John Mitchell scored a pair of goals to lead the Wisconsin Badger Hockey team to a 5-3 win over St. Cloud State in the West Regional Final in St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday night.
The Badgers (27-10-4) will face East Regional Champion Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the national semifinals on April 8 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Mitchell, Blake Geoffrion and Jake Gardner scored first period goals for the Badgers. Aaron Bendickson also scored for Wisconsin and Scott Gudmandson made 26 saves for the Badgers, who are making their first Frozen Four appearance since winning the 2006 title at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
Geoffrion is one of those Badger players that have turned pro at the end of last season, but he stayed for his senior season with the thought of taking another NCAA run. Badger coach Mike Eaves said the decision by Geoffrion was a good one.
AUDIO: Mike Eaves on players deciding to stay instead of turn pro :33
Wisconsin outshot the Huskies 44-29 but went 0 for 6 on the power play. The Badgers also held St. Cloud without a power play goal. The Huskies were 0 for 7.
Wisconsin’s meeting against RIT in two weeks will be the first meeting in program history.