The No. 6 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs dropped a 2-1 decision to the No. 3 Denver Pioneers in the NCAA Regional Final on Saturday afternoon in Loveland, CO. With the loss, UMD's season comes to an end with a 22-16-4 overall record. The loss also marks the final game for 5th-year seniors Kobe Roth, Koby Bender, Louie Roehl, Matt Anderson, Casey Gilling and Ben Patt.

"It was a good hockey game," said Head Coach Scott Sandelin. "There's things in a game you can control and things you can't, they got the break and that was the difference." 

Roth, Ryan Fanti and Darian Gotz were all named to the All-Tournament Team following the game. Gotz opened the scoring for the Bulldogs in the first period with a blast from the top of the right faceoff circle. On the play, both Roth and Bender picked up assists. For Roth, the assist would go down as his 97th career point. 

"It's been an unbelievable run," said Roth. "This group of seniors did things you only dream of. This place means the world to me. It's been the best five years of my life and I'm going to miss it."

Denver used a late first period goal to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the first intermission. In the second period, UMD would get a 5-on-3 opportunity after a tripping penalty to DU captain Cole Guttman. However, UMD would be unable to beat Magnus Chrona while with the man-advantage. "When you have a 5-on-3, you expect to score, and we didn't do that," said Sandelin. "That could've been a big momentum swing for the game."

The two sides would head to the third period deadlocked at 1-1. Just past the midway portion of the third, Denver would capitalize after a flooky bounce of the back boards found it's way behind Fanti. "I saw the initial point shot, but probably shouldn't have went out as far as I did," said Fanti. "I kind of had an idea that the puck would bounce pretty quickly back into me, but I couldn't get back to the post before the puck did. Was just a tough bounce that could've went either way."

In the dying moments of the third, the Bulldogs pulled Fanti in an attempt to tie the game. While with the extra attacker, Owen Gallatin faked a shot before making a beautiful pass to Roth on the right faceoff dot. Roth one-timed a snap shot that was shutdown by Chrona. UMD would be unable to find the tying goal and the Pioneers advanced to the Frozen Four with a 2-1 victory. 

For the Bulldogs, the loss snaps a streak of four straight Frozen Four appearances. Despite the loss, it's a trip to at least the regional finals in seven straight NCAA Tournaments for Minnesota Duluth.