Women's hockey: Gophers to host North Dakota in NCAA quarterfinals

The Gophers now know who they will play in the NCAA women's hockey tournament.

It will be a familiar opponent: North Dakota. They will meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at Ridder Arena in the NCAA quarterfinals.

The Gophers got an automatic berth in the NCAA field by winning the WCHA Final Face-off this past week. They beat North Dakota 6-0 in the semifinals and Minnesota Duluth 2-0 in the championship game.

UND was one of the at-large picks for the national field.

"At this point in the season, you're in a one-and-done situation," Gophers coach Brad Frost said, "so you have to play your best every single game. We look forward to playing North Dakota."

The quarterfinal pairings:

Mercyhurst (23-7-3) at Wisconsin (31-4-2, 1 seed) at 7 pm Saturday ... The Badgers are the defending NCAA champions. They won the regular-season title in the WCHA, but were upset by Minnesota Duluth in the Final Face-off semifinals. Despite that big win, the Bulldogs did not compile a strong enough resume to be one of the five at-large teams in the national tournament. Their presence certainly would have helped attendance because the women's Frozen Four is March 16 and 18 in Duluth.

Mercyhurst is an at-large team. It is in the tournament for an eighth time.

St. Lawrence (24-9-4) at Boston College (23-9-3, 4), noon Saturday .... BC lost in the Hockey East semifinals and is an at-large entry. The Eagles were third in the Frozen Four last season. ... St. Lawrence won the ECAC title for the first time for an automatic bid. It is their eight NCAA tournament.

North Dakota (22-11-3) vs. Gophers (31-5-2) at Ridder Arena, 4 p.m. Saturday ... The Gophers finished second in the WCHA in the regular season but won the conference tournament, the Final Face-off, for the first time since 2005. Junior Noora Raty made 28 saves in shutting out UMD. After two shutouts last weekend, Raty has 26 in her career. The Gophers lead their season series with UND 3-2.

UND is making its first NCAA appearance. Its 22 victories are the most in program history as are the 154 goals the team has scored. UND is led by two 2010 Olympians, junior twins Jocelyne Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls. UND has several international players. Ten languages, including sign language, are spoken by the players.

Boston University (23-13-1) at Cornell (29-4, 3), 1 p.m. Saturday ... Cornell is making its third trip in a row to the NCAAs; the Big Red is 16-1 at home this season. The Big Red lost to St. Lawrence in the ECAC tournament. ... Boston U. is the Hockey East champion and making its second NCAA trip. The Terriers lost to Providence in two OTs in the Hockey East tournament.

The Frozen Four will be held March 16 and 18 in Duluth.

NCAA champions the past 11 years, or since 2001, all from the WCHA:

Minnesota Duluth 5

Wisconsin 4

Gophers 2

"From a coaching perspective, there is no question we should be in the top-eight," UMD coach Shannon Miller was quoted as saying on her school's web site.

"We are playing our best hockey right now (and) the point is to get the best teams in the country right now. Three of our five losses since Christmas were against the No. 1 team in the country."

The Bulldogs finished the season 9-2, but were ranked only No. 11 in the most recent PairWise ratings, which mimic how the NCAA fills out its field.