Nebraska Omaha, Denver will meet in NCHC championship game at Xcel Energy Center

Nebraska Omaha continued its recent mastery of North Dakota on Friday, beating the top-seeded Fighting Hawks 6-3 in the first semifinal of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Xcel Energy Center.

Joining the Mavericks in Saturday night’s championship game will be Denver, which outlasted St. Cloud State 5-4 in overtime in front of an announced crowd of 8,977.

Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium, a potential first-round NHL draft pick, scored his second goal of the game 6:21 into overtime for the Pioneers (27-9-3). The loss ended the season for the Huskies (17-16-5).

St. Cloud State got goals from Adam Ingram, Cooper Wylie, Nick Portz and Barrett Hall.

In the opener, Zach Urdahl had a hat trick and assisted on a goal as Nebraska Omaha (23-11-4) advanced to the conference final for the first time. The Mavericks defeated North Dakota for the third time in the past three weeks.

“A thing with our group is we don’t back down from anyone,’’ said Urdahl, a transfer from Wisconsin. “It doesn’t matter what team you are or what you’re ranked, we have belief in our locker room that we’re going to win every night.’’

Jackson Kunz, Hunter Johannes and Jake Livanavage scored for North Dakota (26-11-2).

Denver likely secured a No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament, while North Dakota likely will be a No. 2 seed. Nebraska Omaha is safely in the NCAA field and will be the host of the Sioux Falls Regional.

Blake Pietila made 34 saves and Ryland Mosley scored the go-ahead goal in the second period as Michigan Tech earned a spot in the NCAA tournament by beating host Bemidji State 2-1 in the CCHA championship game. Kasper Magnussen scored at 14:07 of the first period for Bemidji State (20-16-2), but Michigan Tech (19-14-6) tied it 52 seconds later on a goal by Chase Pietila.