Where to begin....
There was the euphoria when Michigan beat an excellent North Dakota team Thursday night - goaltender Shawn Hunwick stopping a phenomenal 40 shots on goal to lead his team to a 2-0 victory. The Sioux had the advantage in the polls and in attendance - I'm not sure how many folks were left in the state of North Dakota this last weekend but I'm pretty sure many were in Minneapolis. Way to represent, Sioux! And way to grind it out Michigan - I realized the whole third period was played like a giant penalty kill to protect a one goal lead. Brilliant strategy and it paid off with a return to the championship game!
There was the heartbreak of losing in overtime in the championship game to the University of Minnesota at Duluth. And the pride in the Michigan team that fought so hard through injuries and penalties and a hostile fan environment only to lose in OT. There was some great stuff in that game. Ben Winnett's goal. The "grind line" of Rohrkemper, Moffatt and DeBlois was tremendous. Hagelin and Rust were amazing defensively as they helped kill penalty after penalty. And Shawn Hunwick once again proved he was the best goaltender in college hockey. Thank you, boys, for the wild ride to the NCAA championship game.
It is the bittersweet nature of college sports that you watch the players develop into a fantastic team and then they graduate and move on to other things. I'm proud to be a Wolverine hockey fan. Hagelin, Rust, Vaughan, Caporusso, Winnett, and Langlais - we will miss you. I'm sure we'll see you in other uniforms playing for professional teams - and we will cheer you on! That said, I will miss the student section holding up the Swedish flag after the fastest player on the ice breaks through the neutral zone to score. And I am not sure if I will ever watch a 5-3 penalty kill with the same sense of expectation again.
We may not get 'em next year but I know we will be in it. With a goaltender like Shawn Hunwick, I'm not sure how we couldn't be. I look forward to seeing what Pateryn, Bennett, Glendenning, Brown, Lynch, Merrill, Burlon and the rest of the boys can do next year.
In the meantime, football is coming.
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