St. Norbert advanced to its second consecutive NCAA Division III semifinal with a 3-0 win over Wisconsin-River Falls. St. Norbert, ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com D-III poll, improved to 26-2-2 on the year and will play Plattsburgh in the national semifinals. River Falls saw its season end at 21-6-4.
Senior goaltender Chancy Colquhoun made 27 saves to shutout River Falls for the second time in eight days, having posted a 2-0 win in last week’s NCHA Peters Cup championship. Colquhoun recorded his seventh shutout of the year, and tied a St. Norbert record with his eight career shutout. The Green Knights have allowed just three goals in their last six games, five of those in the postseason.
Also, in a rematch of a 2003 NCAA quarterfinal, the two teams couldn’t score during the first half of the game. Colquhoun stopped a pair of River Falls breakaways, while the Green Knights couldn’t solve Falcon netminder Andy Scanlon in the early going. Scanlon gave up some rebounds near the net, but St. Norbert couldn’t convert.
Spencer Carbery finally broke the ice with a goal at 14:35 of the second, his 19th of the year. That goal stood up until the 3:27 mark of the third, when Connor Hughes finished off a pair of hard-working passes from Jon Schultz and Tyler Gow off a face off for a big 2-0 lead. Faron Duthie’s empty-net goal with 1:16 remaining salted away the win.
Scanlon made 28 saves for River Falls, which was 0-for-6 on the power play. St. Norbert was also scoreless on the power play, going 0-for-5.
St. Norbert has now won 35 consecutive games at home. The Green Knights’ winning streak currently stands at seven games.
