North Dakota Joins CC In NCAA Frozen Four
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March 26, 2005
MADISON, Wisc. The University of North Dakota became the second Western Collegiate Hockey Association-member team to claim a spot in the 2005 NCAA Men's Frozen Four on Saturday (March 26) night, when the second-seeded Fighting Sioux powered past top-seeded Boston College, 6-3, before 8,695 in the East Regional final at DCU Center in Worcester, Mass.
North Dakota will join fellow league member Colorado College as the first two qualifiers for the Frozen Four, set for April 7 and 9 in Columbus, Ohio, after the Tigers knocked out Michigan, 4-3, in the Midwest Regional final in Grand Rapids, Mich., earlier in the day.
The No. 10/11-ranked Fighting Sioux, now 24-14-5 overall, used a strong 33-save netminding performance from Jordan Parise and two goals each from sophomore Chris Porter and freshman forward Travis Zajac to defeat the Eagles (26-7-7) and earn the UND program's 15th Frozen Four appearance with seven national championships won since 1958 and first since 2001. The victory also continued the Sioux's surge over the past five weeks, pushing their overall record to a noteworthy 8-1-2 since a 5-2 loss at Alaska Anchorage on Feb. 19.
"Tonight was a hockey game that had a lot of adversity through it," said North Dakota head coach Dave Hakstol. "But things went our way. There was not a whole lot of flow to the game with all the special teams, but I'll take my hat off to the players. We've been through ups and downs throughout the year."
North Dakota scored first in the game when Zajac scored on a rebound just :42 seconds into the first period UND's fastest first goal of a game this season. Just 4:17 later, the Sioux struck again, this time on Porter's first of two goals at 4:59. Then at the 10:10 mark of the opening stanza, UND went up 3-0 on Drew Stafford's goal.
In the second period, Zajac scored his second of the game and 17th of the season on a power-play at 12:03 to give the Sioux a 4-0 lead. Zajac's goal turned out to be the game-winner as well.
Boston College did cut the UND lead to two goals at 4-2 following a shorthanded tally by David Spina at 3:07 of the third period, but the Eagles could get no closer. Finishing off the scoring for UND in the final period were Porter at 6:04 and Brian Canady at 11:08. BC's Chris Collins had the final goal of the game at 15:23 of the third to make it 6-3.
UND's penalty-killers were successful on all nine Boston College power-play opportunities in the game while the Sioux were 1-of-7 with the man-advantage. In addition to their successful penalty-kill, the 33 saves by Parise also helped the Sioux overcome a 36-23 Eagles' advantage in shots on goal.
Parise, who had also backstopped North Dakota to a 4-0 victory over Boston University in a regional semi-final on Friday, was named the East Regional's most outstanding player. He was joined on the NCAA East Regional All-Tournament Team by forwards Travis Zajac of North Dakota, Colby Genoway of North Dakota, and T.J. Kemp of Mercyhurst, and defensemen Nick Fuher of North Dakota and Brian Boyle of Boston College.
On Sunday at 12 Noon ET, the No. 1-ranked University of Denver Pioneers (29-9-2) take on New Hampshire in the NCAA Northeast Regional final at Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., while the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (27-14-2) face off against Cornell 3-2 winners over Ohio State in the NCAA West Regional final at 2:30 pm CT at Mariucci Arena. New Hampshire defeated Harvard, 3-2, in overtime. Denver won over Bemidji State, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon in the Northeast Regional semi-final while Minnesota blanked Maine, 1-0 in overtime, in a West Regional semi-final Saturday. The WCHA's fifth NCAA tournament qualifier University of Wisconsin (23-14-4) fell, 4-1, to Michigan on Friday night at the Midwest Regional.
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