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.
“That was a little of a bittersweet feeling but it’s been a really cool experience around campus all week,” Young said. “It’s 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.
“The support we’ve had has been unbelievable. They were out in full force in St. Paul and I don’t think you could go anywhere around the tournament without seeing someone in Bulldogs gear.”
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.
“The guys were buying in and willing to do whatever it took to win that game,” Young said.
“You 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’s 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.”
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.
“We wanted [Justin] Richards to take the face-off at first as he’s been hot on the draws all year long,” Young said. “When 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.
“I 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’t even remember what happened after that. It was all a blur.”
Saturday’s 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.
“That was huge for us,” Young said. “When we went the first time, we were all so nervous and excited and we didn’t get off to the start that we wanted to.
“This 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.”
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.
“That 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,” Young said.
“We 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.”
When it comes to his future, Young plans to focus more on that once he finishes up his studies in the next few weeks.
“After exams I’m going to be talking with the coaching staff here about what’s next and what they think is the best direction for me to go ahead of next season,” Young said.
