TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will play for a national championship in men's hockey after a victory Thursday in the Frozen Four semifinals.
The Gophers defeated Boston University 6 to 2 to advance to the championship game on Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. They will take on Quinnipiac, who set down Michigan 5-2 in the second semi of the evening.
Freshman Luke Mittelstadt scored two third-period goals in two-and-a-half minutes in the opening game of the Frozen Four. The teams were knotted at two when Mittelstadt hammered two shots past red-hot BU goaltender Drew Comesso.
"We just had to keep playing our game," the young defender told KARE 11's Will Hall. "The leaders in here were settling us down, we were going to keep playing, sticking as one. We did, and we were fortunate enough to pull this one out."
Mittelstadt gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead on a power play with 18:20 left in the third period and his second came from the same spot at the left circle for his fifth goal of the season — and third in the NCAA Tournament.
Logan Cooley added two empty-net goals to reach 22 on the season.
Minnesota has outscored its opponents 19-5 in the three NCAA Tournament games they've played so far.
The Gophers took a 2-1 lead late in the first period on back-to-back goals in 50 seconds by Mike Koster and Rhett Pitlick. Koster scored his sixth goal of the year on a blast from the circle to extend Cooley’s point streak to 16 straight games. Pitlick finished a between-the-legs pass from Aaron Huglen.
Minnesota appeared to take a 3-1 lead with 44.5 seconds to go in the second period on Cooley’s rebound, but it was taken away after a challenge for goaltender interference.
Boston University (29-11-0) had its nine-game winning streak, dating to Feb. 24, snapped. The Terriers were seeking their first national title since 2009.
BU entered unbeaten at 21-0-0 when scoring the game’s first goal. And the Terriers led 1-0 when Sam Stevens sent in a rebound for his eighth goal of the season. BU tied it at 2-all on Jay O’Brien’s deflection in front of the net for the lone goal of the second period.
It was the fifth meeting between the two programs in the national semifinals and first since 1995.
Quinnipiac (33-4-3), which set a program record for wins, advances to its third national title game in program history when they clash with Minnesota on Saturday. The Bobcats seek their first title after losing in both 2013 and '16.
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