| | Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- North Dakota had to pick between the goaltender who set a school record for shutouts in the regular season and the one who won all three playoff games after the starter suffered a concussion.
"I guess we chose the right one," coach Dean Blais said Thursday after Karl Goehring stopped 30 shots to beat defending champion Maine 2-0 and put North Dakota in the NCAA title game.
|  | | North Dakota's Mike Commodore takes Maine's Ben Guite into the boards. |
"He's been pretty much headache-free for the last week. Based on that, and what he's done when he's 100 percent, he was the guy," Blais said. "But it was a tough decision because (backup Andy Kollar) has played so well."
The Fighting Sioux advanced to the Frozen Four final on Saturday night, when they will play Boston College, a 4-2 winner over St. Lawrence in Thursday's other semifinal.
The leading goaltender in his conference during the regular season, Goehring was hit by a puck during practice before the playoffs and hadn't played since March 12. Kollar won three consecutive games to help the Fighting Sioux reach the Frozen Four and run his record to 11-2-1.
But for Thursday's opening semifinal, Blais picked Goehring, who led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with a 1.95 goals-against average and set a school record with seven shutouts. This was North Dakota's first shutout in the NCAA tournament.
"I think he could tell he would be the guy," Blais said. "And Andy congratulated Karl. They're the best of buddies."
Blais didn't tell his goalies who would start until the pregame meal on Thursday morning.
"I didn't believe it until he told me," Goehring said. "But I knew I had to be ready to play regardless."
Kevin Spiewak had a short-handed goal and Bryan Lundbohm scored on a power play for North Dakota, which will play for its seventh title. Only Michigan has won more NCAA ice hockey championships, with nine.
Matt Yeats made 32 saves for Maine, which lost for the first time in 14 games (12-1-1). Maine was 0-for-7 on power plays while giving up a power-play goal and a short-handed one.
"It was the key to the game," coach Shawn Walsh said. "We didn't capitalize."
The Black Bears missed the net twice from close in over the final 90 seconds as they tried desperately to come back.
Maine, which was without its leading scorer because of a butt-ending penalty in the regionals, failed in a bid to be the first school to win consecutive NCAA ice hockey titles since Boston University in 1971 and 1972. The 28 years between back-to-back titles is the longest such streak in any NCAA sport.
"It's hard," Maine forward Ben Guite said. "There's a reason why nobody's done it in 30 years."
After a scoreless first period, North Dakota took the lead at 7:35 of the second, nine seconds after Peter Metcalf went off for slashing. Lundbohm coasted across the blue line and wristed it past Yeats on the stick side.
Spiewak made it 2-0 when he fought his way around on the left side and put the puck past Yeats low on the glove side at 13:35 of the second. With 2:27 left in the second, an apparent North Dakota goal was waved off when the replay official ruled that the whistle had blown.
Maine was not without chances. It had 5-on-3 advantages in the first and third periods. But the latter was cut short after 30 seconds when Brendan Walsh was whistled for a takedown, and the Black Bears couldn't score. | |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 North Dakota coach Dean Blais discusses his team's effort.
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