Minnesota holds off Wolverines

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Grant Potulny scored two goals and Adam Hauser made 27 saves as Minnesota held off Michigan 3-2 on Thursday night in the Frozen Four semifinals.

The Gophers (31-8-4), playing in their 17th Frozen Four, will face Maine on Saturday in the championship game. Maine beat New Hampshire 7-2 in the first semifinal.

An NCAA hockey tournament-record crowd of 19,234 – most of them rooting for Minnesota – watched the Gophers advance to their first title game since 1989, also in St. Paul.

Minnesota, seeking its first title since 1979, lost to Harvard in overtime in the 1989 final at the Civic Center.

Gophers goalie Adam Hauser was six minutes away from his ninth career shutout when J.J. Swistak scored to pull the Wolverines to 3-1. Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn was pulled with 2 minutes left, and Jed Ortmeyer scored with 1:34 remaining to make it 3-2.

Jeff Taffe scored his 34th goal and added an assist, and John Pohl had his nation-leading 50th assist for the Gophers, who beat the Wolverines for the first time in four postseason meetings.

Blackburn made 23 saves for the Wolverines (28-11-5), who were making their second straight Frozen Four appearance.

Angell likes matchup

Minnesota senior defenseman Nick Angell feels the fans will get a real treat when his Golden Gophers and the Black Bears square off for the NCAA championship Saturday night.

“Even if I wasn’t playing in the game, I’d want to go. And I’d be willing to pay top dollar,” said Angell moments after his team’s win.

Minnesota had beaten Maine 7-4 in the semifinal to reach the final that year.

“We know Maine. We’ve played Maine more than the other eastern schools,” said Angell. He has faced off against the Bears three times, including Maine’s 5-4 overtime win in an NCAA first-round game last year at the Worcester Centrum.

He said the game has a storybook billing with his Gophers, vying for their first NCAA title since 1979, and Maine “being on a mission for Coach Walsh. It’s a natural lead-in.”

“It’s going to be a great game,” said Angell, whose Gophers lost to Maine in Orono 5-3 and 5-4 to open the 1999-2000 season.

Hauser and Pohl, both seniors, recalled last year’s painful loss in Worcester when Maine’s Michael Schutte tied it with three seconds left and Robert Liscak won it in overtime when Hauser coughed up the puck to him.

“It seemed like we didn’t get any bounces last year. That was our last game. This will be the last game for the seniors and we want to beat Maine,” said Hauser.

“Even though we lost that game, Coach [Lucia] felt we came together as a team in that game. We had nothing to be ashamed of. I think if we had played them in December, we would have wanted some payback. But now we’re playing for the national title [which is enough incentive in itself],” said Pohl.