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The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers were extremely complimentary of the Black Bears for their play in their 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota in Saturday’s NCAA championship game.
“You can’t say enough good things about Maine, how well they played,” said Gopher senior defenseman Nick Angell.
“Fundamentally, they pounded us. My whole body feels like it’s going to fall apart right now, from elbows to knees. My partner [Keith Ballard] is limping around. They physically beat us up,” Angell added. “They dominated the whole third period. Maine can look at themselves in the mirror and say ‘Hey, we laid everything on the table. It was a great game and we came up a little bit short. We had our opportunities and so did they. It was just Minnesota’s day to win it.”
Minnesota junior center Jeff Taffe said, “You have to take your hat off to everyone on that team. That’s a great group of guys they have over there. They played us exactly how they needed to. They held us up all night and didn’t let us get down the rink. Their game plan was to get everything to the net and crash it and it worked out. They scored two goals that way. [Gopher goalie Adam] Hauser played great for us. They’re a very competitive team.”
Minnesota sophomore left wing Grant Potulny, who scored the game-winner, said, “They beat some real good teams to get to this point. We knew it was going to be a battle.”
Sophomore center Matt Koalska said the fact Maine has been to three of the last four Frozen Four speaks for itself.
“They’ve got a great team and they played a great game,” said Koalska who forced overtime by scoring with 52.4 seconds left.
Angell said he expects the Bears to be good again next year.
“They’ll have an exciting team. They lose only two players [besides goalies Matt Yeats and Mike Morrison],” said Angell referring to right wing Niko Dimitrakos and defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf. “They’ve had great success and have quite a tradition of appearances in the Final Four.”
This was Maine’s eighth Frozen Four appearance. Minnesota was making its 17th appearance in the Frozen Four.
One of the interesting contrasts between Maine and Minnesota occurred in the breakdown of hometowns.
Of Minnesota’s 20 skaters, 19 were from Minnesota and Potulny is from Grand Forks, N.D., the home of the University of North Dakota.
“I hated the Gophers when I was a kid,” said Potulny.
Maine’s 20 players came from six different states, five different Canadian provinces and two European countries.
Scalpers busy in St. Paul
Business was brisk for fans trying to get their hands on the hottest ticket in town on Saturday, as Minnesota hockey fans opened their wallets and put themselves at the mercy of scalpers.
Some were wary. Some were impetuous. Some struck a hard bargain.
On the corner of Kellogg and West 7th streets – right in front of the arena – trade was conducted openly, despite the presence of several uniformed police officers standing less than 50 feet away.
In fact, when those officers helped pedestrians cross busy Kellogg Street, the scalpers were often doing business less than 10 feet from the not-so-long arm of the law.
One man was trying to unload two middle-deck seats for $300 per ticket, but was having little luck coercing a skeptical market to pay that price for the $41.50 tickets.
Most customers were like William Kennedy Smith of Rice Lake, Wis.
Smith, who responded to raised eyebrows by showing an ID that proved he shares the name of the infamous Kennedy cousin who was charged with rape in the 1990s, made the two-hour trip to the Frozen Four to watch the Gophers play, and knew that he’d find suitable tickets if he was patient.
He found people trying to unload club-level seats for $250, but said the price had quickly dropped to $200, as fans told the scalper what they weren’t willing to spend.
And after just a half hour of working his way through the busy marketplace, he found exactly what he was looking for … at a price he could live with.
“Three [tickets] together, section 109, Row 9. One-fifty each. I told you we’d get ’em, didn’t I? And we got three together. I thought we’d have to split up.”
Smith said the scalper had met the target price he established before hitting the street.
Smith said despite the fact that he lives in Wisconsin, he and his friends prefer all things Minnesota.
“We’re all Gopher fans. All five of us. We’re Vikings fans, Twins fans, Gophers fans, Wild fans. We hate the Packers. We have to live with those pukes. Oh, my God,” he said. “But I own a bar. I’ve got to be a little careful. What the hell. I’m a non-conformist.”
Smith has been to several Frozen Fours, hoping for a Gopher win.
“In 1981 I saw them lose in Duluth, [Minn.] and in ’89 I seen them lose here,” he said.
Smith said he was pretty sure he could get his tickets for the right price. But there is one politically incorrect rule that he says helps.
Remember, he’s a non-conformist.
“Women,” he said. “You want to buy them from women. They don’t know.”
New Hampshire fans adopt new team
When the University of Maine defeated New Hampshire in the NCAA semifinals on Thursday night, some Wildcat fans unloaded their tickets and headed back to the Granite State.
Others, like Paul Luciano, wouldn’t have missed the championship game.
But they didn’t feel any loyalty to UNH’s Hockey East rival.
“We would love to pull for Maine. We live in Maine. But we just can’t do it,” he said.
Luciano is actually a Mainer (just barely), living in Kittery Point. He and his friends are all Mainers, in fact.
But that doesn’t stop them from crossing the border … and travelling across the country to support his favorite team in blue.
“We bleed blue. The real blue. Wildcat blue,” Luciano said.
Luciano said the Minnesota fans made him and his friends very comfortable.
“They’ve treated us very well. Extremely well, since about three quarters of the way through the game on Thursday,” Luciano said, referring to the 7-2 Black Bear rout of his ‘Cats..
“Now we bleed Minnesota red. We’re maroon and gold now,” he said. “We’re quasi-Gophers.”
Koalska friendly with former Bear
Matt Koalska, who scored the game-tying goal for Minnesota with 52.4 seconds to play in regulation time, greeted Maine media members enthusiastically after the game, and wanted to talk about his favorite former Black Bear as much as he wanted to describe the Gophers’ key goal.
“You know Scott Smith?” Koalska said, referring to the popular Black Bear who set the career record for penalty minutes from 1982-86.
“He’s good buddies with my brother. He grew up here in St. Paul with my second-oldest brother, Greg,” Koalska explained.
Koalska, who also grew up in St. Paul, said Smith was at the game to watch the Gophers and Black Bears play on Saturday night.
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