Montreal Canadiens prospect Blake Biondi punched his ticket to the Frozen Four.
The Habs fourth round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft plays a depth role for the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.
In his freshman season this year, he has scored two goals and five points in 25 games played. Though he played sparingly, the Habs pick was right there in front of the net as the winning goal was scored to advance the Bulldogs to NCAA national semi-final game.
Minnesota-Duluth was playing North Dakota, who were the top ranked team in college hockey this season. The game went to overtime with Biondi barely seeing any ice at all. When one overtime wasn’t enough to decide the game, and neither was a second, or third, it was time for the Bulldogs to start using some of their fresh legged fourth liners.
That would be Biondi as well as Luke Loheit and Luke Mylymok. In the fifth overtime, and what proved to be the longest game in the history of the NCAA Tournament, it was Mylymok who scored the deciding goal off the rush as Biondi distracted a defender on his way to the front of the net.
The goal won one of the four regional tournaments and knocked out the consensus best team in the tournament. This moves the Bulldogs on to the national semi-final on April 8th. Minnesota-Duluth has been one of the best programs in college hockey over the past decade, and have won the past two national titles.
They are not two wins away from a third consecutive NCAA title.
Biondi played a small role in the Bulldogs success this season, but among the team’s top six forwards are three seniors who will definitely not be back next year and three Juniors, two of whom have been drafted to the NHL, who could also elect to turn pro.
After being along for the ride on a great, veteran, deep team, it will be interesting to see how far Biondi jumps up the lineup next season.