“It’s an Unbelievable Feeling”: UND Men’s Hockey Preps for Frozen Four

All season long, the UND Men’s Hockey team has been one of the most entertaining teams in the college hockey realm.

That’s why it was no surprise to anyone that the team made it down to Tampa for their third consecutive Frozen Four appearance.

MIKE MCCANN:

You’re right to say it isn’t a surprise that UND is in this position.

You think back to the summer and we weren’t sure where this team was going to be when it named Gage Ausmus as the captain.

Ausmus, one of five guys on the roster who list Grand Forks or East Grand Forks as their hometown playing for Coach Brad Berry.

Names like Tucker Poolman and Luke Johnson…that is a big time core for this team.

If you live in Grand Forks, UND Hockey is King, Queen, Prince and Princess.

It is the cream of the crop…so for Ausmus and all of his buddies, this has been a long time coming.

“Obviously, growing up in Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, that’s all we had.  There was the Fighting Sioux at the time, the University of North Dakota, and we kind of looked at it like an NHL team.  That was my only team and followed them growing up.  It was one of my goals to play here eventually and obviously, being here now, it’s surreal.  It’s an unbelievable feeling putting on that jersey every night.  I watched them grow up and I watched the players play here and that tradition and culture that the University of North Dakota has is unbelievable.  It’s amazing to play here,” said Captain Gage Ausmus.

Tomorrow is the day.

You heard it from Gage.  It’s a huge opportunity for this team…a chance to get to a national title game.

At the top of the 9:00pm news on KVRR, we’ll hear from the players and what they think of Tampa Bay.

Fighting Hawks first action is tomorrow night at 7:30pm in the National Semifinals against Denver, who they’ve faced five times this season.

Two wins for both teams and then a tie in the NCHC third place game.

Live coverage and analysis on the game continues on KVRR.