Gopher-Sioux rematch to take place in regional finals

• NCAA National Competition

NCAA National Competition

Talk about it

ST. PAUL - Just a week after the University of North Dakota pounded Minnesota 6-3 in the WCHA Final Five semifinals, the two teams will meet again late Sunday afternoon in the NCAA West Regional Finals at the Xcel Energy Center.

North Dakota, playing with new jersey's without their Sioux logo, downed Western Michigan 3-1 while Minnesota routed Boston University 7-3 in Saturday's semifinal games.

BU came withing a goal of the Golden Gophers at 4-3 early in the third period when the U responded for three unanswered goals. Jake Hansen had two goals to lead Minnesota while Kyle Rau scored a goal and had three assists and Zach Budish had two assist for the Gophers. Winning goalie Kent Patterson made 31 saves.

An unassisted goal by Brock Nelson secured the win for UND against Western Michigan earlier in the day. Michael Parks and Corbin Knight also scored for UND and goalie Aaron Dell made 24 saves.

Face-off for Sunday's finals is at 4:30 p.m. One WCHA team is assured of a spot in the Frozen Four along side Union College and Ferris State, who both qualified yesterday. Union defeated UMass-Lowell 4-2 to win the East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn. while Ferris State downed Cornell 2-1 to win the Midwest Regional played at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Both teams will make their first-ever Frozen Four appearances.

Another WCHA team could make it is defending national champ Minnesota-Duluth won its Northeast Regional semifinal game yesterday over Maine 5-2 in Worcester, Mass. Jack Connolly's power play goal in the second period sparked a five-goal outburst by the Bulldogs which turned around a 2-0 deficit. Jake Hendrickson scored twice for UMD and Connolly also added an assist.

The Bulldogs take on the tournament's top seed, Boston College, in the finals tonight at 7 p.m. BC downed Air Force 2-0 Saturday.

Tags: minnesota sports, proam, hockey, gophers