For the third time in program history, the University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team were crowned NCHC Frozen Faceoff champions on Saturday evening in St. Paul, Minn. UMD used a 25 save shutout from junior goaltender Ryan Fanti to win the conference tournament. 

For Fanti, it's shutouts in back-to-back games and also gives him an active shutout streak of 145:21 dating back to the NCHC Quarterfinals in St. Cloud. For his efforts in the NCHC playoffs, Fanti was named the tournament's most outstanding player. The performance for Fanti comes just days after he was named the NCHC's Goaltender of the Year at the conference's yearly awards show on Thursday.

"Ryan was outstanding for us all weekend," said Head Coach Scott Sandelin. "When you have a goalie like that behind you, it gives your team a lot of confidence."

In addition to Fanti, forwards Blake Biondi and Dominic James, along with defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, were all named to the NCHC All-Tournament Team. On the night, both Kaiser and James found the back of the net for the Bulldogs. Additionally, Casey Gilling notched career point No. 99 in the second period after he beat WMU netminder Brandon Bussi with a power-play blast from the right faceoff circle. 

"Obviously a great result for us," said Sandelin. "Just a hard-fought game between two good teams that play hard. I thought our guys did a really great job this weekend defensively as well."

During the Frozen Faceoff, the Bulldogs shutout the No. 1 and No. 4 scoring offenses in the country. Denver entered the weekend scoring an average of 4.50 goals per game, which ranks first in the nation. For Western, their offense entered the tournament notching 3.78 goals per game, good enough for fourth in the NCAA.

Western noted the first big opportunity of the night. 2:30 into the game, a missed pinch by Matt Anderson gave Drew Worrad a clear cut breakaway. Worrad attempted to beat Fanti low blocker but was shutdown by the junior goaltender. The Bulldogs wouldn't record a shot on goal through the opening five minutes of play. However, their first shot of the game would find the back of the net. Beginning the rush in his own zone, James went coast-to-coast before ripping a shot past Brandon Bussi from a severe angle. It was James's sixth goal of his freshman season and came unassisted just 5:26 into the contest. A low shot, low chance period would end with the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 on the scoreboard. However, the Broncos held a 5-3 shot advantage. 

Five minutes into the second, Bender drew a trip while working off the cycle in the Western zone, resulting in the first power-play chance of the evening. While on the man-advantage, Noah Cates was parked in front of Bussi when Gilling let a shot fly from the top of the right faceoff circle. The shot got through some traffic and found the back of the net. For Gilling, the goal for Gilling was his eighth goal of the season and 99th point of his career. Both Kaiser and Bender picked up assists on the goal which came 5:59 into the second. The two sides would trade high quality scoring chances through the middle frame. For UMD, Quinn Olson broke through the Western defense and tried to label a snap shot to the blocker side of Bussi, however, the junior netminder was equal to the task and made the save. A few moments later, Fanti would record the save of the season off WMU's Max Sasson. Following a shot from Ty Glover offf the rush, Fanti kicked a free rebound back into the UMD slot. While alone in the slot, Sasson smacked the puck towards the UMD net, but was robbed by a diving Fanti. UMD took a 2-0 lead into the final seconds of the period when they were called for too many men on the ice. Though they wouldn't score on the 26 seconds remaining in the period, Western would begin the third period with a power-play opportuntiy. 

The Bulldogs locked it down in the third period. Despite giving the Broncons numerous power-play opportunities, UMD would keep Western off the board. Midway through the third period, Kaiser would make a quick move to attack the Bronco net. After gaining a step on an WMU defender, Kaiser roofed a beautiful back hand shot to beat Bussi high glove. It was the second goal of the season for Kaiser and all but secured a 3-0 win for UMD in the NCHC Championship. 

Up Next
UMD will watch the NCAA Selection Show tomorrow evening at 5:30 PM CT to find out where they'll head for the NCAA Tournament.