After producing the winner of the past five NCAA championships and six of the past seven, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association will have only one team carrying its banner to the Frozen Four.
Captain Chris Porter’s wraparound goal 9:43 into overtime handed North Dakota the league’s bright torch Sunday and booked the Fighting Sioux’s third consecutive trip to the national semifinals.
Porter’s goal gave the third-seeded Sioux a 3-2 victory over No. 1 Minnesota before a West Regional championship game crowd of 11,217 at the Pepsi Center. The Gophers (31-10-3) won by the same overtime score March 17 for the WCHA playoff title in St. Paul, Minn.
“We went toe-to-toe on consecutive weekends, and it was a split decision,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “(This time), they made a play in overtime to win it. I congratulate them. And they’re going to have to carry the banner for the WCHA, and hopefully they can go on and win the national title.”
The green-and-black clad Sioux (24-13-5) are red-hot heading into their April 5 Frozen Four opener against Boston College at the Savvis Center in St. Louis. The Sioux are 17-3-4 since Christmas after knocking off the fourth and final No. 1 seed.
Porter, a senior wing, was nearing the end of his shift when linemate Matt Watkins pushed the puck ahead to him near the left circle. Instead of firing a shot on goalie Jeff Frazee from the wing, Porter drove around the net.
“I was kind of gassed, so all I wanted to do was get it on net, like the old saying, ‘Put it on net, good things happen,”‘ Porter said.
WCHA player of the year Ryan Duncan and Robbie Bina also scored for the Sioux, who led 2-1 until Jay Barriball’s power-play goal with 6:49 forced OT.
Avalanche draftee Mike Carman gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead 2:22 into the game. Both teams went 1-of-5 on the power play.
“It was a tremendous hockey game tonight, very similar to the game played eight days ago,” North Dakota coach Dave Hak- stol said. “Tonight, I thought we had a little better momentum in overtime to make the play to win the game.”
Hakstol, who is in his third season, is batting 1.000 when it comes to the Frozen Four, having reached the national semis in each season. North Dakota lost in the 2005 national championship game to Denver, and fell a year ago to Boston College in the national semifinals.
“We have pretty fiery responsibility,” Hakstol said of his staff and players. “There have been a lot of people over many, many years that have built the program to the level that it is. Our responsibility as coaches and players is to live up to that, carry that on, and build on it.”
Minnesota becomes another example of how a WCHA regular-season and playoff champion wears out in the national tournament, and highlights DU’s rare feat of winning everything in 2005.
“To look back, there is three prizes and we got two of them,” Lucia said. “It was a great year for us to win 31 games and win the WCHA regular season and playoff championship.”
North Dakota 1 0 1 1 – 3
Minnesota 1 0 1 0 – 2
First period – 1, Minnesota, Carman 9 (Vannelli, Lucia), 2:22. 2, North Dakota, Duncan 31 (Lee), 6:49. Penalty – Duncan, UND (hooking), 18:40.
Second period – None. Penalties – Finley, UND (interference), 4:31; Finley, UND (charging), 8:03; Stoa, UM (interference), 8:45; Kozek, UND (roughing), 13:59; Flynn, UM (hitting after whistle), 13:59; Carman, UM (high sticking), 19:02.
Third period – 3, North Dakota, Bina 10 (Toews, Oshie), 2:08 (pp). 4, Minnesota, Barriball 20 (Vanelli, Goligoski), 13:11 (pp). Penalties – Wheeler, UM (tripping), 1:46; Radke, UND (5-major, checking from behind), 4:11; Gordon, UM (holding), 9:40; Bina, UND (tripping), 12:26.
Overtime – 5, North Dakota, Porter 11 (Watkins, Jones), 9:43. Penalties – none.
Shots on Goal – UND 6-14-9-7 – 36. UM 11-7-8-3 – 29. Goalies – UND, Lamouroux (21-11-4) 29 shots-27 saves. UM, Frazee (14-3-1) 36-33. A – 11,217.
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
