60 Seconds of Strength: Bulldog hockey dominance
Since 2000, the UMD Men’s and Women’s hockey teams have combined for eight national championships.
The women won back-to-back-to-back titles in 2001, 2002, and 2003, then added two more in 2008 and 2010, all under head coach Shannon Miller. Their 2010 championship was one of the longest NCAA Tournament games ever played, going into three overtimes before the Bulldogs eventually sunk Cornell.
“I told them tonight in the locker room they’re the most special team I’ve ever coached, and I’ve coached at world championships, I’ve coached at the Olympics, we had won four national championships before this and there’s no question that they are the most special group that I’ve ever coached,” said Miller following her fifth title.
The 2010’s were a dominant stretch for the men’s team. 2011 was the program’s first-ever championship, then in 2018 and 2019 they won back-to-back titles to close out the decade. Many diehard Bulldog fans were at all three and every Frozen Four appearance in between.
“I’ve been going to every NCAA Frozen Four since 2011 when the Bulldogs won at the Xcel Energy Center. I was there last year when they won their second national title at the Xcel Energy Center. Of course, we were out here in Buffalo to watch them win their third, so I got my championship hat from last year, and of course this year’s championship hat,” said one fan at the 2019 championship game in Buffalo, New York.
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