Battleford native Blake Young has had to deal with a return to reality over the last couple of days.
After winning a national championship in his final NCAA Division I hockey game with the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs Saturday night in St. Paul, Minn., it was back to the classroom for the 23-year-old Monday as he finishes up his major in French studies.
鈥淭hat was a little of a bittersweet feeling but it鈥檚 been a really cool experience around campus all week,鈥� Young said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been amazing to see the amount of people that have been stopping us in the hallways to congratulate us and shake our hands since we returned here.
鈥淭he support we鈥檝e had has been unbelievable. They were out in full force in St. Paul and I don鈥檛 think you could go anywhere around the tournament without seeing someone in Bulldogs gear.鈥�
The Bulldogs captured their second national title with a 2-1 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at the Xcel Energy Centre, which was the same arena where they won their first Frozen Four in 2011.
鈥淭he guys were buying in and willing to do whatever it took to win that game,鈥� Young said.
鈥淵ou look at a guy like Kobe Roth who sacrificed himself and took a hit early in the game that ended up ending his season, that鈥檚 the effort everyone was making out there. We had five freshmen defencemen in our lineup and they looked like seniors during that game. It was unbelievable to watch.鈥�
Young, who had a career high 12 points in his final season for the Bulldogs, was the on the ice for the last play of the game as he won a face-off with 2.1 seconds over Irish forward and Montreal Canadiens prospect Jake Evans.
鈥淲e wanted [Justin] Richards to take the face-off at first as he鈥檚 been hot on the draws all year long,鈥� Young said. 鈥淲hen he got kicked out, I saw that the draw would be on my strong side, and I told the guys that I would do it.
鈥淚 stepped in and saw that one of their defencemen was ready to step up if they won the draw, so I knew that I either had to blow up their guy or just fall on the puck. To be honest, I don鈥檛 even remember what happened after that. It was all a blur.鈥�
Saturday鈥檚 win was also a moment of redemption for Young and 15 of his teammates that were on the team a year ago when the Bulldogs lost to the Denver Pioneers in the national championship.
鈥淭hat was huge for us,鈥� Young said. 鈥淲hen we went the first time, we were all so nervous and excited and we didn鈥檛 get off to the start that we wanted to.
鈥淭his time around, we all took a deep breath before going out on the ice and realized it was just another game. We just had to stick to our game plan and do what we had done all year.鈥�
After sneaking their way into the tournament, the Bulldogs made their way to the final with a 3-2 overtime win over the Minnesota State Mavericks, a 2-1 triumph over the Air Force Falcons and a 2-1 semifinal victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.
鈥淭hat win over Minnesota State was huge for us as it really showed that we could go up against anyone, as they were one of the top programs in the country all year,鈥� Young said.
鈥淲e became a better program as the year went on. In the first half we dealt with a lot of injuries and then we were missing five guys from our lineup after Christmas as they were at the World Juniors. Once we got everyone back, our chemistry got a lot better and you could see that every time we were on the ice.鈥�
When it comes to his future, Young plans to focus more on that once he finishes up his studies in the next few weeks.
鈥淎fter exams I鈥檓 going to be talking with the coaching staff here about what鈥檚 next and what they think is the best direction for me to go ahead of next season,鈥� Young said.
