The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs upset the Michigan Wolverines to capture the Omaha Cup in the Maverick Stampede. The Bulldogs came back from deficits twice to take the Championship.
The Wolverines outshot the Bulldogs 30-23, but in the end it was special teams that won the game, as UMD converted on two of its six power-play opportunites and overcame two Michigan one-goal leads to win the title.
Michigan spent most of the first period in the Bulldogs’ zone, and it looked like missed opportunities were going to trouble the Wolverines as Jed Ortmeyer and Milan Gajic both missed open-net chances about three minutes apart. Mike Cammalleri finally put U-M on the board at 15:23, flipping a rebound into an empty net off his own shot. Cammalleri’s scoring chancecame off an initial shot from Brandon Rogers at the top of the right faceoff circle.
Minnesota-Duluth (2-0-0), which posted a 5-2 upset of Nebraska-Omaha in the semifinals, tied the contest at 1-1 on the power play just under four minutes into the second period, as UMD’s Judd Medak beat Josh Blackburn on a back-door play. With the Bulldogs set up in the Michigan zone, Medak circled behind the net and tapped in a pass from Nate Anderson before Blackburn could recover.
The Wolverines regained the lead at 2-1 10:47 into the second stanza when Joe Kautz beat UMD’s Adam Coole along the ice. Kautz received the puck right in front of the net after a shot by Cammalleri from along the right goal line caromed off Coole and onto Kautz’s stick.
UMD mounted a comeback at that point, scoring the game’s next two goals to take a 3-2 lead. The Bulldogs tied the game at 18:13, scoring their second power-play goal of the night. With Cammalleri and Eric Nystrom in the penalty box along with UMD’s Drew Otten, Andy Reierson fired a blast from the high slot the beat Blackburn over his left shoulder.
UMD took its first lead of the game 3:07 into the third period when Tyler Brosz broke down the left side and beat Blackburn high on his glove side.
The Bulldogs’ defense kept the Wolverines in check for the majority of the third period, including the final 1:35 that saw Michigan pepper the UMD defense with Blackburn on the bench and an extra attacker out. Blackburn finished the game with 20 saves, while Coole stopped 28 of Michigan’s 30 shots to earn Stampede MVP honors.
Mike Komisarek and Cammalleri were named to the Maverick Stampede All-Tournament team, and were joined by UMD’s Mark Carlson, Judd Medak, Tyler Brosz and Coole.
Michigan (1-1-1, 0-0-1 CCHA) will return to Central Collegiate Hockey Association play next Friday and Saturday (Oct. 19-20), facing Western Michigan University in a two-game, home-and-home series Friday in Kalamazoo and Saturday in Ann Arbot.
Minnesota-Duluth will host MSU-Mankato for two next weekend as the Bullldogs begin their Western Collegiate Hockey Association season.
