| St. Norbert holds the Walnut and Bronze for the
second time in four years in men's ice hockey. |
MINNEAPOLIS -- St. Norbert won its second Division III men's hockey national championship, defeating Adrian 4-3.
- St. Norbert Saturday news conference
- Adrian Saturday news conference
- Championship game photo gallery
- Adrian-Oswego photo gallery
- St. Norbert-Norwich photo gallery
- Follow @d3sports on Twitter
The Green Knights held on during a defense-laden third period to shut down the Bulldogs. Adrian had battled back to tie the game three times in the first two periods before Nick Tabisz connected on a power play goal with 4:34 left in the second period to give St. Norbert (25-4-1) the 4-3 lead. Full story
Cody Keefer scored a pair of goals for the Green Knights.
Sam Kuzyk, Kyle Watson and Eric Miller provided the three answers for Adrian (25-4-1), tying the game each time. But Tabisz answered Miller's game-tying goal with the go-ahead shot about a minute later, and goalie B.J. O'Brien made it stand up.
Saturday night's game was the first all-West title game since 1994, when UW-River Falls beat UW-Superior.
In Friday's semifinals, Adrian got two goals from Shawn Skelly and advanced to the championship game, defeating Oswego State 5-3. Brad Fogal recorded 39 saves in goal for the Bulldogs, including three on one power play in the final seven minutes of the third period.
"We are thrilled to be moving on and it really has not hit me yet," said senior left wing Eric Miller. "We still have one more game to win before we can really exhale. Our goal four years ago was to win a national title and we are so close to realizing a dream."
The Bulldogs will face St. Norbert, which came out on top after a wild third period which saw all five of the goals scored in a 3-2 St. Norbert victory. Senior Scott Pulak scored the game-winner with 7:33 left after Norwich had scored back-to-back goals to tie the game.