North Dakota Men's Hockey National Champions: 1996-97

NorthDakota_mhky_champions8687.
FRONT ROW(L to R): Aaron Vickar, Mark Pivetz, Dane Litke, Assistant Coach Mark Osiecki, Head Coach Dean Blais, Assistant Coach Scott Sandelin, Kevin Hoogsteen, Ian Kallay, Mitch Vig, Toby Kvalevog; MIDDLE ROW: Aaron Schweitzer, Matt Henderson, Jay Panzer, Jesse Bull, Jeff Ulmer, Tyler Rice, Adam Calder, Jason Blake, Jason Ulmer, Curtis Murphy, Tom Philion; BACK ROW: Athletic Trainer Mark Poolman, Brad Williamson, Lee Goren, Brad DeFauw, Tim O’Connell, Joe Blake, Peter Armbrust, David Hoogsteen, Equipment Manager Mike Schepp

Boston University vs. North Dakota
March 29, 1997
NCAA Championship
Bradley Center, Milwaukee, Wis. (17,537)

Scoring 1 2 3 OT F
Boston University
 2
 1
 1
 -
 4
North Dakota 0
 5
 1
 -
 6

1st Period- BU: Peter Donatelli (Tom Poti) 8:44; BU: Chris Drury (Tom Poti, Albie O’Connell) 15:08

2nd Period- UND: Curtis Murphy (Jay Panzer, Matt Hendersen) 7:06; UND: David Hoogsteen (unassisted) 8:38, UND: Matt Henderson (unassisted) 12:35; BU: Chris Kelleher (unassisted)13:56; UND: Matt Henderson (Adam Calder, Dane Litke) 15:49; UND: David Hoogsteen (Curtis Murphy) 19:54

3rd Period- BU: Jon Coleman (Chris Kelleher, Mike Sylvia) 19:24; UND: Adam Calder (unassisted) 19:47

Penalties: UND 6-12; BU 5-10

Power Plays: UND 1-5; BU 2-6

Shots: UND 10-16-4--30; BU 11-10-8--29

Saves: UND Schweitzer 9-9-7--25/60:00; BU Larocque 10-11-3--24/58:28

  • In his second season as head coach, Dean Blais took the Sioux to their sixth NCAA title and his first as a head coach.
  • It had been 10 years since North Dakota had won a national championship.
  • The 1980 championship was also won on a March 29.
  • UND held a 10-5-1 advantage over Boston University after the NCAA title win.
  • The Milwaukee site for the championship was the closest that the Sioux had ever played to Grand Forks in their six national championships.
  • North Dakota scored five goals in the second period, with Matt Henderson and David Hoogsteen each picking up a pair to go with Curtis Murphy’s single goal.
  • Murphy and Hoogsteen were named second-team All-Americans.
  • Henderson was the NCAA Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament and was also named to the All-Tournament team along with Henderson, Murphy and Aaron Schweitzer.
  • Hoogsteen, Jason Blake and Murphy were named first team All-WCHA.