10 years ago, there was the Timeout Game. Now, there's the Stick Toss Game
Oct. 25—MINNEAPOLIS — Dylan Wohlenhaus attended Saturday's rivalry hockey game between UND and Minnesota with about 20 college friends.
They all went to UND together in the late 2000s and were back in the Twin Cities for a friend's wedding.
"We had people in from Texas, Wisconsin. . . all over," said Wohlenhaus, who lives in Minneapolis. "We said, 'Let's go to the wedding Friday, then the game on Saturday.'"
Wohlenhaus grew up in Buffalo, Minn., cheering for the Gophers.
"But I saw the light when I went to North Dakota," he said.
As a student, he camped out for season tickets. He witnessed several unforgettable chapters of the North Dakota-Minnesota rivalry firsthand.
He was in Ralph Engelstad Arena when UND blitzed Minnesota goalie Alex Kangas on back-to-back nights. He was in Mariucci Arena the night UND's Joe Finley pulled Minnesota's Blake Wheeler out of the handshake line. And he was in Xcel Energy Center for the Timeout Game — when UND rallied from down 3-0 to win 6-3 after then-coach Dave Hakstol called a timeout.
Little did he know when he sat down in Section 21, Row 6, Seat 14 on Saturday night that he would wind up being involved in a slice of UND-Minnesota hockey lore.
The Gophers started Saturday's game in control.
They were heavily outshooting the Fighting Hawks and built a lead.
At 8:48 of the second period, shots were 26-6 Gophers. The Fighting Hawks had not registered a shot on goal for 10 minutes. And Rhett Pitlick just launched a wrist shot off the stick blade of UND defenseman Ryan Sidorski and past goalie Drew DeRidder for a 2-0 Gophers lead.
To celebrate the goal, Pitlick, a sophomore, threw his stick into the crowd.
The stick landed on an aisle staircase, bounced once and fell into Wohlenhaus.
"I've been to hundreds of sporting events," Wohlenhaus said. "I've never caught a foul ball. I've never caught a puck. I've never even caught a free t-shirt."
Wohlenhaus grabbed the stick. He looked to his right and saw another UND fan gesturing to throw it back like an opponent home run ball at Wrigley Field. So, Wohlenhaus casually launched it back over the glass and onto the ice.
"There were Gopher fans sitting behind us and they were like, 'I can't believe you did that,'" Wohlenhaus said. "I suppose it would have been a nice piece of memorabilia for a Gophers fan. I got a couple of high-fives from people in the row. Someone texted me and said, 'You know, that was like a $350 stick you just threw over the glass.'
"A part of me felt bad, because there were four kids in Gopher jerseys a few rows behind me and I probably could have given it to them. But it was heat-of-the-moment."
The stick-toss celebration has been done in the NHL by Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils and Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks. They both did it after overtime winners, though.
Pitlick's was during the second period and he was assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty. That penalty didn't give UND a power play, but it did take one of Minnesota's top six forwards off the ice for half a period.
The momentum of the game shifted immediately.
Minnesota took another penalty 90 seconds later and Jackson Blake scored on the power play to cut Minnesota's lead to 2-1. On the next shift, the Gophers took another penalty and Riese Gaber scored on the ensuing power play to tie it. On the shift after that, captain Mark Senden batted a puck out of midair and into the net to give UND a 3-2 lead.
"We said 'Go ahead, get back in the game, North Dakota,' and they took advantage," Minnesota coach Bob Motzko told The Rink Live. "They said, 'OK, thank you, we're back in.'"
The Fighting Hawks scored three goals on three shots in the span of 72 seconds.
"It was like, 'Oh my gosh, they're coming back and they could win this,'" Wohlenhaus said.
UND did, indeed, win.
Senden scored the game-winning goal in overtime to secure the victory over No. 1-ranked Minnesota.
As for Pitlick, he got out of the penalty box late in the second period, but Motzko benched him for the first 14 minutes of the third. Motzko said in his postgame press conference the issue would be addressed Monday at practice.
Ten years ago, UND and Minnesota played in
what's now known as the Timeout Game
in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five.
That one has striking similarities to the Stick Toss Game.
In the Timeout Game, Minnesota was outshooting UND 23-6 and the score was 3-0 when Dave Hakstol called his now-famous timeout, the start of UND's rally.
In the Stick Toss Game, Minnesota was outshooting UND 26-6, and the score was 2-0 when Rhett Pitlick threw his stick in the crowd, the start of UND's rally.
In the Timeout Game, the winning goal was scored by senior captain Mario Lamoureux, who had a two-goal game.
In the Stick Toss Game, the winning goal was scored by senior captain Mark Senden, who had a two-goal game.
"It's definitely a special one," Senden said in his postgame press conference.
It was a good one for Wohlenhaus and his friends, too. They went out for a couple of drinks across the street after the game. That's when the stick-toss clips began making their rounds on social media.
"I'd like to think I played a little bit of a role in that turnaround. (...) If you are a player you want to know that the fans are supportive and behind you, not sitting down on their hands being like, 'we aren't going to win this game," said Wohlenhaus.
Wohlenhaus also enjoyed making a couple new friends at the game — the Gopher fans sitting behind him.
"We hugged after the game and I told them I was sorry that I threw the stick back," Wohlenhaus said. "But I'm not really that sorry."