ST. PAUL, Minn. — Top-seeded Denver followed second-seeded Wisconsin to the loser’s bracket Friday, losing 4-3 to North Dakota in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center.
The fourth-seeded Fighting Sioux, who will play third-seeded St. Cloud State for tonight’s league playoff championship, produced two power-play goals and a short-handed tally in its first win in five games against DU this season.
The Pioneers (27-8-4), ranked No. 1 nationally, lost for just the second time in 15 games. They will play the Badgers (24-10-4) in today’s consolation game and try to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time this season.
DU trailed 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 before scoring to make it a one-goal game each time. The first two times, however, the Sioux (24-12-5) quickly regained its two-goal lead.
DU’s final goal came with 37 seconds to play and goalie Marc Cheverie on the bench for an extra attacker.
When it was 2-0 late in the second period, freshman Matt Donovan gave DU some life with a wraparound, wrist-shot goal. It came at 18:25, when both teams had a player in the penalty box. Shortly thereafter, Ben Blood was freed to send UND on a power play, and it improved to 2-of-4 with the man advantage with Evan Trupp’s one-time blast to make it 3-1 and squash the momentum DU had just built.
Trupp also scored his first goal with a one-timer at 4:21 of the first period.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
