Wilderness Walk: LATE-Game Heroics

A trio of hockey games ran really late last night, but all three had fascinating finishes. First, the NCAA Frozen Four semifinal between Michigan and Notre Dame went all the way down to the wire. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Wolverines conceded three unanswered goals to the Irish, but managed to tie it with less than six minutes to play. Then, when the game appeared destined for overtime, Notre Dame’s Jake Evans somehow received a puck off the rush and deposited it between the wickets of Michigan netminder Hayden Lavigne, who seemed to forget that he had a goalstick to put between his wide open pads. The winning goal came with 5.9 seconds remaining on the clock, and set up a National Championship game of Notre Dame against UMD on Saturday.

At the NHL level, an almost shockingly interesting game was played out in Los Angeles, as the Wild battled back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period, after looking completely disinterested in the second. Minnesota dropped the meaningless game in overtime when Dustin Brown fired home his FOURTH goal of the game. But on a night where it seemed like the Wild’s players really didn’t care, it was awfully nice to see the team get back into the game late and steal a point. Nate Prosser had an absolute beauty of a short-handed goal to tie the game, by the way.

Finally, Daniel Sedin—in his final home game as a Vancouver Canuck—buried the overtime game winner (the second of the night for number 22) against the Arizona Coyotes. The primary assist went to... you guessed it... Henrik Sedin. Absolutely absurd. You cannot make this stuff up, and this is why we love sports.

Bob Seger takes us through today’s Walk, because he knows a thing or two about making moves late at night.

Wild News

Wild sign defenseman Louis Belpedio to two-year contract
I look forward to Minnesota fans yelling “LOOOOOUUUUUUU!” which will undoubtedly become commonplace if Belpedio can stick. He is expected to debut tomorrow.

On Frozen Pond

UMD’s Thomas Gets Biggest Goal Yet
The Bulldogs continue their unlikely run, and will compete in the National Championship on Saturday.

Notre Dame Scores Last-Second Goal to Break Michigan Hearts
This story has the video of the winning goal.

Clarkson’s Dickinson leaves for Colorado Avalanche
Another college star making an early jump to the pro game.

Off the Trail

Sharks move close to home-ice advantage with win against Avalanche
It’s unfathomable how poor Colorado and St. Louis have been with their seasons on the line. Saturday’s head-to-head matchup really will decide who gets into the playoffs. Remarkable.

Sedins say goodbye with an exclamation mark
It truly was the perfect ending to two incredible careers.