MINNEAPOLIS -- Bob Olson often got so nervous watching games when he traveled with the Minnesota hockey team in the 1970s that it would make him sick.

Twenty-five arrested

MINNEAPOLIS -- About 25 people were arrested on the University of Minnesota campus just hours after the school's hockey team won the NCAA championship, according to the Minneapolis Police Department. Police received a report around 9:45 p.m. of several hundred people blocking traffic at the intersection of 15th and University avenues near Dinkytown, the heart of the university campus. As officers cleared the intersection and attempted to disperse the crowds, rocks, bottles and snowballs were thrown at them, police said. Fires were started in the streets, vehicle windows were broken, including several police vehicle windows, and paper stands were overturned in the streets, police said. The area was cleared by 5 a.m. -- The Associated Press

He can rest a little easier now. The Gophers won their first NCAA title since 1979 Saturday night with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Maine in overtime.

Olson, 50, used to scout high school players for Herb Brooks' team. The St. Paul resident said he traveled with them for about five years as a volunteer. Olson would sit in the press box and sometimes relay to Brooks what he was seeing from above.

"They didn't have headsets back then," Olson said.

At times, Olson would get so worked up he had to leave the arena.

But Olson stood impassively next to the bar at Stub and Herb's on the University of Minnesota campus as the Gophers gutted out the victory against the Black Bears.

Olson said he remembers watching standout forward Johnny Pohl in high school and forecasting a bright future. Though miles away from Pohl and the rest of the team, Olson still broke the game down as if he were in the press box.

"These guys will start getting tired soon," he said midway through the overtime period. "They're going to have to find a way to get the third and fourth lines in and give them a rest."

When Grant Potulny knocked in the winning shot at 16:58, a pack of people surrounding Olson erupted in applause, handshakes and hugs.

Young fans covered in maroon and gold stood on booth benches and shouted the "U of M Rouser," the school's fight song, stabbing the air with their fists as they punctuated each letter of "Minnesota."

Olson merely smiled and tipped back a tall mug of beer. But that didn't mean he appreciated the Saturday's victory any less than the one he witnessed from the stands in Denver in 1979.

"It feels the same," Olson said with a grin.

A few feet away, David Swan, a 42-year-old resident of Minneapolis, traded congratulations with other patrons. Swan said he walked on for the team in 1979 and played as a goalie for a few months before budget constraints forced his exit.

"It's about even up," Swan said, comparing the talent of the 1979 and 2002 championship teams. "Seventy-nine was very talented, and this team is too. It's funny how different players stepped up.

"It seems like several lifetimes. It's been that long and we finally did it again."