You want heart? That's what the UMass Minutemen showed Thursday night as they beat Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 in overtime to advance to college hockey's national championship game for the second time in the last three years.
The Minutemen had every reason to lose. That's what most expected of them, and that's what a weaker team would have done.
On Tuesday, the team was hit with the brutal news that it would have to play Thursday's national semifinal without star goalie Filip Lindberg, leading goal-scorer Carson Gicewicz and two others (forward Jerry Harding and third-string goalie Henry Graham) due to COVID-19 protocols.
But the Minutemen didn't roll over. They refused to let that disappointing setback end their season.
They battled hard throughout regulation against a stingy UMD team that had won the national championship in 2018 and 2019 -- beating UMass 3-0 in the 2019 title game -- and then thoroughly dominated overtime, finally ending it when Bobby Trivigno set up Garrett Wait 14:30 into the extra period.
The Minutemen opened the scoring with 4:27 left in the first on a power-play goal from Zac Jones, but the Bulldogs answered right back two minutes later.
UMD added another goal in the second to carry a 2-1 lead into the third. With the Minutemen struggling to get shots through the Bulldogs' defense (they put just 15 shots on goal in all of regulation), overcoming even a one-goal deficit wasn't going to be easy.
They managed to break through and tie the game with 11:35 left in regulation, though, when Anthony Del Gaizo -- playing up on the top line in Gicewicz's absence -- knocked in a rebound at the right post.
The Bulldogs' best chance to win it came on a power play late in regulation, but UMass goalie Matt Murray -- a senior with plenty of experience and not exactly a typical "backup" -- came up big to help force overtime.
And that overtime was all UMass. The Minutemen seemingly won every foot race and puck battle and began peppering UMD goalie Zach Stejskal with shot after shot, ultimately outshooting the Bulldogs 13-2 in the frame before Wait buried the winner.
If the win itself wasn't reason enough to celebrate, the Minutemen got more good news postgame. Shortly after the final buzzer, UMass announced that Lindberg, Gicewicz and Graham have all been cleared to travel to Pittsburgh on Friday. As long as they continue to test negative, they will be able to rejoin the team on Saturday and play in Saturday night's national championship game.
The Minutemen will face St. Cloud State in the final, which will air at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. Both teams are looking for their first-ever national titles.