The 2001–02 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey season was the 81st season of play for the program. They represent the University of Minnesota in the 2001–02 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season and for the 43rd season in Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA). The Golden Gophers were coached by Don Lucia, in his 3rd season, and played their home games at the Mariucci Arena.
Season
Fast start Minnesota entered the season with the highest expectations since the mid-90s, being ranked in the top-5 in both preseason polls. The team lived up to its billing and then some from the start when they downed defending finalist and #2 North Dakota and then went on a long unbeaten streak. In the game starting goaltender Adam Hauser faltered in the first and was replaced by freshman Travis Weber. Houser regained the starting role after a strong performance the following week and cemented his position when he relieved Weber after the young netminder allowed 4 goals in the first period against Michigan Tech. While the goalies were sorting themselves out, the Golden Gophers' offense was overpowering in their first 13 games. Minnesota scored no fewer than 4 goals a night and averaging 6 goals a game. The scoring was led by Jeff Taffe and Jordan Leopold but was spread across the lineup with all four lines contributing to the team's success.
Hiccup Minnesota rode its stellar record to the #1 seed and held it until early December. The offense cooled off a bit against St. Cloud State and the Gophers lost their top ranking as a result. The team split a road series at Denver to head into then holiday break but recovered a bit by winning the Mariucci Classic. Despite winning the tournament, Minnesota dropped another spot in the rankings and slowly slipped down to #5 by failing to sweep any of the succeeding 5 weekends. During this time, the team began rotating the starting job in goal between Hauser and Weber with mixed results.
Returning to form The Gopher offense finally regained its footing in early February and remained consistent for most of the rest of the season. The result was Minnesota going 7–1 down the stretch to finish strong. Unfortunately, the mid-season stumble cost the team a chance at a regular season title and the Golden Gophers finished 3rd in the WCHA. In the final month of the season, Hauser regain the starting role with a string of solid performances and led the team into the postseason as the #3 team.
WCHA Tournament In spite of a scare in the second game against North Dakota, Minnesota continued their hot streak. They overpowered St. Cloud State in the semifinal to reach their first championship game since 1997. While the Gophers outshout Denver 40–27, they were stymied by a masterful performance by Wade Dubielewicz and fell 2–5.
NCAA tournament Though disappointed at the runner-up finish, Minnesota did receive the second western seed for the NCAA Tournament and were advanced into the second round. Their first game came against conference-rival Colorado College. The Tigers got on the board first, but the Gophers got the next three goals. CC closed the gap just after the mid-point of the game but the defense closed ranks and limited the opportunities on their goal for the remainder of the match. Early in the 3rd, Barry Tallackson took a hooking call, giving Colorado College a man-advantage, but it was Minnesota's John Pohl who scored during the ensuing power play. Several more penalties were called before the end of the match, but a pair of cross-checking infractions from Alex Kim put CC at a disadvantage for most of the final four minutes and helped usher the Gophers to their first postseason victory in 5 years.
The national semifinal against Michigan wasn't any more sedate and Minnesota had to kill off six separate penalties during the game. They managed to do so and progressively built a 3–0 lead early in the third. The Wolverines would not quit, however, and scored twice to pull within a goal with 90 seconds remaining. With Minnesota playing a defensive shell, they managed to hold off Michigan and still had the lead when the buzzer sounded.
National championship In Minnesota's first championship appearance in over a decade, they met Maine and the two fought a back-and-forth battle for the title. Minnesota got on the board in the first period on the strength of the power play goal from Keith Ballard. They held the lead for a time but couldn't extend their advantage despite three succeeding penalties by Maine. Instead, it was the Black bears who netted a power play marker early in the second frame. John Pohl wasted no time and scored to give Minnesota the lead just 51 seconds later. The Gophers continued to hold a 1-goal advantage for the rest of the period on the strength of Hauser's play. Maine tied the game a second time, just 77 seconds into the third, and continued to fire the puck on goal until they got their first lead of the game with under 5 minutes to play. Minnesota tried to tie the game for a fourth time but the clock was quickly counting down. After an icing, head coach Don Lucia called a timeout with 58 seconds remaining and drew up a play for the team. The ensuing drew turned to a melee but the puck found its way to Matt Koalska, who shot it between Matthew Yeats' legs to the delight of the partisan crowd. Both teams had several opportunities to score in the ensuing overtime, but Minnesota got the biggest break when Maine took a tripping penalty with just over 4 minutes remaining. A minute later, Grant Potulny collected the second rebound after shots by Leopold and Pohl and fired the puck into the cage, winning the 4th national title for the program.
This was the 4th national championship team consisted entirely of American players (1949 Boston College, 1976 Minnesota, 1979 Minnesota).
