Luke Mylymok (left) celebrates after scoring in the 5th overtime against North Dakota. Photo: www.umdbulldogs.com.
Wilcox’s Luke Mylymok was on the SportsCage Wednesday, as he and the rest of his men’s hockey teammates from the University of Minnesota-Duluth get ready for the Frozen Four semi final Thursday night, where they’ll look to continue the run towards bringing home the schools third straight national championship.
Mylymok, a freshman with the Bulldogs this year, was the hero in a five overtime period game against North Dakota recently to send them to the Frozen Four semi finals.
Just in case you missed the longest NCAA Men’s Hockey tournament game in history…SPOILER ALERT…it ended a little something like this 🤯🤯#NCAAHockey @UMDMensHockey pic.twitter.com/GEHE9euZTf
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 28, 2021
He said the marathon game, that lasted just over six hours, was one they’ll never forget.
“The guys were absolutely bagged after the game, some guys were on I.Vs and in between periods guys had their legs up and were getting stretched out by our trainers, there was a definite relief when the game was over,” Mylymok said.
The five overtime game was the longest in NCAA men’s hockey tournament history.
Being a freshman, Mylymok did not see a ton of ice time throughout the game, which was a challenge in and of itself.
“I think I had three or four shifts in the first period, two in the second, and then nothing from my last shift in the second until the fourth overtime,” he said. “So there was a long stretch there where our line was just sitting on the bench, cheering on the guys trying to be good teammates and those big energy guys.”
Mylymok said he knew he had to stay ready for when the call came to get back out there.
“You try hard to keep your head in the game, in between periods you know you’ve been sitting for awhile so you try and get your legs going, in between periods I’d take my skates off and spend some time on the bike and just crank it out and try and keep my legs going, keep the heart rate up, anything really to keep my head in the game,” Mylymok said.
The Bulldogs will face Massachusetts in the semi final Thursday night, the final will be on Saturday.
