There is always some sadness when a season ends for a college hockey team, because there are always a few players participating in their final game, and it seems so final when they peel off that jersey for the last time.
But nobody in AMSOIL Arena Saturday night expected that UMD’s men would be ending their season Saturday night. Not after the way the Bulldogs played in going after Western Michigan. Having dropped the first game 3-2, the Bulldogs stormed out of the dressing room and fired the first 11 shots of the game. Western coach Andy Murray, who got a superb performance out of goaltender Lukas Hafner Friday night, surprised everybody by starting Frank Slubowski in the second game. But Slubowski was outstanding, too.
In one of the weird first periods of the season, Tony Cameranesi staked UMDF to a 1-0 lead with a quick move at 1:21 of the first period. Then captain Adam Krause pounced on a rebound in the slot and flicked a backhander past Slubowski at 14:47 for a 2-0 lead.
About then, co-captain Joe Basaraba started a strange succession of trips to the penalty box, and Chase Balisy passed to Shane Berschbach, who sniped a shot from the slot into the upper right at 15:35. That was Western Michigan’s first shot of the game, and it cut the deficit to 2-1.
Basaraba went back into the penalty box, and at 17:17, Western appeared to tie it 2-2 with its second shot, but the goal, by Justin Kovacs, was disallowed after a long review convinced officials that Berschbach’s antics at the edge of the crease to obscure Aaron Crandall’s view of the approaching shot represented interference. So UMD held a 2-1 lead, outshooting the Broncos 12-1 at that point.
That also means Crandall goes into the record books as having recorded the fewest saves in any period of any UMD game ever - at none. Somebody else may have done it, but it had to be at least a tie for the record. It also causes some cynics to suggest Crandall was having a bad night. But it was a night when how good - not how many - shots Western could muster.
In the second period, Balisy came cruising down the slot without attracting any attention, and he calmly caught a pass and had all evening to pick a spot for his shot, and it was 2-2.
Basaraba, whose exuberance had cost him a couple penalties, got one back on the right side of the ledger when he drilled a shot at 8:00 of the middle period to regain the lead for UMD at 3-2. That wasn’t much reward for outshooting the Broncos 16-6 through two periods, but it was a lead.
At 6:22 of the third period, the building was stunned into silence when Balisy skated up the middle, fed Berschbach for a shot, and Justin Kovacs swatted in a rebound that did count, for a 3-3 tie.
   In the next minute, it got more silent. Basaraba was called for hooking, and Kenny Morrison ripped a screened one-timer into th net on the power play at 7:49. Western Michigan, outhustled and outplayed, stayed calm and patient, and put to work a power play that had been dormant until the last three games, and then forged the game-winning margin in both victories over UMD.
The Bulldogs made a determined effort through the final minute, and had some great chances, but the Broncos held on. Outshot 28-11, Western Michigan capitalized on its chances and advanced to Target Center for the NCHC semifinals.
“The kids played hard,” said Sandelin. “I thought we deserved to win two games, and we lost two games.”
Krause, the only UMD player to come out of the dressing room for a half-hour after the game, said: “Give them credit. They’re patient, and played it to a ‘T.‘ We played hard and played well, too. It’s tough to end the season like that, and to look around the dressing room. People don’t realize how much each guy gave for this team, and how the team consumes your life for four years. Those guys have meant a lot to our program, and it’s tough to see it end like this.”

March Madness Opens

The NCAA basketball mania that sweeps the nation at this time of year and causes otherwise normal humans to sign up for office pools and scream and yell for teams they might not have previously known were colleges. It is fun to watch two evenly matched teams battle through the one-game eliminations to reach the Final Four, this year at Arlington, Texas.
You can study every team feverishly, or you can throw darts at the brackets, but it is fun to see if you can pick the winners.
Frankly, I think it all breaks down pretty conveniently this year. I like No. 1 ranked Florida to win the Memphis South Regional; I like Arizona to win the Anaheim West Regional; I like Michigan State to get through the East Regional at New York; and I like Louisville to survive the amazingly loaded Midwest Regional in Indianapolis. Louisville will have to get through a regional that includes undefeated Wichita State, Kentucky, Duke and Michigan - all teams that would be worthy winners. But I think Rick Patino will find a way to beat Wichita State and Michigan to reach the Final Four.
Michigan State is a popular pick to go all the way, and the reason is that the Spartans failed to win the Big Ten because they had a couple injuries, but once healthy, they beat Wisconsin in the semifinals and took out season champ Michigan for the Big Ten tournament title, using a strong defense as much as the necessary offense. I think the Spartans will beat No. 1 Florida to reach the title game, but I like Louisville to beat the Spartans for the title.