Gophers fall to BC in Frozen Four semifinal

Destry Straight, Travis Boyd
Minnesota's Travis Boyd, left, and Boston College's Destry Straight battle for the puck during the first period of an NCAA Frozen Four college hockey tournament semifinal game, Thursday, April 5, 2012, in Tampa, Fla.
AP Photo/Mike Carlson

Boston College has one more game left, so coach Jerry York wasn't in the mood for a big celebration Thursday night.

York and the Eagles have their eyes on something bigger.

"There's one trophy left and it's the really shiny one," he said.

Paul Carey had two goals and Boston College beat Minnesota 6-1 to advance to the NCAA championship game for the fifth time in the past seven seasons.

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The Eagles (32-10-1) will carry an 18-game winning streak into Saturday night's Frozen Four final against Ferris State, which beat Union College 3-1 in the first semifinal. Boston College is seeking its fifth hockey title.

Minnesota (28-14-1) made its first Frozen Four appearance since 2005.

Boston College junior Steven Whitney broke a scoreless tie at the 6:03 mark in the first. Whitney came in over the Minnesota blue line, then crashed the net. Barry Almeida found Whitney, who snuck past the defense.

The Eagles were leading 4-0 when Minnesota's Jake Hansen scored at the 1:26 mark of the third. It was the first goal in 193 minutes, 49 seconds against the Eagles, who have outscored their opponents 12-1 in the NCAA tournament.

Eagles goaltender Parker Milner collected 30 saves.

"He's on another planet right now," teammate Chris Kreider said.

Hansen admitted to frustration over his team's inability to finish on early chances.

"The puck just didn't want to go in," he said. "Obviously, Milner has been very hot."

Kevin Hayes and Brian Dumoulin had power-play goals for Boston College, and Kreider also scored.

The Eagles were 6-9-1 in mid-January, and York said he didn't expect to be playing for a national championship this season.

"This is the most surprised I've been with a team," York said. "At the start of the year, I wasn't quite sure where we were going to take this group of guys. They've really matured and became a real good team."