April 9, 2005
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GENERAL TOURNAMENT NOTES
Ohio State is the first school to host the Frozen Four on campus, since North Dakota hosted the Frozen Four in 1983 in Grand Forks.
Attendance for tonight's game: 17,155
Tonight's game marks the fourth time that Denver and North Dakota met in the national title game. Denver is 2-1 vs. the Fighting Sioux in the three previous meetings; in 1958 Denver defeated UND, 6-2 at Minneapolis, Minn., on March 16, 1963 UND posted a 6-5 win at Chestnut Hill, Mass. and on March 16, 1968, Denver shutout North Dakota, 4-0 at Duluth, Minn.
The two teams have met 234 times in the all-time series history, North Dakota holds the advantage in the series at 123-104-7.
North Dakota's 23 shots on goal in the third period ties a championship game record. The last time a team put 23 shots on goal in a period was Colorado College against Michigan on March 12, 1955, (50 years). Colorado College scored
2 goals; North Dakota was unable to score.
Denver becomes the first team to advance out of the Northeast Regional and win the title in the three-year history of the Northeast Regional.
A #1 seed has won the Frozen Four only twice in the past 10 years (Boston College in 2001 and Minnesota in 2003).
With 6.0 seconds remaining in the first period, Eric Fabian of North Dakota checked Brett Skinner of Denver into the boards causing the glass to shatter and play was suspended for the first period.
In the Frozen Four, teams with the lead headed into the third period now own a 41-7 record.
It marked the 10th time that the NCAA runner-up was held to only one goal in the title game, the last time was in 2003 finals (Minnesota 5, New Hampshire 1).
Through 15 games in the NCAA tournament 91 goals were scored for an average of 3.03 per game, up from a record low of 67 goals in the 2004 tournament (2.20 gpg). It marks the second time since the inception of the 15-game format (3 years) that the goal total has been above 90. 1992 was the last season that 90 goals were scored under the 11 game format.
DENVER PIONEERS
Denver wins its seventh national title in nine tries, and its second title in as many years. Denver owns a 7-2 record in its nine previous appearances with titles in 1958, 1960, 1961, 1968, 1969, 2004, and 2005 and runner-up finishes in 1963 and 1964.
Denver is the second team in the history of the NCAA Tournament to win eight straight tournament games. The first team to accomplish that feat was Minnesota (02-04). Two other teams have seven-game winning streaks, including; Michigan (50-53) and Michigan State (86-87). Wisconsin was unbeaten at 6-0-1 (81-82).
Pioneer head coach George Gwozdecky is the 17th head coach all-time to win multiple NCAA titles, nine previous coaches have two NCAA Tournament titles. He is the eighth coach to win back-to-back titles, Don Lucia of Minnesota was the last coach to accomplish that feat in 2002 and 2003. In the 58 year history of the NCAA tournament, 46 titles have been won by the 17 coaches to win multiple championships.
Junior forward Gabe Gauthier leads the 2005 NCAA Tournament in scoring with 5-6-11 in four games. He has posted 6-7-13 in eight career tournament games, and he is the leading active scorer in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Gerald Tallaire of Lake Superior State was the most recent player to post double digits in scoring in Tournament play with 3-7-10 in 1994.
Gauthier has a five-game point scoring steak in the NCAA Tournament with 7-5-12 in that time. He has notched a point in eight of his last nine games with 10-8-18 during that stretch (2.00 points per game). The last Denver player to lead the NCAA Tournament in scoring was Keith Magnuson in 1969 with (1g,5a) six points (Peter McNab from Denver led the tournament in 1973, however that participation was vacated).
The last player to score six goals in the NCAA tournament was Rob Gaudreau from Providence in 1989 (6 GP, 6-4-10). The last player to accumulate 11 points in a tournament year was Dave Trombley of Clarkson in 1991 (6 GP, 3-8-11).
Gauthier is now the fifth player through the 58 tournaments to score six goals in NCAA Tournament play. Two players have scored seven goals; no player has scored 8 or more goals.
Freshman goalie Peter Mannino made his third career NCAA start today with a career-high 44 saves, he posted 85 saves in the Frozen Four. In three career NCAA starts, Mannino is 3-0-0 with a 1.66 GAA and a .950 save percentage. It also marks the first time this season that Mannino has started three consecutive games for Denver in his freshman campaign. Mannino is the second straight goaltender to win tournament Most Outstanding Player honors and he is the second freshman in three years to win the award. His .966 save percentage in the Frozen Four ranks fifth all-time.
Freshman forward Paul Stastny is the first freshman to score a game-winning goal in the NCAA Championship game since Thomas Vanek of Minnesota in the 2003 title game vs. New Hampshire in Buffalo, N.Y. It marked his second game-winning goal of the season, the other coming on Dec. 3rd at Michigan Tech. He posted his fourth multi-goal game of the season.
Junior defenseman Brett Skinner posted his fifth assist in the Frozen Four, he becomes the 17th player in tournament history to accomplish that feat; the most recent occurrence was Mark Taylor of North Dakota (1979).
Sophomore defenseman Matt Carle has posted 1-4-5 in the Frozen Four, including a three-point effort against Colorado College in the semifinal on Thursday. He has posted a point in five of his last six games with 1-7-8 during that time.
Carle's 45 points in 43 games ranks tied for first among Division I defensemen alongside Reid Cashman of Quinnipiac.
Senior forward Kevin Ulanski posted his third career goal in the NCAA Tournament in nine career games. He has registered 3-4-7 in four tournament games this season.
Denver finished the season on a season-high nine game winning streak.
The Pioneers finished the season with a 30-0-1 when leading after two periods.
NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING SIOUX
North Dakota appeared in its 12th championship game in team history with seven championships (1959, 1963, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1997, 2000) and five runner-up finishes (1958, 1968, 1979, 2001, 2005).
Freshman forward Travis Zajac posted his fifth goal in the NCAA Tournament this year, including his third goal in the Frozen Four. He has posted five goals and one assist for six points in his last three games. He has scored at least one goal in 15 of 45 games this season for the Fighting Sioux. Thomas Vanek of Minnesota was the last freshman to score five goals in the tournament in 2003.
Senior blueliner Nick Fuher has posted a point in each of his last eight games with his assist in tonight's game. Fuher has posted 3-6-9 in those eight contests and he has five assists in the NCAA Tournament this year.
Drew Stafford has posted a point in his last five games with 2-5-7 in that time, he also notched 2-4-6 in four NCAA tournament games this year.
All-Tournament Team
Forward - Gabe Gauthier, Denver
Forward - TRAVIS ZAJAC, North Dakota
Forward - Paul Stastny, Denver
Defense - Matt Carle, Denver
Defense - Brett Skinner, Denver
Goaltender - Peter Mannino, Denver
Most Outstanding Player - Peter Mannino, Denver
