Nic Dowd scores in OT for St. Cloud State

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Nic Dowd scored with 2:39 left in overtime to give St. Cloud State a 4-3 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night the NCAA West Regional semifinals.

Dowd, a Hobey Baker Award finalist who leads the Huskies with 22 goals, fired a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Steven Summerhays high.

“At this point, any shot’s a good shot,” said Dowd, whose Huskies (22-10-5) will play top-seeded Minnesota on Sunday for a spot in the Frozen Four. The Gophers beat Robert Morris 7-3.

St. Cloud State was outshot 36-12 in regulation before turning the tables on the Irish with a 16-6 advantage in overtime. Huskies coach Bob Motzko said their slow start might have been caused by too much rest - St. Cloud State lost in the first round of the NCHC playoffs and had two weeks off before Saturday’s game.

“We scored quite a few goals this year and we have a team capable of doing what we did in overtime,” Motzko said. “It just started to work.”

The winning goal came after David Morley forced a Notre Dame turnover at center ice and found Dowd streaking down the left boards.

“Once I got it I heard Dowd just yelling, flying down the wall there,” Morley said. “I just passed it to him, stood there and watched him work his magic.”

Ryan Papa, Brooks Bertsch and Jonny Brodzinski also scored, and Ryan Faragher made 39 saves for the third-seed Huskies.

“He’s been a rock all year,” Dowd said of Faragher. “That breakaway save in overtime, it doesn’t get any better than that. It gives us new life and a couple minutes later we’re able to tuck one in.”

Bryan Rust, Kevin Lind and Thomas DiPauli scored for Notre Dame (23-15-2). Summerhays made 24 saves.

The Irish dominated possession and outshot the Huskies 42-28 but they never led. The teams traded goals throughout, with St. Cloud State taking the lead and Notre Dame tying it three times. DiPauli scored the only goal in the third period, tying the game at 3 with 10:25 to play in regulation.

“As much as I tried to calm down the troops going into overtime . I thought we were playing high-risk,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said. “We were trying to do too much. Guys were trying to be the hero and it kept on coming back at us.”