Minnesota Duluth not only raised an NCAA championship banner tonight, but took part in the marquee matchup in Division I to start the 2011-12 men's hockey season at Amsoil Arena.
The No. 8-ranked Bulldogs faced No. 1 Notre Dame in a rematch of the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four semifinals and won, again by the same score 4-3.
Senior winger Travis Oleksuk scored with 4:24 to play for the game winner. UMD outshot Notre Dame 31-17.
The pregame ceremony was brief. The banner had been placed in the rafters, next to the American flag and was covered. After player introductions, the black covering was slowly raised to reveal the banner which reads "NCAA National Champions 2011 Men's Hockey" with a Bulldog logo. A near-sellout crowd of 6,297 spectators roared in approval.
Then the nonconference foes got down to work.
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Notre Dame of South Bend, Ind., picked to win the 2012 Central Collegiate Hockey Association regular-season title, led 1-0 just 7:32 into the game as senior center Billy Maday sniped a shot from the left circle past goalie Kenny Reiter.
UMD answered 98 second later and scored twice in 2:05 for a 2-1 lead on two Notre Dame turnovers. Winger Mike Seidel finished on a 2-on-0 advantage at the Irish crease on a power play at 9:10. Duluthian Keegan Flaherty, another junior winger, followed from the left boards in the offensive zone, connecting from the slot at 11:15 for his first collegiate goal.
Anders Lee of Edina, Minn., part of Notre Dame's stable of sophomore star forwards, got it to 2-2 with 7:14 left in the second period.
The teams exchanged goals in the second for a 3-3 score. UMD sophomore J.T. Brown cracked a shot from the top of the left circle that clanked in off the crossbar past goalie Mike Johnson. That came on a power play at 5:35. Notre Dame got its own man advantage goal with 5:43 left from winger Mike Voran in the slot.
UMD led in shots on goal 24-13.
Oleksuk carried in on the right side on the winning play, held the puck, cut to the left circle and scored from there.
Last season UMD of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association finished 26-10-6 and Notre Dame 25-14-5.
