Union Wins NCAA National Title
The 2014 Frozen Four tournament has come to an end and the Union Dutchman are skating away as the NCAA national hockey champions. Union defeated the number one ranked Minnesota Gophers 7-4 in the championship game on Sunday night to win their first NCAA hockey title in school history.
The Union Dutchman came into the tournament under the radar. Without having any big threats up front on offence, their
Photo Courtesy of Union College
4 2nd lines managed to hang tough. The Dutchman proved they were the real deal with a big 5-4 win over Boston College to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four finals.
Union is the second team in a row to win the NCAA title for the ECAC, following in the steps of Yale’s big win last season. Amazingly, Union showed that glamour isn’t what a team needs to win big, having just 1 NHL drafted player on their squad.
With the early tying goal from Shane Gostisbehere and three goals in a span of 1:54, the defencive minded Dutchman were able to crack the nations best goaltender in Adam Wilcox. Mike Vecchione scored to tie the game up at 2-2 and Eli Lichtenwald gave them their first lead of the game and from that point there was no looking back. With the goal support Colin Stevens shut the door the rest of the way, backstopping Union to their first National Title and a spot on the all-tournament team.
Both Union and Minnesota had exciting semi-final wins and some might contribute the loss by Minnesota to their excitement after scoring the winning goal with .6 seconds to advance. Tonight the Dutchman proved that the little guy can definitely hang with the big boys and when it’s on the line, beat them.
Gostisbehere led the Dutchman in the championship game notching a big goal and adding two assists and brought home the Most outstanding player award for his work in leading the Dutchman to their first championship.
Tonight’s NCAA National Championship game will go down as one of the most exciting games in college hockey history. The two teams traded leads and the Gophers attempted a late comeback, however the depth of Union was able to stand strong against the Nations top ranked team. The Union Dutchman are the 2014 NCAA National Hockey Champions, hats off the Dutchman for one heck of a tournament and ending their season on a 12-game win streak.