ST. PAUL, Minn. – Playing for a championship on St. Patrick's Day, the team wearing green ran out of luck in overtime and watched as the trophy was carried off by the team in black.

Tyler Arnason had a hat trick for St. Cloud State, but Derek Eastman was the real hero. Eastman's overtime goal, his second of the game, erased a late North Dakota rally and lifted St. Cloud State to a 6-5 win in the WCHA Final Five championship.

With 8:27 remaining in the extra session, Eastman shot from the top of the left circle. His shot came a split second after St. Cloud State forward Ritchie Larson collided with a Fighting Sioux goalie Andy Kollar in front of the net, knocking the goalie down.

Eastman's shot landed in the goal, touching off a celebration that was delayed briefly while referees reviewed the play. It was ruled that the collision that felled Kollar was unintentional, and the goal counted.

"I tried to get out of the way and got bumped into the goalie," said Larson. "By no means was it intentional contact."

Jeff Panzer had a pair of goals for North Dakota. Arnason, who scored a goal in each period, now leads St. Cloud State with 28 goals and was named tournament MVP. It was the first postseason hockey title for the Huskies in school history.

The Huskies led 5-2 with six minutes to play and had a two-goal lead with little more than a minute remaining. But a pair of dramatic goals sent the game to overtime. With 1:02 to play, Wes Dorey was credited with a Fighting Sioux goal when a clearing attempt by Huskies wing Chris Purslow ricocheted off St. Cloud State goalie Scott Meyer and landed in the net.

"We're usually a third period team, so I know that we'd play with a lot of character for three periods," said North Dakota coach Dean Blais. "But we also probably got more breaks and bounces going our way than we've had in the last two months."

With 13.7 seconds remaining, Bryan Lundbohm won a faceoff in the St. Cloud State zone and dropped the puck to defenseman Travis Roche on the blue line. Roche sent a low shot to the net that beat Meyer low on the stick side with 10.7 seconds to play, sending the game to overtime.

"At the end of the third period, I was looking at the sky asking 'why me,"' said Huskies coach Craig Dahl. "There were a lot of funny bounces, and you know that North Dakota is never going to quit."

The Fighting Sioux (27-7-9) won the WCHA's regular season title, their fourth in five years. But it has been the Huskies (31-8-1) who have played sharper as of late, and it showed during the first two periods of Saturday's game.

Arnason got the only goal of the first period, beating Kollar between the pads on a low shot.

North Dakota tied the game five minutes into the second. Jeff Panzer's shot hit the stick of a St. Cloud State player and popped in the air. Meyer, the goalie, lost sight of the puck, and it dropped behind him into the net.

St. Cloud went took the lead three minutes later when a long-range shot by Derek Eastman found it's way through a crowd and trickled past Kollar. The Huskies increased their lead on a shot by Joe Motzko. One minute later, Arnason capped off a two-on-one break by chipping a shot over Kollar as the goalie dove for the puck.

Kevin Spiewak scored for the Sioux midway through the third period on a shot from just inside the blue line to pull North Dakota back within two. Arnason and Panzer both scored in the last half of the third period before Purslow's goal sparked the North Dakota comeback.

Meyer finished with 33 saves and was named the All-Tournament goalie. Kollar, who was tournament MVP a year ago, stopped 29 shots. Others on the All-Tournament team were Panzer and Roche for North Dakota, Duvie Westcott for St. Cloud State and Colorado College forward Mark Cullen.

It was St. Cloud State's second appearance in the WCHA title game. In 1994, the Huskies lost to Minnesota in overtime. North Dakota was making its fifth consecutive appearance in the championship game, having won in 1997 and 2000.

"I'm happiest for our fans and our players, because these names will go on a plaque in our arena and they'll remember this forever," said Dahl. "There will never be another first championship hockey team at our school. There may be more in the future, but this team made history."