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Coach Scott Sandelin spoke as his players were gathered for a Tuesday night tribute at AMSOIL Arena.

Duluth Mayor Emily Larson presented an official proclamation of Bulldog Hockey Day to the team.

If UMD had won the NCAA championship Saturday night in Chicago’s United Center, AMSOIL Arena would probably have been filled for Tuesday’s free-admission tribute. Instead, only a few hundred showed up.

But it doesn’t matter. This team has gotten a lot of tributes and accolades, and it deserves them all. But I could only think back to 1984 when Captain Dominic Toninato’s dad, Jim Toninato, played for the first Bulldog team to ever force its name onto the elite level of college hockey -- only to lose in a multiple-overtime final to Bowling Green at Lake Placid.

When that team held a reunion in Duluth a few years ago, I was invited to attend, and I was honored. Everybody sat around in a circle and made a comment in turn. As a media observer, I said that what stood out most to me was that this team was so close, it wouldn’t have mattered one iota if they had won that championship — they couldn’t have been closer.

There are many ways to watch a team play in the NCAA Frozen Four, and the best is to be there. Chicago is where I wanted to be, to watch the UMD Bulldogs face Harvard last Thursday and, hopefully, someone in Saturday’s final.

But it didn’t work out. I had an important opportunity to road-test a revolutionary new car, the Hyundai Ioniq, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, early Friday morning. That meant I had to get to Detroit Thursday night. My plan was to trust my fate to Delta Airlines, ride from Duluth to Minneapolis, and catch a connection that would get me to Ann Arbor in plenty of time for the 5 p.m. game against Harvard.

Ah, but Delta is undergoing some serious difficulties these days, and I was caught in it after hustling from one end of the MSP terminal to the other for my connection. It was delayed. Then it was delayed some more. My alternative plan crystallized quickly: I would start hoping the delay would be long enough that I could find a place at the airport and watch the UMD-Harvard game, going in late to Detroit.

That, of course, may have contributed the necessary karma to get my plane up and ready. We boarded right about as they were dropping the puck at Chicago’s United Center. I was dismayed, but helpless, as we climbed above the clouds out of Minneapolis.

The plane had those little video screens on the backrests of the seats, so I turned mine on, saw it had ESPN-2, and clicked it on. The sign said it was unavailable.

A few minutes later, I clicked through the options again, and, to my amazement, I came upon a familiar looking white jersey adorned with maroon and gold trim. It was the UMD game, and ESPN-2 was activated. It’s about an hour and a half flight to Detroit, and I was able to watch almost all of the first two periods, live, in the flight!

With the third period to go, I hustled through the Detroit terminal to my waiting ride, and urged him to also hustle to get me to my Ann Arbor hotel. I ran inside, checked in, got up to my room and turned on the television. By the time I clicked through to find ESPN-2, I came upon a celebrating group of players, and, fortunately, they were the Bulldogs, celebrating a goal by Alex Iafallo — “Money,” I call him — with 26.6 seconds remaining to break a 1-1 tie with Harvard.

I then saw Harvard attack, and a shot deflected by UMD defenseman Nick Wolff, up and off the crossbar, and out. The Bulldogs won 2-1 to make it to the final.

Back home Friday night, there was nothing that could interfere with watching the championship game. Not even John Buccigross and Barry Melrose claiming that Denver had such strong and fast defense, and that Denver had such a great forward line, and that Denver was clearly the more skilled of the two teams, and that Denver had so much speed UMD might be in for a long night.

Denver had a great team. Strong, swift and balanced, but I wouldn’t trade UMD’s defense for Denver’s, nor would I trade goaltenders, and I certainly wouldn’t trade forwards, or the balance and depth of the Bulldogs. Yes, Denver was ranked No. 1, but UMD was ranked No. 2. Give me a break!

The Bulldogs got pinned in their own end early by a quick-striking Denver outfit, and got outshot something like 9-2. But the ‘Dogs pretty well evened out the shots. In the second period, though, Jarid Lukosevicius got his stick shaft on a shot from center point and the slight deflection was up just enough to beat the lightning glove of UMD freshman Hunter Miska.

Sixteen seconds later, Lukosevicius pounced on another opportunity and scored again for a 2-0 cushion after Tyler Perry’s brilliant play brought the puck to the crease. Buccigross and Melrose weren’t surprised, because they already had made it clear what they thought of Denver’s superiority. But Iafallo got one back for the Bulldogs with a clean deflection of Joey Anderson’s power-play pass from the left circle. It seemed futile, when Lukosevicius scored again for a hat trick and a 3-1 lead before the second period ended.

But the Bulldogs had a final surge stored up and ready. They came out and hammered the Pioneers, physically and tactically, peppering goaltender Tanner Jaillet. Freshman Riley Tufte went to the net, was hit by Avery Peterson’s shot from the right side, and when the puck dropped, Tufte knocked it in. With 5:21 remaining, the Bulldogs turned up the pressure.

Every forward line attacked, led by senior linemates Iafallo and Dom Toninato, and their freshman wingman Joey Anderson. Kyle Ostserberg, the only other senior forward, stood out every shift. So did Adam Johnson, Parker Mackay and the third line of Avery Peterson centering Tufte and Karson Kuhlman. Jared Thomas, Blake Young and Billy Exell had their moments.

Every defenseman rushed too, pinched in, and attacked. Brendan Kotyk, Carson Soucy, Willie Raskob and Dan Molenaar — the four senior defensemen — were brilliant. So was freshman Nick Wolff. And so was sophomore Neal Pionk, who made a couple of dazzling rushes, spinoramas, and one time a 1-on-4 that he burst through on, narrowly missing. 

At the other end, freshman goalie Hunter Miska was practically left alone, as the Bulldogs outshot Denver 17-3 in the third period, and 40-28 for the game. And that after being outshot 7-0 and 9-2 in the early going. Over and over we have watched this UMD team battle and increase their pressure until the scored to win the game, or tie and then win the game. But this time, the Pioneers held on desperately. Still, it seemed starkly unfair when Denver managed to clear the puck out of its zone with only 5 seconds remaining, and there was no time for another try.

I have watched UMD’s hockey teams play every season of their existence, and I’ve never seen a Bulldog team play any better without winning than Saturday night in the NCAA final.

So there wasn’t a huge throng at AMSOIL for this team’s tribute, and that’s OK. I’m not a big fan of huge ceremonies for teams that fell short of winning the title. But this team was very close. Family. And maybe as close as that 1984 team. We’ll see that someday in the future, they’ll hold a reunion and maybe every player will show up. They will be close, friends forever. And they couldn’t be closer even if they’d won that final game.