NCAA: UMD, Yale, Michigan, CC advance

Kenny Reiter made 32 saves and Minnesota-Duluth beat Union College 2-0 on Friday to advance to the NCAA East Regional final in Bridgeport, Conn..

Kyle Schmidt and Justin Fontaine scored power-play goals for the Bulldogs (23-10-6), who will play the winner of the second game between No. 1 Yale against No. 4 Air Force in the final on Saturday night. The winner of that game goes to the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minn.

Union (26-10-4), making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament as a Division I team, came into the game with the nation's top-ranked power play, converting 31.1 percent of its opportunities -- but went 0-for-9.

Schmidt scored on the power play in the first period on a redirected shot. Fontaine added his goal at 6:24 of the third period, pounding home a rebound.In the second game, top-seeded Yale got all it could handle from 16th-seeded Air Force before Chad Ziegler scored 3:16 into overtime for a 2-1 victory

Ziegler dove and knocked in a loose puck to give the Bulldogs (28-6-1) the win after goalie Jason Torf made a pair of saves but couldn’t control the rebound.

"It was a great shot on net," Ziegler said. "The goalie froze, and I just put it across the line."

Yale goalie Ryan Riondeau stopped Casey Kleisinger on a breakaway in the final two minutes of regulation and made five saves in OT before Ziegler scored.

The high-powered Yale offense struggled all night to find space against the tight-checking Falcons. The Bulldogs finally took a 1-0 lead at 7:28 of the second period on a goal from Brian O'Neill, who deflected a right-point shot by Nick Jaskowiak past Torf.

The Falcons (20-12-6) tied it at 18:34 when Sean Bertsch scored unassisted on a wraparound, ending Riondeau's scoreless streak at 240 minutes and 53 seconds.

"Our plan was to rope-a-dope through the first two periods, and we really felt that they just can't go on like that," Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. "Nobody could play like that for three periods without tiring. Our guys followed the plan to the letter. Sometimes life isn't fair."

NCAA West

Michigan 3, Nebraska-Omaha 2 (OT)
Colorado College 8, Boston College 4

Michigan rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to force overtime, and Kevin Lynch's deflection at 2:35 of ovettime was ruled a goal after a 10-minute video review, lifting the Wolverines into the NCAA West Regional final at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The Wolverines, whose nine NCAA titles are the most of any school, will face Colorado College in the title game on Saturday. The Tigers dethroned defending national champion Boston College 8-4 in the second game.

Michigan killed an early penalty in overtime before defenseman Greg Pateryn fired a shot from the right point that missed the net and came off the end boards. Lynch forced the puck into the crease, off a UNO defender's skate and underneath goalie John Faulkner's pad as he sprawled along the goal line. Play initially went on, but after a lengthy review, officials ruled that the puck had completely crossed the goal line.

"I've seen long decisions before, but I haven't been involved in [something like that] before," said UNO coach Dean Blais. "The referees signaled it was in, and we're going to accept that." 

After the game, Secretary Rules Editor Steve Piotrowski released a statement: "The officials' initial on-ice call was no goal. There was reasonable evidence to believe the puck had completely crossed the goal line. The play was stopped at the next non-advantage situation to allow an opportunity for the on-ice referees to review the video. Following video review, the on-ice referees determined through conclusive video evidence that the puck had completely crossed the goal line and exited the net by way of the goalie's leg pad."

It was the Wolverines' eighth come from behind victory this season. They are 22-1-1 when allowing two or fewer goals.

"We knew this would be a close game," coach Red Berenson said. "When you look at the numbers, there wasn't much to choose from. It was fitting that it came down to overtime, and the team that got a break ended up winning the game.

"We've been in enough overtimes that we know it can be over in the first minute."

Nebraska-Omaha grabbed the lead 1:35 into the game when Richard Purslow scored on a shorthanded breakaway. The Mavericks doubled their lead at 8:18 when Ryan Walters threaded a pass from the corner to Alex Hudson on the doorstep for a 2-0 lead. That was the last puck to get past Michigan goaltender Shawn Hunwick, who stopped the last 25 shots he faced.

Michigan scored 1:17 into the second period when Louie Caporusso's power-play blast from the top of the right circle hit a UNO defender and zipped past Faulkner. Lynch tied it at 8:36 when he one-timed a backdoor feed from defenseman Chad Langlais.

After a scoreless third period, the teams headed to overtime. Michigan took an early penalty, during which defenseman Jon Merrill saved a potential game-winning goal when he slid in front of the net and swatted away a shot, then he made a kick save on the rebound.

In the second game, Jaden Schwartz gave the fans he'll be playing for in the NHL a taste of what he can do. The St. Louis Blues' No. 1 pick last June scored twice and added a pair of assists as Colorado College ended BC's reign as champion.

Jimmy Hayes put the Eagles ahead just 19 seconds into the game before the roof fell in.

Schwartz had a goal and set up tallies by older brother Rylan and linemate Stephen Schultz to give CC a 3-1 lead just 8;02 into the game. David Civitarese scored a shorthanded goal at 18:42 to make it 4-1 after the opening period.

Paul Carey got one back for the Eagles midway through the second period, but Schwartz scored his second goal of the game at the 14-minute mark and the Tigers were never threatened again. They led 7-2 after two periods and handed BC goaltender John Muse his first-ever loss in an NCAA Tournament game. The Eagles won it all in 2008 and 2010, missing the NCAAs in 2009.

CC goalie Joe Howe made 39 saves for the 14th-seeded Tigers (23-18-3) of the WCHA. BC, the champion of Hockey East, finished 30-8-1.