NewMass Has Fallen As Minnesota Duluth Wins Their Second Straight National Championship

Minnesota Duluth has gone back to back winning their second straight National Championship  tonight over UMass, beating the Minutemen 3-0. The Bulldogs got goals from Parker Mackay, Mikey Anderson and Jackson Cates and got 18 saves from Hunter Shepard en route to their shutout victory.

What a run it has been for UMD who was playing in their third straight national championship game. They haven’t really had a superstar they past two season but they have a bunch of depth and a ton of guys who buy into the system that Scott Sandelin has put in place.

The Bulldogs are also a perfect example of defense winning championships, they didn’t have a single guy on their roster this season who averaged a point per game but they were loaded on defense. Mikey Anderson, Scott Perunovich, Dylan Samberg and Nick Wolff are just some names to mention, but playing against the Bulldogs and their defensemen is not fun.

Sucks to see the fairytale come to an end with UMass losing, but every great run has to come to an end at some point. This is also just the beginning for the Minutemen. This put them on the map and hopefully this run can propel them to the top of Hockey East, where they rightfully should be. Bring a recruit on a trip to Amherst and they’ll never look back again. Greg Carvel is a great coach and if he sticks around I think Amherst will have a wagon on their hands for the next few years.

Cale Makar was the best player in college hockey this season and he’ll likely be in the Avs lineup by Game 4 of their series with the Flames, but what he did this year at UMass should not be forgotten. A defenseman has never led the NCAA in points, Cale Makar was 1 point away from breaking that record this season. He looked like a man playing amongst boys every night. Just so much bigger, stronger and faster than everyone else on the ice. I can’t wait to see the player he becomes at the NHL level.