Wisconsin Takes Home 6th National Championship

And then there was 1. Finally. A New National Champion Was Crowned. In front of 17,758 fans, the Wiconsin Badgers were crowned National Champion. "I'm so tired I could die right now!...WAHOO!"(Jeff Likens) Most people thought UW would have the Nat'l title in the bag after the first half of the season. Some thought Swoon was in season. It seems as if they were right making this statement, after Jr. Goaltender Brian Elliott went out for a month to a knee injury. After coming back, he gave up 11 goals to Minnesota State in two games. Most thought he lost his touch. He got somewhat back on track against St. Cloud State and then again in the WCHA Playoffs against Michigan Tech. Elliott seemed completely on track after shutting out Minnesota in the Final Five Third Place Game, 4-0. He had a couple of outstanding performances in the regional finals, especially against Cornell, after he shut out Bemidji State 4-0. He went about 170 minutes without giving up a goal.
Wisconsin would have to play "catch up" to win the title, as Boston College's Pat Gannon scored at 9:01 of the first period. The lone assist went to Dan Bertram. The crowd, most of which was Badger fans, was rather silent. After the first period, Boston College had the lead at 1-0. Wiconsin struck back. Robbie Earl was hurt on the ice, but had enough energy to get up and go to the net. He got the puck from Adam Burish, and put it in the back of the net at 1:17 of the second period. Joe Pavelski also assisted on the goal. From there, the Badgers would never trail again. Going into the third period, tied at 1, both teams seemed to have defense on their mind. We almost got to the half way point of the third period without any scoring, until Wisconsin was given a Power Play. An assortment of pretty passing, and Tom Gilbert ended up firing a wrist-shot past goaltender Cory Schneider, for what would be the game winning goal. This got the crowd back into the game, and forced BC to end up taking a few penalties as well. The Eagles were not going to roll over and die though, and almost forced the game to head to Overtime. With 1.8 seconds remaining, Peter Harrold hit the post. This was a great game. One to remember. Congrats Badgers! Wisconsin outshot Boston College 39-23. Most say the best team won last night. I guess they did.

--Mav