It’s not an intentional burn at the Gophers, but the “.0001” engraved on the inside of Minnesota-Duluth’s national championship rings is a brutal reminder to Minnesota’s mind-boggling collapse to end the 2017-18 men’s hockey season.
At 5 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 18, the Gophers were sitting pretty with a 98.2 percent chance to make the NCAA Tournament. The only way they could miss out was if all six of the following happened:
- Michigan Tech won the WCHA tournament.
- Boston University won the Hockey East tournament.
- Princeton won the ECAC tournament.
- Air Force won the Atlantic tournament.
- Denver won the NCHC tournament.
- Notre Dame won the Big Ten tournament.
In Minnesota sports-like fashion, all six happened and the Gophers’ 1.8 percent chance of missing the tourney became reality.
Minnesota’s loss was UMD’s gain, as the Bulldogs wound up making the field of 16 by .0001 points in the RPI and went on to beat Notre Dame in the national championship game.
Bruce Ciskie, the radio play-by-play voice of the Bulldogs, tweeted images of the ring, including the .0001 on the inside of it.
— Bruce Ciskie (@BruceCiskie) July 27, 2018
— Bruce Ciskie (@BruceCiskie) July 27, 2018
