MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota and New Hampshire feature two of the top coaches in all of college hockey, as the Gophers' Don Lucia and the Wildcats' Dick Umile have more than 1,100 career victories between them.
When the dust settled Saturday night, Lucia put another notch in the win column.
But his club had to earn it.
In the Ice Breaker Tournament's championship game at Mariucci Arena, fifth-ranked Minnesota outlasted New Hampshire, 3-2. The host Gophers couldn't rest until netminder Adam Wilcox made an impressive, sprawling save with just 7.3 seconds remaining in regulation.
"We knew it was gonna be a hardfought game," Lucia said afterward, "and it it was. ... I'm really proud of our guys for winning the trophy."
"I think I learned that anyone can score on our team," Minnesota standout Nate Condon said. "We're getting production out of everyone. ... We can play with pretty much any team right now."
A day after dispatching Mercyhurst in a one-sided shutout, Minnesota (2-0) found itself trailing New Hampshire, 2-1, midway through Saturday night's contest. Tradition-rich New Hampshire, which entered the weekend ranked No. 12 in the national rankings, seized its 2-1 lead off Nick Sorkin's second-period goal. However, Minnesota's Sam Warning answered in kind barely two minutes later, tallying a goal off a rebound to knot things at 2-all.
Finally, with 2:10 left in the second, Gophers youngster Vinni Lettieri rocked and fired to record his first collegiate goal, accounting for the game's final margin. Minnesota held on from there.
"We're still just getting this chemistry together; we've got a lot of young guys on this team," noted Minnesota star Ben Marshall.
"It was a good weekend for a lot of our freshmen," added Lucia, whose Minnesota squad outshot UNH 34-23.
The Gophers are now 14-2-2 all-time against New Hampshire.
Minnesota returns to action next Friday at 7:37 p.m. at Bemidji State, in an intrastate contest set to be televised by FOX Sports North.
