• GAZLO
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

N.D. puts UW on ice

Photo

North Dakota's Kyle Radke shoots against Wisconsin's Shane Connelly during the second period of a NCAA Midwest Regional final college hockey game Sunday in Madison.

MADISON — North Dakota’s luck changed in an instant. Now the Fighting Sioux look to reverse their fortunes in the Frozen Four.

Andrew Kozek scored the game-winner 1:47 into overtime as North Dakota beat Wisconsin 3-2 on Sunday to win the Midwest Regional and reach the Frozen Four for the fourth straight year.

Now the Fighting Sioux, who haven’t won a title since claiming their seventh in 2000, will face Boston College in Denver on April 10, the same team that has eliminated them the past two seasons in the national semifinals.

In overtime, defenseman Robbie Bina’s shot from the point deflected off a Badgers defender and was still bouncing when Kozek was able to fire an off-balance shot past Wisconsin goalie Shane Connelly.

The Fighting Sioux, who had been 1-24 when trailing after two periods, came streaming from the bench and goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux threw his stick high in the air in celebration.

Down 2-0 entering the third, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol, one of just three coaches to reach four straight Frozen Fours in his first four seasons, switched Kozek to the top line along with Ryan Duncan, last year’s Hobey Baker winner, and T.J. Oshie, a finalist for the award this year.

The move paid immediate dividends. Senior captain Rylan Kaip put North Dakota (28-10-4) on the board when he swung around and sent his shot through Connelly’s legs with 16:27 left.

Just 47 seconds later, Oshie left a drop pass for Duncan, whose shot rang off the pipe but settled in the net to tie the game 2-2.

Connelly, who has a Superman logo on the back of his mask, looked behind him both ways in dismay.

“It caught the post, and it caught the back of the net. It was obviously a big one,” said Duncan, who scored his fourth goal of the tournament and has 65 for his career. “If we didn’t come back, our season was over.”

Wisconsin (16-17-7) settled down against its conference rival and had several chances before overtime, but failed to regain the momentum. Wisconsin got both its goals from defensemen when Jamie McBain and Cody Goloubef scored in the second period.

The Badgers, the 2006 NCAA champions who had their five-game tournament winning streak snapped, spent most of the week staving off questions of whether they even belonged in the tournament after losing three straight and getting bounced out of the WCHA conference playoffs in the first round.

Wisconsin quickly proved it belonged by beating Denver 6-2 on Saturday, but the Badgers still failed to win two straight games, something they hadn’t done since Jan. 18.

Things looked promising for Wisconsin heading into the third. McBain scored off a perfect cross-ice saucer pass from Kyle Turris and Goloubef got lucky when his shot caromed off the end board and back off Lamoureux’s left leg.

But that would be all for the Badgers.