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Remembering Buffalo

Potulny reflects on his second national title at Minnesota

By RYAN STIEG

Journal Sports Writer

MARQUETTE — The city of Buffalo means a lot to Grant Potulny.

That’s not surprising, either, as the Northern Michigan University head hockey coach was an assistant coach for the bronze medal-winning U.S. team in the 2017-18 World Junior Championships, which were held in the city.

However, as meaningful as that experience was, that’s a much smaller story compared to what happened in 2003.

During Potulny’s junior year playing hockey at the University of Minnesota, the Golden Gophers won their second straight national championship. This week, the Frozen Four is returning to Buffalo for the first time since the Gophers’ title win, and even though it’s been 16 years, Potulny remembers that championship season vividly.

Minnesota had won its fourth national championship the year before, ending a 23-year title drought, which was kind of unheard of for one of college hockey’s traditional powerhouses. Potulny scored the winning goal in overtime during the Gophers’ win over Maine in 2002, and even though Minnesota had returned to the top of the college hockey world, there were some that doubted that it could win another championship in 2003.

“There was an article written about how we had lost Jordan Leopold, who had won the Hobey (Baker Memorial Award) and Johnny Pohl, who had led the country in scoring,” Potulny said. “Jeff Taffe had 32 goals and our goalie (Adam Hauser). We had lost all these guys and this team was going to be so different.

“We didn’t have the firepower to be able to do it again. We printed that article out and we had it taped up in our locker room for the whole year. I don’t think there was a lot of expectations going into that year, but in the room, we felt like we had a pretty good team. We had a pretty good player in (Detroit Red Wings star) Thomas Vanek, so he might be able to help us.

“It was kind of a fun year. The first game of the year, I broke my ankle (against Ohio State) and I was captain of the team. So for an extended stretch, I was out and I had surgery. So it was kind of the tale of two teams.

“I went back and I knew we won a lot, but I didn’t realize how much we did. We were 14-2-2 the last 18 games. It’s hard to win without having your whole lineup and we were feeling our way through it, the first part of it. The second part of the year, we actually had a little bit of a team meeting before the weekend we went to Colorado College and we talked about how we were going to change the season.

“The phrase we used was that ‘We’re gonna shock the world.’ We ended up coming together as a group and gelling and the rest is kind of history.”

After that strong second half, the Gophers dispatched Michigan Tech in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and then on to the always-competitive Final Five tournament in St. Paul, which was also where Minnesota won its national title in 2002. The Gophers tied Minnesota State for second place and had to play a surprising Mavericks team in the first round.

“We got to the Final Five and we had to beat Mankato, who at that time, the program was nowhere where it is today,” Potulny said.

“They had a couple of guys on their team that ended up being NHLers and they had a good year.

“We had to win that game in overtime, which was kind of a prelude to what Vanek was going to do down the stretch. We won that game in overtime and then had a game with Colorado College that was a little bit of a knock-down, drag ’em out, high-octane game between two really good programs.

“They came into it playing great and at that point we were in it as a team, but it was really important to win on your way into the (NCAA) tournament. I think that teams that win on their way in seem to have a lot of success.

“That was important to put us in the right frame of mine and it ended up getting us the opportunity to be a No. 1 seed in the region. It affected the teams we played in the regional semifinal and final and that was a big weekend for us.”

Once the Gophers got to the NCAA Tournament, they were placed in the West Regional, which was held at Mariucci Arena, Minnesota’s home rink. They opened up with an easy 9-2 win over Mercyhurst where Potulny scored a hat trick, and then had to fight to get a 7-4 victory over Ferris State.

“It was just one of those games where from the moment the puck dropped, everything kind of went your way,” Potulny said of the Mercyhurst game. “I think we got up big early and never really looked back. The guy who was at center that night broke the school record for assists in a game. So there was a lot of good things that happened that night.

“We went to play Ferris the next night and they had Chris Kunitz on that team, who is obviously still playing in the NHL (with the Chicago Blackhawks). He was a very good player and they had a good team.

“We scored early and I think we scored two or three right away in the first period. Kunitz had gotten hurt and he had hurt his knee. It might’ve been a charley horse, but something happened to his leg. He left the game in the first period.

“We thought now that he’s out, we should be able to handle this. He came back in the second (period) that night and he might’ve scored a couple of goals. He got the game close and, in the end, the offense was just really hot that weekend and I think we scored eight or nine the first night and then six or seven the second night.

