Even in semifinal loss, Minnesota Duluth women showed they belong

If you were looking for hockey drama Thursday, your best bet happened in the afternoon and certainly not in the evening with the clunker the Wild put up in Colorado.

The NCAA women's Frozen Four semifinal between top-ranked Northeastern, riding a 21-game unbeaten streak, and underdog Minnesota Duluth delivered four periods of scintillating hockey, with the Bulldogs starting fast and taking a 2-0 lead in the second period, only to see the Huskies storm back and tie it 2-2 in the third. The teams needed 19:34 of overtime to settle it, and that came when Northeastern's Skylar Fontaine stole a pass, made a move and took a shot that deflected over UMD goalie Emma Soderberg and into the net for a 3-2 win.

Afterward, Bulldogs coach Maura Crowell raved about how her team stood toe-to-toe with Northeastern.

"I told them to hold their heads high because I certainly am,'' said Crowell, whose team beat Colgate 1-0 in overtime in the quarterfinals. "I'm extremely proud to be the coach of this team, and I'm extremely proud of the work that we did to put this program back on the national map.''

When the NCAA women's hockey committee announced its eight-team tournament field, much was made about Minnesota Duluth being in the tournament as the No. 5 seed and the Gophers being passed over even though they had swept the Bulldogs in Duluth in the teams' only series. That's not where the committee got it wrong. It erred when it used at-large spots on Boston College as the No. 6 seed and Providence as the No. 7 seed over Minnesota. Those two Hockey East schools lost by a combined 6-1 to Ohio State and Wisconsin, respectively, in the quarterfinals.

When asked after the game about the controversy over her team's inclusion in the tournament field, Crowell was succinct.

"Our performances speak for themselves,'' she said.

Loud and clear.