CHICAGO — Alex Iafallo tipped in Willie Raskob’s shot with 26.6 seconds remaining to lift Minnesota Duluth to a 2-1 victory against Harvard in the Frozen Four semifinals Thursday night.

Denver – coached by Jim Montgomery, who led Maine to the 1993 national title – met Notre Dame in the other semifinal late Thursday night. The final will be played Saturday.

A rather slow game ended in spectacular fashion when Raskob took a pass from Joey Anderson and fired the puck toward the slot. Iafallo directed it between Merrick Madsen’s pads to break the tie.

Minnesota Duluth (28-6-7) hung on when Luke Esposito of Harvard hit the crossbar with four seconds remaining after a scramble in front.

That sent the Bulldogs to their third championship game and their first since the 2011 team brought home the program’s lone title.

Anderson scored in the first period. Hunter Miska stopped 39 shots, and Minnesota Duluth improved to 16-1-3 in its last 20 games.

Advertisement

The Bulldogs also stopped Harvard’s 16-game win streak and 18-game unbeaten run.

Tyler Moy scored his 22nd goal for the Crimson (28-6-2). Madsen made 36 stops but Harvard came up short in its 13th Frozen Four – and first since 1994.

Tops in the nation in scoring, Harvard grabbed a 1-0 lead at 15:00 of the first period. Moy, deep in the left circle, took a cross-ice pass from Alexander Kerfoot and fired the puck into the left side of the net on a power play.

Minnesota Duluth tied it at 18:24 when Anderson sent a 50-foot screened shot past Madsen after Dominic Toninato won the faceoff.

But the game slowed to a crawl after that, with neither team generating many scoring opportunities.

Harvard had one at 5:41 of the third when Sean Malone knocked in a rebound. But the whistle had blown.

Advertisement

MEN’S BASKETBALL

AUBURN: The school promoted men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl’s son, Steven, to assistant coach.

Steven Pearl was the Tigers’ director of basketball operations the past two seasons after one year as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. Bruce Pearl said the move will allow his son “to work with the players and assist them as much as he has been able to assist me.”

SYRACUSE: Coach Jim Boeheim hired a former Orange star, Allen Griffin, as an assistant coach.

Griffin replaces another former Syracuse star, Mike Hopkins, who left last month to take over as head coach at Washington.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.