By Warren Kozireski–
One plays defense and one forward, but Buffalo native Dennis Gilbert and Brewster’s Joe Wegwerth are on a common mission today—bring home Notre Dame’s first men’s hockey national championship.
They face Minnesota-Duluth in the final at 7:30pm eastern on ESPN.
“I think last year coming out of a tough regional with two big upset wins, we kind of celebrated that to just get to the Frozen Four,” Gilbert said on the day between the semi-finals and finals. “We dialed it in and thought we were ready, but I think we were more complacent and (happy) with getting there to a certain extent and were nervous under the bright lights and big stage.
“But this year at the regional we kind of expected to come out of there with two wins and it was more of a business trip to prove ourselves and get some redemption. Just kind of a different focus and different confidence from last year and seeing such a great team like Denver…kind of taught us ways to maybe do things differently and kind of more a swagger about ourselves going into these types of games.”
The Irish defeated Michigan in the national semi-final on a goal with 5.2 seconds remaining in regulation to break a 3-3 tie after coming back from a two-goal deficit.
“It’s been a similar story to the past month-and-a-half for us; when it gets to crunch time we just kind of find a way,” Wegwerth said. “I think it’s a testament to our team—we find a way when times are tough.”
Notre Dame started this season a pedestrian 4-3-1, but then rattled off a 16-game winning streak to stake their spot among the top teams in the nation. They did stumble a bit during the regular seasons’ final stages going 3-6-1, but recovered in the Big Ten tournament.
“Last year we had two seniors,” Gilbert said. “This year I think we have six or seven. Last year the core of our team was sophomores and juniors and now it’s juniors and seniors with some great sophomores and freshmen doing a lot of good things for us as well.
“The landscape of our team this year kind of resembles those championship teams you’ve seen in the past like Denver and Providence—just veteran teams that have great contributors in the underclass, but good leadership and confidence from what they’ve done in their career.”
“We’ve got a quiet confidence to us right now where it doesn’t really feel like we’re going to lose a game; there is no panic in our game right now,” Wegwerth concluded.
(Winning Notre Dame’s first title) “is kind of in the back of everyone’s mind and it would be really something special to be the first team to do it, but we’re just staying focused on the moment. If you tend to focus on things outside of your control, that’s when things kind of go (out of control). If we just focus on our game plan and what we need to do, all the rewards and things like that will come if we take care of business.”
(Gilbert photo by Michael Scholl Photo)
