WORCESTER, Mass. – It’s hard for a team to travel across the country and win. It’s even harder for them to knock off the defending champions. That’s what Minnesota-Duluth did on Friday night as they took out the Providence College Friars 2-1 57 seconds into the second overtime. Karson Kuhlman scored to win it for the Bulldogs from Willie Raskob and Tony Cameransi.
The Bulldogs move onto to face the winner of BC and Harvard Saturday night in the Northeast Regional championship game.
The Friars had a shot to end the game in overtime, but Bulldogs goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo made a poke check on a Brian Pinho breakaway to keep the game tied.
“I kind of saw where he wanted to go right before he made that move,” the Bulldogs’ sophomore net minder said. “I think I was just lucky to get my stick on that.”
After the game, Providence coach Nate Leeman was a man of few words.
“It’s pretty simple we didn’t have our A game tonight,” Leeman said. “We got beat by a better team, and you know, that’s about it.” It pretty much sums up the let down that the entire Providence was feeling after that game.
In defeat, Providence goalie Nick Ellis was brilliant, making 54 saves in the loss, and kept the Friars in the game that was scoreless through two periods.
The Friars were back on their heels through much of the early part of the first, as the feisty Bulldogs continued to hammer away. Both teams however seemed to struggle with the ice conditions, as many players lost their footing in the corners. But neither could find the back of the net in the first period as they went to the locker rooms tied at nothing. The shots in the period were 8 to 4 in favor of the Bulldogs. The second period though was a different story for both teams.
Again the Bulldogs controlled the puck off the draw, but it was the Friars who seemed ready to go. The game got increasingly more physical, and it looked like the Friars would take the momentum. But their momentum came to a screeching halt when Conor Macphee blew up Kyle Osterberg of the Bulldogs.
The hit sent Osterberg to the ice hard and landed Macphee with a five-minute major, along with a game misconduct. The Bulldogs looked to have their best chance of the game, but a Dominic Toninato penalty negated much of the power play. The Friars shut down the Bulldogs for the rest of the kill and continued to get chances as the 5-on-5 play resumed.
The Bulldogs continued to be the better team as the period went on, but the Friars had the better scoring chances. Ellis and Kaskisuo saw the puck extremely well in the sequin, and didn’t give up many second chances. Both teams again headed to the locker room tied at zero, with the shots 21 to 15 for the Bulldogs.
In the third however the Friars came out firing on all cylinders. They started to push the pace and took over the game in the Bulldog’s end. But Kaskisuo would not be beat on any of their outside chances. The Bulldogs started to find their footing in the third and were able to turn the tide.
Camoranesi stopped the puck on a PC clearing attempt and fired it past Ellis to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. The Friars struggled after that goal, but after some strong play by Ellis were able to find their footing. Ryan Tait had a shot blocked that went right to Steven McParland who buried it to tie the game.
Tom Parisi got the other assist on the goal. After that both goalies went into shut down mode. Nothing was getting past either of them, and both teams ended up trading chances. Without a goal in the third we headed to overtime with the shots 41 to 26 for the Bulldogs.
The first overtime was more of Duluth’s domination in the Friars end. Nick Ellis stood on his head for the entire overtime. The Friars struggled to get any real chances in the Bulldog’s end, most of them were from the outside.
No one found the back of the net in the first OT meaning we were ready for the second one. Ellis set a record for most saves in Northeast Regional history with 54.
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