Frozen Four: N.D., MN-Duluth, Mich., N. Dakota
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Notre Dame backed into the NCAA hockey tournament on a two-game losing streak, a disappointed group of mostly underclassmen who were just one more loss away from the end of the season.
The Fighting Irish weren't ready for that. Now they're two wins away from a national championship.
Notre Dame advanced to the Frozen Four for just the second time in school history with a 2-1 victory over New Hampshire on Sunday night.
"We recognized that we didn't want our season to end. I think this weekend was a great example of how we've turned it around," said Billy Maday, whose goal with 5 seconds left in the second period gave the Irish a 2-0 lead and deflated a very pro-New Hampshire crowd.
"I think we played with a lot of speed and a lot of poise. I think we were physical and did the things that we needed to."
Stephen Johns also scored for the Irish, Riley Sheahan assisted on both goals and Mike Johnson made 37 saves.
Notre Dame (25-13-5) advanced to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2008. The young Irish, who have 12 freshman on the roster, will play Minnesota-Duluth in the national semifinals on April 7 in St. Paul, Minn.
North Dakota routs Denver 6-1 to reach Frozen Four
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Aaron Dell made 26 saves and top-ranked North Dakota routed Denver 6-1 on Sunday in the NCAA Midwest final to advance to the Frozen Four.
North Dakota (32-8-3) will face Michigan on April 7 in the semifinals in St. Paul, Minn. Michigan advanced Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over Colorado College in the West final in St. Louis.
"We said it yesterday, we need to play our best game today against Denver and I'll be honest with you, I think we did that," Sioux coach Dave Hakstol said. "I think this was a complete hockey game by our team."
The teams split a pair of regular-season meetings and the Sioux won 3-2 in double overtime last week in the Western Conference Hockey Association tournament final.
Evan Trupp gave North Dakota, a 6-0 winner over RPI on Saturday, a 2-1 lead at 7:06 of the second period, and Brett Hextall made it 3-1 on a power play with 53 seconds left in the period.
"They're such a good team, especially offensively. They're hard to contain. They move around a lot, they do a lot of different things and they're competitive on pucks," Hextall said. "They're difficult to play against and to get those goals to give us some breathing room, that was huge for us. It took some of the tension off and we were able just to stick with our game plan."
