(from Sports Wrap)
 
BU ENDS MICHIGAN'S REPEAT HOPES, WILL PLAY NORTH DAKOTA FOR TITLE
 
Boston University, the last school to win back-to-back NCAA
hockey championships, made sure Michigan would not duplicate that
feat. The Terriers (27-8-6) held on for a 3-2 victory over the
defending NCAA champions Thursday to advance to Saturday's title
game against North Dakota, which defeated Colorado College, 6-3,
in the day's first semifinal at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
 
Greg Quebec, Chris Heron and Tommi Degerman scored second-period
goals, putting Boston ahead to stay, 3-1. Brendan Morrison, a
Hobey Baker Award finalist, scored with 57 seconds left in
regulation to lift Michigan (34-4-4) within a goal.
 
Michel Larocque made 18 saves to lead the Terriers into the
championship game for the second time in three years. Boston won
the 1995 NCAA title. The Terriers, who also avenged a 4-0 loss to
Michigan in last year's national semifinals, were able to kill
off all five Michigan power plays.
 
"The key was that we were still around after the first 10
minutes," said Boston University coach Jack Parker. "In fact, we
were playing them even. That helped us to realize, 'Hey, we're
still standing. Let's play.' ... We were shaking in our boots
when they were on the power play. We just said, 'Let's be alert
and play hard.' Our four outplayed their five."
 
"This is obviously a tough game to lose," Wolverines coach Red
Berenson said. "People often say the best team doesn't always
win, but the team that plays best wins. That may have been the
case tonight. BU played a good, solid defensive game and we
obviously didn't play our best."
 
North Dakota (30-10-2) returned to the championship game for the
first time in 10 years. The Fighting Sioux scored three goals in
the first 7:47 and rolled to a 6-2 win over Colorado College.
 
"We had one of our best games of the year today," said North
Dakota coach Dean Blais. "It was a great start. Most coaches will
tell you the first goal is really important -- and we got up
3-0."
 
Adam Calder's goal at 4:55 of the first period gave North Dakota
the early lead. Kevin Hoogsteen and Jason Blake scored 33 seconds
apart to increase the lead to 3-0 at the 7:47 mark.
 
"Our game plan was to jump on them quick," said Hoogsteen.
"They're not a team that likes to come from behind. No team is,
but that was our game plan, to get going quick and put some
pressure on them."
 
At that point, Tigers coach Don Lucia called a timeout to settle
his team. The move worked as Eric Rud scored unassisted with 7:54
left in the period and freshman Toby Peterson added an unassisted
goal 2:04 into the second period to pull Colorado College within
3-2. But Matt Henderson and David Hoogsteen scored goals 43
seconds apart and Jesse Bull added an unassisted goal with 7:28
left in the second period to open a 6-2 lead for the Fighting
Sioux.
 
"When it was 3-2, I thought we were back in the game," said
Lucia. "The bottom line is that North Dakota was the champion of
our league, they were the champion of our playoffs and they
deserve to be playing for the national title."
 
North Dakota is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since
1990. The Fighting Sioux won the Western Collegiate Hockey
Association regular-season and tournament titles this season.