Minnesota-Duluth Beats North Dakota in 5th Overtime in Record Longest College Hockey Playoff Game

The University of Minnesota-Duluth won the 2018 and 2019 NCAA men’s hockey championships, but didn’t get to go for the trifecta in 2020 after COVID-19 shut college sports down in March of that year. But the Bulldogs are very much in it for that three-peat this season. UMD had an easy one in its regional semifinal in Fargo, North Dakota on March 26th. The Bulldogs’ opponent, Michigan, withdrew from the tournament due to positive COVID-19 tests, so UMD got the win, officially as a “no contest”. It was a little harder in the regional final, as UMD took on the #1 overall seed for the tournament, North Dakota.

The game was scoreless until the third period, when Duluth scored two goals within a minute and a half of each other. But North Dakota was the top seed for a reason, and scored at 18:19 of the period, then tied it up with 57 seconds left. The game went into overtime; in the tournament, overtime periods are 20 minutes long (unless someone scores), just like regular periods. After a scoreless first overtime, the game went to a second overtime. And then a third, then a fourth, and a fifth. Finally at 2:13 of the fifth overtime, Minnesota-Duluth’s Luke Mylymok scored to give the Bulldogs’ the victory and a spot in the Frozen Four. At 142 minutes and 13 seconds, it was the longest tournament hockey game in NCAA history.

Minnesota-Duluth will face Massachusetts in a Frozen Four national semi final on April 8th in Pittsburgh, a rematch of the 2019 Final, which the Bulldogs won 3-0. The Frozen Four has a Minnesota flavor this season to say the least; the other semi final features Minnesota State vs. St. Cloud State.