ALBANY, N.Y. – The way Jeff Sauer sees it this year's Frozen Four field is made up of three haves and one have-it-all-together.

	2001 Frozen Four
	Thursday, April 5 (ESPN2) North Dakota (28-7-9) vs. Michigan St. (33-4-4), 1:30 p.m. ET Michigan (27-12-5) vs. Boston College (31-8-2), 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, April 7 (ESPN) Championship game, 7 p.m. ET

And Sauer has a unique viewpoint because his Wisconsin team is the only one that faced the four schools -- Boston College, Michigan, Michigan State and North Dakota -- headed to Albany, N.Y., for this weekend's 54th Division I men's ice hockey championship.

For the record, the Badgers went 1-3-2 against the Frozen Four field this season with the lone win coming against Boston College (3-2) back on Oct. 27. Wisconsin lost once to Michigan (3-2 on Nov. 25), twice to Michigan State (6-2 on Nov. 26 and 5-1 on March 25) and registered two ties against North Dakota (3-3, 4-4 on Feb. 9-10).

If Sauer's assessment is correct, it's good news for the No. 1 ranked Spartans and bad news for everyone else -- especially defending NCAA champion North Dakota (28-7-9), which faces Michigan State (33-4-4) in Thursday's first semifinal (1:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

"Michigan State is not the most talented team we played this year but they're the best team we played," Sauer said. "They take advantage of your turnovers. If they get a two-goal lead, they're tough to beat. They are definitely the most defensive-oriented team of the four."

	Ryan Miller is 31-4-4 with a 1.31 GAA.

The Spartans stingy defense starts and stops with sophomore goaltender Ryan Miller (31-4-4, 1.31 GAA, .950 save percentage). During one 11-game stretch (10-0-1) this season, Miller had six shutouts while allowing only six goals.

The Hobey Baker finalist finished the regular season with 10 shutouts and now owns the NCAA record for career shutouts with 18.

Michigan State beat Wisconsin 5-1 in the West Regional to advance to Albany.

"He's the best goaltender I've seen and he may be the best goaltender in college hockey over the last four or five years," Sauer said. "Everybody says their defensive system really protects him. But in some of the games I've watched he's had to come up big five or six times a game in terms of good scoring chances against and he's really come through in those key areas."

No one will argue about how good Miller has played this season, but that doesn't mean the Spartans shouldn't be concerned about the high-flying offense of the Fighting Sioux. North Dakota led the nation in scoring (179 goals) and is averaging better than four goals a game.

The first line of Jeff Panzer (26-55-81), Bryan Lundbohm (32-34-66) and Ryan Bayda (24-34-58) make up the highest scoring trio in the nation.

"They are a very up-tempo team. They like to skate, they like to come at you in waves," Sauer said. "The Panzer line is the key, and Jeff Panzer is the key to that line. They are very deadly when they get momentum and they'll play a lot. They'll play every third shift and in some cases when the games are tight they could play every second shift.

	“	Michigan State is not the most talented team we played this year but they're the best team we played. ”
		— Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer

"If you can slow them down, you can neutralize North Dakota."

Easier said than done. In their 4-1 tournament win over Colorado College, the Fighting Sioux's first line accounted for every point, and Hobey Baker finalist Panzer (4 assists) was named MVP of the East Regional even though he didn't score a goal.

"We know how good the Panzer line is. I'm not so sure you can really expect to stop them you just hope to control them," Michigan State coach Ron Mason said. "Someone on our team will have to step up and score some goals. We don't know who it's going to be because we've scored by committee all year long. Maybe that's why we've been consistent because there hasn't been one person we've had to look to."

Outside of Ryan Miller, that is.

In the second semifinal (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2), Boston College (31-8-2) faces Michigan (27-12-5) in a rematch of the 1998 championship game. That game three years ago in Boston saw the Wolverines record their ninth national title when then-freshman Josh Langfeld scored the game-winner at 17:51 of overtime to give the Wolverines a 3-2 victory.

"I think (goaltender) Marty Turco and the goalpost were the difference in that game," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "And we had 10 freshmen who maybe didn't know any better. Both of these teams are still anchored by the same class."

Boston College is making its fourth consecutive Frozen Four appearance but is still looking for its first national championship since 1949. The Eagles lost to North Dakota 4-2 in last year's championship game in Providence, R.I.

The top-seeded Eagles beat Maine 3-1 at the East Regional to advance to Albany, giving the senior class -- led by Hobey Baker finalist Brian Gionta (33-20-53) and goaltender Scott Clemmensen (28-7-2, 2.13, .912) -- one last chance at a national title.

"In '98 when we were at the Fleet Center, Brian Gionta and Scott Clemmensen were freshmen and they were kind of awed by the whole thing," Boston College coach Jerry York said. "The more you're in big games, the easier it is to really look at what the most important thing is and that's to stay focused and stay on track."

Michigan is the only non-bye team to advance to Albany, which is quite fortunate considering the Wolverines barely made it to the second day of the West Regional. They trailed No. 6 seed Mercyhurst 3-2 in the third period before scoring two late goals to win. Another 4-3 victory over No. 2 St. Cloud State the following day allowed Michigan to advance to its 20th Frozen Four -- tying Boston University for most appearances in NCAA history.

Now the focus turns to a Boston College team that Michigan lost to 8-5 earlier this season in the Great Lakes Invitational consolation game.

"As we watch Clemmensen now, he's come a long way, he's continued to develop and now he's the Marty Turco of 2001," Berenson said. "So I see him having a big edge in goal because of his experience and his development."

"I hope he becomes the Marty Turco of 2001," York countered. "He's come miles from his freshman year."

But is it far enough? Sauer doesn't think so.

"I'd have to give the edge to Michigan in goal over Boston College. I think (Josh) Blackburn is a little stronger goaltender, although all Clemmensen has done is win at Boston College," Sauer said. "I wouldn't put Clemmensen in the major league category but all he's done is win, so I'm not criticizing him I'm just saying from a talent standpoint there's more experience on the other three teams."

Despite the goaltending question, Sauer sees Boston College advancing to a Saturday night championship game against Michigan State.

That would set up a title matchup between the top two seeds for the first time since 1993, when Maine beat Lake Superior State.

"BC is tournament tested and one of these years they're going to win it. One of these years they're going to put it all together," Sauer said.

It's 51 seasons and counting since that's happened for the Eagles.

David Albright is a senior editor at ESPN.com.