Departures Player Position Nationality Cause Matt Leimbek Forward Graduation (retired) Dylan Mills Defenseman Graduation (signed with Quad City Mallards) Aaron Miskovich Forward Graduation (signed with Hershey Bears) Pete Samargia Goaltender Transferred to Augsburg Stuart Senden Forward Graduation (retired) Ben Tharp Defenseman Returned to juniors (Chicago Steel) Erik Westrum Forward Graduation (signed with Phoenix Coyotes) Erik Young Goaltender Returned to juniors (Tri-City Storm)
Recruiting Player Position Nationality Age Notes Dan Welch Forward 20 Hastings, MN; joined mid-season; returned from juniors Keith Ballard Defenseman 18 Baudette, MN Mike Erickson Forward 18 Elk River, MN Jake Fleming Forward 19 Osseo, MN Justin Johnson Goaltender 21 Ham Lake, MN Brett MacKinnon Forward 20 Wayzata, MN Jerrid Reinholz Forward 22 Ramsey, MN; transfer from Minnesota–Duluth; redshirt Garrett Smaagaard Forward 19 Eden Prairie, MN Judd Stevens Defenseman 18 Wayzata, MN Barry Tallackson Forward 18 Grafton, ND Travis Weber Goaltender 18 Hibbing, MN
Roster
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#862334; " | Regular season
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|- align="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0" |colspan=11|Minnesota Won Series 2-0
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2002 national championship
Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MINKeith Ballard (10) – PPRiddle and Angell 7:18 1–0 MIN 2nd MaineMichael Schutte (12) – PPMetcalf and Dimitrakos 24:47 1–1 MINJohn Pohl (27)Anthony and Angell 25:38 2–1 MIN 3rd MaineMichael Schutte (13)Ryan and Jackson 46:18 2–2 MaineRóbert Liščák (17)Dimitrakos 55:27 3–2 Maine MINMatt Koalska (10) – EARiddle and Pohl 59:07 3–3 1st Overtime MINGrant Potulny (15) – GW PPPohl and Leopold 76:58 4–3 MIN Penalty summary Period Team Player Penalty Time PIM 1st MaineCliff LoyaHolding 5:40 2:00 MaineBen MurphyGoaltender Interference 9:20 2:00 MaineCliff LoyaCross-Checking 10:08 2:00 MINGrant PotulnyHolding the Stick 13:18 2:00 MaineBen MurphyHigh-Sticking 16:34 2:00 2nd MINGrant PotulnyInterference 23:47 2:00 MINKeith BallardObstruction Holding 29:37 2:00 MaineGray ShanebergerTripping 33:02 2:00 3rd MINJeff TaffeBoarding 49:15 2:00 MaineLucas LawsonHitting after the Whistle 59:19 2:00 MINMatt DeMarchiHitting after the Whistle 59:19 2:00 1st Overtime MaineMichael SchutteTripping 75:58 2:00
Shots by period Team 1 2 3 OT T Maine 11 13 16 5 45 Minnesota 11 8 9 7 35
Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice Maine Matthew Yeats 31 4 76:58 MIN Adam Hauser 42 3 76:52
Scoring statistics Name Position Games Goals Assists Points C 44 27 52 79 26 C 43 34 24 58 86 D 44 20 28 48 28 C 44 16 31 47 46 D 44 8 30 38 22 C 43 15 19 34 38 C 44 10 23 33 34 RW 44 13 10 23 44 D 41 10 13 23 42 C 25 9 9 18 8 LW/RW 44 8 9 17 42 D 41 1 15 16 14 D 44 4 11 15 61 F 43 3 9 12 6 LW/RW 19 4 7 11 12 D 36 3 8 11 112 F 44 5 4 9 38 C 40 4 2 6 18 F 20 1 3 4 0 D 11 0 4 4 14 RW 9 1 2 3 2 F 18 1 2 3 2 G 35 0 2 2 8 D 5 0 1 1 4 F 2 0 0 0 0 G 6 0 0 0 0 G 10 0 0 0 0 Bench - - - - - 10 Total 197 318 515 717
Goaltending statistics Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals against Saves Shut outs 35 2002 23 6 4 80 842 1 .913 2.40 6 233 3 0 0 12 99 1 .892 3.08 10 456 6 2 0 25 167 0 .870 3.29 Empty Net - 5 - - - 2 - - - - Total 44 2697 32 8 4 119 1108 2 .903 2.65
Rankings
PollWeekPre123456789101112131415161718192021 22 232425 (Final) USCHO.com4N/A3212111222345435444333N/AN/A USA Today32221211122234543546633321 USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 24 and 25.
Awards and honors Honor Player Ref Grant Potulny NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Jordan Leopold AHCA West Second Team All-American John Pohl Adam Hauser NCAA All-Tournament Team John Pohl Grant Potulny Jordan Leopold WCHA Defensive Player of the Year Jordan Leopold All-WCHA First Team John Pohl Paul Martin All-WCHA Second Team Jeff Taffe All-WCHA Third Team Keith Ballard WCHA All-Rookie Team Troy Riddle WCHA All-Tournament Team Jordan Leopold
Players drafted into the NHL
2002 NHL entry draft = NHL All-Star team= NHL All-StarPlayers are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career. = NHL All-Star and NHL All-Star team= Did not play in the NHL Round Pick Player NHL team 1 11 Keith Ballard Buffalo Sabres 2 53 Barry Tallackson New Jersey Devils 5 136 Andy Sertich † Pittsburgh Penguins 6 170 P. J. Atherton † Tampa Bay Lightning 6 177 Jake Taylor † New York Rangers † incoming freshman
References