Before heading to the NCAA quarterfinals game on March 9, the Blugold men’s hockey team was looking for revenge against St. Norbert College (Wis.), senior forward Kurt Weston said, after losing to the No. 1-ranked Green Knights the week before.

By the end of the night, the team not only found redemption as they handed the Green Knights a 3-1 loss, but in doing so, advanced to their first NCAA Frozen Four in school history.

Senior defenseman Drew Darwitz said there was a lot of nerves, but also a lot of excitement on the ice.

“We knew when we played them in the Peters Cup finals that we didn’t play up to our standards, so for us it was more a game of redemption,” he said.“We felt like we owed them something after losing that Saturday night.”

With three goals, the Blugolds paid the Green Knights what they owed them, while senior goalie Brandon Stephenson only let one of St. Norbert’s 40 shots past him.

After senior forward Devin Mantha was off the ice for a tripping penalty, St. Norbert had the power play and was able to score their only goal of the night at 8:23 in the first period, tying the game 1-1.

With less than a minute left in the period, sophomore defenseman Chris Heineman put the Blugolds ahead again.

Head Coach Matt Loen said with a skilled team including 10 seniors and 10 juniors, the group felt confident, though they knew the Frozen Four was at stake.

“It’s tough to beat, especially St. Norbert, you’re not going to beat them five times in a year,” Loen said. “I’d rather take that Peters Cup loss than a quarterfinal NCAA loss. It’s probably good timing in that way that we were fortunate enough to get a second chance. They bought into the 52-week season and it’s paying off.”

St. Norbert pulled their goalie from the net in the last minute of the game and the puck got chipped out of the zone.

Sophomore forward Ross Andersen grabbed it on the sidewall and passed it to Weston, who put in the final goal.

“That’s when we knew we had it locked up,” Darwitz said. “It was probably one of the best feelings our team has had all season.”

For the Blugolds, beating back to back NCAA champion St. Norbert, was quite the feat.

Weston said the team went into the game feeling confident because of the way they’d played against them all season.

Weston said the game was kind of an upset for St. Norbert, as the team thought they had their home game locked in.

“I guess to me it wasn’t really an upset because we had the upper hand throughout the regular season,” Weston said.

Advancing to the Frozen Four for the first time in the program’s history, Darwitz said he is excited to move on to Lake Placid.

“There’s a lot of history there obviously, so it’s kind of a surreal moment,” Darwitz said. “It hasn’t really set in yet.”

The men will be playing Utica College (N.Y.) on Friday, a team that Loen said the men don’t really know much about.

Weston said he is looking forward to playing someone new.

“It’s actually nice now, playing somebody that you don’t know a lot about,” he said. “I mean, the teams we play throughout the year we,kind of know inside and out and what they’re going to do, so it’ll be fun to see how these other teams play.”

Loen said the team is focusing on simply preparing themselves for the game. Weston said he was looking forward to playing the game that way.

“I don’t see us preparing any way different,” Weston said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it … I’m confident that with the way we play Blugold hockey, nobody will be able to keep up with us.”