April 5, 2007
2007 NCAA Frozen Four | Second Semifinal
Eagles Wing Way Past North Dakota

By Joe Gladziszewski

Boston College 6, North Dakota 4
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-NDK	Chris Porter (12)	EV
10:28	B. Lee, C. VandeVelde
1-BC	Dan Bertram (7)	PP
15:41	B. Smith, B. O'Hanley
Second Period
2-NDK	Jonathan Toews (18)	PP
3:15	T.J. Oshie, T. Chorney
2-BC	Dan Bertram (8)	PP
15:21	C. Sneep, N. Gerbe
Third Period
3-BC	Ben Smith (10)	EV
13:00	N. Gerbe , B. Motherwell
4-NDK	T.J. Oshie (17)	SH
15:22	unassisted
4-BC	Nathan Gerbe (24)	PP
15:54	B. Bradford , B. Motherwell
5-BC	Joe Rooney (16)	SH EN
19:10	unassisted
4-NDK	Chris Porter (13)	PP
19:43	T.J. Oshie, T. Chorney
4-NDK	Nathan Gerbe (25)	EN
19:54	unassisted
Goaltending
NDK: P. Lamoureux, 58:27, 39 saves, 4 GA (2 ENG)
BC: Cory Schneider, 59:50, 25 saves, 4 GA
Penalties: NDK 7/14; BC 7/14
Power Plays: NDK 2-7; BC 3-7
Attendance: 18,857
More Coverage
Comprehensive Notebook Keys to the Boston College win, our three stars, and much more.

ST. LOUIS – Boston College entered this weekend as a slight favorite in many people's eyes simply because of their recent form. The Eagles had won 12 straight games going into the Frozen Four and nine of those wins were by three goals or more.

So, when they were faced with early deficits of 1-0 and 2-1, and were tied going into the third period, the Eagles faced unusual situations. But there was no panic, and no self doubt on the Boston College bench or in the locker room. The Eagles scored four times in the third period and defeated North Dakota 6-4 in a Frozen Four semifinal on Thursday night at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

Boston College will face Michigan State in the national championship game at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday (ESPN).

"We haven't had many close games going into the third and I think our kids responded really well. They were excited to play," York said. "We had to kill a penalty to start the third period which was key for us. I thought we were respectful of what North Dakota had, but we were excited about how we were playing."

North Dakota went ahead when Chris Porter scored with 9:32 left in the first period but Boston College's Dan Bertram tied the score with a power-play goal five minutes later. Jonathan Toews crashed the net and scored early in the second, but the Eagles tied it again, with Bertram scoring another goal near the crease on the power play.

"I think we responded great. We were positive the whole time. We didn't get down on ourselves, we were focused. Mentally we were there. We were hitting posts, we were pressuring them," Boston College defenseman Mike Brennan said.

Boston College was playing from behind despite out-shooting North Dakota 34-19 through two periods, and forced some excellent play from goaltender Philippe Lamoureux.

"Sometimes you're called upon to make 10-12 saves in a period. Tonight they had mid-30s in shots, so in my case I have to step up and play a bigger role in the game to give us a chance to win. I did the best I could. Unfortunately I couldn't make the extra big save," Lamoureux said.

Boston College forward Dan Betram scored two goals in the Eagles' 6-4 win against North Dakota.

The Eagles went ahead in the third period only to see the Fighting Sioux tie the game again. T.J. Oshie took the puck off of the stick of Benn Ferriero behind the net and roofed a backhand shot over Cory Schneider's shoulder with 4:38 remaining.

Headed to overtime? Not quite. Four goals followed, two of which were empty-netters by the Eagles.

Nathan Gerbe scored a power-play goal to give the Eagles the lead for good, making it 4-3 on a pretty passing play off of a face off in the North Dakota zone. Gerbe took a feed from Brock Bradford and fired the shot home just 32 seconds after Oshie tied the game.

"We talked about it going into the third period and before the game. After two we just said if we get up a goal don't get too high, if we go down a goal don't get too low. I think we responded well and just kept an even keel," BC defenseman Brian O'Hanley said.

Again the Eagles came through with a solid penalty kill, and being short-handed helped out. Brian Boyle gathered the puck in the defensive zone and lofted a long clear down the ice. The shot missed the empty net, but was not an icing call. BC's Joe Rooney beat North Dakota defenseman Brian Lee down the ice and shot the puck to give the Eagles a 5-3 lead.

North Dakota's never-say-die attitude came into play once again. A low shot from T.J. Oshie was redirected through Cory Schneider by Chris Porter with 16.8 seconds left in the game and Dave Hakstol quickly diagrammed a face-off play for the center-ice draw. A cross-ice pass was intercepted and Gerbe scored the empty-netter for the Eagles to wrap up the game.

"This team fought right through to the bitter end," North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol said. "We didn't do the things we needed to do in the third period and that's a disappointing end. However, there's no quit in this hockey team and we didn't see any tonight."

The game ended, but Boston College's winning streak continued. The Eagles have now won 13 in a row even though this one didn't follow the recent script.