April 10, 2008
2008 NCAA Frozen Four Semifinal
From Disjointed to Dominating
Boston College stays steady in 6-1 semifinal win over North Dakota

By Joe Gladziszewski

Boston College 6, North Dakota 1
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-BC	Andrew Orpik (7)	EV
7:08	K. Kucharski
2-BC	Nathan Gerbe (31)	SH
13:14	unassisted
3-BC	Nathan Gerbe (32)	EV
15:13	B. Gibbons, C. Sneep
4-BC	Dan Bertram (10)	EV
19:45	P. Gannon
Second Period
5-BC	Nathan Gerbe (33)	PP
6:37	B. Smith, D. Bertram
6-BC	Ben Smith (24)	EV
11:58	N. Gerbe, B. Gibbons
Third Period
1-NDK	Jake Marto (2)	EV
18:44	M. Watkins
Goaltending
BC: John Muse, 60:00, 29 saves, 1 GA
NDK: J-P Lamoureux, 60:00, 21 saves, 6 GA
Penalties: BC 12/24; NDK 9-18
Power Plays: BC 1-5; NDK 0-8
Attendance: 18,543 (sellout)
More Coverage
· Comprehensive BC-NoDak Notebook John Muse channels Cory Schneider in the Eagles' win Thursday.

DENVER – Boston College's start could at best be described by the words tentative and disjointed. Once the Eagles found their stride, a pair of goals off the rush began a four-goal first period spree that turned into a 6-1 victory over North Dakota in the first semifinal of the Frozen Four at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Thursday evening.

The floodgate-opening goal for the Eagles came at the 7:08 mark of the first period. North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway fanned on a shot at the blue line and it turned into a 2-on-1 rush for BC, that Andrew Orpik converted on a pass from Kyle Kucharski.

Six minutes later, with North Dakota on the power play, Nathan Gerbe won a foot race and scored on a breakaway to increase the lead to 2-0 and start to turn the tide for the Eagles. It wasn't just that goal, but also some big saves early by John Muse that kept the Fighting Sioux off the board.

"It was kind of the feeling all game that if we broke the goose egg that maybe we could get some momentum going our way, but their goalie played a heck of a game and we just weren't able to get the loose puck sometimes," North Dakota's Rylan Kaip said.

Throughout the first period, Boston College stuck to its game plan and struck for two more goals before the period ended. Gerbe tallied again with a turnaround shot from the corner that snuck between the pads of North Dakota goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux and put the Eagles up 3-0. The fourth goal popped out to Dan Bertram in the high slot and his shot through traffic put

During the onslaught, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol and his team felt pretty good about how they were playing and didn't want to change things up. The Sioux didn't use a timeout or change their goaltender, and went so far as to keep a positive outlook in the locker room during the first intermission. They channeled a comeback attitude the helped them defeat Wisconsin during the Midwest Regional a week and a half ago.

On the adjacent bench, Boston College didn't get wrapped up in its success and kept a level-headed approach.

1-2-3 kick: Boston College forward Nathan Gerbe completes his hat trick, firing a puck past the outstretched leg of North Dakota goalie J-P Lamoureux.

"The biggest thing for great teams is being consistent and doing those little things over and over again, no matter what the score is, and that's what this team has been trying to do," BC captain Mike Brennan said. "Even when it's two-nothing or three-nothing, if they call a time out, we stick to our game plan, and I think that separates good teams from great teams. And I think that's why we've had such a successful stride here."

The ensuing pairing of North Dakota's comeback confidence and Boston College's measured stubbornness with its game plan turned out in BC's favor. The Eagles continued to pour it on. Gerbe finished his hat trick with a power-play goal and Ben Smith polished off yet another 2-on-1 for the Eagles later in the period that made it 6-0.

"We're a solid, fundamental team. There's no trickery to our club," BC coach Jerry York said. "Tonight we stayed right with our game plan and we've got some really unbelievable players on our club."

North Dakota's Jake Marto scored with 1:16 left in the third period to spoil the shutout bid of Muse and account for the 6-1 final.