The city of Milwaukee is famous for baseball, beer and delicious bratwurst. Its rep as a hockey state could grow to the same level if it continues to be the site of exciting games like last year’s Frozen Four final between the University of Wisconsin and Boston College. Wisconsin beat Maine 5-2 to advance to the NCAA championship game. The semifinal contest was pretty much a home game for Wisconsin, since most of the crowd of 17,691was wearing Badgers red. It was the Badgers’ first appearance in the Frozen Four since 1992. Robbie Earl scored twice against the Black Bears and junior goaltender Brian Elliott was steady in the net. Boston College squeezed by North Dakota 6-5 in their semifinal. Jordan Parise, a brother of the New Jersey Devils’ Zack Parise, tended goal for North Dakota. Jordan and Zack are the sons of former NHL player J.P. Parise. Three of the goals in this shootout were shorthanded tallies, helping make this the highest-scoring Frozen Four contest since 1991.

Senior Tom Gilbert shows off Sunday’s headlines. His third period goal was the margin of victory as the Badgers held on for a 2-1 win over Boston College. Photo by Neil Ament/BadgerNation.com

The finale, played on April 8 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, was another sellout dominated by Badgers fans. Wisconsin was bigger and stronger than the Eagles but the B.C. players were
more aggressive and scrappier.

Boston College drew first blood in the first period when Dan Bertram beat Badgers defenseman Matt Olinger to a loose puck. Bertram fired a pass to teammate Pat Gannon and the center flipped a backhander past Elliot.

The Badgers pulled even in the second period after Earl was leveled by B.C.’s Chris Collins. Earl got up slowly and headed for the Wisconsin bench. When he noticed that teammate Adam Burish was speeding toward the Eagles’ net with the puck, he took off. Burish hit him with a pass and Earl buried the puck.

Both goalies, the Badgers’ Elliott and the Eagles’ Cory Schneider, played spectacularly at times. Afterwards, B.C. coach Jerry York told the New York Times, “Cory Schneider darn near stole the hockey game.”

The Badgers went ahead to stay in the third period. Badgers defensemen Tom Gilbert scored on a wrist shot from the slot to make it 2-1 Wisconsin.

Boston College stormed Elliott in the Badgers crease in an all-out effort to get the equalizer. York, who holds the NCAA record for wins among men’s hockey coaches, tried a variety of combinations on the ice, but Elliott was unbeatable down the stretch..

“When you’re playing for the national championship . . . you’re going to throw the kitchen sink out there, and we did,” Eagles player Peter Harrold told the Times.

The Eagles continued to pelt Elliott with rubber, including a Harrold blast that clanged off the Badgers’ goal post with two seconds left in regulation play.

The victory secured Wisconsin’s sixth NCAA men’s hockey championship, making the Madison school the first in NCAA history to win both the men’s and women’s hockey titles in the same
year.