ST. PAUL, Minn. — The seniors for the University of Minnesota's hockey team didn't want the stigma associated with being the first senior class to miss the NCAA tournament since 1970.
Coming off of three down seasons in which the Gophers finished in the middle-to-lower tier of the WCHA, they hadn't made the NCAAs since losing to eventual-champion Boston College in the first round in 2008. The last seniors to go their entire Minnesota careers without an NCAA appearance was in 1970, when the Gophers had missed the then four-team tournament nine years in a row.
Now that Minnesota's seniors are in the tournament, they don't want to leave.
Senior Jake Hansen scored two goals, including the game-winner. Fellow senior Nico Sacchetti added his fourth goal of the season and senior Kent Patterson made 31 saves as the Gophers beat Boston University 7-3 on Saturday in the NCAA West Regional semifinals at the Xcel Energy Center.
"We just didn't want to be that senior class to go through the U and we didn't make it to the NCAA," Hansen said. "To have our senior class, to have a guy like our captain Taylor (Matson) and also guys like Joey Miller that don't get into the lineup as much, to be able to get to the NCAAs and to beat BU, who is a great team, it feels really rewarding and feels really good. But obviously, we got a game tomorrow."
Kyle Rau, Jake Parenteau, Seth Helgeson, and Nick Bjugstad also scored for Minnesota (27-13-1), which advanced to the West Regional finals on Sunday against top-seed North Dakota (26-12-3). North Dakota beat Western Michigan 3-1 earlier Saturday. The winner of Sunday's regional final will advance to the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla. on April 5-7.
Rau added three assists, and Zach Budish and Nate Schmidt each had a pair of assists as the Gophers won their first NCAA game since 2007. They are vying for their first trip to the Frozen Four since 2005. The seniors know all too well the recent history and are looking to make their own mark.
"We personally took a lot of pride in getting here as a first goal," Sacchetti said. Obviously, winning the MacNaughton (for the WCHA regular season title) was kind of a big load off of our shoulders because it took away all the pressure to win something. But it's one of those things where everyone is happy to be here, but everyone wants to get the job done and make it out to Tampa."
To make it to Florida though, Minnesota will need to get past North Dakota — on the scoreboard and mentally — on Sunday. Last weekend in the same arena, the two teams met in the WCHA Final Five semifinals. The Gophers held a 3-0 advantage and dominated play through the first 30 minutes before the Sioux scored six unanswered goals. North Dakota ended up winning its third straight Broadmoor Trophy for the WCHA conference championship.
Minnesota's players have replayed the game often in their mind over the past week.
"It was a long week last week, trust me," Sacchetti said. "But our coaches did a really good job of getting us focused on what was ahead of us and trying to make sure we're not looking in the rearview and we're looking forward."
Revenge would be nice against North Dakota, but the Gophers don't believe last week's finish adds anything to tomorrow's tilt.
"When you play North Dakota you don't really need any extra motivation," Sacchetti said.
Learning from last week also helped Minnesota against Boston. The Gophers held 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but the Terriers tied the game each time. Momentum shifted for good after Boston was called for a major penalty in the second period. Justin Courtnall was given a major and a game misconduct after hitting Schmidt in the head behind the play.
The Gophers scored twice during the major penalty with Helgeson and Hansen scoring 29 seconds apart to take control. Boston scored in the third, but Minnesota finished the game with three straight goals, including two on an empty net.
"Coach (Don) Lucia, coach (Mike) Guentzel and coach (Grant) Potulny talked all week about how you've got to be able to take a punch and respond right away,' Hansen said.
"Clearly North Dakota last weekend, we got hit and we didn't fight back. We were able to take a punch and battle back."
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