1975–76 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey season

The 1975–76 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team represented the University of Minnesota in college ice hockey. In its 4th year under head coach Herb Brooks the team compiled a 28–14–2 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year and seventh all-time. The Golden Gophers defeated Michigan Tech 6–4 in the championship game at the DU Arena in Denver, Colorado to win their second national championship.
==Season==
===Fast Start===
After a disappointing end to what was otherwise a tremendous season, Minnesota entered the 1975–76 campaign with a fairly young team. Herb Brooks' squad had only two seniors and four juniors leaving the team rather shorthanded in terms of experience. The Gophers' didn't let their youth stand in the way of a fast start, however. Minnesota won their first game in October over the US National Team which kicked off a 5-game winning streak. The Gophers suffered their first loss in their first true road game of the season when they were beaten by Denver in overtime. While Minnesota recovered to earn a split for the weekend, that series was the start of a 10-game trend where they alternated wins and losses. At the end of December Minnesota finally stopped losing every weekend and put together another 5-game winning streak to push their record to 14–5.
===New Year and .500 hockey===
The Gophers began 1976 with a series against the defending national champions, Michigan Tech and while they split the series, the two teams combined for 25 goals in the two games. Minnesota then took seven out of eight points against Notre Dame and Denver before visiting Michigan and dropping both contest to the surprisingly strong Wolverines. After two more wins at Minnesota–Duluth the Gophers lost two more Big Ten contests, this time to Michigan State. Two losses dropped Minnesota's Big Ten record to 2–6 though they were still well positioned with a 19–10–1 mark in the WCHA. The following weekend the Gophers split with Wisconsin to guarantee that they would finish with a losing record in the Big Ten and continued to split each weekend for the remaining 4 weeks of the regular season.
===WCHA Tournament===
Despite their mediocre finish, Minnesota managed to hold onto home ice for the first round of the WCHA Tournament and played host to Colorado College. The Gopher defense stepped up in the first game and gave Minnesota a 4-goal margin of victory that allowed the team to cruise to a 10–5 series win after taking the second contest. Minnesota was forced to hit the road for the second round, heading to Michigan State and facing off against the nation's leading scorer in Tom Ross. Minnesota was able to hold the Spartan offence to only two goals in the first game but could only manage two itself and the match ended in a 2-2 tie. both offenses woke up for the deciding second game and managed to score six times in regulation. Overtime was played at the same high pace but the goaltenders turned aside everything that came their way for over 40 minutes before Minnesota broke the tie and captured their third straight WCHA championship. Jeff Tscherne recorded 72 saves in the win, a Minnesota team record as of 2018.
===NCAA Tournament===
As they had two years earlier, Minnesota opened as the underdog against ECAC champion Boston University and just like 1974 the Gophers were able to send the Terriers packing. In the championship game Minnesota met Michigan Tech for the third consecutive year, the only time in NCAA where the same two team made the final three years running (as of 2019). The defending champion Huskies had produced a stellar season thus far and had already set a new NCAA record with 34 wins on the season. The top offense in the nation was led by future NHL-er Mike Zuke who had posted 103 points on the season and was only two behind Tom Ross for the scoring title. It didn't take much time from the start of the contest to figure out that it was not Jeff Tscherne's night. Michigan Tech scored three times in under four minutes to build a huge lead less than twelve minutes into the contest. Tscherne remained in net for the rest of the period and was able to stem the tide but it was a power play goal from Tom Vannelli at the end of the first that gave Minnesota some breathing room. Tscherne was replaced by Tom Mohr from the second on and the junior netminder was given time to settle in when Minnesota opened an offensive salvo on the Michigan Tech net. The Gophers outshot the Huskies 16–3 in the second and scored three times to erase the Tech advantage and take the lead themselves. Michigan Tech halted the Gopher charge with their fourth goal that came with 36 seconds to play to send the teams into the final frame in a tied game. The play was much more even in the third but Minnesota managed to score first with team captain Pat Phippen's goal near the middle of the stanza. Mohr held the Huskies off the scoresheet and allowed Warren Miller to cap the scoring with 30 seconds left.
Minnesota's second championship in three years was even more improbable that their first and the 1976 Golden Gophers became the first team since the 1948–49 Boston College Eagles to have a national champion composed entirely of American players. Furthermore, with Jim Boo having been raised in Minnesota they were the second team to have all of their players hail from one state.
Tom Vannelli's 5 points in the title tile earned him the Tournament MOP, however, for the only time in its history the NCAA did not name an All-Tournament Team. No Minnesota players were named to the AHCA All-American West Team and only Reed Larson made an appearance on an All-WCHA Team, earning first-team honors.
Three Minnesota players were taken at the 1976 NHL Amateur Draft. Reed Larson went on to have a very successful NHL career, becoming a three-time NHL All-Star.
