Duluth freezes out the Irish for hockey title
Bulldogs had needed help from Notre Dame just to reach the NCAA tournament.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Karson Kuhlman had a goal and an assist, and Minnesota Duluth defeated Notre Dame 2-1 Saturday night to win the school’s second NCAA hockey championship.
Jared Thomas also scored and Hunter Shepard stopped 19 shots for the Bulldogs (25-16-3), who also won the 2011 title at the Xcel Energy Center.
Andrew Oglevie scored and Cale Morris made 33 saves for Notre Dame (2810-2), winless in two national title games. The Irish lost to Boston College in 2008.
Minnesota Duluth lost to Denver in last year’s championship. The Bulldogs had seven seniors on that team, and then three underclassmen departed early for the NHL, including the starting goaltender.
Just getting into the NCAA tournament looked like a long shot on March 17. The Bulldogs lost their second game in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament that afternoon and needed six conference finals that evening to go their way.
They did, allowing Duluth to edge Minnesota by .0001 in the formula used to determine the at-large teams. Notre Dame’s overtime win over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game put the Bulldogs in the tournament.
Duluth took advantage of two Irish turnovers. Pressured by Kuhlman, Notre Dame’s Jordan Gross lost the puck in the neutral zone. Jade Miller poked the puck ahead to Kuhlman at the Irish blue line, and after a brief hesitation in the right circle, the captain beat Morris with a rising shot.
An aggressive forecheck led to Thomas knocking Andrew Peeke off the puck in the right corner. The puck went to Kuhlman and back to Thomas, who banked a shot from near the goal line off Morris and in with 1:21 left in the period.