The Game Holds a Record That Still Stands, 44 Years Later
by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@chn-adam-wodon)
While North Dakota and Wisconsin have a storied history of playing against each other, dating back 57 years — 173 times to be exact, with Wisconsin holding a 87-73-13 edge — the only other time they ever met in the Frozen Four was the 1982 national championship game.
That game is legendary in many ways, all of which are known well by long-time fans of both programs. And the current teams are trying to embrace it.
“I like to talk about our history, the guys who came before us and built our program,” said North Dakota coach Dane Jackson, who played at the school from 1988-92 under Gino Gasparini, coach of the team in 1982. “It’s two pretty strong programs that are close to each other and enjoy playing each other. I think there’s a rivalry. It’s kinda built into the DNA.”
But there’s a perhaps hidden fact that makes the game even more legendary than you might have already known.
The participants in that game, combined, totaled the most amount of future NHL games played of any Frozen Four game in history. And it’s not close — 10,264, among 21 players.
That mark has stood for 44 years, and it’s not likely to be broken any time soon. It’s even more remarkable when you consider that, back then, less than 10 percent of the NHL was made up of former NCAA players. Nowadays, that number is 33 percent.
You have Wisconsin’s Chris Chelios to thank for a lot of that, but he’s far from the only one. James Patrick and Craig Ludwig on the North Dakota side also both played over 1,000 NHL games. Others with over 700 NHL games were Troy Murray, Dave Tippett, Bruce Driver, Brian Mullen and Patrick Flatley.
Phil Sykes, whose hat trick propelled North Dakota to a 5-2 win in that game, played 456 NHL games.
The 1989 Michigan State-Maine semifinal actually has the record for most future NHL players with 26, but only Rod Brind’Amour and Keith Carney got over 1,000 games. The total games played ranks fourth on this list.
The 2010 national final between Boston College and Wisconsin is hot on 1982’s tail, with 8,779 among 22 players. That’s still pretty far behind, though. Chris Kreider, Brian Dumoulin and Ryan McDonagh are still active in the NHL, but unlikely to compile another 1,500 games played between them.
(See below for the full list of players from the 1982 game, plus the top 20 Frozen Four games in NHL games played between the participants.)
Among the other things of note from that 1982 national championship meeting, it was the last college game coached by the legendary Bob Johnson. The Badgers’ mentor, who had won national championships in 1973, 1977 and 1981, took a position with the Calgary Flames, becoming a trailblazer for the leap from NCAA to the NHL. He went on to make the Stanley Cup finals in 1986, then won a Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991.
It was also the same year as the famed “water bottle incident,” though that name doesn’t quite do justice to what happened.
The teams split six other meetings that season, and while each may have cited Minnesota as its most heated rival, it was pretty fierce between the Badgers and Sioux also in those old WCHA days. The two teams combined to win the four national championships between 1980 and 1983.
To wit, in a game earlier that season, during a tense moment with the players chirping at each other, John Newberry of Wisconsin squirted North Dakota’s Cary Eades with a water bottle. Eades raised his stick to Newberry’s face, and then was punched by Wisconsin’s Pat Ethier. Pretty soon, the arena erupted in an all-out brawl that stretched into the tunnels and stands. Even in those rough and tumble days — all-time penalty minute leader Jim Archibald was a freshman on that North Dakota team — numerous suspensions followed.
It may not have been funny at the time, and some of the participants would rather forget it, but it’s quite a hoot to see video of that game — which thanks to modern technology, you can do, on YouTube. In fact, you can see it with each team’s broadcast, and thus, the perspective of each team’s broadcasters.
Not sure ever again we’ll see those kinds of rabid, overflow crowds, for better or worse. But check out the Wisconsin pep band having a blast playing while all that chaos was going on.
You can also see just about the entire 1982 national championship game on YouTube — from the original ESPN broadcast, with Sam Rosen and Lou Nanne at the microphone.
For what it’s worth, the teams also tussled the year before, in pre-game warmups. Different times indeed.
