The University of North Dakota men’s hockey team, led by its talented CBS line of Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz, kicked the semifinal jinx with a 4-2 win over Denver University to advance to the championship game of the NCAA Frozen Four on Thursday night in Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. The Fighting Hawks (33-6-4), who had lost six straight semifinal games heading into the meeting with the Pioneers (25-10-6), will meet Quinnipiac (32-1-7) at 7 p.m. Saturday, looking for their first national title since 2000 and their eighth overall. The Bobcats defeated Boston College (28-8-5) in the tournament’s other semifinal game. Schmaltz scored the game winner with just 57 seconds left in the third period after the Pioneers had erased a 2-0 UND lead just over halfway through the period. Caggiula, the game’s first star, had two goals and an assist and Boeser added two assists to give the CBS line six points in the game. Rhett Gardner scored the other UND goal, an empty-netter with just 2 seconds left to play. Will Butcher and Matt VanVoorhis scored for Denver. Fighting Hawks goalie Cam Johnson stopped 21 shots, while Denver’s Tanner Jaillet turned back 19.Check out more photos from Russ Hons here.
Unheralded