April 7, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio - North Dakota spent the whole season trying to figure out how to score goals and now that they've solved that problem they won't stop playing. The Fighting Sioux beat Minnesota 4-2 Thursday night in the second semifinal of the NCAA Frozen Four, and now get to play in the last college hockey game of the season - against Denver for the NCAA championship on Saturday night.

Minnesota coach Don Lucia, whose team finished 28-15-1, summed the semifinals up best. "The best teams usually win at this time of year," he said. "North Dakota was the best tonight, and they deserve to march on. The two teams playing the best are going to play Saturday night and they both deserve to be there."

As for the Fighting Sioux, Lucia added: "You've got to have skill guys, but you also have to have soldiers, and right now, their soldiers are playing extremely well."

The prime soldier who added another solution to the forgotten goal-scoring problem came in the 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame of Erik Fabian, a sophomore fourth-line left winger from Roseau, Minn., who had scored one goal in the entire regular season. He now has scored four post-season goals after getting the first two goals against Minnesota - one in the first and one in the second periods.

Travis Zajac celebrated as the puck rebounded out of the goal after his second goal built a 4-0 North Dakota lead in its 4-2 semifinal victory over Minnesota.

Freshman center Travis Zajac took over next, with a power play goal in the first minute of the third period and a shorthanded goal at 5:00 to give North Dakota a 4-0 cushion. The way Jordan Parise was tending goal, that looked more than comfortable, but the 17,094 fans saw the game tighten when Mike Howe scored on a two-man power play at 6:17 of the final period, and Gino Guyer scored before the second penalty expired at 7:40.

"We got ahead 4-0, but you know it's not going to be that easy," said Sioux coach Dave Hakstol. "Not against a team like Minnesota. They played hard to come back and make it a two-goal hockey game. But from that point, I thought we settled down and played with an awful lot of poise to close out the game against a very good Minnesota team."

The Fighting Sioux (25-14-5) have lost three times in three games against defending NCAA champion Denver, but they can take heart that the last one was a 2-1 overtime thriller in the WCHA Final Five semifinal game. That was the only time in eight playoff games that North Dakota failed to score at least three goals, and one day later, the Sioux beat Minnesota by an identical 4-2 count for third place.

Hakstol and the Fighting Sioux players insist they knew this team had the qualities needed to make the run to the NCAA title game, but they disguised it well, masquerading as a team that couldn't score all season. At the end of the regular season, the fifth-place Sioux had scored an average of 2.7 goals in 36 games overall, while giving up 2.36; in league play, the Sioux scored only an average of 2.53 goals in 28 games, while giving up 2.39. By stark contrast, in eight league and NCAA playoff games, North Dakota has scored 36 goals - an average of 4.5 per game - and given up only 14 goals - an average of 1.75.

Those are championship statistics, and prove that the anyone-can-score offense and Parise's goaltending have suddenly risen to the level of the always-rugged job done by North Dakota's large and hostile defense. "What made us successful is that everyone stuck with it and chipped in," said Hakstol. "Virtually a different guy or different line comes through each night. Our fourth line hasn't always been together because we had to fill in for some injuries, but they've been together constantly for the last five weeks, and they've been a catalyst for us the last two months."

Parise, who made 26 saves and defused an always-dangerous Minnesota attack on its first six power-play chances, before they broke through on the last two, said: "We had plenty of doubts during the season, but we just persevered, and we all got on the same page."

Fabian explained that his line's motivation for the game came in a little pre-game visit from Hakstol. "Coach Hakstol took Brian Canady, James Massen and myself aside this morning and said, `We need you guys to come up big for us,' " Fabian said. "I took that to heart."

The first period started with both teams rotating through their forward lines, and on the first shift for North Dakota's fourth line, Fabian forechecked deep on the left side of the net, flushing Minnesota captain and senior defenseman Judd Stevens out on the right side, the swiping the puck from behind and whirling to score on a 15-footer all in one motion.

Minnesota's Mike Howe broke Jordan Parise's shutout with a power-play goal in the third period. North Dakota won 4-2 Thursday night to gain Saturday's NCAA final.

"I don't think Stevens knew I was behind him," said Fabian. "I was actually surprised when I did go for his stick that it came up so easy. When I got the puck on my stick, I looked over and saw that Briggs wasn't quite ready, so I figured I'd just fire one, and it went in."

It stayed 1-0 in the second period, as Parise made a couple of huge saves, and midway through the period, Fabian struck again, pouncing on the puck at the end boards, and plowing out on the right side into heavy traffic to score at the right post.

"On the second one, I was actually surprised because my back was to the net, and when I looked, nobody was on me, so I walked it out front and threw it up high."

North Dakota outshot Minnesota 32-28 for the game, but the Golden Gophers had a 13-7 edge in the middle period, but hurt themselves when Barry Tallackson and Danny Irmen took successive penalties on hard hits from behind in the last two minutes of the session. That put the Sioux on the power play to open the third period, and Zajac scored with a rebound from the slot at 0:45 for a 3-0 bulge.

Canady was given a double minor, for hooking and roughing, at 3:09, which could have been the antidote to the comfortable lead. Instead, sophomore Drew Stafford made a strong penalty-killing rush up the right side, kept possession behind the net, and fed out to the slot, where Zajac drilled a low shorthanded goal through the knees of the falling Briggs at 5:00.

In the next minute, Mike Prpich joined teammate Canady in the penalty box, and on the two-man edge, Howe ruined Parise's shutout with a screened 15-footer from the slot at 6:17. The Gophers were still on the extended power play when Guyer corralled the puck in the left circle and scored at 7:40, giving the Gophers new life at 4-2.

"Our captains (Matt Greene and assistants Matt Jones, Rory McMahon, and Andy Schneider) did a great job settling things down, not only on the bench but on the ice," said Hakstol.

And the Fighting Sioux fought on to gain a berth in the 20^th all-WCHA national championship game.

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