==Standings==
==Schedule==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
|- align="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
|colspan=12|Minnesota Wins Series 12-5
|- align="center" bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
|colspan=12|Minnesota Wins Series 9-8
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Roster and scoring statistics==
No. 	Name	Year 	Position	Hometown 	S/P/C	Games	Goals	Assists	Pts	
15 	 	Junior 	C 	Saint Paul, MN 	 	44 	26 	43 	69 	72
10 	 	Senior 	F 	South Saint Paul, MN 	 	44 	26 	31 	57 	52
11 	 	Junior 	LW 	Roseville, MN 	 	41 	17 	33 	50 	50
9 	 	Sophomore	RW 	Saint Paul, MN 	 	44 	19 	24 	43 	94
26 	 	Sophomore	D 	Minneapolis, MN 	 	42 	13 	29 	42 	94
7 	 	Freshman 	C 	Grand Rapids, MN 	 	42 	14 	24 	38 	32
3 	 	Junior 	D / C 	International Falls, MN	 	33 	7 	24 	31 	46
18 	 	Freshman 	RW 	Saint Paul, MN 	 	40 	16 	10 	26 	24
6 	 	Freshman 	D 	Grand Rapids, MN 	 	44 	8 	15 	23 	28
25 	 	Freshman 	F 	South Saint Paul, MN 	 	42 	7 	15 	22 	32
22 	 	Sophomore	RW 	South Saint Paul, MN 	 	37 	9 	6 	15 	39
21 	 	Sophomore	D 	Richfield, MN 	 	42 	5 	10 	15 	73
14 	 	Sophomore	C 	Saint Paul, MN 	 	44 	6 	8 	14 	22
4 	 	Sophomore	D 	Roseville, MN 	 	41 	2 	12 	14 	23
12 	 	Freshman 	LW 	Duluth, MN 	 	42 	8 	3 	11 	55
17 	 	Sophomore	D 	Minneapolis, MN 	 	39 	2 	9 	11 	111
19 	 	Freshman 	LW 	Warroad, MN 	 	24 	3 	3 	6 	2
2 	 	Senior 	D 	Anoka, MN 	 	27 	1 	3 	4 	8
24 	 	Freshman 	RW 	Bloomington, MN 	 	26 	1 	2 	3 	12
8 	 	Freshman 	D 	Thief River Falls, MN 	 	24 	1 	1 	2 	12
23 	 	Sophomore	RW 	Minneapolis, MN 	 	10 	0 	1 	1 	16
20 	 	Sophomore	D 	Rolla, MO 	 	19 	0 	1 	1 	21
5 	 	Sophomore	D 	White Bear Lake, MN 	 	0 	- 	- 	- 	-
1 	 	Freshman 	G 	Saint Paul, MN 	 	4 	- 	- 	- 	-
30 	 	Junior 	G 	Hopkins, MN 	 	12 	- 	- 	- 	-
35 	 	Sophomore	G 	Edina, MN 	 	29 	- 	- 	- 	-
Total	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
==Goaltending statistics==
No. 	Name	Games	Minutes	Wins	Losses	Ties	Goals Against	Saves	Shut Outs	 	
30 	 	12 	733 	8 	3 	1 	33 	316 	0 	.911	2.70
35 	 	29 	1783 	19 	9 	1 	104 	864 	0 	.893	3.50
1 	 	4 	238 	1 	2 	0 	21 	75 	0 	.781	5.30
Total	 	44 	 	28 	14 	2 	158 	 	0 	 	
==1976 Championship Game==
=== (W1) Michigan Tech vs. (W2) Minnesota ===
Scoring summary	Scoring summary	Scoring summary 	Scoring summary 	Scoring summary	Scoring summary
Period 	Team 	Goal 	Assist(s) 	Time 	Score
1st 	MTU 	Warren Young 	Joelson, Dempsey 	7:55 	1–0 MTU
1st 	MTU 	Warren Young 	Joelson and Decker 	10:36 	2–0 MTU
1st 	MTU 	Jim Murray 	Jessee 	11:31 	3–0 MTU
1st 	MIN 	Tom Vannelli – PP	Younghans and Phippen	17:05 	3–1 MTU
2nd 	MIN 	Joe Micheletti 	Larson and Vannelli 	22:55 	3–2 MTU
2nd 	MIN 	Bill Baker 	Vannelli and Phippen 	30:26 	3–3
2nd 	MIN 	Tom Gorence 	Larson 	32:47 	4–3 MIN
2nd 	MTU 	Nels Goddard 	Roberts and Zuke 	39:24 	4–4
3rd 	MIN 	Pat Phippen – GW 	Vannelli and Larson 	48:37 	5–4 MIN
3rd 	MIN 	Warren Miller 	Phippen and Vannelli 	59:30 	6–4 MIN
Shots by period	Shots by period	Shots by period	Shots by period	Shots by period
Team 	1 	2 	3 	T
Minnesota 	8 	16 	11 	35
Michigan Tech 	12 	3 	9 	24
Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	Goaltenders	Goaltenders 	Goaltenders
Team 	Name 	Saves 	Goals against	Time on ice
MIN 	Jeff Tscherne	9 	3 	
MIN 	Tom Mohr 	11 	1 	
MTU 	Bruce Horsch 	29 	6 	
==Players drafted into the NHL/WHA==
===1976 NHL Amateur Draft===
	= NHL All-Star Team		= NHL All-StarPlayers are identified as an All-Star if they were selected for the All-Star game at any time in their career.			= NHL All-Star and NHL All-Star Team		= Did not play in the NHL
Round	Pick	Player 	NHL Team
2 	22 	Reed Larson 	Detroit Red Wings
3 	54 	Bill Baker 	Montreal Canadiens
5 	75 	Phil Verchota	Minnesota North Stars
===1976 WHA Amateur Draft===
	= Did not play in the WHA
Round	Pick	Player 	WHA Team
5 	49 	Bill Baker	New England Whalers
==References==
Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey seasons
Category:NCAA men's ice hockey Frozen Four seasons
Category:NCAA men's ice hockey championship seasons
Minnesota 
Minnesota 
Minnesota