In a rivalry this intense, turnabout is always fair game.

Eight days after Minnesota ended North Dakota's dream of a Western Collegiate Hockey Association tournament championship with an overtime goal, the Fighting Sioux ended a dream of the Golden Gophers with a golden goal of their own.

Only this time, the stakes were much bigger.

North Dakota's Chris Porter scored on a wraparound chance 9:43 into overtime Sunday, lifting the third-seeded Fighting Sioux to a 3-2 victory in a thrilling West Regional final at the Pepsi Center.

The Fighting Sioux will make their 17th appearance in the Frozen Four and their third in a row under third-year coach Dave Hakstol. North Dakota (24-13-5) will play Northeast Regional champion Boston College in St. Louis in a Frozen Four semifinal that will feature the two hottest teams in the nation.

The victory Sunday improved North Dakota to 15-2-4 in its past 21 games. Boston College's 4-0 victory Sunday against Miami (Ohio) was the Eagles' 12th consecutive win.

Maine and Michigan State will play in the other semifinal of the Frozen Four, which will be staged at the Pepsi Center next year.

"You've got to give a lot of credit to our coaches for helping us develop throughout the year and getting us ready at the right point and, hopefully, peaking at the right point," said North Dakota's Ryan Duncan, a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. "We have a lot of core leaders and a lot of character. We had a rough first half and we battled through a lot of adversity. I think that's paying off and it's helping us down the stretch."

The Fighting Sioux's postseason run has been oddly familiar. Like last year, North Dakota beat Michigan in the first round on Saturday. In 2006, the Fighting Sioux also would have played Minnesota in the regional final had the Gophers not been upset in the first round by Holy Cross.

Also like last year, North Dakota will face BC in its first game of the Frozen Four in a rematch of a game the Eagles won 6-5.

"(Boston College) is a tremendous team and also a program with great history and tradition," Hakstol said. "It's going to be a heck of a matchup. We're going to prepare for our opponent, but regardless of who we play, we have to go home and put in an awful lot of work to get ourselves prepared to play as well as we can play."

Minnesota's Mike Carman, an Avalanche draft pick who scored top-seeded Minnesota's winning goal against Air Force on Saturday, and Duncan traded goals early in the first period before both defenses settled down.

The score remained 1-1 until North Dakota's Robbie Bina scored a power-play goal early in the third, but Minnesota answered with a power-play goal by Jay Barriball with less than 7 minutes remaining in regulation.

Porter's winning wraparound followed his two-goal, one-assist performance during a win against Michigan on Saturday and helped the senior captain land the region's Most Outstanding Player award.

"They are a good hockey team, but at the same time, we had our fair share of scoring chances and they got a bounce at the end," Minnesota defenseman Mike Vannelli said. "They just came out on top tonight."

ETC.: The three-game attendance of 33,549 set a regional record. . . . University of Denver junior forward Ryan Dingle, the Pioneers' leading goal scorer the past two seasons, is expected to decide in the next few days whether he will return for his senior season. . . . Sophomore defenseman Jack Johnson of Michigan played his final collegiate game Saturday. Johnson, the third overall pick in the 2005 draft, announced after the Wolverines' 8-5 loss to North Dakota that he his leaving school to join the Los Angeles Kings. Johnson is expected to make his NHL debut Tuesday against San Jose.

North Dakota 3, Minnesota 2

North Dakota ......1	0	1	1	-	3
Minnesota ......1	0	1	0	-	2

First period - 1, Minn, Carman 9 (Vannelli 28, Lucia 12), 2:23; 2, ND, Duncan 31 (Lee 23), 6:49. Penalties - Duncan, ND (obstruction hooking), 18:40.

Second period - No scoring. Penalties - Flynn, Minn (hooking), 1:57; Finley, ND (interference), 4:31; Finley, ND (charging), 8:03; Stoa, Minn (interference), 8:45; Kozek, ND (roughing), 13:59; Flynn, Minn (hit after whistle), 13:59; Carman, Minn (high-sticking), 19:02.

Third period - 3, ND, Bina 10 (Toews 28, Oshie 33), pp, 2:08; 4, Minn, Barriball 20 (Vannelli 29, Goligoski 30), pp, 13:11. Penalties - Radke, ND (checking from behind), 4:11; Radke, ND (game misconduct; served by Zajac), 4:11; Gordon, Minn (holding), 9:40; Bina, ND (tripping), 12:26.

Overtime - 5, ND, Porter 11 (Watkins 11, Jones 3), 9:43. Penalties - None.

Shots- ND, 6-14-9-7-36; Minn, 11-7-8-3-29. Saves - ND (Lamoureux 27); Minn (Frazee 33). Power plays - ND, 1-for-5; Minn, 1-for-5. A - 11,217.

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