Most Future NHL Games Played by a Set of Frozen Four Participants 1  1982  North Dakota vs Wisconsin        21  10,264
2  2010  Boston College vs Wisconsin       22  8,779
3  2006  Boston College vs North Dakota      16  7,170
4  1989  Michigan State vs Maine         26  7,116
5  2012  Minnesota vs Boston College       17  6,865
6  1996  Michigan vs Boston University      19  6,674
7  2001  Michigan vs Boston College        14  6,329
8  1991  Northern Michigan vs Boston University  16  6,214
9  1979  Minnesota vs North Dakota        18  6,133
10  2006  Boston College vs Wisconsin       17  6,077
11  1982  North Dakota vs Northeastern       13  6,012
12  1991  Boston University vs Clarkson      15  5,989
13  1984  Bowling Green vs Michigan State     17  5,918
14  1993  Maine vs Michigan            19  5,916
15  2002  Michigan vs Minnesota          16  5,770
16  1987  North Dakota vs Michigan State      18  5,703
17  1997  Boston University vs Michigan      17  5,659
18  1983  Wisconsin vs Providence         15  5,630
19  1982  Wisconsin vs New Hampshire        13  5,503
20  2010  RIT vs Wisconsin             10  5,334
1. North Dakota vs. Wisconsin (1982) — 10264 NHL GP, 21 players
North Dakota (12 NHL players, 5993 GP): James Patrick (1280), Craig Ludwig (1256), Troy Murray (915), Dave Tippett (721), Rick Zombo (652), Phil Sykes (456), Jon Casey (425), Dave Donnelly (137), Gord Sherven (97), Darren Jensen (30), Jim Archibald (16), Dan Brennan (8)
Wisconsin (9 NHL players, 4271 GP): Chris Chelios (1651), Bruce Driver (922), Brian Mullen (832), Patrick Flatley (780), Marc Behrend (39), John Newberry (22), Paul Houck (16), John Johannson (5), Terry Kleisinger (4)
2. Boston College vs. Wisconsin (2010) — 8779 NHL GP, 22 players
Boston College (12 NHL players, 3445 GP): Chris Kreider (951), Cam Atkinson (809), Brian Dumoulin (779), Jimmy Hayes (334), Ben Smith (237), Brian Gibbons (204), Paul Carey (100), Philip Samuelsson (13), Patrick Wey (9), Joe Whitney (5), Tommy Cross (3), Carl Sneep (1)
Wisconsin (10 NHL players, 5334 GP): Ryan McDonagh (1050), Craig Smith (987), Derek Stepan (890), Justin Schultz (745), Brendan Smith (741), Jake Gardiner (645), Cody Goloubef (160), Ben Street (59), Blake Geoffrion (55), John Ramage (2)
3. Boston College vs. North Dakota (2006) — 7170 NHL GP, 16 players …. Toews
Boston College (6 NHL players, 2389 GP): Brian Boyle (871), Nathan Gerbe (435), Cory Schneider (410), Stephen Gionta (301), Peter Harrold (274), Benn Ferriero (98)
North Dakota (10 NHL players, 4781 GP): Jonathan Toews (1140), Travis Zajac (1037), T.J. Oshie (1010), Drew Stafford (841), Chris Porter (234), Brian Lee (209), Taylor Chorney (166), Matt Smaby (122), Joe Finley (21), Matt Watkins (1)
4. Michigan State vs. Maine (1989) — 7116 NHL GP, 26 players
Michigan State (14 NHL players, 4072 GP): Rod Brind’Amour (1484), Jason Woolley (718), Jim Cummins (511), Kip Miller (449), Danton Cole (318), Peter White (220), Chris Luongo (218), Jason Muzzatti (62), Joby Messier (25), Pat Murray (25), Dwayne Norris (20), Don Gibson (14), Bobby Reynolds (7), Shawn Heaphy (1)
Maine (12 NHL players, 3044 GP): Keith Carney (1018), Bob Corkum (720), Scott Pellerin (536), Garth Snow (368), Bob Beers (258), Dave Capuano (104), Claudio Scremin (17), Matt DelGuidice (11), Mario Thyer (5), Bruce Major (4), Scott King (2), Stephen Tepper (1)
5. Minnesota vs. Boston College (2012) — 6865 NHL GP, 17 players
Minnesota (8 NHL players, 3293 GP): Erik Haula (833), Nate Schmidt (815), Nick Bjugstad (812), Justin Holl (403), Travis Boyd (299), Kyle Rau (61), Seth Helgeson (50), Mark Alt (20)
Boston College (9 NHL players, 3572 GP): Chris Kreider (951), Kevin Hayes (802), Brian Dumoulin (779), Johnny Gaudreau (763), Patrick Brown (164), Paul Carey (100), Patrick Wey (9), Tommy Cross (3), Bill Arnold (1)
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