Minnesota-Duluth does the honors
Kim Martin is more than happy to have the team award.
Passed over for the Patty Kazmaier Award, the Minnesota-Duluth goalie stopped 28 shots to help the Bulldogs beat Wisconsin, 4-0, yesterday in the NCAA women's title game at Duluth, Minn.
It was the school's fourth championship in eight seasons and avenged last year's 4-1 loss to the Badgers in the final.
Haley Irwin, Emmanuelle Blais, Sara O'Toole, and Karine Demeule scored for the Bulldogs (34-4-1), who beat Wisconsin (29-9-3) five out of six times this season. A team from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association has won the title in all eight years of the tournament.
"Today, we pulled together an almost perfect hockey game for 60 minutes," Bulldogs coach Shannon Miller said. "I was in disbelief. I believed we could win, but I was standing on the bench watching them play and going, 'Wow! Amazing!'
"They did all the little things really well and they played with pride. I thought our entire team was outstanding today."
None more than Martin, a finalist for the Kazmaier Award as the nation's top women's player. Sarah Vaillancourt of Harvard was presented the award Friday.
"Of course, it would have been an honor to win the award," Martin said. "Then I started to think about this game, and I'd rather have a national championship then having the award, even if it's an honor to get it."
Martin entered the game with a 0.94 goals-against average. Despite 10 power plays for Wisconsin, Martin was rarely tested in her fifth shutout of the season, thanks to a defense that cleared rebounds and gave her good looks at the puck.
Playing in front of a home crowd, Irwin gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead with 37.6 seconds left in the first period.
Blais scored on the power play midway through the second period, backhanding a rebound into the Badgers' net.
O'Toole scored shorthanded with 1:36 to go in the middle period, and Demeule added an empty-netter in the third period.
"To win a national championship at home in my senior year," Demeule said. "It's like a dream. It's perfect."
Men
CCHA final - At Detroit, Billy Sauer made 27 saves, and Aaron Palushaj and Brandon Naurato scored as No. 1 Michigan edged Miami (Ohio), 2-1.
Michigan (31-5-4), also the regular-season champion, earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, while third-ranked Miami (32-7-1) will get an at-large bid when the field is announced today.
Alec Martinez scored for Miami after Jeff Zatkoff (24 saves) was pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute.
Palushaj opened the scoring in the second period, one-timing a pass from Matt Rust past Zatkoff from in front of the net. Naurato scored 10 minutes into the third period when he tipped in a cross-crease pass from Tim Miller.
WCHA final - At St. Paul, Tom May scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and sixth-ranked Denver held off Minnesota, 2-1, to earn an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
May, a Minnesota native, pushed a low shot past goalie Alex Kangas to help the Pioneers (26-13-1) win their third WCHA title in the last seven seasons.
Peter Mannino made 34 saves for the victory, allowing only Ryan Flynn's goal. Tyler Bozak also scored for Denver.
After beating St. Cloud State and Colorado College on successive nights, 11th-ranked Minnesota (19-16-9) was trying to become the first team to win the tournament after playing in the Thursday night play-in game.
Division 3 semifinals - Kyle Jones made 26 saves for his ninth shutout of the season and the 24th of his career in St. Norbert's 3-0 victory over Norwich at Lake Placid, N.Y.
The Green Knights (26-1-4) will face Plattsburgh State in the championship game today. The Cardinals defeated Elmira, 6-3, in the other semifinal.
David Thompson made 16 saves for Norwich (22-7-0).
