UMD Hockey Seeks 2nd National Title At Xcel Energy Center
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Since it feels like hockey, they might as well play hockey.
The Frozen Four is at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul this weekend. And as WCCO's Mike Max reports, one Minnesota team hopes to repeat history.
They are here at the Xcel Energy Center. And for some on this team, it's like coming back home to a place very familiar.
"Very special to be back. Coming here, we've got a lot of Minnesota guys on this team from the cities and from up northland so the support we know is going to be awesome. It's just a special experience," UMD forward Peter Krieger of St. Thomas Academy said.
And this is a unique makeup of a Frozen Four. Three Big 10 teams with Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State, one non-Big 10 and one Minnesota team. And the Bulldogs believe that very much could work in their favor.
The best part of it for the Bulldogs: A team fortified with Minnesota products that's played a bit up and down, but their best hockey of late. And they think they could be trending in the right direction.
"Yeah I mean we've had a lot of ups and downs this year. But we've really turned it on the second half and that just kind of tells you what we can do in this league so it's there for us and we have a lot of good players so it's awesome," UMD forwad Riley Tufte of Blaine High School said.
And could this be déjà vu all over again? In 2011, the Frozen Four was at Xcel Energy Center and in 2011, the Bulldogs won it. That's not lost on this team.
"It was a good thing for our program and if it happens again, it's going to be that much sweeter and it'll be a heck of a run and I'm sure the buzz around the city in Duluth will be just as special," said UMD forward Jared Thomas of Hermantown High School.
