BOWLING GREEN - A quarter century has not eroded the magnitude of the moment a bit.

It was 25 years ago that Bowling Green State University's hockey team won the national championship in a most dramatic fashion, by beating the top-ranked University of Minnesota-Duluth 5-4 in four overtimes on March 24, 1984. The years have only enriched the memories.

"I've had a lot of time to reflect on it, and I probably remember more about that night now than I did when it happened," said former Falcon Gino Cavallini, who scored the winning goal in the championship game.

"There was such a feeling of elation that it was finally over, and then the exhaustion hit. We had to just will our way through all those overtimes, fight off the fatigue and find a way to score. I can still picture that moment so clearly."

The Falcons went into the 1984 NCAA tournament with a chip on their shoulders and something to prove. Bowling Green had been left out of the field the previous year, and the players considered that slap in the face as motivation.

"Our drive to win the national championship really started the year before when we didn't get a bid," said former Falcon Wayne Wilson. "We were pretty ticked off, because we had been ranked No. 1 most of that season. The guys just had the mind-set that we were going to get in this time around, and we were going to win it."

Bowling Green, under coach Jerry York, had won 17 straight games during the 1983-84 campaign, and finished the regular season with a 30-4-2 record. After losing twice in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs, the Falcons had to go on the road to open NCAA play and face powerhouse Boston University.

BG needed an overtime in the second game to win that total-goals series and move on to the national semifinals in Lake Placid, where four years earlier the USA Olympic hockey team had stunned the Soviet Union in the "Miracle on Ice."

The Falcons then beat Michigan State 2-1 and moved into the title game. Bowling Green was down 3-1 after the first two periods, and a quick goal by Minnesota-Duluth to open the third period had BG facing a three-goal deficit.

Former Falcon Mike Pikul said the rigors of the season - both physical and mental - had prepared Bowling Green for such adversity.

"We were down on the scoreboard, but the guys didn't let themselves get down psychologically," Pikul said. "We had been through a heck of a lot before that - a ton of pressure situations, overtime games and so on. We just kept playing, expecting things to happen."

The Falcons scored twice before just six minutes remained in regulation, and were still down a goal. With only two minutes left, Wilson flipped the puck into the Duluth end, and John Samanski knocked it in to tie the game with 1:47 on the clock.

The two teams played even for those final moments, and then went through three 10-minute overtimes with a number of chances and a wealth of drama, but no goals. When the game was in its 98th minute, Dan Kane sent a pass to Cavallini, whose backhand shot found the net and locked up a place in hockey history for Bowling Green.

"I've never looked at it as me scoring the winning goal, because nobody but the guys on that team know how hard we worked just to get to that point," Cavallini said.

"The team got that goal, it was one more tough situation that we had to will our way through."

Former Falcon Garry Galley said the celebration that took place after Cavallini's shot found the net and ended the longest game in NCAA tournament history remains almost surreal.

"The thrill of it for me is still alive," Galley said. "We felt like we had done something very special, and not just for the team, but for the people of the town that supported us, the students, the university. Championships live on, and this one is forever entrenched with everyone associated with the Bowling Green program."

Pikul said the years have only served to enhance the value of what took place that long, long night, 25 years ago, on the magical ice of Lake Placid.

"It took a while for us to appreciate it, because you don't realize you've made history when it just happened," he said. "It was a very big deal, because we had felt slighted the year before and that victory gave us some sweet vindication. I can still see us scoring that winning goal, and it was just a pretty good play on our part."

Contact Matt Markey at:

mmarkey@theblade.com

or 419-724-6510.

First Published March 25, 2009, 3:30 p.m.