GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- North Dakota's road to a potential 12th straight NCAA tournament berth got a whole lot rockier on Friday night.

Miami goaltender Ryan McKay stopped all 32 shots he faced as the RedHawks blanked UND 3-0 in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals at Target Center.

The win vaulted eighth-seeded Miami into Saturday night's championship game, while No. 2 seed UND faces a must-win situation in the third-place game on Saturday afternoon.

UND will enter Saturday sitting No. 15 in the PairWise Rankings, which mimic the selection process for the 16-team NCAA tournament field.

“It's up to our team to show maturity, turn the page and take advantage of that third-place game,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol.

McKay, whom UND chased from the game when the two teams last met in February, slammed the door shut from the outset with a 14-save first period.

At the other end of the ice, red-hot RedHawk forward Blake Coleman opened the scoring with a power-play goal midway through the first period, taking advantage of a UND turnover in the defensive zone.

Coleman, who missed the previous meetings in Grand Forks due to injury, gained the puck in the high slot spun and beat UND goalie Zane Gothberg to open the scoring.

That was the only scoring the in the first period, a frame that saw UND outshoot Miami 14-9.

UND had its best chance to get on the scoreboard in the second period, when Drake Caggiula found Mark MacMillan with a circle-to-circle pass, but MacMillan's one-timer bid at the empty net found nothing but cross bar.

“'Cagg' made a great play. He froze the defenseman and the goalie and I was just trying to get the puck off as quick as I could,” said MacMillan. “It just happened to hit the cross bar. An unfortunate bounce.”

That proved to be McKay's closest call, as he turned aside 18 shots over the final two periods.

Miami turned the momentum decisively in the second period after a UND icing call with under a minute left in the period and tired legs stuck on the ice. The RedHawks won the draw to the right of Gothberg, and captain Austin Czarnik brought the puck into the slot and beat the UND netminder high through traffic to make it 2-0 with 27 seconds left in the period.

An Anthony Louis goal at 6:13 of the third period sealed the scoring.

Gothberg finished with 25 saves in the loss.

UND went scoreless on five power play chances, while the RedHawks converted on one of two.

UND now turns its focus to tomorrow's third-place game, which has turned out to be a win-or-go-home proposition.

"This one's over, it's in the past,” said Hakstol. “At this time of year, there's always an awful lot on the line and there is that tomorrow. We will focus on getting ourselves ready mentally and physically and we will be ready mentally and physically to play tomorrow afternoon with a lot on the line.”

The puck drops at 3:38 p.m. Central.

Notes: McKay, Czarnik and Coleman were named the game's three stars … Freshman forward Luke Johnson led UND with five shots on goal. Coleman, Riley Barber and Sean Kuraly also had five for Miami … Attendance was 9,113.