ST. PAUL, Minn.-Scott Sandelin recalled sitting in nearly the same spot in the Xcel Energy Center 19 days earlier.
"We thought our season was done," the Minnesota Duluth coach said. "We got a little lucky. It gave us some second life and here we are now."
Here are the Bulldogs, playing for a national championship.
After getting into the NCAA tournament by 0.0001 of an RPI percentage point, the Bulldogs won three consecutive one-goal games-the latest a 2-1 win over Ohio State Thursday afternoon in the Frozen Four semifinals.
The Bulldogs (24-16-3) will take on Notre Dame or Michigan at 6:30 p.m. Saturday for the championship.
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The Bulldogs won their lone national championship in 2011 in the Xcel Energy Center against Michigan.
Both previous Frozen Fours hosted at the home of the Minnesota Wild were won by Minnesota teams. Minnesota won it in 2002.
"I'm really excited for our guys," Sandelin said. "To be able to play in the final game of the year is pretty special, so we're looking forward to it."
The Bulldogs lost in the championship game 3-2 to Denver a year ago and had to replace five of their six defensemen and their starting goalie.
"It's pretty remarkable getting back to this game," Minnesota Duluth senior Jared Thomas said. "Clearly, last year we had a much older group. Expectations were super high. This year, it was the complete opposite, I guess. We had a young group. We had to figure out our identity, how we wanted to play and how we wanted to win games. I think after Christmas break, we found out."
Minnesota Duluth's 2-1 win over Ohio State marked the 10th-straight one-goal game for the Bulldogs in the NCAA tournament.
This one was eerily similar to their NCAA West Regional victory two weeks ago against Air Force in Sioux Falls, S.D.
In both games, Minnesota Duluth built a 2-0 lead early in a dominant first period, gave up a power-play goal midway through the third and held on for a close victory.
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Rookie defenseman Louie Roehl and Thomas scored goals in the opening 3:04 of the game and they stood up for the win.
"Tough way to start a hockey game against a really good hockey team," Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said. "Our guys felt like we were on our heels right away. I couldn't have predicted that. We've had the best 10 days of practice. We felt we were focused and ready to go."
Minnesota Duluth got on the board just 1:53 into the game.
After a prolonged possession in the offensive zone, Bulldog rookie defenseman Matt Anderson held the puck in the left circle and froze Ohio State goalie Sean Romeo (26 saves) before feeding it across the slot to Roehl, who snapped home his third goal of the season.
Just 1:11 later, Bulldog captain Karson Kuhlman took advantage of an Ohio State turnover at the offensive blue line and hit Thomas on a stretch pass for a clean breakaway. Thomas faked a shot and slipped a backhand five-hole on Romeo.
The Bulldogs led 2-0 and were outshooting Ohio State 17-4 after one period, but the Buckeyes evened the game out after that.
With 10:33 to go in the third period, the Buckeyes finally broke through on Shepard on the power play.
Minnesota Duluth failed to clear the zone after an Ohio State defender broke his stick and Philadelphia Flyers draft pick Tanner Laczynski picked up the puck in the high slot, cut toward the right circle and snapped a shot past Bulldog ogalie Hunter Shepard (19 saves) on the glove side.
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Ohio State pulled Romeo at the end, but didn't generate any Grade A chances.
"We've been battling all year to get a spot in the tournament," Roehl said. "It was great to see our team come together as one, trust in each other and believe we can do it. We worked hard as a group and things turned out well."
