Heartbreaking loss brings Bulldogs' season to an end
Mark Warner
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Sports
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Playing in their first NCAA tournament since 2004, the No. 2 seeded Dogs appeared untouchable after shocking the hockey world in their first-round game Friday night. Down 4-2 to the No. 3 seeded Princeton University Tigers, with less than 40 seconds to play, UMD miraculously rallied to tie the score.
The comeback started when a Tiger high-sticking penalty allowed freshman Jack Connolly to put his 10th score of the year past Princeton's goalie on the ensuing power play with 39.4 seconds left. Then, somehow, with only 0.8 seconds remaining in the game, sophomore defenseman Evan Oberg willed a desperation shot over a crowd and into the back of the net.
Despite trailing for most of the game, momentum clearly belonged to the Dogs as overtime began. By controlling the puck and attacking the net with more ferocity than they had throughout the entire contest, UMD again benefitted from pressuring Princeton into a penalty, this time for tripping. It was the Tigers' sixth penalty of the game, and their last. Only 16 seconds into the man-advantage, the Bulldogs' power-play unit struck again. A different rookie Connolly, this time Mike-who had also assisted on the previous two goals-ended the Tigers' season by putting a perfect pass from Justin Fontaine through the pipes for the 5-4 victory.
For the game, UMD outshot Princeton 35- 31 and reaped the benefits of owning the nation's fourth best, power-play unit (according the college hockey stats Web site), as they cashed-in on two of Princeton's six penalties.
Apparently, after finishing the amazing NCAA tournament comeback and becoming the first team to win the WCHA's (Western Collegiate Hockey Association) Final Five from the play-in game, there simply was no magic left in the Bulldogs' bag of tricks on Saturday night.
Playing as statistical favorites for the first time in weeks, UMD never got its offense going against the No. 4 seeded Redhawks from Miami. After a scoreless first period, the game turned chippy in the second and 10 penalties were levied on the teams in the second stanza alone.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it was Miami that better capitalized on the man-advantage on Saturday. Despite having six power plays in the second period alone, UMD was unable to put the puck in the net and actually yielded a short-handed goal at the 8:42 mark.
After Miami's initial goal, the Bulldogs received perhaps their worst break of the year from the game's officiating crew. Originally, senior defenseman Josh Meyers was credited with tying the game for UMD. However, after further review, it was ruled that Fontaine had illegally screened the Miami goalie by creeping too far into the crease, and the goal was nullified.
Following this unfortunate ruling, UMD seemed unable to regain any substantial momentum. Only minutes after the Dogs' goal was taken off the board, Miami put another one on it. On their fourth power play of the game, the Redhawks tallied a key insurance goal going into the third.
Despite managing numerous scoring opportunities, UMD could not crack Miami goaltender Cody Reichard's shell until it was too late. After spending much of the final period killing off penalties, the Dogs finally managed a score when MacGregor Sharp pulled UMD to within one goal with 2:05 left in the game. A frantic two minutes followed, but Friday's mojo was nowhere to be found Saturday, and the Dogs were unable to force another overtime.
The Bulldogs outshot Miami 26-19 but let seven Miami penalties go unpunished by failing to cash in on any of their power plays.
UMD finished the season 22-13-8 and will lose seven players to graduation. The group, which includes Michael Gergen, Jay Cascalenda, Matt Greer, Josh Meyers, MacGregor Sharp, Nick Kemp and Andrew Carroll, led the Dogs to their first WCHA title in 24 years and an NCAA tournament win that will not be soon forgotten along the North Shore.
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