PHILADELPHIA — A better than average offensive effort still wasn't good for the Gophers to win a national championship.
Four goals surpassed their average of 3.49 goals per game. However, Union nearly doubled its usual offensive output of 3.81 goals per game in a 7-4 victory on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center in front of announced crowd of 18,742.
The Gophers' magic number all season had been three. At least three goals translated to a victory most nights, relying on a defense that consistently held opponents to two goals or less. The defense hadn't seen anything like Union's offense, though.
The Dutchmen scored four goals in the first period to take a 4-2 lead into the intermission. The Gophers were able to cut the lead to one on two different occasions, but two goals in the final two minutes of the game locked up a three-goal victory.
"The game probably got away from us in that little three- or four-minute stretch in the end of the first period where they scored the three goals," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "I think some of that was just trying to hard, trying to do somebody else's job. But that's going to happen in a game of this magnitude. I couldn't be more proud of our kids for the year they had coming in. I certainly probably wouldn't have thought we'd be here on the last day of the year."
The Gophers' second-best defense in the nation had no solution to Union's strong presence in front of the net. An excess of second chances fed six Dutchmen's multi-point efforts, led by tournament Most Outstanding Player Shayne Gostisbehere's three points.
The Gophers' goals were scored by Justin Kloos, Sam Warning, Taylor Cammarata and Hudson Fasching. Kloos, Cammarata and Jake Parenteau each had two points in the loss.
• Read national championship game story.
• Read Chip Scoggins' column on the Ambroz family's journey to Philadelphia.
• Read sidebar on Union's first period surge.
• Read Frozen Four notebook.