ST. PAUL - Chris VandeVelde and Jonathan Toews each scored twice to lead the North Dakota Fighting Sioux past the St. Cloud State Huskies 6-2 in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Five on Friday afternoon.
The Sioux (22-12-5) will carry an impressive hot streak into Saturday's championship game. Since Christmas, North Dakota is 15-2-4 and shares the nation's best winning percentage with Notre Dame.
VandeVelde's goals were only his second and third of the season and came three minutes apart during a chaotic second period.
Six goals were scored in nine minutes during the second. VandeVelde's goals gave the Sioux a 3-1 lead and some breathing room against Huskies star goalie Bobby Goepfert.
St. Cloud's Andrew Gordon tipped in a pass from Nate Dey at 10:06 to cut the lead in half before T.J. Oshie pushed the puck into an open net two minutes later to extend the Sioux's lead back to two.
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Matt Watkins ended the scoring barrage by firing a close-range wrist shot past Goepfert's left glove.
Goepfert, a Hobey Baker finalist, stopped 17 of 18 shots in the first period, but North Dakota kept firing the rest of the game. Goepfert allowed 6 goals in 35 shots.
St. Cloud (21-13-5) reached the Final Five by outlasting Minnesota-Duluth in a three-overtime marathon last Sunday. It was the fifth-longest game in NCAA Division I men's hockey history.
The Sioux, the defending Broadmoor Trophy winners, beat the Huskies in last year's Final Five championship.
