The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey team is heading home tonight following a tough 3-2 overtime loss to University of Massachusetts in the Frozen Four semifinal matchup in Pittsburgh Thursday night.

According to the UMD Athletics website, the 2019 NCAA Championship game was the only time UMD had ever faced Massachusetts. The Bulldogs won that game 3-0 to claim their second straight national title. 

Massachusetts entered the contest missing four players due to COVID-19 protocols, including their starting goalie, Filip Lindberg, and their second line goaltender, Henry Graham. The Minutemen’s second line netminder for Thursday’s game was the team’s equipment manager. His jersey had to be express mailed to Pittsburgh following the unexpected test results.

As the game began, Duluth’s defense started off strong. Over 10 minutes had ticked off the clock before Duluth’s 6-foot-4-inch goalie, Zach Stejskal, recorded his first save. A hooking penalty by Tanner Laderoute gave Massachusetts a power play with five minutes left in the first period. Minutemen defenseman Zac Jones hit a bardown wrist shot from deep to give Massachusetts a 1-0 lead.

Laderoute made up for his hooking penalty when he scored a game-tying goal with 2:09 left in the first period. A shot from Quinn Olson kicked up off the leg of a Massachusetts defenseman, and Laderoute tapped the puck into the net as it hit the ice.

Though the Minutemen took a strong offensive charge as the clock approached zero, a failure to capitalize on the attack left the first period ending in a 1-1 tie.

Early in the second period, multiple long passes from Duluth’s defensemen resulted in multiple icing calls, giving Massachusetts plenty of opportunities for goals from faceoffs on Duluth’s end of the ice.

With nine minutes left in the second period, Duluth’s Cole Koepke wrapped around the goal and took a shot on net. Massachusetts’ Matt Murray made the save, but Koepke fielded his own deflection off the pads and netted a wrist shot, giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.

Late in the second period, UMD’s Kobe Roth left the ice after suffering an apparent shoulder injury after getting pinned against the boards. After working with trainers, he returned to the ice a few minutes later.

Following two periods, Duluth was dominating Massachusetts 26-11 in shots on goal.

After eight minutes of alternating offensive attacks, Massachusetts finally netted a puck. Anthony Del Gaizo flicked in a loose puck that was deflected off Stejskal’s left leg pad. The goal brought the game to another tie at 2-2.

The game didn’t see much action until the final minute of regulation, when Massachusetts’ Jones got called for hooking, giving the Bulldogs a power play; however, just 30 seconds into the advantage, Roth committed a cross-checking foul, leaving the final 45 seconds of regulation in a 4-on-4 contest.

With tensions high following two back-to-back penalties, both the Minutemen and the Bulldogs got one final offensive attack, both of which were unsuccessful.

UMD would head into their fourth overtime game across the last five games. The Bulldogs had seen seven games tied after regulation before Thursday night, four of which they had won. 

Under NCAA rules adopted for this season, overtime periods are run in sudden-death fashion until a winner is determined. No shootouts occur.

The first overtime period opened up with Jones and Roth both finishing their sentences in the penalty box, leaving the ice one man short for each team. Following Jones’ completion of his penalty box stint, he immediately took a shot on goal while Massachusetts had a 33 second power play. Roth completed his penalty, as the Minutemen pushed a strong offensive attack on Stejskal. The ice returned to even strength.

The entire overtime period saw some ugly play from UMD. Duluth seemed as though they couldn’t hold the puck on the offensive end, and allowed countless offensive opportunities for Massachusetts.

With 5:30 left in the first overtime period, Massachusetts’ junior forward — and Edina-native — Garrett Wait scored the sudden-death, game winning goal from Stejskal’s personal bubble.

The Minutemen rejoiced as the Bulldogs visibly suffered the pain from the tough overtime loss.

Massachusetts capped off UMD’s NCAA record of nine-straight overtime tournament wins, leaving Duluth with a 15-11-2 record on the season.