DETROIT — “This is a man’s game.” That’s how Minnesota coach Don Lucia summarized the Golden Gophers’ 4-2 win over Michigan on Saturday, making Minnesota the 2015 Big Ten playoff champions.
Travis Boyd scored twice, and Justin Kloos and Kyle Rau scored for the Gophers, with Kloos netting the game-winner on a power play at 9:29 in the third. Adam Wilcox made 24 saves and allowed just two goals for the tournament.
[scg_html_b1g2015]The Gophers peppered the Wolverines in the first period, outshooting Michigan 20-7 in the first 20 minutes, a tactic that may have worn Michigan down as the game progressed.
“I thought we had a great first period,” said Lucia. “We did what we wanted to try to make Michigan turn and go get pucks as much as we could and hopefully wear them down a little bit in their Game 3.”
After a scoreless first period, the teams combined for four goals within the span of just over eight minutes, resulting in a tied game after two.
Boyd scored first on the power play at 2:30, capitalizing on Rau’s pass that had drawn Michigan goaltender Steve Racine to the right post to defend. Rau passed left and Boyd was wide open.
Michigan answered less than two minutes later with Zach Hyman’s power-play goal, scored from the front of the crease with the puck sliding beneath Wilcox’s outstretched glove.
The Wolverines took a brief lead at 6:14 on another power-play marker, this time Alex Kile’s tip-in of Cristoval Nieves’ shot. But at 10:34, Rau scored an even-strength goal when he skated in alone on Racine after taking a pass from Hudson Fasching.
With the scored tied 2-2 at the end of the second, Lucia said he told his players that they had to stay with the game.
“We like to use the expression, ‘You’ve got to take a punch,'” Lucia said. “We punched and scored the first goal, and they popped us a couple and it’s 2-1. And Racine made an unbelievable save; he was terrific all weekend and he was really good tonight.
“You have to be able to weather a few storms. You have to be able to take a punch, and today we did. After the second, I said, ‘We’re going to get the third goal off a rebound … and then we’re going to get an open netter.'”
It wasn’t a goal from a rebound that put the Gophers ahead 3-2, but Kloos’ toe-dragging power-play goal at 9:29, scored while he was falling to the ice.
At 19:38, with Racine pulled for the extra Michigan attacker, Boyd sent a clearing attempt all the way down the ice to the opposite goal to make the final score 4-2.
“From our perspective, it was a great college hockey game,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “It was an end-to-end game. Minnesota jumped us, I thought, in the first period and Racine had to play really well. We got going in the second. We ended up with a 2-1 lead and lost that and you don’t give up a power-play goal to decide the game.”
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G000033LahdlM6GU” g_name=”20150321-Michigan-Minnesota-LRadloff” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f22Fbq1nIYKgSCI7NYOEP37D3N65MkHZZUMdAohgTKxpPq.QU.g–” ]The Wolverines ended their season with a record of 22-15. Michigan needed the win to advance to the NCAA tournament.
“We knew it was going to be a man’s game,” said Lucia. “Michigan’s an outstanding team. The only disappointing thing for me tonight is that they’re not going to be in the NCAA tournament because they’re certainly worthy.”
The Golden Gophers (23-13) captured their first conference playoff championship since 2007. Minnesota secured its fourth consecutive regular season championship this year, having won the title in the Big Ten’s inaugural season and the WCHA regular season championship for the two seasons preceding that.
