Before tonight’s championship game, Minnesota coach Don Lucia challenged junior net-minder Jeff Frazee.

“I told him that Briggs never lost to Michigan,” Lucia said after the game.

How did Frazee respond to Lucia’s challenge? He led the way for the Gophers ñ stopping 44 saves in the 4-3 win over Michigan. His performance may have answered some questions regarding his position as the team’s top goaltender too, but you wouldn’t know that by asking Frazee.

“It’s just another day in the life of a goalie,” he said.

One night after Lucia earned his 500th careeer win in a dramatic 4-3 comeback over RPI, the Gophers were unwilling to wait for a comeback tonight. Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 with goals by R.J. Anderson and Blake Wheeler in the first period.

But in contradiction to the RPI game, where Minnesota came out flat only to outplay the Engineers in the final period of the game, the two Gophers’ goals seemed to relax the team and gave the Wolverines a chance to pull off a comeback.

A penalty stricken second period also helped Michigan, which recorded 20 of their 47 total shots on goal in the stanza. And while the Gophers’ penalty kill didn’t give up a goal, the Wolverines would eventually get on the board with a goal from Matt Rust. Rust added another goal halfway through the third, but by then the Gophers made the deficit too great with two more goals from Ryan Flynn and Patrick White.

When Rust was called for a penalty with two minutes remaining in the game, the odds were against Michigan and the Gophers were able to hold off several last ditch efforts to secure the win.