Playing for the last time in his home state, Denver senior forward and Eagan native Tom May went out on top in more ways than one.
The Pioneers won their 15th Western Collegiate Hockey Association tournament championship in a 2-1 win over streaking Minnesota and May tallied a dazzling game-winner in front of the 17,907 fans that came out to watch the title match.
“It was great to get back and win it in front of a lot of family,” May said after the game.
With just over 25 seconds left in the second period, freshman forward Anthony Mainani found May at center ice before the senior forward went tearing towards the goal on a partial breakaway. The former Wildcat easily blew past senior defenseman Derek Peltier before slipping the disc between freshman forward Alex Kangas’ five-hole for his eighth goal of the year.
“I was trying to get him to mess up and fumble the puck, but he made a nice move, went around my stick and slid a five-hole in there,” Kangas said after the game. “It was probably the wrong play at the time but it was the one I thought I should have made.”
Kangas left his five-hole exposed when he tried to poke-check the puck ñ a rare gamble for the traditional netminder.
It was a rare mistake for Kangas, who was otherwise spectacular in three-games this weekend. But Kangas and the Gophers had four things working against them. First, no team that played in the Thursday play-in game has ever won the Final Five, although three teams have reached the championship game before the Gophers.
Second, tonight’s game was the team’s sixth in just nine days. Third, Minnesota hasn’t beaten Denver all year and has now scored just five goals in five games against the Pioneers.
Finally, Denver has Freshman forward Tyler Bozak who continued to dominate Minnesota ñ notching a goal ñ his team leading 18th of the year ñ in the second period to tie the game at 1-1 after Gophers sophomore forward Ryan Flynn scored the game’s first goal earlier in the period.
In five games against Minnesota this season, Bozak has scored seven goals ñ the rest of the Pioneers have combined for just nine goals against the Gophers this season.
“If he could play us 30 times a year, he’d probably be signing a pro contract right now,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said of Bozak. “He should give us a part of the bonus.”
Both team have locked up berths in the NCAA tournament, but will have to wait to find out where they are headed. Madison, Wisc., Colorado Springs, Colo., Worchester, Mass. and Albany, NY will host the four regional tournaments. The NCAA Selection Show will be broadcast Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. on ESPN2.
WCHA Final Five All-Tournament Team:
F- T.J. Oshie: North Dakota
F- Mike Hoeffel: Minnesota
F- Tom May: Denver
D- Taylor Chorney: North Dakota
D- Chris Butler: Denver
G- Peter Mannino: Denver
MVP- Alex Kangas: Minnesota
