michael Schutte of Maine and Adam Hauser was the goaltender. Potulny was voted the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Nick Clark can be reached at: [email protected]
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