The night of the event, there was heavy excitement from all walks of the tournament. While Minnesota seemed to hold a slight advantage as far as fans went, there was definitely an anticipation from the locals over 2012 3rd round draft pick Shayne Gostisbehere, Union defenceman and Philadelphia Flyers prospect. I heard a handful of whispers about the soon-to-be 21-year-old on Thursday but I suspect many of the Flyers faithful who had had their college teams knocked out in earlier rounds were at the game just to watch the kid play.
Shortly after 7:30 ET, the puck was in play and Union had possession. It didn't take long, but 19 seconds into the game, Brady Skeji of Minnesota committed the first infraction of the game and Union would go to the power play. The teams would trade blocked shots to open things up before the Dutchmen entered the zone to try to get on the board early. The Gophers killed the penalty and found themselves on an offencive zone faceoff. Right off the draw, Nate Condon of Minnesota took the puck and fired a quick shot from the circle which was stopped by Union goaltender Colin Stevens and quickly bounced right in front of the crease. Stevens thought he had it but by the time he realised the puck was free, Minnesota forward Justin Kloos crashed in and scored on his second swipe at the loose change just over 2 1/2 minutes after the opening puck drop.
Minnesota would keep the press up but go back on the penalty kill in short order. Union would create more chances, driven largely by Gostisbehere, but would fail to convert on the second man-advantage. Minnesota would get their own chance on the power play and were unable to capitalise as well. On a reset of the breakout at even strength, Gostisbehere threaded through center ice, generate some space in the high slot, and slip a rocket of a wrister past Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox. And just like that the game was knotted up at 1-per-side.
The Dutchmen would not keep the momentum rolling in their favour, however. On their next shot on net, the Gophers would retake the lead midway through the frame with a Sam Warning rebound on a Kyle Rau shot. The teams would trade chances for the next few minutes with nothing to show for it before an extended bout of pressure by Union with around 5 minutes remaining in the first period. Wilcox would have seven shots to face and stop before Mike Vecchione would slip number eight past him and the game was tied again.
It was at this point that Union would gain the advantage of momentum in the game. Just a minute after the Vecchione tally, Eli Lichtenwald would score just under Wilcox's glove on a bouncing second attempt after a centering feed by Gostisbehere from the low corner. In the minute after that, the Dutchmen were back on the attack. Defenceman Jeff Taylor would fire a shot wide of the net that would bounce around to Wilcox's right side. Matt Hatch would whiff on the first attempt, Max Novak fired the second which was stopped by Wilcox, and Daniel Ciampini would make the third attempt on the bouncing puck count while facing a yawning net. The Dutchmen erased a one-goal deficit and built a two-goal lead all in a two-minute frame of time, cushioned by a four-minute stretch without a single shot on net by the Gophers.
The teams would attract a pair of offsetting minor penalties towards the close of the period and, by the time the horn sounded, they would combine for 35 total shots on goal with Union holding the 20-15 advantage. By now, the Union fans were starting to drown out Minnesota even though the sound guy didn't seem to like the Union band, failing to turn their mics live when they would play on several occasions.
Minnesota would come out swinging for the second period again. Following the conclusion of the previous penalties, the Gophers would get a pair of shots on net before firing a third in to cut the Dutchmen's lead to one.
The first period was definitely characterised by the abundance of scoring so things were definitely bound to settle down in that regard during the second. And while the Minnesota goal to bring things to 4-3 would prove to be the only marker, both teams would spend a decent amount of time in the second period either a man up or man down. Power plays would even out at two apiece for the period and, while both teams would maintain a relatively high scoring pace, neither goaltender would allow the score to budge.
Union would finally break the scoreboard out of the doldrums in the third period. At the 5 1/2 minute mark, Max Novak would tip one past Wilcox on the rush from a well-placed Kevin Sullivan shot-pass. The teams would trade more penalty chances as the minutes ticked off the clock and Minnesota would start to feel the squeeze facing yet another two-goal mountain to climb.
With Charlie Vasaturo of Union in the box on a roughing call and only 4 1/2 minutes left in the game, Minnesota needed to start chipping away at Union's lead. It took them almost a minute on the man-advantage, but the main theme of second chances from crashing the net upheld for another opportunity as Stevens would make a stop on a Travis Boyd point shot and Hudson Fasching would chip the rebound past Stevens's outstretched leg. With 3:40 on the clock, the Gophers had some life yet to push themselves back into the game.
Well the spark would be short-lived. Union kept Minnesota from generating any meaningful chances by suffocating them in transition. Two minutes after Minnesota scored the lone power play goal of the game, Gostisbehere stretched out to stifle Taylor Cammarata on the rush, Matt Bodie collected and chipped the puck up to a streaking Sullivan just past centre who settled the puck, deked to the outside, and fired a shot through Wilcox's five-hole. By this time, practically the entire arena was decidedly pro-Union.
Minnesota was left with only 1:22 to score two goals and extend the game into extra frames. They finally got Wilcox out for the extra attacker at 1:06 remaining but only managed one shot on net before Bodie sent a puck the distance into the open goal and would ice the game at 7-4 for the Union Dutchmen, their first ever national title.
During the awards ceremony, it was announced that Boston College Johnny Gaudreau would win the Hobey Baker Award as the top NCAA men's ice hockey player. However, this was overshadowed by Shayne Gostisbehere taking home honours of the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, much to the delight of Flyers fans.
I had to take the group photo from the jumbotron since I was seated behind the team, but here you are, 2014 NCAA Division 1 Men's Hockey Champions, the Union Dutchmen from Schenectady, New York. Thank you to the city of Philadelphia for hosting this wonderful event, congratulations Union, and we will see everyone next year at TD Garden in Boston for the 2015 tournament!
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