By Virg Foss

ST. PAUL, Minn.  -- Most of the season, rival coaches and players have been nearly unanimous in calling the all-sophomore line of Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie and Ryan Duncan the best in college hockey.

They certainly did their part Friday afternoon in the WCHA Final Five semifinals at the Xcel Energy Center here. Toews (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Oshie (Warroad, Minn.) and Duncan (Calgary, Alberta) combined for two goals (both by Toews) and three assists (two by Oshie) in a 6-2 victory over St. Cloud State.

The victory advanced the Fighting Sioux (22-12-5) into Saturday's 7:07 p.m. championship game, where UND chases its second Broadmoor Trophy in a row after entering the tournament with the No. 3 seed. The Sioux will meet top-seeded Minnesota, which defeated Wisconsin 4-2 in Friday's second semifinal game. The Gophers are ranked second nationally in both national polls.

That line -- playing together for the first this season -- was simply electric. Freshman center Chris VandeVelde (Moorhead, Minn.) keyed the line with two goals and one assist. His three-point game nearly doubled his season point total entering the game of four.

Sophomore left wing Matt Watkins (Aylesbury, Sask.) had a goal and two assists and senior captain Chris Porter (Thunder Bay, Ontario) had a goal and one assist and tied a WCHA record by playing in his 171st consecutive game.

The victory kept the Sioux unbeaten against St. Cloud State this season (3-0-2) and upped its season record against Minnesota-based colleges to 13-0-4, including Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Mankato State and Bemidji State.

It turned into an overpowering performance for the Sioux and another nightmare for St. Cloud State's all-WCHA goalie Bobby Goepfert, who has now given up 18 goals in his last three games in the Final Five, including last year.

"They come at you 110 miles an hour,'' said St. Cloud State's Andrew Gordon, who scored one of the Huskies' two goals. "Every shift, every player.''

It certainly must have seemed that way to the Huskies in the second period. Toews had given UND a 1-0 lead with his power-play goal at 16:20 of the opening period, his 15th of the season. Toews somehow found a tiny opening over Goepfert's left shoulder from in tight and roofed his wrister as the Sioux outshot the Huskies 17-5 to that point.

After Andreas Nodl tied it at 1-1 at 4:09 of the second period, VandeVelde answered that 70 second later, pounding in a rebound off a Porter shot.

VandeVelde, who scored all three of his goals against St. Cloud State this season, got his second of the game at 8:43, picking up a juicy rebound on the left wing off a Watkins' shot and rifling in into an empty net before Goepfert could cover the short side.

Then came a sequence that killed the Huskies. Gordon scored on a goal-mouth deflection on a power play at 10:06 of the second period to pull the Huskies within 3-2.

The rally was snuffed in a hurry. Toews picked up a floating loose puck that was misplayed by Huskie defenseman Grant Clafton and scored his second of the game at 12:29. His goal came one second after a tripping call on teammate Andrew Kozek had expired.

Before the Huskies could regroup, Watkins whipped in his sixth goal of the season 43 seconds later on a hard wrist shot to push UND's lead to 5-2 at 13:12 of the second period.

Porter came out of the penalty box to take a long lead pass from junior center Rylan Kaip (Radville, Saskatchewan) and score on a breakaway at 9:06 of the final period to complete the scoring. The goal, Porter's eighth of the season, came just seven seconds after his crosschecking penalty expired.

Junior goalie Philippe Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) was stout, turning back 25 shots in outplaying Goepfert, a Hobey Baker finalist.

"He made the right saves at the right time,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "I'm a big believer in not only making all the saves you are supposed to and making those big saves, but it's the timing of those big saves. Phil's made momentum-charging type of saves, and he's done it pretty quietly. He gave us the type of goaltending he's given us since Christmas time -- rock solid.'''

The Sioux certainly won the respect from the Huskies. "They play so bloody hard,'' St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko said.

Said Hakstol: "The one goal we accomplished today was give ourselves a chance to play tomorrow night (for the championship). We were a little bit sporadic the first 30-35 minutes of the game, but we got a little bit better as the game went along.''

The win continued UND's strong play since Christmas. In the second half of the season, the Sioux are now 15-2-4, the losses one-goal defeats at Colorado College and Denver University on the road.

"I don't really look at this as being on a roll,'' Toews said. "We come into this weekend trying to get better every game, every shift. We're playing great when it counts the most, I think.''

A strong finish to the season has been the trademark in all three of Hakstol's seasons as head coach.

The magic formula? "If I had the answer, I guess we'd bottle it and try to do it night in and night out,'' Hakstol said. "You know, I think it's this time of year. These are the games for players and coaches that are awfully fun to be involved in. They're a great challenge, and this time of the year, it's all on the line. In order to play tomorrow, you have to play very well today.''

Watkins, who had missed the last five games with a lower body injury, was inserted on the second line with Porter shifting to right wing, where he has seldom played. Whatever, the magic certainly was there for the line centered by VandeVelde.

Sioux notes: Porter tied Wisconsin's John Johannson (1980-84) and Colorado College's Calvin Elfring (1994-98) for most consecutive games played by a WCHA skater. He can break that tie in Saturday's championship game. Porter, 22 and a ninth-round draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks, said he hasn't missed a game at any level since he was 14 years old . . . Friday's game was a rematch of last year's Final Five championship game, won 5-3 by UND ... The attendance at the game was 17,511, setting a WCHA Final Five record for attendance at a Friday afternoon game ... The multipoint games were the first of both VandeVelde's and Watkins' careers.