“So we were clicking on all cylinders offensively and we were able to withstand the push that they gave us.”

Minnesota moved on to the Frozen Four in Buffalo and battled Michigan in the semifinals. The Gophers beat Michigan in 2002 in St. Paul to earn a spot in the title game, so you’d think they’d be familiar with the Wolverines, but Potulny said that wasn’t necessarily the case.

“We played Michigan two years in a row in the national semifinal, and at that point, we didn’t play Michigan very often,” he said.

“We were in different leagues, Michigan and Michigan State were in the CCHA, and Wisconsin and Minnesota were in the WCHA. Every Thanksgiving, we’d have this little thing called the College Hockey Showcase where Wisconsin and Minnesota would travel to play Michigan and Michigan State on back-to-back nights and then they’d travel our way the next year.

“We didn’t have a lot of familiarity with them at that point and it was just a fantastic hockey game. Sometimes you think that it might not be our night and both times in the semifinal and the final, you kind of felt that a little bit. We got to overtime and sometimes when you hit a pipe in overtime and it doesn’t go in, you get nervous. I think it was the first shift in overtime, I hit the pipe and it didn’t go in. You get that gut bomb and you think ‘Boy, might not be our night.’

“Then Vanek got the puck in the corner and in only Thomas style, he turned and spun it at the net. Some people will look at that and think that it was kind of a lucky shot, but a guy like him, who is still in the NHL and played a thousand games, he knew exactly where he was putting that. He made it hard for Al Montoya to make the save.

“That was the other thing, going into the Frozen Four, the three goalies were Montoya, Michael Ayers, who was having a fantastic season, and David LeNeveu, who was up for the Hobey.

“So on paper, we had a sophomore (Travis Weber), who wasn’t even for sure the starter until the guy that he was taking turns with kind of hurt his finger. He played fantastic and got us by Michigan in overtime and down the stretch, it was a little bit of the Vanek show, too. He had a big weekend at the Final Five and then he had a huge Frozen Four.”

While the Gophers may have not been truly familiar with Michigan, they had seen their championship opponent, New Hampshire, earlier in the year on the road. Despite that, Ayers did a good job controlling the hot Minnesota offense and the game was tied 1-1 going into the third. That’s when Vanek changed the course of the game.

“We played them earlier in the year, but I wasn’t there,” Potulny said. “The games were right after I got hurt and we lost and tied them. I think they outplayed (us) for probably the whole weekend.

“They had a really good team and they had some really good players. We got a breakaway on the penalty kill in the first period and nothing is going by Ayers, but we’re playing great. We finally beat him, but it hits his elbow and doesn’t go in.

“The game changed when Thomas scored, I believe in the third period. He came down and kind of faked a shot and then went lateral and the defenseman slid on the ice. He’s sliding on the ice and the goalie is sliding on the ice. I think the ‘D’ ended up in the net and Vanek just waited and shot it. It was a beautiful goal and that just changed the game. At that point, we kind of took it over.”

When asked if the team felt differently after the blowout of UNH from the overtime thriller over Maine the year before, Potulny said they did and that was more of a sense of team achievement.

“I don’t know that you can ever replicate winning in overtime, essentially in front of 18,000 of your fans,” he said. “I think we just rode the ride the first year and it was so climatic. We scored and it was just elation. The next two weeks was like a surreal feeling.

“I think the second year, there was more pride in it. After all the excitement wore off, I think with that group, we were really proud to be able to do the same thing again with all those fantastic players. Those guys went on to the NHL and they were phenomenal college hockey players. To lose all those guys, and for us to do it again, it was just a sense of pride within the group that we were able to do that.”

If Potulny could take anything away from that magical 2003 season, he said it’s the idea that you need to keep going even if things aren’t going well.

“If you have great leadership, like our guys this year hung with us, any year is changeable,” he said.

“Any year can turn for the best. This year at one point, we (NMU) were 3-7. From that point on, I think we were 18-8. It’s just a tale of two seasons.

“That’s the thing, now as a coach, you just have to keep grinding and keep working and hoping that a couple bounces go your way because sometimes that’s all it takes. A couple bounces start going your way and you end up sweeping somebody. All of a sudden, now there’s just a different feel and there’s a different energy and it can change the complexion of the season.”

That was the case for Minnesota in 2003 and a result, both Potulny and the Gophers will always have a special connection with Buffalo.

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

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