Duluth, MN, USA / 95 KQDS
Mar 15, 2021 11:42 AM
It had been 701 days since UMD’s last postseason game, but it looked like it had been a week or two.
Unfazed by Western Michigan goals in the final minute of the second and third periods, UMD did what UMD does: It won a postseason game.
Freshman defenseman Connor Kelley’s second goal in as many games was his first career game-winner, and the Bulldogs advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals Saturday night with a dramatic 5-4 win over Western Michigan in Grand Forks.
“I think their wing came out to me a bit, so I decided to shoot it,” Kelley said very matter-of-factly about his winning tally. It wasn’t a play without controversy, as it appeared there was a problem with the drop of the puck on the faceoff. The puck looked like it hit the glove of UMD’s Jesse Jacques, then bounced off either the hand or stick of Western Michigan’s Paul Washe before finding its way to WMU defenseman Aidan Fulp. Instead of clearing the puck, Fulp softly played it right up the middle, and as it were, right to Kelley.