From The Archive: Minnesota’s NCAA Title Victory Tribute To American Bred Players

BOSTON — The coals came from Twin Cities suburbs and the vast iron range. Herbie Brooks mined them, dressed them up in the Maroon and Gold of the University of Minnesota and directed them across half a continent to 1974’s Newcastle, the Boston Garden.

The end of the quest saw not only a National Collegiate Athletic Association Hockey Championship brought home to Minneapolis by the Golden Gophers. the first such laurel in 52 years of Minnesota hockey, but it proved, once and for all and almost needlessly, in retrospect, the prowess of the American hockey player in the college Game.

Playing with Prussian discipline, the Gophers hopped out to a 3-0 lead and backchecked their way to a 5-4 win over Boston University in the semifinal game on Thursday. Then after Michigan Tech rallied from a 5-3 deficit to nip Harvard 6-5 in overtime on Friday evening, the Gophers knocked off the WCHA kingpin Huskies and copped the crown, 4-2.

Minnesota thus became the first entirely native American team to win the Nationals in 25 years, and only the second ever. Boston College accomplished the feat in 1949, the second year of college hockey’s annual NCAA showdown.

Brooks, six times a member of the U.S. National Team, has been preaching the superiority of the American player — specifically, the Minnesotan — since he succeeded Ken Yackel at the Gopher dasher two years ago. John Mariucci and Glen Sonmor sermonized in like manner for almost two decades before Brooks’ ascent to the helm of an 8-24 sextet following the 1971-72 season.

“This was my goal when I started, to win a national championship for Minnesota with a team from Minnesota.” declared the intense Brooks afterward.

A team they were, in the best sense of the word. Though several individuals, most notably the tournament MVP. goalie Brad Shelstad sparkled when necessary, it was a democracy on ice that made the Gophers a winner.

The BU tilt was a far more difficult conquest, as Harvard softened up Michigan Tech with a whirlwind skating exhibition before falling short with less than a minute remaining in an evenly-played first frame. John Harris tallied a power play goal from the left point. Warren Miller and John Matschke scored on second chances from in close on BU goalie Ed Walsh to make it 3-0 early in the second period. When Pete Marzo finally tickled the cords on a deflection at 10:35. the Terriers began to play up to their capabilities.

Marzo narrowed the gap to 4-2 on a 5-on-3 power play at 2:43 of the third, but John Harris caught the BU defense napping and got it back from the slot two minutes later. Bill Robbins, robbed by Shelstad of a breakaway goal in the first minute of the third period, tallied soon after, setting the stage for the tying goal by Rick Meagher.

Tearing into the Gopher zone on a 3-on-2. Meagher pretzeled defender John Perpich with a fake to the inside and bagged a low wrister from 25 feet to tie it at 4-4at 10:36. BU swarmed Shelstad for nine minutes and seemed on the verge of a win when Gopher Dick Spannbauer high-sticked Bill Burlington at 19:26.

But after the ensuing faceoff. Mike Polich eluded Terrier All-America defenseman Vic Stanfield inside the right point and knocked the puck to center. Marzo was back but Polich half-stepped around him and whistled a slap shot from 50 feet that beat Walsh cleanly to the near side with 13 seconds to play. Polich half-stepped around him and whistled a slap shot from 50 feet that Bilbeat Walsh cleanly to the near side with 13 seconds to play.

“I thought the goalie was a little too far to the right and not out far enough.” said a happy Polich later. “So I wasn’t going to hold the puck and get burned since they had all the momentum going.”

Boston’s few sophisticated hockey fans — attendance for the event averaged under 6,000 per game — never expected an encore the following evening, but they got more than they bargained for as Harvard, the ECAC playoff runner-up. extended the top-ranked Huskies to the limit before bowing 6-5 to set up the second All-West final in as many years.

Superb solo efforts by Danny Bolduc and Jim McMahon jumped the Johns ahead. 2-0. and McMahon added his second of three goals on a power play at 8:21 for a 3-0 count. Bob D’Alvise stuffed in a George Lyle rebound at 13:11 to start the Huskies rolling, and eventual hero Bill Steele nudged home a power play tally to complete the first period’s scoring.

Bruce Abbey’s slapshot at 4:43 of the second tied it for the methodical Techers. but another McMahon power play counter put Billy Cleary’s legmen up again, 4-3. Jim Thomas made it 5-3 early in the third and Harvard continued pressing, forcing Jim Warden to make 23 saves to Jim Murray’s six in the period. Lorne Stamler stepped over the blue line and blasted a shipper through Murray on a long drive from the left side at 14:24 to tie the game.

With 2:19 to play. Harvard got too cautious for the only look.

Looking for the perfect play, the Johns wasted precious seconds. With 2:19 to play. Harvard got too cautious for the only time in the game after finding themselves, two men up for 1:09. Steele won a key draw after a freeze and sent the disc skipping the length of the rink in the last seconds of the 5-on-3. and when John Jaschuk vacated the box with just 19 seconds remaining. Tech knew that it was time to quit toying with elimination.

After one Harvard rush to open the extra session. Mike Zuke wheeled around in the Harvard zone and tired through a screen from straight out. a few feet inside the blue line. Steele backhanded the rebound over the prostrate Murray and snatched victory away from the heartbroken Crimson.

Tech coach John MacInness lauded the Easterners after the game, calling it the best performance against his squad this year.

“No, we weren’t shocked when they went ahead 3-0,” he assessed. “How could we be? “We were so numb we couldn’t feel panic!”

The Saturday games were almost anticlimactic. BU bested Harvard 7-5 in the afternoon consolation encounter. The championship contest, though closer to slam-bang WCHA style play, moved inexorably to its inevitable conclusion as the rested Gophers played clean-sweep defense in front of Shelstad and made the most of their own patiently-awaited chances.

John Sheridan tallied on a 2-on2 with Pat Phippen for the first period’s only score, and Perpich upped the Gopher lead to 2-0 at 3:24 of the second with a slapshot from the point on a 3-on-3 situation. Lyle closed the gap to 2-1 at 13:40 of the second, but Robby Harris got it back at 4:45 of the final frame as he deflected a Matschke shot low to Rick Quance’s glove side. Phippen added icing at 17:17, and Zuke closed out the scoring too late to do Tech much good with 48 seconds to go.

At the post-game presentations. Brooks underlined his hockey philosophy as he summoned the entire team to center ice to accept the NCAA Championship Plaque.

“We have great individuals,” he said emphatically afterward, noting that no Gophers made the All-America squad. “But we want to be known first as the Minnesota team.”

That they are. It’s something everyone has known all along.