Notre Dame Falls In National Title Game To Minnesota Duluth, 2-1
Notre Dame's bid for one of the greatest "hat tricks" in NCAA history fell just short Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., with a 2-1 defeat against Minnesota Duluth.
The Fighting Irish, who advanced to the Frozen Four for the fourth time the past 11 years under head coach Jeff Jackson (only Boston College and North Dakota have had more appearances in that span with five apiece), finished 28-10-2. Meanwhile, the Cinderella Bulldogs, the last team to eke into the 16-team field by the thinnest of margins, ended the season with a 25-16-3 ledger.
Notre Dame was attempting to capture its third national title in as many weekends after doing so in fencing March 25 and women’s basketball April 1. The hockey program has not yet captured a national title, and this is the second time it lost in the title game, joining the 2008 unit that fell 4-1 to Boston College. A victory would have given the Irish their 32nd recognized NCAA title from a ninth different sport.
In all four Notre Dame NCAA Tournament games, the opposition scored first, but this time time the resilient Irish could not rally to victory after falling behind 2-0 in the first period and seeing their five-game winning streak in the postseason — each by one goal — come to a halt.
Duluth's first tally came on a wrist shot after an initial fake by Karson Kuhlman (9:06) on a break off a turnover. Then at 18:39 Jared Thomas took possession of an Irish turnover deep in his zone and snuck in a shot parallel with the goalposts that banked off goaltender Cale Morris’ hamstring and snuck through a small opening.
The Bulldogs were on the cusp of breaking the game open early in the second period with back-to-back power-play opportunities, and they out-shot Notre Dame 7-0 in the first five minutes. Morris and the defense withstood the early flurry and then capitalized minutes later on their own power play — the eighth straight game the Irish scored with a man advantage — on junior Andrew Oglevie’s team high 15th goal of the season at 7:40 in the second period.
Duluth entered the contest 22-0-1 in games where it held the lead after two periods, and it held on to capture their second national title — both in St. Paul. They also won it in 2011 while defeating Notre Dame again by one goal (4-3) in a Frozen four semifinal.
Overall, the Bulldogs outshot the Irish 10-7 in the first period, 18-8 in the second and 7-5 in the third for a 35-20 advantage in that category.
The sophomore Morris, the Mike Richter Award recipient as the nation's top goaltender, recorded 33 saves while his counterpart, Hunter Shepard, had 19. Duluth was 0-for-3 on the power play while Notre Dame was 1-for-2.
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