Dutchmen Beat Gophers in Overtime 3-2

What a great way to bring in the New Year for the Dutchmen! This was a game they really needed to have in order to prove to the rest of the nation that they are not over-rated. Who knows, but maybe this win will be looked back upon as the defining win of the season. Even though Minnesota might not be a national power this year, it is still a pretty big feat to go into Mariucci and beat the Gophers.

Here's the game summary in short: Gophers score late in the first period... John Simpson ties it up midway through the second with a PPG... Gophers take the lead again with about three minutes left in the second with a PPG... Josh Jooris ties the game up 13 seconds later... Jooris scores his second of the night 42 seconds into overtime.

Union played a streaky game. Sometimes the Dutch really controlled the play and at other times the Gophers skated all over them. Personally, I think Matt Hatch and John Simpson played excellent games as they used their speed and took advantage of the bigger ice surface. Obviously, Josh Jooris had a great game and I felt that Brock Matheson had a very strong performance. He is truly the leader of the defense.

I actually paid $13 to watch the game on Go Gopher Sports.com... and it was worth every penny in the end. Yeah, the quality wasn't so great but the Dutchmen won and that's all I care about. I also want to point out that the announcer for the broadcast was really good. He has a real hockey announcer voice. He also wasn't just interested in his team as he pointed out the academic prestige of Union along with some other cool facts. The Gopher fans on the Go Gopher Sports.com live blog on the other hand weren't as knowledgeable. They had no clue where Union was and some didn't even realize that Union was ranked higher than their team. I think they'll know more about Union after tonight!

Today (Saturday), the Dutchmen take on the Bemidji State Beavers in the tournament championship game. Earlier in the day, the Beavers beat the Ferris State Bulldogs 3-2. Union has successfully hunted the Gophers, and now it's Beaver hunting season. Two victories in Minnesota would be a great way to go into the winter term and the bulk of the league schedule. The game will begin at 5pm EST.

Also, congratulations to Head Coach Nate Leaman on becoming the winningest coach in Union College hockey history with the win tonight. Leaman now has 123 wins as Union's bench boss, surpassing Charlie Morrison who had 122 carer wins.

For more on the game check out:
Union Athletics.com
Go Gopher Sports.com (with post-game interviews from Coach Leaman and Coach Lucia)