Players, fans endure full spectrum of emotions in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA — There are some times in which the inevitability of sports is painful. Nowhere is that more present that in college sports.

Someone always has to win and someone always has to lose. In that we forget that these players are just kids. Kids who play the games for fun, for love, for a college education and for the fans.

This weekend I had the pleasure of being able to follow the Gopher Men’s hockey team to the Frozen Four in Philadelphia. In fact as I am writing this, I am on a flight with a plane full of Gopher fans who feel pain, mixed with the excitement of what the last four days brought us.

On Thursday we learned that every second of every game counts (or at least they re-learned the lesson after last year’s loss to Yale in the NCAA regional).

The Gophers and North Dakota played for the first time this year, extending a series that almost seemed as if the hockey gods were not able to let it go. The all-time series was close, the post season series was close, heck the last time the two teams had faced each other before that game was a tie.

So it was apt that it should go down to the final second of the game which would send one team to a national title game.

With 0.6 seconds left on the clock Justin Holl scored his only goal of the year, in a way that we are all taught to; throw the puck towards the net and see what will happen. In this case it punched their ticket to the title game, made Holl a folk hero (some even had shirts made up with “0.6” on the front) and put the Gophers on ESPN’s repeated news cycle.

Just 48 hours later, I walked into locker room after the loss to Union in the championship game. Holl’s giggles had morphed into waling, his smile into a painful frown.

You see, in sports, the good never stays good for long and thankfully the bad never does either. But for this young man who had just finished his career and was wandering around the locker room in tears going from teammate to teammate for an embrace, it was especially painful.

He was far from alone.

Captain Nate Condon spoke to me just two days earlier about how this team refused to celebrate the win over North Dakota that much. They were excited for the win but, as he stated, it meant nothing if they didn’t finish the job.

Condon is a natural captain for this team. Not just because he was elected by his peers but because he was born to be. He is stoic, well-spoken and one heck of a hockey player.

He was also the guy who seemed to take this loss the hardest. After the loss to Union he sat motionless at his locker, face red with tears; which you could only see as he occasionally brought it up from being buried in his hands. He never undressed or wiped the sweat away, He just stared, seemingly watching his entire career at the University of Minnesota pass before his eyes.

After a few minutes of gathering himself, he stood up to take questions from the media. Now, Condon is always a great interview with insightful answers wrapped in a pleasant demeanor. But on this night, even he couldn’t hide the terrible feelings inside when asked what he felt they could have done differently tonight:

“Win,” he said with no follow up.

Condon and Holl are just two players in an entire locker room of disappointed kids. And they are just that … kids.

I know there will be people out there who criticize them and fault them from not playing their best game when on the biggest stage (something they said after their loss to Union) l, but lets please remember that these players are kids.

They don’t get the millions of dollars or the endorsement contracts. They put in long hours on the ice to be the best player they can be, and off of the ice to be the best student they can be. If you are thinking about publicly shaming them, don’t. I heard it last year after their loss to Yale and I am sure I’ll hear it again.

No matter the round a season ends in, it’s not OK to blast these kids. If you believe that you have the right to criticize an 18-23 year old kid because you’re a bleeding heart fan, or you’ve had season tickets for years, think again.

They are playing because they love the game and I assure you that no matter how badly you think you feel, they have it worse.

It is interesting though, losses always seem to catch you off guard. I mean, there is literally and statistically just as good a chance of winning as there is of losing.

Yet we are never prepared for the let- down, not as participants in the sport, or as fans of it.

The post Gophers Find Thrill in Victory, Agony in Defeat appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Justin Holl’s buzzer beater vaults Minnesota to title tilt against Union.

PHILADELPHIA — Mix Minnesota’s maroon and gold with North Dakota’s green and white, add ice, stir and the result is utterly unpredictable.

Such was the case on Thursday night as no one could have foreseen Minnesota senior defenseman Justin Holl scoring his first goal of the season, shorthanded mind you, with 0.6 seconds remaining to defeat UND 2-1 in the Frozen Four semifinals at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

But that’s precisely what unfolded, giving Minnesota its third win in five NCAA Tournament meetings with North Dakota.

“No better time for Justin to score his first goal of the season than tonight,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “But that’s our team. We haven’t relied on any one guy. A new guy has to step forward each and every night.”

As the final seconds of regulation ticked down and the Gophers shorthanded, Holl carried the puck through the neutral zone and fed it to Kyle Rau who carried it across the North Dakota blue line. With time running out, Holl chose to jump into the play offensively and, when Rau’s shot deflected off of UND’s Jordan Schmaltz, the puck found its way to his stick and his shot through a screen slid just inside the right post and the on-ice bedlam ensued … for a moment.

An officials’ review was required to verify the puck crossed the line before time expired, which it did, and the celebration was on again.

”It’s a great feeling, but it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t do well on Saturday,” Holl said. “So we’re looking ahead to Saturday and we’re excited for that game.”

Holl’s defensive partner Brady Skjei could not be happier for him.

“He’s one of the biggest team guys we have on our team,” Skjei said. “That’s his first goal of the season, which is crazy because he’s been playing so well. I think he saved it for a good time.”

Rau assisted on both goals adding to his team-leading points (39) and assist (25) totals and goaltender Adam Wilcox was spectacular in making 36 saves and raising his record to 26-5-6 on the season.

“We really had to be good defensively and when you’ve got Wilcox in goal, you can give up a couple and he really stood on his head tonight,” captain Nate Condon said. “We don’t go anywhere without Adam.”

“Adam made some critical saves, like he always does,” Lucia said. “Like I’ve said most of the year, we’re a good team with a great goalie. Adam gives us a chance to win and he certainly did tonight”

Though their bitter rivalry was lost after both teams departed the WCHA after last season for “greener pastures”, it was allowed to briefly rekindle for this one-night-only engagement with each team’s season on the line and an opportunity to play for a national title at stake.

The score was 0-0 through two and a half periods until Minnesota’s Sam Warning scored his 13th of the season, backhanding a Rau rebound behind UND goaltender Zane Gothberg, who finished with 26 saves, to break a scoreless tie at 10:51 of the third period. But North Dakota’s Connor Gaarder answered just 32 seconds later to knot the game once again.

Gaarder drove hard to the net from the left side, getting off a backhand shot Wilcox stopped but could not control. As he headed behind the Minnesota goal, the Edina native reached up with his forehand and batted the puck out of midair past Wilcox for his ninth of the year and third of the postseason.

With time winding down in a tie game and the certainty of overtime growing, Gopher defenseman Mike Reilly was called for holding with just 1:39 to play putting UND on a power play for potentially the rest of regulation and into overtime. Holl’s heroics took care of all that.

The Gophers move on to face Union in the national title game on Saturday night at 6:30 pm on ESPN. The Dutchmen beat Boston College 5-4 earlier in the evening. The championship game will be the fourth meeting all-time between Union and Minnesota. The Gophers hold a 2-1 advantage in the series.

“That was the goal at the beginning of the year, to be playing at the end of the season,” Condon said. “We’ve realized that goal but I don’t think anyone comes here to lose.”

Minnesota is making its first championship appearance since 2003 and 12th title game appearance overall. The Gophers’ 2003 national crown was their most recent.

The post Gophers Advance to Frozen Four Championship appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.