DENVER, Colo.--For the third consecutive season, North Dakota's hopes for a men's hockey national championship have been dashed by a loss to Boston College in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinal.
BC junior forward and Hobey Baker finalist Nathan Gerbe scored three goals and added an assist to lift the seventh-ranked Eagles to a 6-1 victory over the third-ranked Fighting Sioux tonight in front of 18,543 fans at Pepsi Center.
Gerbe scored two of his three goals in a stunning first period that saw the Eagles stake a commanding 4-0 lead. BC's Andrew Orpik opened the scoring seven minutes into the game, as linemate Kyle Kucharski led a 2-on-1 and fed a pass around the outstretched stick of UND defenseman Joe Finley (Jr., Edina, Minn.), and Orpik was able to just barely redirect the pass under the pads of a sliding Jean-Philippe Lamoureux (Sr., Grand Forks).
Then Gerbe took over. With UND enjoying a power play, Gerbe created a turnover at his own blueline, bolted up ice on a breakaway and fired a shot through the legs of Lamoureux to make it 2-0 with 6:56 left in the period.
Gerbe added his second goal just two minutes later, when he gathered a loose puck at the bottom of the faceoff circle to the left of Lamoureux, spun and beat the Sioux netminder through the five hole to push the lead to 3-0.
BC's Dan Bertram added what may have been the back-breaking goal with just 15 seconds left in the period. After UND had won a defensive zone faceoff, BC's Pat Gannon created a turnover with a strong forecheck behind the net and centered in the slot to Bertram, who one-timed it past Lamoureux for his 10th goal of the season and the four-goal lead.
"I thought the turning point was more-so the third and fourth goals," UND head coach Dave Hakstol said. "We didn't get out of that period after the fourth goal. That was a pretty tough hill to climb. We came out in the second period believing that we could do it, but that was too steep a hill to climb tonight."
Gerbe completed his third career hat trick just under seven minutes into the second period while on the power play, circling around the Sioux net and lifting a backhander over a sprawling Lamoureux for his 33rd goal of the season, which ties Michigan's Kevin Porter for the national lead.
BC's Ben Smith added his 24th goal of the season midway through the period to give the Eagles an insurmountable 6-0 lead after 40 minutes.
UND finally solved BC freshman goalie John Muse with 1:16 remaining in the third period, when UND freshman defenseman Jake Marto lugged the puck up the left side of the ice and snapped a shot high to the glove side for his second goal of the year.
The Sioux outshot the Eagles 30-27, although 13 of UND's shots came in the third period when the Sioux were trailing by six. BC went 1-for-5 on the power-play while killing all eight of UND's man advantages, highlighted by Gerbe's shorthanded tally.
Boston College now advances to its third straight national championship game and will face the winner of tonight's Michigan-Notre Dame semifinal.
UND, which advanced to its fourth straight Frozen Four under head coach Dave Hakstol, finishes the 2007-08 season at 28-11-4 overall.
Notes: The loss was UND's worst in an NCAA postseason game since a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Boston University in the 1990 quarterfinals ... Four seniors played in their final game in a Fighting Sioux uniform: Lamoureux, defenseman Robbie Bina, forward and captain Rylan Kaip and forward Kyle Radke.
