Minnesota Duluth Beats Cornell in Three Overtimes for NCAA Women's Title

Minnesota Duluth's history in women's hockey is nothing short of outstanding. Entering this season, they had won four of the nine NCAA-sanctioned championships in the sport's history. A win Sunday would give them their fifth championship in ten years, impressive in any way you can consume that statistic.

Cornell's past is less decorated. This year marked the first time since the sport was added by the NCAA that Cornell posted a winning season, and the Big Red marked it with their first NCAA berth. They upset well-known Eastern programs Harvard and Mercyhurst to reach the championship at the Women's Frozen Four in Minneapolis Sunday afternoon, but knew they would need an upset to topple UMD.

They didn't quite get over the hump. Jessica Wong tipped a point shot by Tara Gray with 33.6 seconds to play in the third overtime, giving UMD a 3-2 win in the longest NCAA women's final ever.

After a scoreless draw through the first 20 minutes, Cornell struck with a power-play goal in the second period. After UMD had just finished killing off a five-on-three, the Big Red grabbed the lead on a long shot by Lauriane Rougeau. It got through traffic and past UMD goalie Jennifer Harss, a freshman from Germany who filled in admirably this year while starter Kim Martin trained for and played in the Olympics for Sweden.

That was a storyline all year for the Bulldogs. For a time around the Olympics, they were down to just 15 skaters on the roster, thanks to departures for the Olympics. Players like Martin, Pernilla Winberg (Sweden), and Haley Irwin (Canada) should be back next season, only making UMD a bigger favorite.

But this might have been veteran coach Shannon Miller's best work yet. You never know what to expect when dealing with a younger, thinner roster, but Miller found out quickly that this team could play. Early losses to Minnesota proved to be a rallying cry, and UMD went on a tear after Christmas, finishing the regular season on a 11-1 tear that earned them the WCHA championship with Minnesota. UMD then won four straight playoff games to take the league title, and beat New Hampshire and Minnesota on their way to the final.

UMD tied the score early in the third on the power play, then used another power play later in the period to take their first lead. Emmanuelle Blais scored her 32nd goal of the season 18 seconds into the third, then Jamie Rasmussen one-timed a shot home off a great feed by captain Saara Tuominen to give UMD a 2-1 edge.

Cornell tied it with 3:30 to go, as Melanie Jue back-handed a shot past Harss off a scramble in front. You don't suffer through 11 straight losing seasons and go through three coaches in that span without learning a thing or two about handling adversity. Current head coach Doug Derraugh took over for current Canadian Olympic coach Melody Davidson, who led the Big Red to just 14 wins over her three years there. Derraugh's teams struggled through 13 wins over his first two years before they started to improve. After a pair of 12-win seasons, Cornell broke through this year, thanks to a nine-game winning streak that carried them to their first NCAA Tournament.

The game became the second women's championship game to go overtime. Despite each team getting some really nice chances, the first overtime was played through to its conclusion without anyone taking the championship. Showing how the game was played, shots through the first overtime were 41-40 in favor of Cornell.

Early in the game's fifth period, it passed the 2003 final between Harvard and UMD for the longest women's NCAA final ever. It was far from over at that point.

UMD outshot Cornell in the second overtime, but the Bulldogs gave up a couple great chances that nearly ended the game. While they had more shots, the Big Red had the better scoring chances, and it could be argued that they carried momentum into the third overtime. However, UMD outshot Cornell, and while they didn't score on the only power play of the third extra session, the Wong game-winner came just seconds after the Cornell penalty -- which came after UMD's Laura Fridfinnson was hauled down on a potential breakaway -- ended.