The Minnesota Duluth team that is so dangerous in the postseason is back and ready to make some noise in the NCAA tournament.
Ryan Fanti made 25 saves for his second shutout in as many days, and the Bulldogs became the first NCHC team to win three Frozen Faceoff championships with a 3-0 victory against Western Michigan in St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday.
Duluth, which defeated Denver 2-0 on Friday after sweeping St. Cloud State on the road in the quarterfinals last week, scored in each period to deny the Broncos their first NCHC championship.
“I’m really proud of this group because there were times in the second half where we weren’t sure where we were going,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “We’ve seen a lot of good things with this team. Consistency was maybe not quite there. But we went into St. Cloud last weekend, it felt different and we got two wins. And I thought we carried a lot of that same type of play and mentality into this weekend. So hopefully we can keep that going.”
The Bulldogs are going into their sixth straight NCAA tournament on a roll after they were 6-9-3 in the second half of the regular season. They’ll be seeking their fourth consecutive Frozen Four appearance as a No. 2 seed when the brackets are announced Sunday.
Fanti made a spectacular save in the second period, diving to his left with his glove to deny Max Sasson’s rebound try. It was such a good opportunity at a mostly open net that Western Michigan players put their arms up and the goal horn went off.
“I don’t really think I had time to recover and get a get a push and really slide over there. … It’s just one of those ones where you just throw something at it and just hope. I’d definitely say it’s more of a lucky save than anything.”
Said Western Michigan coach Pat Ferschweiler: “That’s an incredible save. He just dives back and puts the glove out. If the game’s 2-1 there is it a different game? Does it build confidence, does it fuel our offense a little more? Maybe we’d see. But the timeliness of the saves were very important tonight, I thought.”
The Bulldogs goalie made 14 saves in the third period and defenseman Wyatt Kaiser made it 3-0 midway through the frame.
“His game speaks for himself, honestly,” Kaiser said. “You don’t have to say a lot. You watch him out there, he’s making big saves, he’s making the saves he should, he’s playing the puck. He’s doing everything for us back there.”
Western Michigan defeated North Dakota 4-2 in the semifinals on Friday but couldn’t add a second playoff championship to its resume. The Broncos won the 2012 title in the old CCHA.
Still, they’re a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“We have to shift our focus to next week now and have a great week of practice,” forward Josh Passolt said. “It’s a new season starting next week. … I think we’re playing really good hockey.”
Dominic James beat Broncos goalie Brandon Bussi high to the short side on a drive up the left side to put Duluth up 1-0 in the first period.
A power-play goal made it 2-0 in the middle frame. Koby Bender kept the puck in at the blue line, setting up a Casey Gilling from above the right circle that deflected in off Broncos defenseman Michael Joyaux.
